Living Life

Birthday weekend # 1

2012-02-01T20:46:00.000-08:00

On the weekend before my birthday my parents came into town to help me celebrate. We decided to celebrate the beautiful day by going to the LA zoo. The first thing we saw was the sea lions. Adden was fascinated by their flips.

Dad, Adden, Mom, and I at the zoo. It was a beautiful day in Jan in so. cal...it was so warm and sunny.

One of the birds we saw. It was really cool looking and was almost worth braving the smell of the bird cage.

Dad, Mom, Adden, and Matthew checking out the tigers.

There were 2 baby tigers. So cute. That was my favorite thing we saw.

Me, my dad, and my Mom ready for lunch at this great little restaurant in the zoo. These 2 are two of my favorite people and I love visiting with them.

Quite possibly the oldest Rhino alive. It was precious.

Mom and Dad with the Gorilla.

Mom and I at the end of a great afternoon at the zoo. You know for not being an animal lover...it's kind of funny that I enjoy the atmosphere and scenery at outdoor animal parks.

That night Carrie made us a delicious dinner!

Matthew even got in on the action making meatballs.

Mom kept Benny entertained with silly faces and noises.

He wasn't as impressed with taking pics with me.

Here I am with the dinner. Spaghetti, Alfredo, chicken and delicious salad.

The next day after a wonderful stake conference which seemed exactly geared to me, and a nap, we went to M & C's friends house to share my birthday cake. Adden helped decorate.

Adden was all ready to help me blow out my candles.

Benny enjoyed his first taste of birthday cake. It was an amazing weekend. Thanks to my Parents for coming and to Matthew and Carrie for all they did to make it so special. I have an amazing family.

The Birthday!

2012-02-01T20:39:00.000-08:00

I decided to title this post "the birthday" you know like "the code" ;) On my birthday I went to work. On my way I got a call from my grandma and from my BFF Myriah. Great way to start the day. When I arrived at work I was presented to this cake! My amazing coworker knows how much I love Mango so she got me a Mango cake and some yummy mango juice. She included our administrator too since it was his birthday as well. :) Surprise she presented it to me in front of a room full of people and they all sang happy birthday.

Here I am with my awesome co-worker. She's great.

For lunch my coworkers took me out to lunch and I order a calzone which turned out to be as big as my head! I seriously made 3 meals out of it easy. They are so great I love the rehab team I work with. I also received many happy birthday hugs and songs through out the day from coworkers and patients.

That night I talked to family and my sister-in-law made me yummy taco salad and bought blood orange soda to go with it. My fav. sooo delish! After dinner I went online and retrieved a whole bunch more happy birthday messages. Thanks to everyone who made my birthday great! It was a great birthday!

Birthday weekend # 2

2012-02-01T19:34:00.000-08:00

The weekend after my birthday I went down to visit Hillary for a long weekend including a trip to DL!!! Here's Hill, me, and Dale on Pirates! Love it.

Looking cute outside of Mr. Toads. It was a beautiful day and not crowded! It was an Awesome day. Happy birthday to me.

I thought maybe I could pull the sword from the stone...it was my birthday celebration after all....alas you can't have everything I guess. :)

On the new Little Mermaid ride. Bestest friends.

I got a piece of chocolate cake with pixie dust on it! So fairy birthdayish of me don't you think?

We had to take some hat pics in keeping with our tradition. Big ears hats!

Dale kept be astonished that my gangster face was so legit, I cant imagine why she would be surprised.

High school musical hat pic! Hill really looks excited about this one.

Newsies hats. Carrying the banner, you know.

The next day we went out to lunch, shopped, made yummy dinner & dessert, and went to see "Make a joyful noise". Such a great day. Anybody who would eat soy cream sandwiches and watch a movie staring Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah with me deserves some kind of award for being the best bestest friend EVER, don't you think? It was a great weekend. Big THANK YOU to Hillary for making it such a great birthday celebration.

Griffith Family Photo Shoot, professional style!

2012-02-01T19:22:00.000-08:00

While we were all home for Christmas we had family photos taken, but an real legit photographer. Our good friend Cindy, of Looky Loo photography, took them and the turner out AMAZING! Here's the whole fam. We decided on a plaid theme....it was a worry that it might be a big clash of plaid but they meshed well.

Finding Joy in the journey.

Sisters....the only time I'll ever be the tallest. :)

"All the girls" as Adden would say.

My beautiful baby sister.

This kid could not be cuter!

Me, working it...check it. :)

The siblings.

The pics are beautiful! If you're looking for a photographer let me know & I'll give you the info or look her up on facebook. She is so good with children & adults.

2012...it's going to be a good year.

2012-01-03T22:18:00.000-08:00

I've had a feeling from the start that 2012 is going to be a good year. Maybe because I spent new years day with these two. We went to church in the morning & were inspired. After church we celebrated by toasting the new year.

Cheers to 2012. Callie, me and Sadie.

Sadie and I laughing while making pizza. Always a good time.

Callie's China Callie pose. Looking good, Cal.

My L.A. Tara pose.

After our celebration I remembered my wish bone from the Christmas eve turkey and decided to pull it with Callie before we left to take her to meet up with her roommate so she could head back to BYU-I. This is the result. Nobody won...or maybe we both won. I'm going to go with that because I have a feeling it's going to be a good year.

New Years Eve with the folks from C-town

2012-01-03T22:10:00.000-08:00

On New years eve I spend the evening with Myriah and her Friends from Chicago. Here we are during a BFF photo shoot. We look good, as we should.

As part of the celebration M-dawg's friend Diana entertained the children with those little poppers that make a loud noise when you throw them down. The kids really liked it.

This hat was laying around the house so to supplement the entertainment provided by the Cohen children doing charades (they are really good by the way). I decided to take pics of everyone wearing this really great hat. Here's mine. Mysterious no?

Myriah dazzling us with her talent.

