Los Angeles

I had the opportunity to spend a long weekend in Los Angeles.  I have been there a few times but have never done a lot of the tourist stuff.  My friend Hillary lives there now and offered to be my tour guide.  It was a great weekend and I got to see a lot of LA.
On Friday, I went straight from the airport to Disneyland.  I hadn't been there since 1980 when we went with Grandma and Grandpa Marshall.  It was crowded but we got to ride everything I wanted to and saw the fireworks show. 

On Saturday we started out by going to Griffith Park.  Went to the observatory where you can see the Hollywood sign.

Then down to Hollywood Boulevard at the Chinese Mann Theatre and the Walk of Fame.

Lunch was In-N-Out Burgers.  Yum!



Then on to Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive where we saw a Bucati hanging on.

Then to the Santa Monica Pier.

After dinner in Little Ethiopia, we went by the La Brea Tar Pits and the art museum which has this cool lamp post installation outside.

 On Sunday I went to Huntington Gardens.  Beautiful! The Japanese Garden, the Rose Garden, and the Cactus Garden.

I got to have a Sunday dinner with Aunt Sharon & Uncle Ted as well as some cousins & their kids. 

Then Hillary and I went to downtown LA for a little more sight seeing before I left.  We rode Angels Flight - the world's shortest railway - up the hill.  It was a great, full weekend!

5K and flowers

I have been waiting for an opportunity to make this dessert in my Domestic Goddess cookbook - Torta alla Gianduia or chocolate hazelnut torte.  I had a dessert with our senior pastor to attend at a friend's home and offered to bring it.  It was yummy!

Saturday I ran a 5K.  I didn't do as well as I wanted to but I ran the entire time and bettered my training time.  My time was 31:57.  I am confident I can get to 30:00 by my sprint triathlon in August. The interesting thing about this race was it was for women only put on by Girls On The Run.  It started & ended at The Boathouse downtown.

This week the irises and clematis bloomed. 

And Sunday while I was doing yardwork, Diesel found a baby bluejay that had fallen out of it's nest.  He was very protective of it which kind of surprised me.  Wildlife Services told me to leave it where I found it and hope the mama would come back for it.  Sadly, that did not happen.

LOVE Wichita

Our biblestudy had a surprise engagement party for Gayle (center) who got engaged over the weekend. We are so excited for her & Shaun!

 I made some special wedding cake shaped sugar cookies for her.

Friday night, my roommate and I ate at Tanya's Soup Kitchen.  It had been an Wichita institution but I never ate there.  It ws closed for several years and recently reopened.  We went to check it out. 

 Liz had the tomato basil and I had a pesto minestrone.  Delicious! Definitely going again.

 LOVE Wichita was this Saturday. It is a once a year day of service that the churches get together to love on our community.  This year 40 churches and 4000 people participated.  Pathways had a project to ourselves.  We scraped and painted this house and did some landscape clean up.

 The finished product.  It was a long day but well worth it.  The homeowner was so blessed.

Holy Week

I've enjoyed focusing on and celebrating Holy Week this year as we lead up to Resurrection Sunday to celebrate what Jesus did for us on the cross.  My biblestudy went to a Messianic Passover seder on Tuesday night.  It is great to participate in the seder and see how Jesus was the Passover lamb.  The Pathways life groups got together on Friday night tour the Stations of the Cross that our church has set up to walk through Jesus' final hours and contemplate his death, burial and resurrection.

On Saturday, I ran the 2 mile race in the Easter Sun Run.  It is a huge local race (also a 10K and 2 mile walk) that is a fundraiser for Youth Horizons which is a local ministry of mentors to fatherless children.  I am training for a sprint triathlon later this summer and plan to run a few races as part of my training.  This was my first race since running cross country in high school.  I did better than my goal. I was happy with my performance.  And it was fun to run into friends from church, work, and 2 girls I went to high school with - one of whom I ran CC with.  

I didn't go home for Easter this year.  It would have been too hectic of a schedule.  But I was invited to have lunch with Janel's family - and enjoyed it very much.  I have been waiting for an occasion to make this dessert that I've been eyeing the photo of in one of Nigella's cookbooks: gooey chocolate stack.  It was definitely chocolate and gooey. 

Thrift Store Prom

This week we had Thrift Store Prom.  I found a gaudy sequined dress that reminded me of peacock feathers, so I brought some for my hair.  It was a lot of fun.  There were some great outfits that people found.

Spring is Sprung

I finally got around to cleaning out the flowerbeds.  In removing the leaves & sticks, I found that several of the hostas had started coming up.

Diesel loves to get sprayed with the hose.  He needed a bath, so made sure to soak him thoroughly.  And then he proceeded to go roll in the dirt and make mud.  He was SO dirty.  He was not happy when I cleaned him off before allowing him in the house.

The redbud trees are in full bloom.

the newest one

I went to Lawrence for the weekend.  On Saturday morning I took Mom's bike out for a spin.  I took a bike path that runs along some fields on the edge of town. On the way back I scared a coyote off the path.  He ran into a field before I got too close.  I couldn't get my phone out quick enough to get a picture.  But I got pictures of other great views.

Sunday was my parents' 40th anniversary.  Sharon & David took us all out for dinner after church.  JT was being his goofy 6 year old self.  It was incredibly windy when he climbed the tree outside of church.

Sam is a cute chunk of a 2 month old.  Grandpa already has him eating out of his hand.  Sam responds and "talks" to Grandpa more than he does with anyone else.  It was adorable to watch.