the weekend

i’m back from a most delightful 53 hours in pasadena, california! it was a super fun trip! definitely much too short, but that is the season we are in right now and we’re enjoying it as a gift from God. 🙂

here’s some pictures and a random rundown —
(and just a disclaimer – i’m not very good at taking lots of pictures or even getting very good ones – but i’m trying to get better, so just bear with me!)

friday night i arrived and after zach picked me up from the airport we hung out with his mom and sisters that night. it was really great to just spend time with his family. he has 4 sisters – courtney (20), paige (14), taylor (almost 12), and ashley (10). here’s a shot i got of the four of them at the beach:

clockwise from the top – paige, courtney, ashley, taylor

we actually spent a fair amount of time just being with his family, which was awesome!

saturday evening we went to huntington beach and did a bonfire.

L-R: carrie (friend/coworker of zach’s from sbux), grandma anderson, taylor, grandma’s foreign exchange student from france, tiffany (tami’s sister), ashley, tami, courtney, paige, zach.

bonfires on the beach are totally one of my favorite things to do in california. i’ve done it at least once before and i just love it! we cooked hot dogs and corn and did smores and sat in beach chairs or chilled on blankets and towels. it’s laid back and relaxing and super fun! and of course, strolling along the coast with the tide coming up over your feet is pretty nice too.

(you can’t tell, but we’re both wearing our Oxford sweatshirts that i brought back from england)

i think he likes me

aaaand i kinda like him.

tami (zach’s mom) got a kick out of taking some random pictures of zach and i:

for the record, we were NOT fighting in this one.

zach and i had a lot of fun talking and just being together. we discovered that you can be doing some pretty interesting activities (like running sound for a rather disorganized korean pentacostal missionary college graduation) and find it to be a blast just because you’re doing it together. we laughed a lot and definitely made some memories with that one, let me tell ya!

i can definitely say that i am still amazed at God’s hand in this relationship and all that he is doing. it completely blows me away and leaves me nearly speechless every time i stop and think about it. i’ve been delightfully surprised by zach on so many levels and God’s character and kindness and glory are growing greater in my eyes through this as i observe the abundance of grace in zach’s life and how it’s working itself out in this relationship.

the view from Cloud Nine is pretty nice. i think i shall stay here a bit longer.