Mary decided to go gangster.

Hats off to Diana's style.

Tip my hat to you my friend.

Well Jimmy....he just looks like a passed out drunk.

We had a great time & it's nice to get to know some c-town peps and be reassured Myriah has some great friends to keep her in-line when I can't be there. Happy New Year everyone!

We enjoy family time. :)

2012-01-03T21:59:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas we went to Pismo and took a walk on the beach with Aunt Lisa and uncle Joe. Here's Uncle Joe and Dad enjoying the beautiful California day in December.

Mom looking like the California girl she is.

The girls and Dad: Me, Callie, Dad, Brianna, with warm sand in the background.

A few days latter we enjoyed a walk on the Ranch with Grandma Shirley and Aunt Lynn. I know Grandma looks cold...but I'm pretty sure it was in the low 70s. :)

Adden and Callie enjoying the view.

We also spent one evening with the Griffiths at Grandma and Grandpas house, here are Callie and I enjoying candy canes on our way. What a great week of family and fun.

Christmas Day Griffith style

2012-01-03T21:44:00.000-08:00

We had the Griffith family Christmas Day celebration at our house this year. I love it when Christmas day is on a Sunday. It's just so Christmas-ie to attend church and sing Christmas Carols and talk about Christ on Christmas. After church and some cleaning I made homemade lemonade for the celebration. Doesn't it look pretty?

We ate dinner and spent time together. Here's my cousin Brent, his wife Mete, and Grandpa Dean enjoying the evening.

Uncle Joe cuddling his new Grandson Mateo.

Aunt Lisa and Adrian played domino's while Dani played on the phone.

My Dad and Michael did the dishes, such good guys.

The Richards joined us for the celebration. Here's Hill and I looking festive.

Mom's and daughters on Christmas eve. Mom, Hill, Aunt Dale, me

Model pose: Mom and Brianna

Model pose: uncle Kevin and Dad.....sorry guys I think the girls did a better job. It was a good night full of family and friends, as it should be. Love Christmas.

A very Cowboy Christmas at the Ranch...

2012-01-03T21:23:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are regular readers of my blog you already know that we have themed Christmas eves. This year was no different. We had Cowboy Christmas eve. Here we are my sisters and I ready for night of merriment.

The sibs "cowboy up".

My grandma and I. I know she doesn't look very cowgirlish but she is a true cowgirl at heart. :) My grandma use to ride her horse over to her friends house and they would ride around their adjoining ranches for hours, enjoying the fresh air & cooking potatoes in the coals of a fire they built themselves. If that's not cowgirl I don't know what is.

Callie and Sadie...cowboyed up just a few days after returning from teaching English in china.

My parents of course got into the spirit as well.

Here's all the girl cousins. Some fine looking country girls, if I do say so myself.

All the cousins & spouses (or soon to be).

Sisters waiting for the talent show to start.

Sassy cowgirls.

Adden started off the talent show with and interpretive dance to Adel's "Rolling in the deep" the kid has moves.

The girls singing "feels like Christmas" from Muppet's Christmas carol. Such a good one.

Aunt Lynn and Addie did "I got chew babe" soooo funny.

Sadie and Callie made up a country tune telling a tale of their trip to china.

Mom finished things of by reading a letter written many years ago by Granddad's aunt about our Norwegian ancestors Christmas celebration.

Mom and I, with some help from B, made Krumkaka's (a Norwegian cookie) for dessert, just like our ancestors would have on a Christmas eve day. Such a fun night. Love my family.

Lights at the LA Temple and bellsicians

2012-01-03T21:14:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks before Christmas my ward went to the LA temple visitors center for FHE. There was a bell choir concert in one of the big rooms and we enjoyed the christmasiness of it all. This "bell choir" got me wondering what do you call someone who plays the bells? A bell-a-teer? A bell-sician? What sparks someone to become passionate about playing the bells? Well whatever the answer to these questions these folks were good at what they do & they looked good in their white gloved glory.

Afterwards we walked around the Temple and admired the beautiful lights. I love the Temple. The Temple & Christmas lights = Christmas spirit in abundance.

Work Christmas Party

2011-12-18T21:28:00.000-08:00

Friday night was our work Christmas party. I wasn't going to go....but since it was right after work I decided to go. I figured why not...free food & the possibility of winning a prize...plus I really do like my co-workers. Here I am with my favorite co-worker M. She is a PT and we are the 2 main therapist. We have a good time and always laugh alot, which I'm all for.

Here I am with my work besties. These girls work in the office across the hall from our rehab room since the work in our records department I see alot of them...so naturally I just started call them my besties. We still call each other bestie when we see each other in the hall.

The rehab crew minus one of our PT assistance who didn't attend. I work with some great people. And in spite of the fact that I didn't win a prize. It was still a good time.

Here I am with "R" we went through orientation on the same day and in spite of the fact that we work in different departments we've got each other's back.

Dineyland at Christmas

2011-12-15T20:23:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went to visit Hillary. We of course planned ahead to meet at our favorite spot Disneyland. Turns out on a Friday afternoon it takes roughly 3 hours to travel about 50 miles. It was a long trip. Lucky for me the park stays open til midnight so I still got to enjoy some Disney/Christmas joy with Hill and her friend Anthony. Here's the big tree looking all festive.

The castle is so pretty with all the white lights.

After we grabbed a quick dinner we headed over it's a small world. There was a large crowd in front of the ride but nobody was in line. Not knowing what was going on I forged ahead "excusing" myself and my friends until we were almost to the front where we confronted a wall of people and could not get through. It was at this point I realized the ride was not open. oops. It turns out it was the prime spot to watch the fireworks. ooops. Well we couldn't really go back the way we came so we watched the fireworks from our great spot and the enjoyed the magic of SNOW falling from the "sky". You can see some of the white stuff in the picture above. Very cool.

