Meet Madison

Madison is the newest member of our family. We adopted her at the Lange Foundation where she was left at their doorstep with a puncture wound behind her left arm. She has completely recovered and is as playful as ever.

Madison's favorite toys are anything she can carry around in her mouth, usually small plastic lids and hair bands. She can entertain herself for hours, but she is very talkative and loves all the attention she can get.

These are Madison's buddies, they come over and take care of her when we're out of town. They are our neighbor boys, left to right Nathan, Elias, Eli, & Isaiah.

Our 1 Year Anniversary Trip to Yosemite

For our one year anniversary, March 10th, we took a long weekend trip back to where we said our vows. However, this year Yosemite was covered in snow! For those of you who were there with us, this second photo is where we had our ceremony.

There is still so much to do in Yosemite when it's covered in snow. One of the highlights of our trip was snow shoeing up at Badger Pass, this is where they have their ski lodge. Lead by a park ranger, we went on a three hour trek up to a lookout point where we could view the Yosemite Valley.

Most of our evenings were spent in the Ahwahnee Hotel reading in front of the fire in the great room. One evening the door next to us opened and a raccoon came in to take a look around. He stayed for a minute and showed himself out. Apparently he had figured out how the door works!

We also went on a hike to Mirror Lake. As you can see, it got its' name from the near perfect reflection it gives of the cliffs above.

Our last morning there we ate breakfast at the Ahwahnee Dining Room. While we were drinking our coffee a bobcat crept outside our window trying to hunt down a squirrel. The whole restaurant was by our table taking pictures of it!

The First Wedding In Our Back Yard

As some of you know, we are co-owners of a 4-plex here in East Hollywood. We are blessed to be living in the same building as our good friends, two families, Ed, Katie and their two boys, Phil, Merideth and their three boys. We became friends at the Hollywood Church, but in 2006 they started a church plant in our neighborhood. They, along with several others, meet every Sunday right here in one of their apartments. Over the past year and a half they have been getting to know the people in our neighborhood very well and have been reaching out to them.

One couple that they have been studying with decided to be baptized and to be married. Marco & Luisa moved here from Mexico and only speak Spanish. They have two beautiful daughters, Alysia and Sophia.

Everything that went into the wedding was a community effort with only two weeks to get it together. A dress was donated and Katie & I altered it. Merideth, Katie, and Wendy (another member of their Church) bought and arranged the flowers themselves. Ed put together a collection of music. Several people chipped in on the rings. Kenny manned the grill, and I baked the wedding cake. This must be how they did weddings back in the good old days!

The wedding was very beautiful and Godly focused. Following the ceremony we had a Carne Asada (Mexican style beef) dinner with tortillas, rice and beans. It was delicious!

What We Leave Behind

It seems like we've done a million things since our last post, but have somehow not found the time to write about them. So I will begin with the very thing that has taken our time away from posting on the blog, our new hobby of genealogy research.

Last September we decided to join Ancestry.com to put together our Family Tree. They allow you to search Census Records dating back to the early 1800's, Military Draft records, Obituaries, Wills, the resources are endless! Some weeks we would spend 3-4 evenings researching our families, Kenny working on his and I working on mine. It feels very rewarding when you finally get back far enough to find the ancestor who made the great move to America. We traced some branches back to Ireland, Germany, and England.

There have been some funny discoveries, especially in names, such as Kenny's great grandmother "Izilla" and my great, great, great grandmother "Isaphenid." Also, in the large amounts of kids they had, over 12 most of the time, and how quickly the men remarried once their wife died! One of Kenny's relatives waited less than 2 months! Times were definitely different back then! We have also had somewhat exciting discoveries, like the fact that the Rea's are very distantly related to former Presidential contender John Edwards.

Some might say, what's so fun about learning who your great, great, great, great grandfather is? They lived hundreds of years ago, they never had a thought about you. They lived on a goat farm with a two room house, they weren't anybody famous. So why does it mean so much to us today?

