Our 20th Anniversary Getaway

Carrie and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary with a little getaway last weekend. We returned to the hotel we stayed at during the first night of our honeymoon, the Westin South Coast Plaza Hotel. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Orange Hill restaurant, which has a commanding view of the lights of Orange County. We slept in on Saturday, took in a matinée, then went to Hollywood for dinner and to see the play Wicked. We celebrated in style and enjoyed reminiscing about our special wedding day as well as many events since then.


Lunch at Taco Mesa, Andy's favorite hole-in-
the-wall haunt in Costa Mesa
















Dinner at Orange Hill, with an incredible
view of the lights of Orange County
















At the Pantages for "Wicked"

20 glorious years together!

Happy Anniversary, Andy and Carrie! We are so thankful to God for you two and the wonderful daughters your union has produced! Thank you for the lovely example of a fantastic marriage that you provide for all of us : )

Spelling Bee

First place finisher for the 6th grade at MIS is Garrett Thomas! Hip hip hooray! District competition will be in a few weeks...

Pictures from Jessica's Baptism

As mentioned in a previous post, Jessica's baptism on January 20 was a very special day for our extended family and our congregation. Our friend David Green was kind enough to take these beautiful photos.

I've inserted here the beautiful words that Jessica wrote and shared in her confession:
Why do I love God? The description required cannot be put into words. He put on human flesh and died for sinful people like me. He would have been perfectly comfortable in heaven, but instead he sacrificed his only son and was crucified by the very people he created. He made us, died for us, and cares for us. He is the Holy Savior, and we are so lowly, yet he loves us.

God gives us a second chance, no matter if we deserve it or not. He understands that we need to be guided in the right direction, so he sends light to brighten our path and leads us in the correct way. He accepts our feeble ways, even if the only thing we have in return is a humble thank you.

I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and I want him to be my Lord and Savior!

Jessica shares her confession of faith















Grandpa Wall offers a Prayer of Blessing















Buried with Christ...





















Raised to walk in newness of life!

Awesome Surprises!

One of my great highlights from my trip to CA this week was pulling up to the Conejo Wall's house to see all of the CA cousins waiting for me to arrive!  What fun!  We then took a "putt" in my rental car--which was upgraded to an H2!!  Michaela didn't have a seatbelt and made sure I knew it--about every 2 minutes!  What fun we had being together! Next stop, In-N-Out! 

So JEALOUS!

I just have to confess that my heart felt a bit of jealousy when Ben got to be with all of his family this week! You all are a great blessing to our family and we love you lots! Thanks for making the effort to be with him while he's there!

Meanwhile, back at the house...Alex and Katy have had the flu. Thankfully, it's been very mild--but they both got to stay home today and we had a nice, relaxing time together. We miss Daddy a lot and we can't wait for him to be home! His absence always reminds me what a wonderful dimension he brings to our household!

The Journey Continues!!

Dear Jessica,

Congratulations on surrendering your life to Christ.  We love the pictures!  How we wish we could have been with you at the party!  

We love you and are praying for you to keep growing in your love for Jesus!  May you delight in finding your life in Him!  He is worth your very best effort!  God bless you in the coming days as you grow in your love for our King!  

Much love, Ben, Trisha, Alex, Katy, Elijah & Olivia Wall!

Jessica's Great Day!

On Sunday, January 20, our Jessica was baptized into Christ at the Conejo Church! Many in our families were able to be there for this very special day. Jessica did a beautiful job in sharing her confession of faith and we were all absolutely thrilled to be part of this wonderful moment in her faith journey. Our hearts were so full of joy and gratitude all day; at the end of the day Sunday, I told Carrie, "I didn't know that joy could be so exhausting!"

Here are a few pictures I've received -- I'll post more as I get them.

The "Birthday" Girl





















Upon your confession, I now baptize you...
















Great Big Hug 'O Joy!

Girls' Get-away

Can you say RELAX?

Girls just want to have fun in new convertible!

Phyllis and Loretta took advantage of a free Hyatt night that Loretta had and went to Indian Wells for two days/one night on Monday and Tuesday. We enjoyed a royal spa treatment, sleeping in, chocolate, tennis, shopping, dining, and chatting, not in that order. It was wonderful!!!