It's a small world got going pretty quickly after the fireworks were over. Isn't it beautiful and festive.

This little girl was dancing under the Christmas lights while her parents waited in line....it was just cute and princessish I had to snap a photo.

Here we are finally on the ride. So festive. We also were able to watch Fantasmic, window shop, and get in a couple of other rides before the end of the night. Good times and totally worth it in spite of the 3 hour commute. Plus I got to catch up with Hill & get in some shopping, girl time, and a christmas party the next day. Good times.

Greatest Cookies of all TIME!!!

2011-12-15T20:20:00.000-08:00

The first weekend in December we decided to start the season off right with some baking.In the greatest way possible.
1. First, I made cookie dough following a basic recipe for chocolate chip cookies...the came the genius part.
2. I chopped up nuts and put them in bowls, and filled several other bowls with chocolate chips and M&Ms.
3.Then each person took some dough and mixed his or her own cookie with just the right amount of his or her preferred toppings.
4. Bake and enjoy. YUM. Here's me with mine. As you can see I was quite satisfied.

Adden really liked his too. :)Love the holidays. Love cookies. Life is good.

Thankgoodness for Thanksgiving

2011-12-04T21:33:00.000-08:00

This year after starting a new new job I couldn't have been more thankful for the break that thanksgiving provided. I was able to get the day after thanksgiving off so I got to go home for a 4 day weekend. What a lucky lady I am to have my wonderful family and the beautiful foliage to welcome me home.

On thanksgiving day, in spite of the fact that there were only 3 of us cousins there (Brianna was in AZ with her BF and Callie and Sadie are in China) we still did our traditional cousins photo shoot.

Striking a pose. Good thing I have mine at the ready at all times. :)

A pilgrim, a turkey, and an Indian.

Cousins. Classic brick pose. Isn't it great that we all have a similar hair color?

Valley girl pose.

Now one with Mike.

I'm obsessed with feet shots. Aren't my new shoes super cute? I'm so now, now that I have a job.

After dinner came gingerbread house making. Never too old for this to be entertaining.

Here's the finished products. Mine on the Left, then Addies, Katies, and last Mikes. They all turned out fabulously.

The next evening Matthew and Carrie came with the boys and B and Cameron got home Friday afternoon, so we all spent the weekend together. Here's Benny with Grandma.

He's just soooooooooooo cute.

Sisters in the fall (that's what I call this pic...It think it's a romantic title in the Anne Shirley way, don't you?)

I picked pomegranates while I was home. I found this awesome pomegranate....what does it remind you of? Hidden mickey possibly?

Adden and Grandma having a good time.

On Sunday evening we took a walk before it was time for us So. Cal Griffiths to get on the road. It was a beautiful evening.

soooo lovely. I want to build a house at the end of this path someday.

Hillary ... Adden's new favorite.

Lipstick and track suites the perfect family walk ensemble.

Benny loves being outside & his Aunt Tara.

Grandma and Adden racing.

Another generation of Griffiths enjoying the Ranch.

Me and my wonderful Mom, the founder of the feast!

It was a wonderful break and I left home with my heart full of gratitude for my family, friends, and a amazing place I call home!

Girls Weekend with the besties!

2011-12-04T20:27:00.000-08:00

Before I moved to LA my closest girlfriends in SLO and I planned a girls weekend for them to come visit in November...after I had time to get settled. They drove down on Friday night and we stayed in the Temple apartments. After a long week we were all tired but we had plenty of junk food to get us hyped up.

Here we are besties reunited. Shayla, Rachel, Me, Brianna, & Mary.

The next morning after Mary woke us all up at an ungodly hour we went to the Temple to do baptisms. It was a wonderful experience to be in the Temple and feel the spirit there. When we asked a random stranger to take our picture, he asked me if I wanted the Temple in it. I said yes and this is what I got....apparently the spire isn't important.

The besties on the Temple grounds.

Me and Mary.

Me and Rachel: Sassy Twins.

Me and Brianna: Sisters

Me and Shayla

After the Temple we went to the Chinese theater in downtown LA and checked out the stars hand prints, oh so very LA of us, I know.I think B and I both have bigger feet than John Wayne.

Shirey Temple, one of our favorite actresses growing up.

Shayla and I showing the love for Bing Crosby! Best Christmas album EVER....Amazing actor/dancer/singer.

Mary and I showing the love for WILL SMITH! Hottie.

Julie Andrews....hand print twins with Rachel and I. :)

Making sure a breeze doesn't blow up my dress when I'm on Marilyn Monroe's square

The girls and I with Cary Grant's square. What a guy. :)

Dick Van Dyke AMAZING and oh so talented.

Clint Eastwoods square "made my day".

After the theater we were off to an over crowded Mall before heading back to our hotel, eating way too much, swimming, and getting very little sleep... but as always it was great just being together and being girls. The next day Brianna headed off early and the rest of us went to church before the other girls headed for home. It was a great weekend spent with some of the greatest girls I know.

I'm Alive!

2011-12-04T09:47:00.000-08:00

Turns out I have been living and doing things over the last 2 months since I moved to LA. I've been so tired by the time I get home from work and busy on the weekends that I've neglected to update my blog...so here I goes hopefully today I'll get you updated on my life over the last 2 months.

Here's a couple things I've learned over the last few months:

1. I would HATE to work outside of my home after I have children. I know lots of mothers must work outside of the home out of necessity and I'm not "dissing" that. I'm just so tired after work I can't imagine coming home and being the one responsible for dinner, baths, and bedtime for anyone besides myself. I'm currently living with my brother and sister-in-law and their 2 adorable sons age 3 and 8 months. I usually help out with the boys a bit at night...but some nights I just can't imagine working all day and dealing with the stress of work and then coming home and having the patience to deal with crying babies. I think I'd prefer to be a stay at home Mom when I have children, I'm just saying.

