fondu you wanna hug me?

Well, Kevin arrived safely last night. So glad he is able to come for a few days. A young couple from Kevin's church said they wanted to give him a gift, and paid for his plane ticket out here. I'm so grateful for generous people who support our relationship in such an incredible way. Thank you!

I drove down to LAX to get Kevin...had to make a lap before he came out, but then missed him on the way by (I would've had to cross over 5 lanes of traffic), so I pulled over when I could, and watched him hustle down the sidewalk toward me! This gave me a chance to get out of the car, take a picture of him running toward me, and jump with joy a little myself! How awesome to get a tight squeeze from my love. Again, the LAX police were thick, so we hurried back in the car and headed back to Torrance. We have our ordinary hero training on Wednesday nights, to Kevin got to come with me. I was able to introduce him to a few key leaders from Good Shepherd. We were both pretty well shot by the time that was over, so we went home to crash. Kevin always walks into the door and says to Bill and Jane, "The prodigal has returned!" Bill was Mr. Witty this time and said back, "Kill the fattened calf!" Too funny.

We were both so exhausted this morning that we took the opportunity to sleep in, and got going at our own pace. Eventually we got up, took showers, and matched our outfits. Kevin graciously brought nice shirts so we could get a Christmas card photo taken. We went down near the Redondo Pier and snapped a few before the heat killed my hair. Here are a couple from that fun little shoot.

Then it was off to the Getty Museum in LA. Carla's husband works there, so he got us a free parking pass. And, the Getty is FREE...it was a pretty cheap afternoon. We got to see some pretty incredible pieces. Kevin bought a poster from the Getty last year, so we got to actually see it in person. You know how most paintings are much small than you expect them to be? Yeah, this was not the case. We walked into the room to see his painting, and both said, "HOLY COW!" It was huge. Wall-size. I think that made Kevin's day! The gardens and grounds at the Getty were truly beautiful. We couldn't bring my tripod in, so we had to get creative with our shots, and were fortunate enough to find a photographer to take this photo of us by the ivy. I mean, it matched my dresss perfectly...we had to get a shot by it! :) For those of you planning to come out and visit, this is one place I'm willing to see again. I'm sure we missed some of the hidden treasures there! The Getty is set up on a hill overlooking the city. The parking structure is tucked deep into the ground, and you get to take a free tram ride to the top. Bob is letting me borrow his little digital camera while I'm here, so Kevin used it to take a few shots of his own! What a great adventure!

Thursday night: date night. I made reservations for us at The Melting Pot in Pasadena, so we drove over into Old Pasadena to eat. Of course, we brought a change of clothes and took turns crawling into the back of Vera until we both looked smashing! I love any excuse to wear a cute dress and uncomfortable shoes! :) If you've never been...spend the money and go. It was a romantic evening. 4 courses of food, cheese fondu, salad, meat fondu, and FREE chocolate fondue! YUM! We walked around downtown after our meal to take in the beautiful city, and then hopped back in the car for a long drive home. It was a great way to celebrate our 18 month anniversary!