Garage sale

The goal of our garage sale on Saturday was to clear out the garage enough to fit 2 cars in it. We barely made it, but we got 2 cars in!!!

Musical "Wicked"

Dear Family,
Last night I got to do something out of the ordinary! I went to see Wicked at the Pantages theater in Hollywood with about 35 young people (mostly girls) and mentors from the Boys and Girls Club in Fillmore. Leidi, my mentee, is a senior in high school from Piru. She spent the night and went to services with us Sunday am (she and her family are devout Catholics). We traveled down in vans in rain, sometimes heavy, to the Pantages theater evening show at 6:30 pm. The show "Wicked" was a delight in so many ways--the music, the costumes, the incredible special effects, the story line, clever dialogue, and the fact it made you think about your motives. I really enjoyed it! After reading the book which was very dark, I couldn't imagine how this was going to be an enjoyable musical! But it was. I could hear the actors, but couldn't always make out the words in the songs. I'm so glad Leidi and I got to do this. A grant had been written which made it possible to buy a bunch of tickets, each for $32 (!!!), so community mentors were the only ones who had to pay for the tickets. I am also very thankful we all made it home safely! Love, Grandma Wall
P.S. I remember going to the Pantages to see "The Lion King" there with the Oak Park Walls. Austin, I know you will love seeing this musical--just don't bother to read the book.

For Tommy....

While playing Wii bowling tonight for our family game night, Tommy's name was mentioned MANY times!!! "Tommy got a strike with every turn" "Tommy did it like this", etc. Just had to send a photo of our boys trying to emulate Tommy!

Lake Arrowhead New Year's Trip

The Walls joined long-time friends the Lamberts at Lake Arrowhead to spend a few days together and bring in the new year. Though there was no snow to speak of, it was a wonderful time in the mountains that reminded us of many special memories at the Big Bear Cabin! We enjoyed going for hikes, ice skating, many games, good conversations and music, and the crisp mountain air. Our girls especially enjoyed creating a teepee and campsite out of scavenged wood and rocks (see below).

Out for our daily walk/hike
















Quite the fashion statement
















With Dear Friends, Scott and Kim
















The Wall Five on New Year's Day, 2008
















The Girls and their Created Camp Scene
















The Teepee





















Scott Catches Some Zzzz's

Early Christmas With the Giboneys

The weekend before Christmas, Carrie's extended family converged on Grandma Susan's place for a wonderful couple of days of holiday celebrations. All ten of Susan's grandkids were there, including the precious little Ashley, a favorite of all. Many favorite traditions were observed including measuring each grandkid on a growth chart, the Christmas eve cousin presents, Gmas incredible Christmas breakfast, etc.


Annual Photo of all the Cousins on Gmas Couch
















Look how big Taylor, Jenna, Jessica
and Courtney are Getting!
















Susan and her Daughters
















Andy is Quite Smitten!





















The Guys Modeling Aloha-wear

A Quiet Christmas

The Oak Park Walls enjoyed a quiet Christmas day and week. Andy had the week off from work and we generally stayed close to home, enjoying games (Wild Liverpool Rummy was a favorite), movies (National Treasure), and being together. On Christmas Day, Paul & Paula's crew came over and we enjoyed having a visit with Aunt Carol, Susan's sister, who now lives in Thousand Oaks.


The Wall Girls on Christmas Morn
















The Wall/Giboney Cousins with Aunt Carol

Mike's catch in KY

One morning, we heard a loud explosion in front of Mike's mom's house. The neighbors and Mike met in the front yard to find that a poor squirel had touched the wrong wires on a transformer box and had generated an explosion. Shocking!

Six Flags

Phyllis and Blake "stuck" on Scream!

We love Goliath!

Crazy kids!

Happy New Year!

We are safely back from Kentucky and glad to be relaxing at home! This photo of the boys was taken on the same day we took the family photo for the Christmas card. The photographer had Blake jump on Austin's back so he could get their faces really close together. I love it!