Fun fun Summer Birthday!

Yesterday was Aubrey's 19^th birthday and it was so much fun! She wanted to have a really Ataris day and spend it with Joel, me, and Mike. After waking up at 6am on my own (that means NO ALARM CLOCK) I came on to the computer to look at some photography websites and stuff to get in the mood to take cool pictures! Then I really wanted to sleep some more so I took a half hour nap before I had to start getting ready for the day. After I had showered and done my hair, I went to Mike's house to pick up the Contour to go get it washed because it was filthy. I felt like such a mom because there were these other two moms at the car wash sitting next to me and getting their husband's cars washed. Ha! But anyway, then we went to start our adventure. While listening to The Ataris in Mike's clean car, we began by eating at the "Tole House Cafe" on Etiwanda. Their pancakes are huge by the way. So if you try to order them, be sure that you're in a Man vs. Food kind of mood!

Photo by: Me

After that, we stopped at the gas station and made our way to the Griffith Observatory. We wanted to do anything that didn't cost money, or at least not too much money. On the way over there, we saw this huge news crew and lots of traffic on the Eastbound 210 Fwy off of Baseline in Claremont! We didn't know what it was at the time, but this morning I was shocked to find out that there was a body that was burnt to a crisp! It wasn't an accident, someone killed someone and threw them on the freeway! Click here to see the story! It's intense! We made it to the Observatory safe and sound and after Mike's 10 minute bathroom trip we managed to get some pictures in front of it!

Photo by: Me

Photo by: Aubrey

Photo by: Me

Photo by: Me

Photo by: Me

Photo by: Me

We walked around the place for awhile, saw some cool stuff and watched a show that surprisingly didn't make me dizzy this time! It was cold there too because it was overcast! It kind of upset me because I had checked the we ather and saw that it said it would be 86 degrees in LA. It probably didn't reach that temperature 'til like...4 o'clock. It was still fun! It was getting close to lunch time but we weren't too hungry yet. We just wanted a little snack. So we headed over to Beverly Hills to visit the ever-famous Sprinkles cupcakes!!! A little adventure was involved with finding a parking spot, but we got one, got the goods, and headed to a little grass park with huge trees!

Photo by: Me

Photo by: Me

Photo by: Me

Photo by: Me

Photo by: Aubrey

Photo by: Me

It was so delicious and tons of fun! There are lots more pictures that we took there, but those will be for keepsake in a personal photo album. (AKA I'm too lazy to upload them here...) Anyway, after that, we took the long way to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles in Pasadena! Me and Mike had recently eaten there for the first time and it is insanely deluctable! Wow! So we were excited to see what they thought of the experience! :) Those pictures we took on my polaroid camera so I'll upload them here in a minute, but first I need to scan them in.

[Okay so my scanner doesn't work, ugh!
I had to take a picture of the polaroids and
then upload them that way...sorry for the
poor quality! But hey, whatever.]

It was a long and wonderful day that went by so quickly! After lunch/dinner we drove Aubrey and Joel back to Joel's house and took a few quick shots that I really wanted to get!!!

Photo by: Me

Photo by: Me

Photo by: Me

It was beautiful! Then me and Mike had to jam to practice to get there by 7pm! We are going to be playing on song this Sunday that absolutely is AMAZING. Seriously, I love it so much. I'm so excited to play it!!! Then we packed up and changed really quick and made our way to Victoria Gardens to see the midnight showing of Twilight: Eclipse. It was my first midnight showing, and it was okay. Haha I'm not very good at staying up late so I had a hard time keeping my eyes open! But the movie was alright, I'm not much of a Twilight fan! :) Overall, today was perfectly fun and I hope the summer keeps going like this filled lots of adventure and fun pictures!!

I always get in this mood...

To make a new blog, or start posting on a blog. But I think this time I want to do it FOR REAL, like on a regular basis. I like to design the blog and make it all cute (which will come in time...for now I still have to figure it out.) And I like to read other people's blogs and look at their pictures, it's interesting! So I want to do something interesting too. But...we'll see what happens with that because I don't really have that many interesting things about my life.

I know that my opinion on anything isn't all that important to people, and it shouldn't be important! Only what God has to say matters. So I want to talk about what happened in church today.

Photo by: Me

First of all, the worship set was nothing special...to anyone who didn't have their heart in it. Personally, I loved it. I'll admit it was mediocre (sp?), but the stripped down version of songs leaves no room for talent, pride, or selfishness. All that's left is Jesus, and He's all that matters. The songs that were played and sung today were for one purpose that I felt the entire congregation knew about: to lift up His name. After the first set, they played a slideshow of VBS the previous week and Becky came up to announce that seven kids were saved during that time. God still does awesome things when no one knows He's working...seriously. Then Jeff got up and spoke a message that everyone needed to hear. Though most people would think that he was bagging on the men of the church, I think everyone got something out of the message that they needed to hear. It was so convicting and powerful, I felt like God was using Jeff to speak loudly to each person in the room!

Lately in my life, I've been acting really dumb and treating people unfairly. I didn't know where my attitude came from until I realized, of course, AS ALWAYS, I was not abiding in the Lord. This verse is what helped me kick start my mini-revelation:

"So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." -Matt. 6:34

Right after that verse is another one that really got me and made me feel horrible for the feelings I've been having and the words I've been speaking:

"Do not judge so that you will not be judged." -Matt. 7:1

I never ever realize how dumb I'm acting until God starts being totally obvious with me by giving me verses like that, or He gives me people who tell me what I need to hear. These verses were totally God-sent and I'm so glad that He came through to me again. He always does. Doubt and "mean-ness" totally got to me and I let it take over me to the point where I was giving awful attitude for no apparent reason. I have so much stuff that I worry about that I don't need to worry about! God tells us to give Him our worries and burdens and He'll take care of everything! Coming to realizations like this is so beautiful and only the Creator could have done this for me. The message in church today was pretty much about getting on the right track, and to stop faking the Christian act all the time. It's impossible to do it on your own, but through the Lord we can accomplish everything.