2. I'm old...but not that old. A few Sunday's ago I decided, that due to my impending 31st birthday, I should check out the mid singles ward. Being 30 and attending a singles ward I tend to be toward the older end of the crowd....well attending the mid singles ward I felt like a BABY! It was so WEIRD! It was like going back in time to my first Sunday attending 3rd ward (SLO singles ward) as a new high school grad and feeling like everyone was so much older and had so much more life experience than I did. It was a very bizarre feeling. I ended up siting with a girl that looked close to my age and we ended up chatting. After a bit I felt confident enough to whisper..."everyone here is so OLD! I'm so use to being the oldest it's just weird." she smiled and said "yeah but now you can be the young HOT one (eyebrow raise)"....:) needless to say, I think we're going go to be friends. I plan to attend some midsingles activities over the next couple of months and kind of ease myself into things....otherwise I'm pretty sure I'd go into some sort of shock or something.

3. I'm just not GHETTO. It's true. I try and I try to drop in some ghetto phrases here or there. But I realize now...after I didn't spell SHAUTY right in a fb post that I'm just not ghetto. I can't even pronounce shawty right. So I've decided to give up...with the possible exception of calling M-dawg, M-dawg. I've decided instead I'm going to gather a list of words to drop into conversations like "superfluous", "animosity", and "caustic"...cause I figure if I can't be ghetto I should at least I can sound intelligent.

And that's all for now. Feel free to comment and add to my word list it's really lacking in content at this point.

Turning 27= going to the Circus!

2011-11-06T21:19:00.000-08:00

The first Friday in November I went to work early, the reason you see is because my sister and her bf were coming into town to go to the circus that night for my sisters birthday. I rushed home from work and got ready. Then my nephew Adden and I headed over to the Temple to meet up with Brianna and Cameron. Turns out they decided to take FOREVER to get dinner though and we ended up waiting an hour for them to get there. Good thing Adden brought plenty of cars to keep up busy. I also got to take this beautiful picture of the Temple at sunset. LOVELY!

When they got there we headed down to the circus. This is my favorite picture of the two of them. Hilariously excited for the circus.

This guy balanced a ladder on his chin. CRAZY.

Brianna, Adden, and I excited for the show.

We bought cotton candy for Adden but he didn't want to share with me. Bummer.

This acrobat was about 1 million years old....but still amazing at his job.

Adden was totally mesmerized by the show.

This guy was amazing too. Who can hold their body like that? All I can say is WOW! I'm pretty sure I could have gone my whole life without seeing this but It was good time anyway.

The next day we went shopping for Brianna's birthday. Cameron was a great sport and played with Adden while we shopped. I love shopping with my sister. Good times. Happy birthday B!

Mom & Dad @ the Temple!

2011-11-06T21:14:00.000-08:00

Halloween weekend my parents came down to visit. They stayed in the Temple apartments Friday night and I met them at the Temple Saturday morning. I was so happy to see them. :)

We did a session and had some bonding time in the celestial room before heading out to grab some lunch.

My parents are such wonderful people. They have worked so hard to help all of us to be successful in following our dreams. They have taught us to work hard and to live the gospel. I'm so thankful for their love and their example. I hope someday to have a marriage as great as theirs is. Thanks Mom and Dad! I LOVE YOU!

On a slightly sad note: This was also the day I discovered that they cut down the marriage tree. For those of you who don't know this spot where I am standing in this picture use to have a large tree. It is the tree where pretty much EVERY bride and groom who marry here take pictures. I'm pretty sure about 1 billion wedding pictures have been taken in front of this tree and now...it's gone. No memorial...not plaque...nothing just gone. Sad, sad story. Now where am I going to take a picture when I get married?

Halloween 2011

2011-11-06T21:04:00.000-08:00

The week before Halloween our institute had a Halloween party. We ate good food, had a scavenger hunt, decorated pumpkins, and got our face painted. :) This was my superhero mask I got painted on because I was super girl (I wore a superman shirt).

For FHE that week we carved pumpkins. I wanted to do something new and different so I cut out a witch with a broom, a moon, and stars. Then I left it out on our back porch and it roted. Bummer. Still it looked pretty cool.

On the Saturday before Halloween I went to my brother and sister-in-laws ward Halloween party. Not wanting to miss and opportunity to dress up I wore my witch hat and mask & a black dress....classic Elphaba minus the green. Perfectly Wicked looking, aye?

My brother and his family were Cave people and their Dinos. Yes for those who know about my obsession with blue Gatorade...that's mine on the table. :)

cheers and happy Halloween. :)

My Mom per her usual didn't dress up but I told her that stripped shirt made her look like a soccer ref. :)

Dino's and their cave people. Happy Halloween.

Happy Dino's all hyped up on sugar. That's the way it's supposed to be right? Here's to a great holiday season.

Camping at Ojai

2011-11-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

My 2nd weekend in LA I went camping with my brother and sister-in-law, my nephews and their friends. It was about an hours drive north east.

It was wonderful to be outside with real life nature. Benny seemed to enjoy it too.

Adden got cozy by the fire in the morning.

The smoke in the trees looked amazing.

One of my favorite parts of camping is sitting around the fire at night.

I made breakfast on the camp stove. Sausage and corn bread pancakes....delish! Food always tastes better when it's cooked outdoors.

My brother & sister-in-law ready for breakfast.

We spent the afternoon down by the river.

We couldn't keep Benny out of the water. He's a true Griffith.

Adden loved throwing rocks in the river. It was a wonderful weekend and just the break from "reality" and the city that I needed.

The final good-bye party

2011-10-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

The Friday before I left I had a few friends over for a final good-bye party (already planned before my surprise :)) Here we all are DJ, Kylie, Shayla, Brianna, Erin, Sara, Rachel, Me, Mary, Carrie, M, D, and Provish.

Me and Brianna at the party.

Besties Pic: Brianna, Mary, Rachel, Shayla, Me!

