Turns out, I LOVE SURFING!

 Yesterday I was our branch surf day. I must admit I went with a bit of apprehension....you see I'm not very coordinated plus there was the idea of being in a swim suite in front of my entire branch. I know big shocker. But I was willing try since I love pretty much EVERYTHING related to the ocean.

 I started by sticking to my diet hard core all week. Next I took my coworkers advise and got a spray tan on Friday evening (LOVED it by the way and it made a big difference without looking fake). Last I went shopping and got myself some board shorts. Then I was ready.

 I was up at 6 in order to get packed up, pick up my friend Jessica and get to the church by 7. Then we headed down to Doheney to spend the day surfing! Here's Ryan, Me, Amber, and Jessica ready for a day of surfing.

 Here I am with my friend Kenda ready to surf.

 Tamar is a hardcore surfer and will be my roomie soo! She's pretty awesome.

 After a quick surf lesson from our branch president we all headed into the water to try out surfing. You can't see me in this pic but I wasn't wearing a wet suite or booties. I'm hardcore like that.

Here I am after surfing all morning. IT WAS AMAZING! I can't tell you how much I loved it. I was actually able to stand up the first wave I surfed. It took me awhile to get the hang of things but by the time it was ready to get out for lunch I was catching more waves than not and able to stand for a couple of minutes. I was super impressed with myself and had SO MUCH FUN...I didn't want to stop. I credit my success to doing yoga for the last 4 months and the amazing men from our stake who came to help teach us.

My friend Amy came into town for the weekend and we got to play! Our group were the only ones that stayed until the bitter end which meant we were able to be in the water all afternoon broken up by short rest breaks where we were laying in the sun and entertaining each other. On our way home we went to cafe rio for dinner. SUCH A GREAT DAY, I love my life!!

Kick'n it in my new boots!

Last weekend I went to the OC for a midsingles round up. I drove down on Saturday and spent some time at the beach before heading to Hillary's to get ready for the party. Here I am ready for the party.

Athena, Hill and I ready to head out. I was going for big country hair...that's about as big as my hair gets.

We wanted a full body shot so you could see we were rocking the cowboy boots. I had to buy them since I've been wait pretty much my whole life for a reason to buy cowboy boots. :)

Hill and I ready to party!

When we were arrived we grabbed some BBQ and watched the amazing live band they had. They are called "The broken numbers band" and they were amazing! I love live music, and double love good live music.

Athena, Anthony and Hill eating BBQ.

The dirt dance floor had lights strung above it and we had a blast square dancing, line dancing and getting our grove on. We danced our buts off and looked oh so country while doing it. I had a blast getting to know new peps, flirting with men & giving out digits, and kick'n up a cloud of dust with my new boots.

Making life fun...

Last week at work we had Luau day. We were supposed to come wearing Hawaiian garb. I sported my sarong and even danced at the luau they had for the residents, they loved seeing us all in our garb and dancing so it was was worth it. We were all also asked to bring a dish to share for the pot luck. I brought a salad since I knew I could eat that at least. Here's the spread in all it's glory.

A few people pitched in for a pig. SOOOO gross looking but I did try a bit of the pork and it wasn't bad.

Here I am with the Rehab team as it was that day (our main PT's were out).

Our DOR eating pig skin. She's mostly a vegetarian so I thought it was funny she was eating pig skin...fun and gross. I love that my work does fun things like this not only for the staffs amusement but to help our residents enjoy life.

FHE Hike

Recently for FHE we took a hike behind the observatory. It's been so super hot lately so we didn't start until 8 pm. It a great hike and I've gotta be honest it felt pretty good to be one of the first to the top and not even get out of breath! The view from the top was amazing as you can see from the pic above one of the peps from my branch took. We stayed up on the top talking and enjoying the view for quite awhile. Here I am chill'n with some of the girls from my branch. I love that I looks so tan...even if I don't really look that tan in real life. Turns out people there's lots of outdoorsie things you can do...even in LA. I'm LOVING being out so LA.

Sometimes you gotta get back to your YSA roots

Two weekends ago was the state wide YSA conference. This year the extended the age to 35 so my bestest friend convinced me to go. Here we are with Hills friend Athena ready for the opening night.

Bestests friends. We had such a fun night. We danced, we sped dated, we karaoke-ed, we flirted with the fellas...totally partied it up. :)

The theme of the first night was something about lights so I got these really great glow in the dark glasses...totally nerd hot don't you think?

On day 2 we arrived in time for lunch looking fab. The day consisted of lunch, work shops, a service project and dinner before a really great game!

The game we played was "the life sized game of life". It was amazing! The peps that planned it did an amazing job of involving everyone and helping us get to know each other.  We started out playing a game to decide what degree we would obtain. I got my MD. Then we had to make a paper air plane and fly it to see how much money we would make. Mine, according to a guy I met, looked like a 5 year old made it...if he hadn't been shamelessly flirting with me during that convo I would have been offended.  After our salary's were determined we split up to our assigned rooms to get matched. We each got a slip of paper with a word on it and had to find our matching member of the opposite sex who had the match to our word. I was frame and my match was picture. It turned out my match was the co-chair of the conference for Irvine. He was a nice guy and also an MD. We chose to live somewhere wild like the midwest.  We had one son & a condo not to bad. During the game we played to determine our other blessings and trials in life I kept teasing him that he he was my "baby daddy" since we weren't married.  We had a good time and ended up getting 3rd place in the game. We each one a $10 gift card to in and out. Good times.