Last Sunday in Bible Class the teacher asked who there new the names of their great grandparents. Kenny and I, along with one other man raised our hands. Out of 15-20 people in our class, we were the only ones! That makes me so sad! I realize that not everyone was raised to take pride in their heritage like I was, but this generation doesn't even know the names of their great grandparents? How sad to think that in only 100 years, no one will remember our names!

The teacher had a very good point. What do we leave behind that is left to those after us? So I thought about this, I have Ma Ma Faye's trunk, Grandma Rea's old mixer, Kenny has his great grandfather's pocket watch and his Grandpa's pair of dress slacks, along with a few other things I could think of. But what do I have from Great Grandma Duppe or Great Grandma Esta? I never knew them, I hardly know what they looked like. I don't know if they were quiet, funny, if they liked to sing.

But what I do have and can pass down to my great grandchildren is the gift that my Great Grandpa, Pa Pa Audis's brother, Frank, gave to us. If he hadn't studied the Bible as a boy and taught his brothers, who taught their sons, wives, children, and grandchildren, I may not have the gift of the hope of heaven someday, nor would my children.

I also have the gift my Great Grandma Rauda gave when she raised a wonderful lady, my Grandma Rea, who was a good Christian, who always did what was right, was loved by everyone, and set a wonderful example to me and everyone else who knew her.

Those are the things that last for generations to come, even after our names are forgotten, after our pictures fade away. Genealogy isn't all about the names and the dates, but it's about the hundreds of people who lived their lives, hopefully doing and teaching what they believed in and working hard for the generations to come. All of those lives coming together to you, and your life being a tiny piece of a giant puzzle, leading to someone else after we're gone. Have you ever thought about what your will leave behind?

Ladies Bible Brunch

Last Saturday morning, I hosted a Ladies Bible Brunch for all of the ladies at our church. We had 10 attend and it went very well. I had spent a couple of days in the kitchen baking in preparation. We had Cinnamon Raisin Bread, Pumpkin Nut Bread, Blueberry Muffins, Raspberry Cream Muffins, Cinnamon Sour Cream Coffee Cake, Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Cookies, Canadian Bacon Strata, and Fruity Tea Punch.

We discussed the characteristics of a highly influential woman, based out of Proverbs 31. Two of our older ladies shared with us verses that they have kept close to them through their life. Everyone thought it was a great success!

New Tile

A couple of weeks ago, Kenny and Ed, who is the other owner of our building, tiled the two balconies in our building. One of the balconies is ours and we are so pleased with how it turned out. They did a great job.

On our balcony we have a bistro table and two chairs, a hanging red Geranium, Cyclamens, Yellow Mums, and a bougainvillea. Our view to the southeast is of the downtown skyline. We love to eat on our balcony, especially for Saturday morning breakfast or at dinner by candlelight.

We just had a wonderful week with my parents, Bob & Brenda, as they came out to spend some time with us. From the moment they landed we were having fun and felt like we were on vacation, too. On the ride home from the airport Kenny started talking about all of the great Hamburger and Hot Dog places along the way and, of course, we ended up stopping at Tommy's for burgers on the way home.

On Saturday I fixed blueberry sour cream pancakes with a maple pecan syrup for breakfast. Then we went up to Mt. Wilson Observatory where you can see some of the oldest and largest telescopes. This is where Edwin Hubble worked and made his discoveries. The view from here is amazing, you can see all of Los Angeles and the other mountain ranges in the distance as far as the eye can see.

That evening we went to the Griffith Observatory, which sits in Griffith Park right above Hollywood. The observatory just underwent a 4 year renovation and was re-opened last November. Do you remember the James Dean movie "Rebel Without A Cause"? In the movie James Dean dies on the steps of the Griffith Observatory.

We were able to look through their large telescope inside the east dome and see Jupiter and its' moons. They also have many interactive exhibits, a planetarium, and a wonderful view of the city. As you can see, Dad sat and talked with Einstein while we were there.

