Our Own Backyard

I needed to post this picture - it was taken directly in front of my school - yes, they are sheep! It was definitely strange to see them suddenly there one morning...







Today, Jeremiah and I took a hike with our friend (my coworker) Mike. We traveled only about 25 minutes from our home, and after a little rock climbing and a brief walk, we came upon some terrific viewpoints. We even got to enjoy some time sitting by a waterfall (That's the first picture). The weather was terrific, and it was a wonderful way to spend our first day of winter break!!! (We can't believe that our first semester is already over!)

Jeremiah's 27th Birthday Surprise Party

Jeremiah's birthday is on December 11th. This was the first birthday he ever had where he wasn't able to celebrate it with his full family...and I wasn't about to let that happen! So, back in September, I started planning a surprise party for him! Jeremiah was told that on Saturday December 12th, we would be doing something special, and he needed to have the weekend completely free. That was the only hint he was given. I took him shopping out in Visalia Saturday morning which left enough time for Mom and Dad Weinberg and Mom Napper and Charlene to arrive in Porterville, find the decorations that I'd so carefully hidden in the guest bedroom, and set up the house! When we came back home, the entire place was decorated and Jeremiah was so puzzled. It didn't help that no one was screaming "Surprise!" for the first few minutes of our arrival. All he said was "How did you do this?" And I said "I don't know! How amazing!" And then his sister and the rest of the family come flying down our stairs screaming "SURPRISE!" It took Jeremiah several minutes to recover from the shock!
The entire downstairs was decorated - it was amazing!






Since the summertime, Jer has been begging for the Wii game system...so it only seemed fair that he should receive it for his birthday. Thanks to the whole family who all helped with the purchase, Jer now has the Wii - and he couldn't be happier...We gave him his present (which the Weinbergs had hidden away at THEIR home since September) and the whole family played together for the ENTIRE rest of the day!



And since there was no way to really make a cake for his birthday party (without him guessing about the surprise) the Weinbergs brought a terrific Lemon Tart for dessert - and it was soooooooooooo delicious! I don't think Jer will ever forget his 27th birthday!

And below is a pretty comical short video clip of our first attempts at Wii tennis... Go Moms!

Holiday Time 2009!

Tonight we set up our Christmas tree and holiday decorations! We listened to the holiday albums of Josh Groban and MercyMe, and now we're about to dig into a Reese's dessert bar that I made, and we couldn't feel happier! Here's some pictures to capture our 2nd year together setting up our home for the holidays!
















And of course, no holiday season would be complete without our Hanukkah bear!






Two stockings are missing here at this moment...Jer had an idea this evening. He said that for Christmas this year, we should buy each other a stocking and fill it up with gifts for one another. I'm loving the idea, and I can't wait to get him his stocking...




And tonight we learned how to work our camera's self-timer! So pardon the crookedness of the photo - the camera was sitting on the arm of our loveseat. We think it came out really well though!

Thanksgiving 2009

Jeremiah and I traveled down to Orange County for Thanksgiving this year. It was the very first time we ever had to travel anywhere! We thought we were incredibly lucky when we found out that our school day ended at 1:00 that day because we thought it meant that we would be on the road by 1:30, arriving in Cypress at 4:30...

Oops....

Again, it was our FIRST time traveling for Thanksgiving...now we understand why they say it is the busiest travel day of the year. We arrived at 7:00...

But it was WORTH it! We had a wonderful weekend! We saw our friends, played the Wii (Jeremiah is obsessed with it), and had great fellowship with our family. Below, enjoy the pictures of the table setting and the yummy desserts... there were so many of them! What a feast!

More Anniversary Celebrations

Perhaps it's non-traditional, but rather than store the top of our wedding cake in our freezer for a year, the Great Dane Bakery (the Bakery that made our wedding cake) promised us that they would make us a fresh cake for our first anniversary. (Turns out that we wouldn't have been able to save the cake anyhow due to the fact that we moved this summer!)

We had expected that the cake would be a miniature/palm-sized cake that would allow us each a few bites, so we were really surprised to see a pretty large cake in the box! And decorated too! Jeremiah ordered it with the same filling of our wedding cake: lemon with raspberry-lemon filling. It was DELICIOUS! And big enough to share with lots of people!















Thanks to Mom Napper, the flowers behind the cake were displayed at Cornerstone Church on our anniversary weekend. We weren't at that church service, but we got to enjoy their beauty when we came in for the holiday.














The reason we have two pictures of us is because the first one showcases Jeremiah's new and stylin' hat! :)