Kylie mad some delicious cupcakes with oreos cooked into the bottom...I saw them on her blog and told her about how amazing I thought they looked and she offered to make them for my party! What a sweet heart! I was excited if you can't tell.

My friend Carrie and I. Carrie and I go way back...to girls camp, to reporting our missions to the high council on the same day, to now this time I was home we were friends.

Another group shot: Provish, Sara, me and D. Hanging out. It was a great night. I'm going to miss my friends.

PS...if you noticed my hair looks 100 times better in these pics it's because my amazing cousin Katie cut if for me....just before I was about to cut it all off it looked so bad. Thanks Katie.

Sometimes I'm like a homemaker!

2011-09-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

While living at home and not working I found sometime to be a bit of a homemaker. I cooked meals, made bread (I mixed it in the bread maker, but kneaded it down, let it rise and baked it), and did some sewing.

Here's the apron I made out of a jumper I bought at the thrift store. I cut out the back, Cut the straps to made a halter, and sewed the cut out strips into ties for the back. It wasn't too difficult, thanks to my Mom and her advise. Its fun doing crafty things and cooking, I cant wait to do it for my family some day.

Sometimes we're normal...sometimes.

2011-09-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

The Sunday before I left Brianna and I had some fun with some Hillbilly teeth. Here we are doing our Hillbilly model look.

Scary Hillbillies!

Scary/ pick your teeth pic.

Confused Hillbilly

Lovely sisters back to our old selves....I know some people think we're crazy. I blame my Dad.

Mascaraed party...or whatever.

2011-09-29T10:05:00.000-07:00

The night after my good-bye party we went to a birthday party for our friend Justine. It was mascaraed themed...Brianna was wearing this lovely hair piece to hide her true identity.

Our friends Katie and Abby were wearing these lovely masks.

I was wearing this lovely disguise...nobody even knew it was me....the best thing about it was when you wind that dot on the nose the mustache and eyebrows twitch. Jess looked pretty with her mask.

Hannah, me, Ian and Rhett Chill'n on the couch. This party was a bit too much for me....soda pong, a strobe light, and TONS of people....it made me appreciate the wonderful small party from the night before. I found myself on the porch swing in the back chatting with friends which was quite enjoyable. Good thing I learned that lesson learned small parties without uncomfortable activities are the way to go.

Most Amazing Surprise/Good-bye party EVER!

2011-09-28T13:25:00.000-07:00

I recently moved to Southern California to start my first real job!

The weekend before I left one of my Besties, Mary, invited me to go do a midnight polar bear swim at Avila. "What could be better?" I thought. So I let her know I was in. She said to meet her at her place and we would go to dinner first. I thought okay cool. When I arrived at her house and we got in her car to head to dinner. She told me the restaurant we were going to was a surprise so she wanted me to wear a blindfold. I was okay with that so I put it on. The worst part was when we go there she made me wear it to walk in I was freaked out I was going to trip. When she opened the door and told me I could take it off and I did...there was whole group of my friends staring at me and yelling "surprise"! I was in shock. Turns out Mary along with our other besties Brianna, Shayla and Rachel had been planning a surprise party for me the whole time, those sneaky sneaks. Here I am with Brianna, she did a great job on the food.

Here I am with Shayla and Mary!! What wonderful friends.

Mary bought me blue Gatorade, my fav!

Brianna took pictures of me with pretty much all of the guests. Here I am with Wes Mallet, one of my favorite people on the central coast.

Dillon, me, Dan, Mike Diet.-good people.

My cousin Katie and her bf Mike came too! I was so excited to see them.

My friend Katie R.

Papa Swift showing me a card trick. I was blown away....and I maybe lost a million dollars..

Jake, Jacob, me, Cameron- They are so great!

Todd and I taking a pic without touching....I think we actually pulled it off.

Cameron grossing me out with his mouth full of popcorn. Seriously that kid is hilarious.

Rachel and I are sassy twins...so we took a twin pic.

CC and Camby sending me going way love.

After the party was over we all changed into our beach clothes and headed to Avila. Here we are before: Dane, Mary, Rachel, Brianna, Me. Right after this we pretty much handed over our towels, counted to 3 and ran into the water!

Here we are after, still looking happy. The water was actually quite pleasant and it wasn't overly cold when we got out either. Its so wonderful to have friends who want to do crazy things with me & who always make me feel special. LOVE.

Adden's 3!

2011-09-27T09:38:00.000-07:00

For Adden's 3rd birthday My Mom, my Dad, B and I drove down to LA on Friday night. We were able to stay at the Temple Apt and do session in the morning which was wonderful. Then we packed up and headed over to Matthew's house for the celebration.

Carrie did a great job decorating the table. In the "Cars" theme.

Lots of bright colored balloons.

Racing round the race track with aunt Brianna.

Mom, Benny, and Dad chilling in the house. You know them always trying to be the favorites. :)

Adden, Aunt Tara, Kathy, Brianna chill'n in the house where it was cool (it was a hot day outside).

Adden blowing out the candles. He did it in one breath, way to go buddy.

My brother and his family: Carrie, Benny, Adden, Matthew

Me and my brother. We were a little worn out after the party.

We had a great time and the party and enjoyed a wonderful afternoon/evening with the family. Aunt Brianna walking Benny around the yard. What a wonderful day to celebrate our favorite 3 year old.

Shayla's Birthday Day of Wonder!

2011-09-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

On a beautiful September morning I woke got ready and headed out for a day of fun to celebrate this gem of a girl, Shayla! It was her 20th birthday and she had a day of wonder in store. We started out at Denny's (Shayla's fav. breakfast place) where I was so tired I forgot to take pics (I wasn't use to getting up before 8). Then we were off for a hike in Montana De oro.

It was a beautiful day and Katy and Shayla couldn't help but jump for joy.

classic birthday feet pic. Can you see the boy feet?