When we payed off our debt we make 315,000 per year....pretty sweet deal even if it was only fake life. The game was great and I had so much fun meeting new people and flirting it up.

On Sunday we went to church followed by lunch and the fireside. Here we are ready for the day.

Our area authority who spoke to us  make up an analogy about how we were like Olympic athletes in the game of life. Here we are biting our gold medals.

Few fun pics: Sassy sunglasses.

Too cool for school.

Bestest friends. Such a great weekend, shout out to Hill for making me sign up and for helping make it so much fun.

Getting my mid-singles on OC style

Last weekend I went to a Singles conference in orange county. This conference was difference than ones I've attended in the past because it was for all single people from 30 til death. I was a little nervous but there was a promise that activities would be separate activities for the midsingles , so I decided to give it a try. When I arrived on Friday there were only a few people there and most of them looked over 40. Luckily I spotted my Friend Austin who grew up in Paso and came down from northern California for the conference. I didn't know she was going to attend so it was a pleasant surprise. I ended up spending that evening meeting new friends and had so much fun. Saturday was workshops, beach time (I love swimming in the ocean and getting my tan on), and a dance (divided by age thankfully). I got to get my groove on with some of my trek friends (pictured above-love Mona and D) and my bestest friend Hill and met some new friends too. Sunday was church, dinner and a fireside along with meeting more new peps. Yes I got hit on by a few older guys...but I also got hit on by some younger ones too...overall a much more pleasant experience that I originally thought especially since I was flying solo for most of it.Sometimes the amount a rock being a mid-single surprises even me.

Epic Day at Disneyland!

I haven't been to Disneyland in the Summer in my working memory. My parents always took us in the off season and since I've started going without them I always go when school is in. Well last Thursday I took the day off to go to Disneyland with my BFF, Myriah (who flew in from Chicago), and her family. We've been BFF for quite a number of years now and we've never been to DL together so I thought it was time. The day started out great with a gift of a friendship bracelet Myriah made herself. She made her 4-year-old niece a matching one too so we took a triplet photo.

When we arrived at the park we got right down to business and got a  shot with the castle.

It s a tradition of mine and Hillary's to take pics with the many hats a DL, I initiated Myriah into the club. Here we are sporting Minnie mouse ears.

Disney punk pic. 

One of the things I love most about going to DL with the Cohens, besides how entertaining they are, is that they love Splash mountain as much as I do. You cant really tell but this is me soaked from splash mountain. LOVE IT!

I kept teasing Myriah that she was simply a tourist at DL while I myself am a local I kept telling her what which things only tourists did and locals avoid. In the afternoon, We went on a pirate ship ride around Tom Sawyers island...I've never done it before...it's a touristy thing, but I must admit I did enjoy the sunshine on the deck .

We went on splash mountain 4 times Love Fast pass!

Here we are on splash

I saw these 2 twins who had to be like 60 dressed exactly alike and at Disneyland alone (no kids/grandkids or husbands). I love weirdies like that. I'm sure that will be me in 30 years...supposing I can get Hill or one of my sisters to dress the same as me.

The company was wonderful, the lines were short, and the weather was beautiful! It was an amazing day and well worth overcoming my fear of attending DL in the summer.

Weekend with the Fam

A few weekends ago I was able to get off early on Friday and and head home. This is the first time I was able to go home for the weekend for the first time since Mothers day. Turns out that same weekend my cousin Ross and my Aunt Debbie also were visiting the fam. We spend Saturday evening out at the movies and then home for visiting and the Olympics opening ceremonies!

 Saturday morning we were up early to head to PR for a day at the fair! Here's Ross rocking out to my I-pod getting ready for a fun filled day at the county fair.

   Ever since Ross was a little boy I've called my my Poopsie. It started with the line from Little Murmaide where Ursula calls her eels "my precious little poosies" I would say that to Ross when he was sad and he would always laugh. The nickname stuck and we still call each other Poopsie! Here we are ready to spend Saturday at the fair.

When we arrived we went straight to the livestock area where we watched the country rodeo with Grandma and Grandpa. Here's Ross, Aunt Debbie and I enjoying the show.

Grandpa and Grandma were intense rodeo watchers.

My Mom arrived after a bit and joined us for the show.

These cow people are hardcore...not only do the rope and ride but they also wrestle cows to the ground.

After the rodeo we got  some yummy lunch. Oh Tri-tip you are wonderful even without toasty bread.

Dont worry though I didn't skimp I simple saved my carbs to spend on this lovely deliciousness known as old fashioned cinnamon rolls.

After looking in the buildings and making some purchases we headed back to the ranch for a BBQ. Ross and I had fun making watermelon smiles.. :) We ate, we played games, we teased in true Griffith style. Good times. The next day was waffles and a walk with the parents, church with my 3rd ward peps, and dinner at Grandma Donas with the fam before heading back to So. Cal for work on Monday. Such a great time.