On Sunday morning we went to church and Mom helped me out in my Sunday school class, teaching the 1st-3rd graders. Afterwards we ate at Figaro, a French bistro with wonderful food and a great atmosphere. Kenny and I are standing in front of their pastry display.

Kenny took off work Monday and we went to Santa Monica. We found some cute shops and ate lunch, then went to the beach.

I took Mom & Dad to the Grove on Tuesday. The Grove is an outdoor shopping mall with many nice stores, restaurants, and is attached to a farmer's market. We had lunch at the Marmalade Cafe and then walked around. The highlight for my Mom and I was visiting the American Girl Store, where we got to see the many dolls and their accessories, the doll hair salon, the cafe where you can eat next to your doll, and the theater to watch plays.

Later, we went to the La Brea Tar Pits, which are real tar pits that are being excavated to uncover fossils from thousands of years ago. It is known as the largest discovery of ice age fossils. We viewed a current excavation that is taking place and toured the museum.

On Thursday we had a cookout in the back and invited our neighbors. We had a lot of fun visiting and playing with the kids. When it began to cool down we had apple cobbler and hot cider.

Friday was an exciting day, we drove down to San Diego and saw the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Natural History Museum and the Maritime Museum. The Maritime Museum had several large boats to tour, including the Star of India, the HMS Surprise (which is the boat in the Russell Crow movie Master and Commander), a B-39 Submarine, and a few more.

It was very hard to say goodbye on Saturday. The week flew by very fast and, as always, didn't seem like enough time together. But we made some great memories!

My Day In The Kitchen

These days I spend a great deal of time in the kitchen, fixing dinner, baking treats, cleaning. But the longest run yet was last Friday when I baked a Lemon Curd Cake with Lemon buttercream frosting and a batch of Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream frosting for my friend Katie's birthday party.


The recipe came from my Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, a great cookbook, but Martha doesn't like to take any shortcuts. I started at 9:30 am and was finally placing the curls of chocolate decoration on the cupcakes around 7:00 pm.




The lemon cake had several different processes, starting with baking the two pans of cake batter. The hardest part was making the lemon filling that would go between the four layers. This included zesting 4 lemons, which is scraping off the outer yellow layer of the lemon. I just bought my first "zester" the day before.

The outer icing was fun to make, not to mention delicous. Pictured is the icing being mixed in my mixer. This mixer was Grandma Rea's and now it gets used quite frequently and is one of my favorite things in the kitchen. I love to think about about all of the yummy treats she made with it over the years.

I cut the two cake rounds in half to make the four layers and then carefully stacked them with the filling in between. The outer icing I put on with an icing spatula, which makes all the difference in decorating a cake. The last step was decorating, which was done with the lemon filling. I followed the design from the book, but added "Happy Birthday Katie".


The cake and the cupcakes were the hit of the party. I have to thank Kenny who was my taste tester, I couldn't have done it without him!

Trip to San Diego

Since Kenny had a class in San Diego a couple of weeks ago, we took the opportunity to do some sight-seeing. San Diego is a bit smaller than LA and much more scenic, with more greenery and open skies.

Our main attraction in San Diego was the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit at the Natural History Museum. The scrolls are only on display here for a few months and we were excited about the chance to see them. The exhibit is by reservation only and was extremely crowded! The two-story exhibit takes you through the history of the land where they were discovered, its' inhabitants, the process of discovery and restoration. Then you get to view fragments of the scrolls under dim lights. There are translations of the languages by each fragment. We saw sections of Deuteronomy, Psalms, Isaiah, to name a few. It was very interesting.

We also stopped at one of San Diego's biggest draws, Sea World. We saw the polar bears, penguins (my favorite), walrus, sea otters, and even flamingos. But the most impressive show was Shamu, the killer whale. The trainers ride on his back and stand on his nose as he jumps out of the water and high up into the air.

Our favorite dinner was in Little Italy, a small area of Italian restaurants and shops. Our waiters were definitely Italian and the food was very authentic. After dinner, we got some real gelato and a gelateria across the road.