Group shot. Shayla, Addison, Katy, Mary

Girl group shot: Shayla, me, Katy, Mary

Shayla took it upon herself to teach us that your tongue sticks to shale (I think that's what it's called) because of it's compounds and the make up of your saliva. I think it worked.

After a trip to Moro bay for kayaking & swimming we headed back to A-town for dinner. Here's B and I at dinner. We went to a yummy Mexican place in A-town.

Mary and I at dinner.

Then it was off to Rachel's house for cake. Shayla looks a little ticked off...but she's really just worried someone is going to take her popcorn.

Rachel and I at the cake party. It was a great day to celebrate one of my favorite people.

Karaoke, always amazing.

2011-09-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

I wish that I didn't delete the video of this because in September we had our 2nd annual (not really just 2nd) North county FHE karaoke night. Let me tell you great times were had by all.

We had a variety of Talents displayed...as well as a variety of music. Everything from Disney to country.

Our FHE Dad we we call "Papa swift" took the cake belting out one of the high pitched tunes of the 80's. I of course sang too but didnt get any pics of that. Good times.

Beach bums

2011-08-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

This summer I've spent a lot of time at the beach. I'd say I've been at the beach roughly twice per week all summer. It's been the highlight of my summer. Since my sister Brianna is a teacher she's joined me on most of these exertions. Last Tuesday was the last day before she went back to school so we decided to spend one last day at the beach. We arrived at the beach at 11 and found the perfect parking spot. Who knew that's what it takes to get a good spot?

Because the fog had not yet burnt off we decided to take a walk on the pier.

I thought it would be a nice time to take photos... Here's Brianna contemplating the meaning of life.

Sisters on the beautiful coast

I saw this sign and for some reason thought if I positioned myself right it would look like it said "No Peacesign-ing"turns out Brianna really wasn't willing to put forth the effort to angle it so it looked right...so this is the best I got. Funny, but not as funny as it could be.

more of us together...

From down below on the stairs.

senior portrait.

Brianna's Senior Portrait.

Beach babes!

Beautiful Boat and Fog!

Jumping pic! Hurrah for being tan, hurrah for summer, Hurrah for living by the beach!

Scrunched up jumping pic...I was really nervous about jumping onto that hard wood.

After we took jumping pics for like 10 minutes the man who was fishing at the end of the pier got up and moved...wonder why? How I love the beautiful coast of California and my sister.

Good-bye, Little brother!

2011-08-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to the Temple with our ward. It was a great experience. We have a wonderful group and I can honestly say each young man present represents qualities that I desire in my future companion and that I hope to teach my sons someday. We got to ride back with one of my favorite people in my ward is a young man named Ian who was leaving on his mission the following week. My sister Brianna and I have adopted him as the little brother we never knew we always wanted. That night he had a "Go away party" for himself. Here his with his girlfriend Shayla and our dear friend Ariel. If you can peak around them you will see the most amazing back yard ever which included a pool with a slide, a hot tub, a fire stove thing, and a hammock/ rocker thing. SOOOOO amazing.

Here's B and I with Ian...you can see by the look on his face he fits right into the family. :)

Ariel was here visiting the weekend of the party so we got some bonding time. Love this girl! It was fun to celebrate Ian leaving on his mission and look forward to him having the same amazing experience that I had when I served. A mission is the best thing I ever did, I learned so much and my testimony was strengthened 100 times over. I would not be the person I am today without the amazing experience of serving a mission.

Times have changed

2011-08-11T10:26:00.000-07:00

I feel like I've been posting quite often lately about being old, but can I just tell you that sometimes I really realize that's I'm from an older generation than many of the young adults I hang out with. Last week my sister Brianna and I went to the beach with a couple of girls from our ward. While we were there I took a few pictures. After we took this picture one of the girls said "put it on facebook, then we'll be facebook officially friends". Since I've recently stopped putting pictures on facebook with only and occasional exception (I decided I don't need everyone to know everything I do) I thought...who knew that's what it takes to be friends with someone? I remember my first years of college I didn't even have a computer...and neither did any of my roommates. I know I'm usually a bit behind the times when it comes to technology by seriously back then nobody I knew had a lap top and certainly not facebook. We didn't have digital cameras. I took pictures with real film and my roommates fought over the doubles. While I appreciate digital cameras and having a lap top, but just so you know if I don't post a picture of you on facebook it doesn't mean we're not friends, it just means I'm old and I sometimes I don't want everyone "all up in my biz-ness".

Grandpa's Family Reunion

2011-08-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

My grandpa and his 4 siblings (3 sisters and 1 brother) get together once per year to spend a weekend together. Each year they meet at a different siblings home and as much of each siblings posterity as possible try to attend. This year it was here in California. We started out the weekend at the beach Here's Aunt N (Grandpa's sister), My Mom, Aunt L (My dad's bros wife), Grandpa, Aunt B (Grandpa's sister), and Aunt J (Grandpa's brother's wife) Enjoying the beach.

The next day was a BBQ at our house. My cousin T brought her adorable little A who is so precious we can hardly stand it.

Grandpa and his siblings: Aunt B (3rd oldest), Grandpa(4th oldest), Aunt V(2nd oldest), Uncle H (the baby), and Aunt N. (oldest).

The next generation enjoying the pool on the front lawn, 2 of Aunt V's great grandchildren and 1 of Grandpa's.

Anyone who knows our family can guess there was lots of story telling and lots of laughter.

Grandma D, Aunt J, Uncle H, and Aunt L.

Aunt N telling a story about life growing up. Aunt B, Aunt N, and J (Aunt V's daughter)

Sometimes we listen and absorb (I know hard to believe). Uncle J, Hillary (adopted cousin), Brianna (sister), Grandpa.
\

The next generation had to get in on the action too, J had to tell a story of how much her grandma loved her right after my Dad and Uncle J told a story about their grandma coming after them with a broom because they wouldn't be quiet and go to sleep. LOL. Aunt B, Aunt N, C (J's granddaughter, V's Great granddaughter), J, uncle K (Adopted), Aunt D (adopted).

