Living Proof Weekend

Last weekend I had the privilege of going to a Living Proof Live event to hear Beth Moore speak with three of my beloved friends.

Becki, Leeanna, Leah, and myself

For those of you that have never heard Beth speak before you are really missing out. She is so energetic, passionate, wise, inspiring...I could go on. Every time I get to hear her I get SO excited. I know three things are for certain: 1) I am going to have a blast, 2) I am going to be extremely challenged and encouraged, and 3) I know I am going to have an intimate encounter with God Himself.

God always uses Beth to speak such truth to my soul. This weekend was no different. Our topic was "Eat, Pray, Love" (although it had nothing to do with the movie that just came out). We talked about how we don't just need to read God's Word - we need to EAT His words and allow them to penetrate our hearts and minds. We talked about how we can PRAY to God and expect Him to hear us. We also spent time grappling with God's unconditional love for us. I was reminded again that there is NOTHING I can do to make God love me any less. God is incapable of loving me less because God is love. For God to love me less He would have to lessen Himself which He will not do. Oh, my heart is thankful. What a wonderful God I serve.

Beth bringing a word from Jeremiah

Before leaving town we went to get ice cream at this local place called "Graeters". The name suits it well because it was great.

The best part of our ice cream experience was who we got to eat it with....

That's right - sweet Beth herself

oh, and Travis the worship leader

Can't wait for LPL in September!!

California

Can you tell from this picture where we've been?! CALIFORNIA!!!!! And, while we were there we had a LOT of In -N-Out. It definitely lived up to it's reputation.
We're back from California. We had such a great time of rest and relaxation. Oh, and a lot of laughs. I wanted to start with a couple of my favorite pictures...We went to this outdoor shopping center one night called The Grove. I saw three of the contestants from So You Think You Can Dance. I got my picture taken with Alex and Jose. Oh how this made my day!!! Do you recognize this couch or what's behind it? That's right folks. I got to sit on the set of FRIENDS!!!! Made my stinkin' year.

Us at The Grove

Emily's friend Brandy Cyrus gave us a tour of L.A.

We got a private tour of Miley Cyrus's home

Emily had to take a picture of her Oscar dress

Santa Barbara Pier

Me and the man at D's wedding

just the girls

Jared and I flew into San Diego. We enjoyed a few days alone before joining his family in L.A. enjoying a beautiful morning at Balboa Park

cool tree in the park

view of the city from across the bay

We ate lunch and then spent the afternoon at this cute little place called Old Town. It was a couple of blocks that was set up to look like an old Spanish village.

Next, we headed to Point Loma to check out the cliffs and the tide pools.

it was so pretty

it was quite a climb :)

lighthouse

view from the top

California sunset

view from Torrey Pines where we watched the hang gliders

We spent an entire afternoon at La Jolla Cove. It was by far our favorite place. We so enjoyed walking along the rocks, the sea, and the seals.

i love this

aren't they so cute? we were so close to them

our hotel

of course we had to watch some surfing

The next few pics are from an old mission that we toured. It. Was. Gorgeous.

Laguna Beach

one of our many late night burger runs

Warner Brothers studio tour

walk of fame

sad. we had no money to spend

open air tour

Our last afternoon in L.A. we went to the wax museum. It was actually really fun.

yum!!

view of L.A. from Mulholland Dr. at night

We took a quick tour of Pepperdine University on our way to Santa Barbara. It's so pretty.

view from the car

Santa Barbara Pier after the wedding

wedding reception

giving a toast to the happy couple

there were sailboats everywhere

Our last night we stayed in a small Danish village called Solvang (out in wine country).

windmills everywhere

Santa Ynez Mission-

We visited several wineries in the area.

Cheers!!

the vineyards were so pretty

of course we had to try out a slot machine in Vegas on our way home.

We lost a whole $2 - good thing we don't gamble :)

It's good to be home, but we're definitely missing the zero amount of humidity and the cool mornings/evenings.