our wonderful (but short) summer break

Eugene went back to school today and our sweet, sweet summer has come to an end.

It has been a wonderful summer break.

Eugene was super busy working full time hours and i've been tied up trying to balance two jobs but we were able to squeeze in a lot of good times and good food and much-needed rest. God is good and life is pretty beautiful. Though starting school again is bittersweet - we're excited for Eugene to start his THIRD (and hardest!!) year of pharmacy school and we're praying earnestly and feeling quite dependent on God's grace to get through it together. 

Our summer was a great time for us to "catch up" and to really spend quality time together. As many of you know - Eugene and I really don't see each other all that much while he's in school. Due to both our commutes (his to LA and mine to OC) and our opposite schedules - there were weeks and months in the last few years where we would only really see each other awake for a few hours a week. As you can imagine - this can definitely create a platform for a lot of miscommunication and/or lack of communication. We really have to fight every day and every week to find creative ways to spend time together and to express our love for one another. (Is this getting too gushy? too bad!) The summer was a perfect time for us to look back and see how good and faithful God has been to us in our marriage. Despite the many hard days - we could honestly say that God really strengthened our marriage and deepened our love for one another. We were able to really bask in the fruit of that nurtured, matured and tested love during this summer and simply enjoy each other during this short, but sweet time off.

Needless to say - a lot of good eats were involved. 

We also went on a lot of spontaneous dates and had a lot of dessert. and boba. and ice cream. 

We even got to sneak away on a short cruise trip together. We literally ate and slept the entire trip. We docked on Catalina the first day and got ice cream. That's about the most exciting thing we did the entire trip. 

Despite the crazy kiddie dance parties (which I participated in) and the massive number of people on board - we enjoyed free room service, unlimited pizza and ordering 2-3 appetizers and 2-3 entrees for every dinner. It was amazing. More than anything I was so grateful to have spent free, phone-less (we had no reception!) time with my husband. 

Other highlights of summer: 

• Meeting up during lunch breaks at random places (Rubios, Marketplace Grill) and almost getting indigestion because we had to eat so fast.
• I AM GROOT!!! (I love that we watched this twice because I slept through the entire movie the first time.)
• Going to porto's for breakfast and coffee any free morning we had
• Sleeping in! (What a blessing that I will never, ever, ever take for granted!)
• Going to the gym and then going to Starbucks to read together. Trenta Green Tea, unsweetened + a free refill, please :) 
• Going to Vegas for 1 night to eat at Bacchanal Buffet (yes, we literally only went for this reason!) and how our room got double booked and we walked into our room and there were people inside (yipes!) so we told the conceirge and they gave us a free room upgrade + $50 food credit so we used it on the buffet...woot woot!
• Camping with friends - and riding on a boat and feeling super important. (Never forget Mel Wong's legit girl scout skillz.)
• The day we ordered so much sushi and the guy who worked their doubted just how much sushi you could eat - and we got all puffed up with pride and we got super OWNED. and vowed to never eat AYCE sushi for date nights ever again. God really humbled us that day : ( 
• Stand-up paddle boarding, game night and yummy taco dinner with the Oquindo's
• Parks and Rec. and my favorite RON SWANSON! (ps. Can I buy this mask?)

• Driving to church together, finally! (We usually drive seperately because I have a lot of meetings at church and Eugene likes to go home early to study.) This was a huge blessing!
• Going to Pho 2000 after a hard day of work (for me) almost every week because it was my major comfort food. 
• Our nightly family worship - reading through the gospel of John and praying together (praying we can keep this up during the school year!) 
• Family hang outs with both of our families - and eating AYCE and totally overwhelming the staff with our orders. 
• Dancing to our newly choreographed "Awesome MIX vol. 1" from GoG. Eugene is seriously the cutest dancer - I'm so lucky that I'm the only one allowed to see him dance! He goes all out, guys! You would never believe it.

It was a great summer. p3 aint got nothin' on us!
It's gonna be an amazing year....you'll see! : ) 

xoxo