After good food, a few one liners, and lots of laughing everyone headed for home. It was great to get to hear stories about my great grandparents and get to know my grandpa's family better.

Cause we're cool like dat!

2011-08-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

The last week in July meant a mini family reunion while my sister Callie was home for a break from school. Due to the fact that she would be leaving in just a week for an adventure in a far off country, we spent most of the week shopping and getting her packed up. The weekend was reserved for family time and fun. On Saturday morning we made pancakes. Here are my efforts at good-bye pancakes (the blob on the left is Callie doing a peace sign the the ones on the right say "we heart you").

After breakfast Mom, Dad, Matthew, Carrie, the boys and I headed for the beach. Added and I had a blast playing in the sand with his cars and burying each others legs in the sand. We also had yummy fish tacos from the shop where Mike (Katie's BF) works.

That night was family pics. Here's a little preview. Cant wait to post the real ones. They turned out great!

Out takes! #1 Sadie with her dog twin (note the blond fluffy hair and similar facial expression.)

#2 Me and my dog twin both have multicolored hair and...similar flip to our hair.

#3 Flip flop feet! Love it. :)

Cousins picture with Grandma Shirley it's a little blurry but it's the best we got.

After pictures and dessert came bonfire time. :)

Sunday was our chill day. Here's a pic of my Sisters (including Sadie our cousin who has become like a sister to us over the last year) on Sunday after church.

After dinner we hung out on the lawn where it was cool. Here's Benny cooling off in the grass.

We are really into photography in our family so for fun we decided to take pics of each family member wearing my brother's California hat.

My Dad

Mom

Brother

Carrie (sister-in-law)

Brianna (sister)

Callie (sister)

Benny (nephew)

Adden (nephew)

Even though we have our ups and downs, I love my family and couldn't ask for people in my live who I have more fun with.

Murder Mystery

2011-07-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

Last weekend our institute had a murder mystery party. It was 1940's themed and I was one of the suspects. I was supposed to be a widow...so I decided to be a classy widow with attitude.

I wore a classic black dress, peep-toed pumps, lovely authentic costume jewelry, and a real 1940s hat we had from my great grandmother. I loved the way it all came together.

I had a great time at the activity. I totally hammed it up including a fake southern accent. Loved it! Oh, and just FYI...turns out I wasn't the murder. Since I don't have many pics of my friends here in SLO I decided to take a few pics. Here I am with the R sisters. :)

Dane and Mary-North county FHE friends

CC and Annie-friends old and new

Rachel my cohort on the Compassionate service committee!

Of course Wes, Love this kid.what's 3rd ward without a Mallet? I wouldn't want to know...I've gotta get out before this kid gets married.

Just what I needed!

2011-07-18T23:47:00.000-07:00

As many of you know I recently finished the process of becoming a professional! I have been looking for jobs but haven't been sure of where I really need to be. I would like to work with children, I want to be around other young (not too young) professionals, and I want to stay in California...that's really all the criteria I'm going with...oh and it needs to be a bigger city than is found around here so I will have the opportunity to work with other OT's. I've kind of narrowed my focus recently to southern California. A couple of weeks ago I went down for a job interview and to spend a few days getting a "feel" for the place. I stayed with my bestest friend Hillary.

My job interview was on Wednesday. It went well but I have since been informed I didn't get the placement. I am currently following up on some other leads I've found. We spent the next few days at the beach, the Temple, and mingling with some single friends of Hills. It was just want I needed for some added motivation to get the heck out of dodge.

On my way home I stopped and stayed with my brother, sister-in-law and nephews for a couple of days. While I was there I met the man of my dreams. Don't we look great together? Unfortunately Adden wouldn't let me take him home with me.

I love spending time with this little guy.

Adden kept me entertained, he loves to entertain and do tricks.

I had a great experience, a special thanks to Hill, the F family, and M & C for letting me stay with them. I am excited at the prospect of moving and starting a new adventure.

4th of July...Let Freedom Ring!

2011-07-18T22:02:00.000-07:00

For those of you who dont know 4th of July is a big deal around our house. We always celebrate BIG including great food, great music (Yeah Lee Greenwood), and wonderful people. My Mom is a wonderfully patriotic woman and has always made the 4th special. I love my country and as Zach Brown band says "‎"I thank God for my life, And for the stars and stripes, may freedom forever fly
Let it ring! Salute the ones who died,the ones who give there lives, so we don't have to sacrifice all the things we love!"

My brother and I started the weekend off right with matching hairdo's. Can you tell who is who...man I have mad braiding skills.

It was wonderful to get to spend some more time with this little guy, my nephew Benny. He didn't like the heat much but was super chill about being passed around to the whole family.

I helped with some of the cooking. Here I am with my flag jello (red, white, and blue jello with whip cream stripes and blue berries for stars. DELISH.

We all dug in for some yummy BBQ. Once again my Dad out did himself! Great job, Dad.

Adden and I celebrated with "colors" on our nails. We're all about the Red, white, and blue.

After food, a water fight, and visiting we headed for Barney Schwartz park and the fire works.

We started out with some great grand children pics, adorable! Then came sliding down the grassy hill sides with cardboard provided by Aunt Lisa.

The Grandpa convinced this politician to give us all "3D" glasses for the fireworks. We made the best of it and took some silly pics. Me, Mom, Dad, Sadie.

Brianna

Grandma and Grandpa looking "natural".

Tiana and Josh, peace, classic.

Aunt Lisa and Uncle Joe, looking good.

Tania and Micheal cuddling up ready for the show.

Josh and his Mom

Matthew, Carrie and Benny

It was a wonderful day to celebrate our wonderful country and the amazing freedoms we have! We are so blessed. God Bless America!

