and we're back!

It's been a crazy, busy, fun, relaxing, family-filled, past 2 weeks. We arrived back in Dallas last Thursday night from our travels to CA. I went out a week early, my folks joined me on the flight in Dallas, and we landed in OC, then drove up to Bishop, CA to be with Shannon, Steve, and new baby, Jacob! We stayed with them for over a week, mostly hanging out, loving on the baby, organizing things (which mom and I *love* to do! call us!), and doing some sight-seeing. Maggie loved Jacob, calling him by name on a daily basis and giving him lots of kisses and pats. Maggie also had her first experience feeding the ducks at the park. We hung out one afternoon with Shannon's good friend Abby and her 15 month old daughter, Gabrielle. Gabrielle ate most of her bread and Maggie enjoyed throwing huge chunks in for the ducks. It was awesome.

Bishop is actually quite beautiful, I was pleasantly surprised. The moutains were stunning. One day we drove to a small fishing village called Cardinal Village (where Steve had done some YWAM training years ago), ate lunch, got a tour by the owners, and Maggie had her first horseback ride...yes, on a real horse, all by herself. The video footage is classic. I must figure out how to upload video to this blog! She wore a cowboy hat (mom and dad have that picture; I need to get it from them) and said, "Giddyup!" the entire time. She was fearless and held on for the 15 minute ride (someone was leading the horse). I didn't hold her or anything. When Aron saw the footage, he responded incredulously, "You let her ride All.By.Herself?! You didn't even hold on to her?!" Uh, no. Should I have? Over certain turns and bumps I would put my hand up to support her, but she did fine. I'm proud of my little cowgirl! Mom and dad loved on Jacob, dad ran errands and kept us well fed (esp. on treats!) and we were able to meet some of S&S' friends. They are super blessed with an *amazing* community of believers.

And it couldn't have worked out any better, timing-wise, because last minute, Aron had to be in SoCal on business, so he headed up to Bishop for a long weekend at the end of June. Steve, dad and A grabbed coffee together on Friday morning, and then Steve and A went fishing for several hours. That afternoon we headed up to Mammoth Mountain to shop and look around, then out for a fantastic Mexican dinner at Roberto's. Sunday, we visited their church again (he is the youth pastor and loves it!) and A led worship that night for the youth group; it was an incredible time. He hadn't led in 1 1/2 years; a very refreshing time to see him doing something in which he is so gifted.

Aron had taken the following week as vacation time, so we headed back to OC on Monday, had dinner with some friends that night that we hadn't seen since we moved away 4 years ago, were able to get a night away in Dana Point on Tuesday night, spent Wednesday with his family and our friend, Jason, then saw Dawnielle and Asher on Thursday morning right before we headed out to the airport. Whew...

My folks took some excellent pictures and I want to post some of them later, but for now, here are few.