Good Movies

We have been trying to rent the movie Defiance for about 2 weeks and it has been out of stock at Blockcuster. Now we know why. A true story written about the Bielski family who saved about 1200 lives from the Nazi soldiers. We were humbled as we watched an account of history that is not too far from our past.
We also recently rented The Boy who wore the stripped pajamas, another account of the concentration camps during the Holacaust, and another sobering movie not for the weak at heart.
Taken can also be classified as an eye opening film.
I think our favorite drama in a while is still Slumdog Millionare. Our recent movies have shared themes of good stories of redemption and hope, while also portraying some hard subjects.

life in general

Here is Josh's new-found find, referred by a friend. It's called Philz and it's fabulous. It is a unique coffee shop where each cup is brewed individually! It is really tasty organic coffee and the feel of the cafe is very unique and cool.
speaking of Josh...
Josh has a crazy summer ahead with TONS of reading, Latin, preparing to teach Hebrew in the Fall, and comps at the end of the summer. Plus he is working two jobs, fixing our car that always seems to be having issues (kind of a lemon:), and involved in several different ministries at Church!!! Wow, I think that a dissertation sounds relaxing compared to what he is doing right now. Just kidding. Please pray for him to have time to fit in studies with the craziness of life.

speaking of lemons...

These are actual flower blossoms on our little lemon tree (thank you Mathews family)!!!! It is my dream to have fresh squeezed lemon juice someday so, here's to living the dream.

Speaking of dreamy...

Here is our almost 6 month old!!! I cannot believe it. She is just a delight and joy to watch grow. She melts our hearts at least once a day.

Whether its a good cup of coffee, a budding flower, or a sweet daughter I would say we are more than blessed by God!

Silly girly

Hallel is so funny these days. She is just finding her laugh and it is so fun. She loves to put things over her head with her hands raised up. Last night we looked up to see her with the blanket on her head.

A night at the museum, actually, a day at the aquarium

Hallel and I under the HUGE whale

Hallel's first slide

Sea Horses that looked like seaweed

Tons of Anchovies

The Lord blessed us with some free tickets to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and so we took advantage of this blessing last week and headed off to Monterey. Hallel did awesome and is becoming so much easier to travel and explore with. Josh packed her around in the Bjorn most of the time and she just smiled and smiled looking around. Her favorite animals were the Jelly Fish because the lights were dark and she could see their neon bodies through the glass.

We also saw a bunch of dolphin swimming in the ocean and Josh even petted a Sting Ray.

It was a great time as a family and nice to have a little break from the business of school!!!

teething

This is funny! Hallel is still figuring out the teething ring thing. She had been playing with it until it got stuck on her nose!

Trip to the Zoo

Hallel and I joined the Tiger class when they went to the Zoo! Hallel did awesome and loved the extra attention. The two little girls in the top pic held on to the stroller and entertained Hallel as much as possible. I still don't think she had a clue there were animals there:) She probably thinks hanging around Josh and I is almost as good as the monkey cage, ha!

Mother's Day

My sweet little cuddle bug
This was actually the second mothers day that we celebrated as last year I was still pregos and we did not even know that we were having a girl yet. The day was fabulous and a good time to reflect on the whole idea of motherhood.

I am realizing more and more that the one thing that I want for Hallel is that she know Jesus Christ personally and that she walks in the reality of her Salvation all of her days. Nothing else truly matters. I realize that a conversation about this might be many years off but I have this huge opportunity right now to display the love of Christ to her and live out my faith before her. What an awesome challenge! I am so thankful for Josh's and my mother who did just this for us.

As far as the day goes, we had a great day at church with the body of Christ then had some Mexican food outside (my favorite) and Hallel blessed us with her first major poopf the day. She had it everywhere! How it got behind her ear I will never know. Then we took a beautiful drive towards Stinson beach and ended up at the Depot (another one of my favorites) for some B&R ice cream! Then we hung out at home and while Josh made me breakfast for dinner Hallel exploded yet again. It was comical by this time. We had poo all over the both of us and so this time we just stripped her down and gave her a bath. Finally, we watched the finale of Amazing Race (we were rooting for Margie and Luke). It was a wonderful day and my sweet husband made it very special! I love being a mommy!!!

Outfit #3 if the day