Weekend in San Francisco

It was Sunday night when we got a call from Kenny's friend in Houston, Doug Helm, who said he was in San Francisco for the next two weeks with his wife Erin and their 4 month old Alivia. At the last minute we decided to drive up to spend the weekend with them.

Our adventures started at the Ferry Terminal where we met them for breakfast on Saturday morning. The weekly Farmer's market was taking place so we spent some time looking around at the different stands and trying different fruits, although it was very chilly out. They had every fruit and vegetable you could imagine! We also bought a loaf of fresh rosemary & basil Italian bread.

Next, we walked a few blocks over to China Town. It had narrow, crowded streets and every sign was in Chinese. There were souvenir & tea shops, as well as some shops selling authentic Chinese apparel. From there we walked up a hill (there are many in SF) and over to Union Square. Union Square is a busy, downtown shopping area with much to see. By then the sun had come out and it had warmed up. We ate lunch at Sears Fine Foods and shared a plate of sourdough french toast. Little Alivia was such a good traveler, she hardly complained at all.

After lunch we ventured over to the Mission District. It is named for the Spanish missionaries that first moved to that area. One of the main characteristics of the Mission District is the large number of murals on the sides of buildings. Supposedly, the murals started appearing due to a movement in the 70's, but today they don't know whether to deem them graffiti or art. Since the Mission District is known for their good Mexican food, we decided to try it out for ourselves at dinner.

Needless to say, by the end of Saturday, after all of the walking we had done we were all very sore and worn out! We ended the evening by taking the trolley back to Fisherman's Wharf and getting a hot chocolate at the Ghiradelli cafe.

Sunday morning we met again for breakfast, but this time at the Boudin Sourdough Bread Factory. Kenny and I had visited here on our honeymoon and loved it. We toured the factory, where you can watch them preparing and baking the bread. They have a great restaurant and a store where you can by cookbooks, aprons, sauces, and Jellies.

After breakfast we said our goodbyes, as Doug, Erin & Alivia were going to meet another friend that lived in the city. Kenny and I decided to do some sight-seeing by car, especially since we were still so sore. We drove up to Coit Tower, which has wonderful views of the city and the bay. Next we did some antique shopping and walking around, then drove over to see the famous Painted Ladies, Lombard Street, and the Golden Gate Park.

On Monday morning, Kenny went into the San Francisco office of his company to do some work and meet up with his colleagues there. We took two of them out to lunch at the Tadich Grill. While Kenny was at work I checked out the shops at the Embarcadero Center across the street.

Our O'Keefe & Merritt

When it comes to ovens, it has been proven that it doesn't take the new & modern to cook great food... When Kenny and I were searching for a new oven we started out looking for one a year or two old, but we ended up falling in love with one 56 years old!

O'Keefe & Merritts were the Cadillac of ovens in their day. They had all of the most modern features, including a broiler, griddle, electric clock/timer, and automatic oven control. They were the first of their kind that could be set to turn on the oven at a certain time and then turn themselves off. O&M's were also manufactured right here in Los Angeles, making them not too hard to find if you know where to look. Have you ever watched the Rachel Ray show? The red oven she has is an O&M.

We found a family in Pasadena who were remodeling their kitchen and were ready to get a new oven. Their O&M was in great condition, which is hard to find, it had been in the same family for years and they had taken good care of it. It cost us the same as any other used oven would have, which isn't bad considering that restored O&M's can sell for thousands.

Before the oven was moved into the apartment it took me a full day to give it a detailed cleaning. For the past few months we have worked on it a little here and there. Kenny loves to work on it, I think it has to do with its' likeness to an old car. It has chrome to polish and wiring to fix up.

For my Christmas present last year, Kenny found an original 1951 print cookbook that came with the oven on eBay. The book gives specific care instructions, most of them you don't see anymore like using a slice of lemon to get up tough stains. All of the illustrations include a woman in her dress & apron with perfect hair and high heels, smiling as she cleans the oven. You know I look just like that when I clean it! :)

I love using the oven, the broiler is great for pork chops, the little vanishing shelf it perfect for letting cookies cool after they come out of the oven. But our favorite meal to make is pancakes on the griddle.

