More Birthday!

My co-workers celebrated my birthday in style too! In court, my court reporter, Elsa, and court partners, Ezra and Mike, brought in cupcakes. Another court partner, Etty, brought me delicious pastries. My court clerk, Patty, brought me flowers and candy. Another attorney brought me a card with a little gift. Then my office mate, Sheila, organized a lunch and cake. She "made me" wear a tiara and everyone sang to me! Another wonderful blessing in my life - a great job and incredible co-workers and supervisors! From left to right: Ezra, Etty, Alex, Sheila & Mike. And yes, Mike does have a girlfriend, I know you're wondering!

My Surprise Party!

For my 30th Birthday (July 12th for any of you who may want to celebrate next year!) :) Clark threw me a surprise "Friends" themed party. When I say "Friends", I'm talking Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey and Phoebe. Some might call me obsessed, I just think I appreciate the finer things in life! So we ate meatball sub sandwiches in honor of Joey & Neslay Tollooose cookies for Phoebe. We watched "The One Where They All Turn 30" - very fitting! And at the end of the night we played Friends Scene It - it doesn't matter who won, we just enjoyed the game... :) This picture is Angie, me and Kari. Friends from church and life. Both are expecting little ones this fall/summer! Angie is due in August and Kari is due in October (she is adopting). We are so excited for them and they are both, along with their husbands, so supportive of Clark and I.

These are our neighbors - Dixie and Tim! Dixie is cuddling with my niece's dog, Roxie. We are dogsitting for 3 weeks. Um, dogs are a lot of work!

Me and Clark - I'm so blessed that my husband is so thoughtful to throw me a surprise party. He had a bit of help from my friend, Jen, but she tells me he did most of it on his own! I was completely surprised and I really had fun! What a guy!

My 30th Birthday!

These are friends who were at my party - Nicki and Nathan. She cuts some great hair and is one of the two girls I pray with every week. An amazing and Godly woman! Nathan's a great guy too and his dad actually teaches with Clark - isn't it a small world!

This is Renee and Kim - they teach with Clark but they are MY friends! I love these women and I am so bummed that Clark will be leaving the 4th grade team he has taught with for the last 5 years and going to 3rd grade. But luckily we will still have Friday night dinners at Kim's house :)

This is my cupcake tower! For those who don't know: I LOVE CUPCAKES! Sam and Jenny are behind it - they are dear friends from college, church and now our neighbors too!

Visit with friends

I try not to put kids' pictures on my blog but I figure kids without faces is okay! Earlier this month, Clark and I traveled to San Diego to visit with our friends Sue and Todd. Our friends Brian and Heather (now Colorado-ans) were visiting with their adorable son and daughter. This is the 8 of us at Coldstone Creamery - a big hit! Heather is in the middle and Sue is holding the baby.
This is Brian aka B-Smooth back in the day. I met Brian before Heather and then had the privilege of watching this incredible couple meet, set up their first date and quickly (very quickly) fall in love! It's hard to believe that was years and two kids ago. We miss them so much!
This is just plain cute and I had to include it! She is so tiny!

Fourth of July - Go USA!

This year, as we do almost every year, we attended the Dodger Game/Fireworks Spectacular! For only $8 we got to spend time with friends, watch the Dodgers get beaten by the Braves and go out onto the field for some of the best fireworks ever! Here are some flags that were marched out onto the field during the Star Spangled Banner. There was also some fancy US Air Force carrier plane that flew overhead which was cool. We had 52 people in our group from church, Clark's work, my work, random friends and neighbors. Plus people from our "sister" church were there too - I got to see Amber and Jeremy. Also, our friends, Brian and Heather and their kids were in town from Colorado. You'll see more of them in a future blog because we are heading down to San Diego this week to spend more time with them. Anyway, the game was like being with old friends! It was a blast!
Ann-Marie, Renee and Michael. What a cast of characters. These are the folks we carpooled with and boy did we get entertainment. We picked up Michael from the airport on our way to the game and that's when the fun started! We had an interesting car ride talking about relationships, massages and pedicures (all things he wanted to talk about from what I remember!)
This picture is of Jen and JD, our dear friends from Thousand Oaks. I say "Thousand Oaks" because we really met through a friend who doesn't live here anymore. Jen and I are a lot alike - scary! We meet together every week with our friend, Nicki, and pray. Any requests? Anyway, we love them and are so glad they could come and bring their parents and brother, Steven.
Here is a bunch of our group. We got a bit scattered so not everyone made it into the picture. Kim's family; Nicki and Nathan and family; and the previously mentioned folks are all in there. We really enjoyed spending this holiday with everyone.

Rich and Sherry's Wedding

Last weekend, Clark and I attended the wedding of my dear friend, Rich, from college. He married a lovely woman, Sherry, and it is clear that they are perfect for each other! Both are fun and fun-loving, Christlike and intelligent. What a great combination! This picture is one of my dearest friends, Katy, who attended the wedding also. She is always great comic relief when at anything formal! For those of you who know her - doesn't she look great? She's a wonderful friend!

This next picture is Clark and I with college friends, Mike and Shauna. They flew in all the way fro Pittsburgh for Rich's wedding! While we were there, all three of their kids caught the flu but did they panic and go home? No! They stayed and let grandma and grandpa deal with it :) Great tactic! Mike and Shauna are wonderful Heidelberg friends.

This last picture is with Rich and Sherry - the new happy couple! They are off to Hawaii for their honeymoon but hopefully we'll see more of them when they get back. It was good to see some Pepperdine people that we haven't seen for awhile.