Michael's Birthday Party!

Last night we went to my cousin Michael's birthday party. Here's Josh, Grandma, Grandpa, Michael, my Dad, and Uncle Joe hanging out.

Michaels wife Taina made some amazing cake for dessert. Here's Michael blowing out his candles.

Here I am hanging out with my cousin Tiana.

Aunt Lisa, my mom, Callie and Brianna enjoying dessert. Aunt Lisa was telling us all about what a great missionary our cousin Brent is.

Here I am with my adorable Mom!

Here's my beatiful sister Callie and I!

The beatiful Brianna and I ready for some fun! We had alot of fun our family is the best! Happy birthday Michael!

Camping with the Fam!

The day we got back from the Conference we packed up and headed out camping with the family! The next morning after a good nights sleep was went on an amazing hike. Here we are along the trail (Dad, Mom, me, and Callie).

Way to go almost there! Such a beautiful place to be.

Afterward since we didn't have showers in camp we had to improvise to get cleaned up. Here I am washing my hair.

Dad made us a yummy dinner in the dutch oven. So tasty!

The game of choice for the camping trip was phase 10! Callie won every game.

Along the trail with Dad. (coo-coo)

On day 2 we hiked down to the beach. We have a great time together! In this pic it's easy to see we crack each other up. Good times.

Here we are relaxing on the rocks at the beach.

On day 3 after packing up camp we took a walk on the beach near our camp before heading home. It was a great trip and nice to have a break from reality. I love my family!

Fresno YSA Conference!

This year in California they had a state wide single adult conference! They divided it into the 7 temple districts. Although my home town is in the LA temple district my stake was included with the Fresno Temple district to make the numbers more even, which was okay with us since Fresno is closer anyway! My sisters, our friends Myriah and Hillary, and I drove up a day early to hang out with Claudia (sister I served with in the mission and lived with at BYU-I) and go to them Temple. Here we (Brianna, Myriah, Me, Hillary, Claudia) are in front of the Temple!

After the Temple we went to lunch and shopping at Target. Then we hung out at Claudia's place and swam in the pool. It was a great time and good to catch up with Claudia. Then we got ready for the opening dance. Here we (Callie, Brianna, Hillary, Myriah, me) are ready to go looking hot!

The first dance was lots of fun. Here I am with a group of friends from our singles ward.

I got a spider bite the night before the conference started and it was horribly itchy and swollen. Fortunately after 3 trips to different drug stores I found the "green goo" that Myriah recommended which combined with the other things I was taking was quite effective.

They did an amazing job on the food. There were able to get all 1,200 of us through quickly and the food was fabulous. After lunch we had speed dating (in our groups according age). It was actually alot of fun and not nearly as akward as I thought it would be. The we had workshops until dinner time which were really good.

After dinner came the service project. For the service project we tied quilts to donate to people in need. Here I am with Myriah working way.

After the service project we went back to Claudia's place to get ready for the 2nd dance. Here I am with Callie, Brianna, and our friend Kylie cooling off in front of the van during the 2nd dance.

On Sunday morning we met at the stake center by the Temple for sacrament meeting. It was amazing to take the sacrament with 1200 other people. They did and amazing job and the spirit was super strong. It was cool to be close to them Temple.

It was a great time! They did an excellent job organizing it! Way to go guys!

Camp Hapitok Fashion!

On the night of the banquet my coworker Palapa and I changed into our dresses but due to the fact that we had some other things to do between the time we dress and the time the banquet began we sported our camp shoes with our dresses until the banquet began! As you can tell from the photo we looked good.

Because I was the night time medical person I often had to do some writing while I helped keep watch in the evening over the cabins. My co-worker/supervisor got me this great head lamp so I would have my hands free for writing. I think it's another good look for me.

Each night when we went to check that everyone was in their cabins at curfew we would dress up silly for a good time. Notice I'm sporting a graduation gown, clown costume, and fire hat combo that really does good things for me! I think both Mission and Palapa did some nice work on their outfits as well. I don't think anyone can disagree with the fact that camp fashion is the best!

All about Marriage!

So this weekend it's been all about marriage.

It started out on Friday with a sweet gift from my Dad...which I wont go into at this time.

Then on Saturday I went with my friend Myriah to 2 wedding receptions. The first was for a guy who grew up in our stake and has actually been married for over a year but is moving back to the USA and is finally have a wedding reception...the only problem was the bride was unable to attend due to visa issues...sad. It was still a good time though. Then that evening was a wedding reception for a couple from our singles ward. Which was nice...only the poor bride passed out during the ring ceremony. It wasn't a good day for brides unfortunately. Fortunately it all worked out.

So today our RS lesson began with us writing down what qualities we want in our future spouses. Well since Myriah and I had both done this roughly 5000 times in young women's and maybe a few times after we decided to do it for each other so here is what Myriah came up with for me:
"What I want in Tara's Ideal man:
-Super Hott
-Not skinny bean pole
-Funny. But not too funny.
-Obliging
-Willing to take orders
-Lover of Horses
-Great posture
-Charming. But not too charming.
-Loves his mother
-Temple worthy and a temple attender
-Lactose intolerant
-Excellent speller
-Slightly competitive. But not too competitive.
"Moderation in all things.""

So if any of you know a guy like this...please give him my number. Apparently someones trying to send a message with all this wedding business.

Fair Fun!

Every year the fair comes to my home town. This year my sisters, my cousins, our friend Hillary and I decided to have a girls night and go to the fair. Here we are all dolled up ready to go. When we arrived we got dinner (yummy chinese) and looked around at the booths for awhile. Then we headed over and checked out the animals. It's amazing that I actually did that as a pre-tee for 2 years (for those that don't know I raised a lamb for the fair 2 years in a row)....it's so much work! It was fun to see and read the funny names the kids came up with! Then we met up with our friend Becka and looked around in the vendor tents and got the fair's famous Cinnamon Rolls!! I yummy fair tradition. Then came the best part. We went to this area with chairs and tables to eat our Cinnamon rolls and they were setting up the near-by stage with 2 pianos....turns out there was a concert right there that started within 10 minutes of our arrival. It was 2 guys who could play the piano amazingly well playing all sorts of songs. They took requests and although many of the songs sounded a bit "poka"ish it was a great time singing along and hanging out with the girls!!

Camp Hapitok Time!

Some of you remember that last summer I worked at a really great summer camp for kids with speech/language delays called Camp Hapitok. Well this year I had the opportunity to work there again. Because I work on the "night" staff I have some time during the day because I work in San Luis and it's too far to go home every day I spend time at my grandparents house, at the library, and in Morro Bay. I have gotten to know the trip of beach near Morro rock quite well as I have been Running and/or walking there a few times a week all month. I love the ocean it's amazingly beautiful and peaceful.

I always see beautiful white cranes in the surf.

One day I saw this heart on the sand...sadly the water had a already washed away the name..it looks kinda like Prona or prora to me...any ideas?

Here is the lovely area I get to work in every day.

We had twin day last week and this is me with the other night staff members in our outfits! Hilarious. It's been a lot of fun working there this summer! It's amazingly fulfilling to be a part of something that makes the lives of the children who attend better. I love it. Hard to believe just one more week and it will be over.