Beethoven's 9th at the Hollywood Bowl

Tuesday night we went to the Hollywood Bowl to see the Los Angeles Philharmonic perform Beethoven's 9th. Thanks to Kenny's work we had awesome box seats, center stage.

Usually, when we go to the bowl we sit way up in the back. Those seats aren't bad because you get to take in the whole ambiance of the amphitheatre, Hollywood hills in the background, and the huge spotlights shining into the sky. But this time we got to see how the other half enjoys the bowl. Each box seats 4-6 people, they all have little tables where people can eat dinner before the show. (The bowl is the only venue in town that allows people to bring in their own food.) Or you can order a three course meal in advance and they will deliver it to your box when you arrive. You can tell who are regulars, because they all had pretty table clothes to put on their tables.

We arrived early and brought some good cheese, crackers, and grapes from Trader Joe's. The group in the box next to us brought a whole chocolate cake which they shared with us.
No, we didn't have any celebrity sitings. I doubt any well-known celebrities would have much interest in going to see Beethoven's 9th and they're not known to visit the bowl as frequently. However, the ones who come to see the LA Philharmonic are the artists, screenwriters, composers, etc, along with the executives whose companies own box seats.

The performance was really good. The conductor, Michael Tilson Thomas, was very lively which was very entertaining. The most popular piece in the performance was Ode To Joy, which was played in the last section. The Los Angeles Master Chorale accompanied the symphony, along with four soloists who were very impressive. For more information you can visit their site at http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/tix/performance_detail.cfm?id=3243&back=%2Ftix%2Fseries%5Fclassical%2Ecfm%3B

Harry Potter Movie & Book Release

As all of you know, we are both fans of the Harry Potter book series and the movies. One of the highlights of this July was the release of movie 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and the 7th and last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Thanks to our good friend and fellow Harry Potter fan Bryan, we were able to get tickets on opening day to see the new movie released at Grauman's Chinese Theatre! The line was wrapped around the corner of Hollywood & Highland, but we were able to catch up with Bryan who was just a few short feet from the front of the line.

The atmosphere was exciting, as the theatre was packed and people were rushing around to get the best seats possible as soon as they opened the doors. Watching the movie with other Harry Potter fans (who were probably into it more than we were) was a very neat experience. Everyone was voicing their disgust and laughter with the movie, which added to the experience.

When we left the theatre, the fresh handprints, footprints, and wandprints of Daniel Radcliff (Harry), Rupert Grint (Ron), and Emma Watson (Hermoine) were on display.

We enjoyed watching the movie so much that a week later we went to the iMax theater at Universal City to watch it again. This time we got to see a portion of it in 3-D! This version is only available in the iMax theaters, in which there are only about 200 across the world showing Harry Potter. The 3-D was really cool, it was just like we were there.

At midnight, Saturday morning, July 21st, was the book release for the 7th and final Harry Potter novel. Bryan had reserved us both a copy of the book as a wedding present and asked us to go with him to pick it up at midnight.

Borders was swarming with Harry Potter fanatics, all lined up waiting for midnight. Several people had worn costumes, we saw a Lucius Malfoy, Fleur De LaCour, Hogwarts robes, and some random witch outfits that didn't seem to fit the book (But what do you expect? It's Hollywood).

The book was great and we recommend reading the whole series to everyone!

11 States In 11 Days

We have just returned from a long, yet short trip to the South and back. The purpose of our trip began with the sole purpose of being with Banks (kenny's brother) during his thyroid surgery in Nashville. The surgery took place on Friday, June 29th, and all went well. He was able to come home from the hospital the very next morning. It was great to spend a few days with Banks and the family and we're so glad he's doing better now.

