Christians need a change

I have to say that last night was pretty emotional for me. On one hand I could not believe that I was witnessing history being made right before my eyes like something out of a TV show. On the other hand I felt excited and scared for change all at the same time. All day I have just been reminding myself that I am to be concerned of my heavenly kingdom and not my earthly one. All things are God's....All things. This morning I read this bulletin posted on myspace from Brandon's brother. I haven't been able to get it off my mind all day. This is exactly why I feel like Christians need a change .

GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS
"Well the good news is Barak Obama won the Presidency by a LANDSLIDE! And all though they are saying it is still too close to call, the bad news is that it appears the bigots of California are going to win the Prop 8 fight and our state constitution will be raped, will be used to deny a whole group of people a basic human right. It is disgusting and vile and it is one of the reason why I would rather burn in hell for all eternity than EVER step foot inside of a Christian church again! I'm sure Jesus is really proud of you all."

Justin if you read this I hope you don't mind and thanks!

Halloween Night O' Fun!

Our church put on a harvest festival on Halloween night. I have to say I was so proud to be apart of this event. It wasn't about trying to get people to come to our church or trick them into some religious hidden agenda. It was just about loving our community and providing a safe place for families to have a good time. Like our pastor said "We showed our community how to put on a party" and it was great! Peyton had the time of her life. here are a few pictures to highlight the evening.
The entry of the church was made into this huge pumpkin that you could walk through that led into a corn maze.

We got to hang out a little with our friends Rachel and Caleb. Caleb was dressed like a Pirate and he looked pretty cute.
Peyton got her face painted...
rode a pony...
They had "trunk or treating" were members of the church decorated their trunks and the kids went from car to car to get candy. Peyton learned how to say "Trick or treat" and went to every car at least twice.
Her favorite Candy was the lollipop after her third one of the night I decided that was enough and had to take one away from her well this did NOT go over well, as you can imagine and she threw a huge tantrum while yelling "But trick or treat...but trick or treat!"
Peyton with Pastor Ed. They are buddies!
The night ended with a hay ride around the neighborhood. unfortunately it began to pour rain and we got soaked. All and all the night was a huge success. Here is a video of peyton dancing and enjoying one of her lollipops.

I apologies in advance for this entry but we had such a fun week last week that I just have to blog about it. I am sure someone out there cares. lol. Well our week started on saturday when we picked up my mom from the airport. She was able to come for her first visit to Santa Cruz since we moved. We decided to take her to a pumpkin patch so she could see for herself just how much Peyton loves her "punkies" Here are a few pictures and a funny video of the event.







On Sunday After church we walked down to the Capitola village to march in the Halloween Parade. My mom brought with her a bunny costume that she has made for me when I was two years old. We were running late for the parade so we quickly threw it on Peyton and needless to say she was not that pleased about wearing it at first and she refused to wear the bunny ears until we got down to the parade and she saw all the other kids dressed up then she left the ears on the rest of the time. It was so funny to see the light bulb turn on in her little head as she started to understand this dressing up thing and wanted to be apart of it. All the stores along the parade route were handing out candy and she got her first taste of a lollipop and LOVED it!!





On Monday we took my mom out to the warf and out to dinner for a real Santa Cruz experience. Peyton loves looking at the SeaLions. We had a nice dinner down town and my mom got to experience some of the culture homeless guys got in a fight and thrown out of the resturant during our meal. It was awesome! lol


On Wednesday we went to the Capitola Library for a Halloween Story time. We met our friends Rachel and Caleb. Caleb and Peyton looked so cute playing together with their Halloween outfits on.




On Thursday Peyton had play group in the park. We dressed her up in her bunny costume again and this time she was happy to put it on she even let Nana paint her face like a bunny!




So that was our Halloween week O' fun and that was just the week before. I will have to do a separate blog on the actual day but I feel so blessed to live somewhere that has this many fun and safe activities for kids. It occurred to me that next year Peyton will be so different. She will probably understand the whole thing a little better and I am sure that will be fun to see but this year was so precious full of new discoveries. I am sad that she will probably never call a pumpkin a "Punkie" again.

Moments with the Kertson's

Here are just a few moments that we have had over the last few weeks. the first picture is of our cute little house...little is the key word but it certainly is not lacking in charm. Notice the big satellite, Brandon is very excited about this because he gets every Chargers game. The pictures and video of the beach were taken walking distance from our house. The park is where I take Peyton for play group every Thursday morning. The park over looks the Santa Cruz Bay. (Such a hard life we live) Peyton is getting so good at climbing all the play ground equipment and going down the slide by herself. She makes her mom nervous but she is having a great time! notice in the video that Peyton is scared of the waves and yells "Oh No" every time they break. She is so dramatic it is hilarious.

Prop 2: cruelty to Animals act

A recent episode of Oprah brought my attention to Prop 2. ( Yes I watch Oprah...don't judge) Ever since watching the episode I have become very passionate about learning more about this act. Even talking to Brandon at dinner tonight about it I almost started wheling up with tears (yes I am prego so that isn't hard to do). For those of you who are not familiar with the proposition it basically bands the use of animals living in small cages. While this sounds like a great idea, and at first, I myself was all for the act, the more I have thought about the outcome if it were to pass the more I am against it. For one, I feel like the people who are for Propostision 2 have put little to no thought into what this could do for the farmers who run these farms. It will literally put hundreds of them out of business because the costs of having to provide larger cages means either housing less animals or buying more land. Now don't get me wrong I am a true animal lover at heart and totally disagree with torturing animals but I get hung up when we start putting animals rights over humans. I just can't stop thinking of those farmers who have been in the farming business for years that would have to shut down their farms and put their families well being in jeopardy because of some law that was passed to allow a chicken to be able to spread its wings. Is that not crazy to anyone else? I just wish there was some happy medium to it all. I know there are farms who wrongly abuse their animals and probably should be shut down but I know their are also farms that don't and they shouldn't have to loose their livelihood. A law like this just isn't necessary in this day and age when people can make a choice to buy from free range farms or not. I for one buy organic milk because I don't trust the hormones and things in regular milk. I just feel like we have opportunities to make choices, so make those choices but leave peoples jobs out of it!

Punkies!!!

So we took Peyton to a pumpkin patch last week and let her pick out three pumpkins. (they are so cheap here it is ridiculous!) She calls them punkies and talks to them like they are her friends. here are a few pictures from the event.

My top ten Santa Cruz discoveries...

1. Everyone drives with their windows down
2. Produce is better and cheaper!
3. No one uses their air conditioning
4. Everyone owns a bike
5. There is alot of talk about tourist
6. Water conservation is very important
7. There is alot less road rage but people drive slower
8. They don't believe in drive thru's
9. The nearest Wal Mart is 45min away
10. Homeless people like to ask for your restaurant leftovers