Too hot!

Are these temperatures a joke or what? We're experiencing VERY hot weather that won't let up until tomorrow at the earliest. As we were driving to the store at 7:30 PM yesterday, it was 102 degrees...AT 7:30 PM!!!! I'm not sure what the actual daytime high was, but I'm sure it was higher than that. Today is supposed to be more of the same. We've become prisoners in our apartment with the blinds shut and the A/C on. It's too hot to go anywhere...even 21 Choices, which is a lot to say coming from me!

Graduation!

He finally did it! Noel graduated on Saturday with his Master of Divinity. The service was great (a bit long to sit through), and it was so fun to see Noel walk across the stage and get his diploma. We're thankful Mom and Dad Snyder were able to come for the occasion and celebrate this milestone with us. What a great weekend!

Noel returning to his seat after receiving his diploma.
Dad, Noel, me, and Mom after the ceremony. It was a beautiful day!
Here's Noel with Clay Schimt, who will be his advisor in the PhD program. Noel's so excited to study under him and we're both looking forward to getting to know Clay and his wife a bit better over the next 4 years.

Overall, we had a fantastic weekend filled with celebration. The graduation ceremony was followed by a delicious lunch (thanks Mom and Dad!) at the Crocodile Cafe. We relaxed the rest of the afternoon, enjoyed a little champagne, and went to 21 choices later in the evening. We were able to attend church together on Sunday (Noel's first Sunday NOT on staff and his last Sunday he'll be able to be in church until September due to his summer internship) and then headed to the beach for a relaxing Father's Day. The day concluded with a delicious pizza dinner at Avanti Cafe. We sure are getting spoiled!

Mr. Jett

I think I might have the cutest nephew. I wish I could see him in person and see how much he's growing and changing, but these pictures definitely help. His photographer has featured him on her blog in several different places, but most of his pictures can be found here: http://deyoungphotography.com/journal/?m=200805 Just scroll down to "Mr. Jett" and let me know if you think my nephew is the cutest.

Las Vegas

We were invited to Scott McDonnell and Davina Coady's wedding this past weekend. Scott is the son of my mom's cousin, Marcia. Marcia and Paul McDonnell are our home away from home in Southern California; we often slip away to Temecula when we need a break from our routine. Scott and Davina got married in Las Vegas, which is where Davina's family lives.

We went to see the Vegas strip with my parents a few hours before the wedding. Here is Heidi and me at the Bellagio with the Paris Hotel in the background.
The groom and his mother at the wedding.
The bride and her parents walking down the aisle.
Us at the reception.
The cousins: Carol, Marcia, Merri Ann, and Kim.

We're definitely going back to Vegas, because stuff there is nice and cheap if you're not going to gamble!

The festivities begin

Noel will graduate on Saturday, June 14, with his Master of Divinity from Fuller. What an accomplishment! Though graduation is almost a week away, we've already begun celebrating and marking this milestone with friends. We were invited to a banquet honoring the Presbyterian graduates (Noel's one of them) a week ago. It was a fun celebration where we enjoyed a great dinner and had a mini worship service. Below is a picture of the graduates.


Noel was also able to participate in Baccalaureate this past Wednesday. The service was inspirational, with a sermon given by David Scholer, a beloved Fuller professor who is dying of cancer. He preached on 2 Corinthians 4, "We have this treasure in clay jars." Here's Noel and Dani Fukumoto dressed in their regalia. I think they look very distinguished and I'm so proud of both of them.

Uncle Ned's Memorial Day Visit

This past Memorial Day weekend was a fun one for us -- Uncle Ned (Noel's uncle) came to visit! The following serves as a travelogue of the weekend (although we don't have a picture of the first and last stops of the trip, burgers at In 'N' Out).

We went to Marcia and Paul's Friday night and had a nice visit with them. Of course, Marcia went all out cooking great meals for us.
We had to stop by a couple of the Temecula wineries for tastings while we were down there.
Then we took a hike to the vernal pools near Temecula. The ranger at the park said people had been seeing coyotes, garter snakes, and tadpoles, but all we saw was a lot of coyote poop.
Sunday morning I preached at church. It went pretty well, and I was glad to have Uncle Ned there to hear it.
After church, we went up to Simi Valley to visit the Reagan Library. Walking through Air Force One and seeing a section of the Berlin Wall are highlights there. Malibu is directly south of Simi Valley, so we headed down to see the coast after that. We finished Sunday at a great Indian restaurant in Pasadena.We hiked the Mt. Hollywood trail Monday morning before Uncle Ned left (note the Hollywood sign in the background). While bragging about my superior sense of direction, I (Noel) got us lost on the way back down the mountain. But we figured it out soon enough.

Thanks for visiting us, Uncle Ned! Come back any time!

Weird weather

We have been having some crazy weather out here. Yesterday it was so windy that a huge tree on our street blew over. It landed on a minivan and uprooted the sidewalk. Luckily no one was injured! We were without power for about 7 hours while the tree was cut down and removed. Lucky for us, we had a great excuse to go to Panera Bread for dinner and utilize their free Wi-Fi. We were both able to enjoy a great dinner, get some much needed work done, and avoid sitting at home in the dark.

This doesn't quite capture how crazy it was around here, but you can see the sidewalk, fallen tree, and minivan.

Today started out as a beautiful day. About mid-afternoon a few clouds rolled in - nothing dramatic or anything. Then, out of nowhere, it started pouring rain and HAILING! It's is a VERY rare occasion to see hail in southern California. Within about 30 minutes, it was sunny again.

A few hours later, we had a thunderstorm! I think this is the second time we've heard thunder and seen lightning out here. It was accompanied with heavy rains and more hail. I miss thunderstorms so much and so it was VERY exciting to hear the thunder; it's so relaxing to me.

This might be the craziest 2 days of weather we've had since we moved here. Noel and I think the world must be coming to an end.