Since we were so close to Florence, Alabama, where Kenny grew up, it was a great opportunity for him to go back and visit and show me around. And since word got around that Kenny was coming back to town a few guys decided to get together for dinner with him. Little did we know that we were going for a Mars Hill Bible School 16-year reunion. It was great! Kenny got to see a lot of his old friends and catch up on the past 6 years since his last reunion. There were at least 15 classmates and their spouses present, all still members of the church. We were blessed by getting to stay the night at the Heupel's home and did a lot of catching up with them.

The trip also served as an opportunity to buy a Ford Escape (and get around the high prices of CA dealerships) and to drive back several pieces of furniture that we have inherited in a U-Haul trailer. There was a bit of chaos in getting the trailer, apparently the closest one they could get for us was in Iuka, Mississippi. After spending a morning driving around trying to find the right size trailer hitch and getting to Iuka to pick up a trailer (which had a flat tire), it was worth it when we loaded up Kenny's great Grandmother's China Cabinet that was being stored there in Florence.

Another highlight of Kenny's visit to Florence was a visit to his school, Mars Hill Bible School, where he studied from 1st thru 12th Grade. We had a good talk with Dr. Barfield and a tour of the school. We saw some of his old debate trophies and some places that brought back memories of his mischievousness.

Our next stop on the trip was in Benton, Illinois to visit my family. While there we had a family get together to celebrate both of our birthdays. It was a great cook out with lots of food and, of course, chocolate birthday cake. We had a great time relaxing out in the country and going for a swim in the pool. We also got to go out and see the cows and the bull, Simba. On July 4th we drove down to my Grandpa's farm in Vienna and took a tour. The night before we left we all went out and ate barbecue, Kenny's favorite!

On Friday morning we set out to Neosho, MO to make one last visit on our way back to California. We had only been on the road for about an hour when a tire on the trailer blew out. The wait for U-Haul to send someone to fix it took about two hours! This delay put us way behind schedule. We arrived in Neosho around 7p.m. that evening.

We had a great dinner and a nice visit with Kenny's parents in Neosho. After dinner we got to see their garden and all of their beautiful flowers. The next morning at breakfast we ate pancakes and watched the birds outside flying around.

Back on the road, Kenny and I passed the time by reading the Bible to each other, which I would say was one of the highlights of driving for so long. It was very uplifting.

We tried to stop only when we needed to get gas, which seemed like it was pretty often. Our half way point, and stopping place for the night was just on the east side of Albuquerque. The most scenic states were New Mexico & Arizona, with their large rock mountains and wide deserts. We also enjoyed the random dinasaur statues that people put along the side of the road.

Crossing the border into California meant that they had to check our vehicle for any plants or animals. The desert there was supposedly 110 degrees, which we could feel. It's probably the least populated part of California.

Our trip was a success, nothing in the trailer was broken or damaged when we arrived.. We had a great time!

Norah Jones Concert

Thursday, June 21st, Kenny and I spent our weekly date night at the Norah Jones concert. Nestled in the foothills of Griffith Park and just two miles from our home, the Greek Theatre is a beautiful venue and was perfect for a performance by Norah Jones. The opening act was by M. Ward, who we discovered has a cool website and mellow music. However, about the third from last song he asked a special guest to come out on stage. He began singing "I'm Old Fashioned" by Ella Fitzgerald and when it came time for her verse the crowd was appalled by a voice that resembled Granny from the Beverly Hillbillies. That really got the crowds attention! Kenny joked with the people sitting behind us that he knew he was bad, give him a microphone and he has a shot at this business!

Towards the end of the concert Norah made a joke about meeting up after the show at a bar down the street. Then she said, "see you at the Smog Cutter." The Smog Cutter is a hole in the wall dive bar around the corner from our building. It is grungy and all it says is "Smog Cutter" out front. For a long time I thought it was a smog check center, until Kenny informed me that it was a dive bar. How did she know about it??

Just over a month ago the Greek Theatre was just a few feet away from being destroyed by the massive Griffith Park fire, which we watched from the roof of our building. Thankfully it was saved, although it burned down to the parking lot. It was sad to see all of the damage that the fire did.


Norah did a good job and it was a wonderful concert. I especially enjoyed her rendition of Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger.

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