Christmas Lights

I love to look at houses covered in Christmas lights when it's cold and dark outside. Fortunately, I've been able to do this very thing the last two nights with friends!

On Monday night, I went with my cousin Tracie and our friend Johanna, who is home from Boston College for Christmas. We looked at the lights in Morgan Ranch (really big, beautiful houses in the hills of Glendora), then near Tracie's house.

We found one house that had the lights choreographed to music (my favorite!), and two houses that had snow makers! (Really just soapy bubbles that look kind of like falling snow- which is the same thing that Disneyland has at the end of their fireworks show.) One of these two snow houses also had a whole village scene in front of it, so we got out of the car to take pictures there.



Last night, some of my friends from the Quaker Meadow staff had a Christmas party. We wanted to go caroling afterward, and we ended up looking at Christmas lights as well.

We went down Yale Street in Fullerton which was absolutely amazing! They hang colorful lit-up balls from every tree that lines the street. I've never seen a street like it! My pictures didn't turn out so great, but this might give you an idea of what it was like:


We also went to a place called East Lake, which was a beautiful man-made lake that is completely bordered by houses so that their backyard is a lake! Most of them had little boats anchored outside their back door. It looked like a fun place to live! It was also very decorated with lights. We sang some Christmas carols for a boat full of people that was passing by, and they enjoyed it!

Again, my pictures didn't turn out that great, but it kind of gives you an idea of what it was like.




Both nights were very fun, and they definitely got me ready for Christmas. I can't believe it's just 2 days away!!!

Recent Happenings

I haven't blogged in a few weeks, and so much has happened! Here's just a quick list of a few things that went on recentely:

*Andrew is done being in the Marines! His last day was this past Thursday. He had to get a bunch of signatures from people at Camp Pendleton, but they had failed to tell him that they needed his medical records too. My parents and I met him in Irvine that evening to give him his records, and we were able to have a nice dinner with him at BJ's. It turned out to be a very nice surprise!

On Friday, he turned in his medical records and got his last signature, so now he's on "terminal leave." This means that he is on vacation until January 30, when he will officially be out of the Marines and once again become a civilian. It's so great to have him home!

*In a flurry of final papers, presentations, and final exams, I finished my fall semester of classes! I had all my finals this past Monday, so now my classes are over and I'm on Christmas vacation!!!

The last week of school was really tough and I had to stay up late almost every night to finish papers. My nursing classes required presentations as well, which I always dread. What a relief to be done!

(Some of the textbooks I used for my case study earlier in the semester)

(Lunch with some of my friends at a nursing conference we were required to attend)

(One of the "dress-up" days in the nursing theory class we just finished)

I'll start the Spring semester on January 4th, even though I won't be leaving for South Africa until January 21. I have to start my community nursing class early so that I can get in 105 hours of clinical and lecture time before going to South Africa, even though I'll be doing plenty of nursing clinical work there too.


*I'm on call for jury duty this week and next week for the federal court in Los Angeles. Thankfully, I didn't get called in this week, so I was able to go to Disneyland with my family yesterday!

Andrew was given 2 free tickets to Disneyland and California Adventure for being a Wounded Warrior. I have a season pass, so we just had to pay for one ticket and my mom, dad, Andrew, and I were all able to go together yesterday. It was lots of fun!





Andrew was able to walk around the entire day without needing a wheelchair or anything! He was also able to go on all the fast rides without his back being bothered. Thank you God for how much he has healed!