Catching up with the girls...

2011-07-18T21:43:00.000-07:00

In June our friends Liz and Hillary came to visit (separately but at the same time). In order to get as much fun, catching up and Central coasting in at the same time we decided to take a walk on the Bob Jones trial. It was a beautiful day!

On the trail there was beautiful views...and a river!

Although Brianna came home with a case of poison oak and at one point we almost had a repeat of the arm breaking scene from "That thing you do" it was a beautiful day and the perfect opportunity to catch up with old friends we love.

Flour Fight Round 2

2011-07-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

When you've been a "young Adult" as long as I have you get to the point where many activities become repeats of something you've done most likely done in the past....to be honest this can sometimes be BORING! For FHE (family home evening-for more info found here http://lds.org/family/home-evening?lang=eng) a few weeks ago we re-used and activity we did with our FHE group at BYU-Idaho and had a flour fight. This was not at all boring! We took nylons and cut them into pieces, we tied a knot in one end and filled it with flour, next we tied a knot in the other end and they were ready to go. We warned everyone to come to FHE ready to get dirty. We divide into teams and played capture the flag only instead of tagging we threw flour bombs at each other. It was lots of fun and by the end all of the flour bombs were ripped open and dumbed on the opposing team. My moment of glory came when I threw the bomb that put the other teams captain in jail. woot-woot!

Blonde Again!

2011-06-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

I decided to lighten my hair again for the summer and I'm loving it! I'm so blessed to have my cousin Katie as my amazing stylist!

Betty WHO????

2011-06-16T10:58:00.000-07:00

Being the compassionate service leader in a singles ward often means little of the traditional responsibilities of a compassionate service leader in a traditional or family ward....so my committee and I try to reach out to the sisters in creative ways. :) A few weekends ago my committee and I decided to have a girls night to help the sisters get to know each other. I was in charge of dessert so I started with my famous raspberry lemonade cup cakes. Delicious.

In order to demonstrate my skills I also made chocolate cup cakes with white frosting and sprinkles.

I also made up these deliciousness!!! Buttercream frosting, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, and gram cracker crumbs on top of chocolate cup cakes....smores Divine. :)

The finished product was lovely.

The yellow cupcakes were covered with chocolate frosting with crushed and cup up candy bars on top. They turned out beautifully.

Here are all the girls. We had so much fun and surprisingly made a pretty big dent the the cupcakes. :) It was a great night.

A season to celebrate!

2011-05-09T15:28:00.000-07:00

A little background: during the last weekend of April I drove to Fresno to take my licencing exam. I was very nervous. I walked away from the exam knowing I did my best....then I drove home to wait for the results. The result I thought would come out on Wednesday, I went online first thing Wednesday morning to view my results....it turned out however the results didn't come out til Thursday so I had one more day to wait. That same day my sister Brianna was headed down to southern California for the wedding of one of her besties from BYU, Alisson. At the last minute I decided to go along and visit my good friend Hillary. Hillary and I had a nice visit that evening and went to bed around midnight. The next morning I woke up at 6:47am!!! I was ready to check my results. I woke up Hillary and signed in to check my results....and I saw in big bold letters PASSED!!! I could hardly believe it! I called my mom and she couldn't understand when I told her the news through my raspy tear-filled voice. :)

After we got ready we were off to spend the day celebrating at DISNEYLAND! :)

It was a beautiful day and there was hardly anybody in the park. This is what the line looked like for space mountain.

I got Mickey mouse ears with my title and the day to help me remember the day. Here we are on my favorite ride, toy story mania. We also met up with Brianna and her friends for lunch and visiting.

Here we are again with our "I'm celebrating pins.:)

Mickey ears shadow!

Traditional hat pic: this time teenie-bopper.

The next day we slept in, went to lunch, shopped, and relaxed. Another great day!

On Saturday we met up with my brother Matthew and I hitched a ride back home with these guys so I would be home for Mothers day. :)

Yet another Griffith Disney fan in the making :) This is my nephew Bed, he's already working on his attitude face for hat pics in his future.

Benny's blessing and Mothers day

2011-05-09T15:08:00.000-07:00

On Mothers day weekend my brother and his family came up to celebrate the day and bless their new baby Benjamin. Baby blessings in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are a way of dedicating a child to the Lord. Here's my parents with their grand children Adden and Ben.

Here's the group shot after the blessing. My sister-in-law's family was able to make it extra special by attending the service.

Here's Benny after his blessing...he looks just like his Daddy in this one.

Here I am with the man of the hour. Soooo cute!

Easter Weekend 2011

2011-05-09T14:10:00.000-07:00

Easter weekend this year we started our celebration by dying Easter eggs with our good friends the Richards. They turned out beautifully.

Hill and I with our favorite eggs. :)

That night we helped Brianna finish her spring break project of painting the living rooms.

Hill touching up.

Brianna still smiling after 5 days of painting...I think it was the fumes.

The Sunday before Easter I spoke in church. I talked about the meaning behind our celebration of Easter and how the Atonement of Jesus Christ makes it possible for us not only to be able to live again spiritually and physically, but also to overcome those things that are most difficult for us in this life. I spent time on Easter morning pondering the feelings that Mary Magdalene must have felt on that first Easter Sunday long ago, when the Savior appeared to her. It really helped to bring the spirit of Easter to my heart.

After church we celebrated with family and friends back at the ranch. Here I am with my Easter basket, including a frame holder that said, believe. The Easter Bunny let me know that it was to help me remember to believe in myself as I prepared to take my licensing exam the next weekend.

Easter dinner was full of yummy foods including this delicious fruit salad. :) Love spring time in California.

After dinner we had an Easter egg hunt with our friends and family who came to dinner.

Group shot after the hunt.

Cousins shop that evening. :) It was a great day, a great weekend.

Callies visit

2011-04-23T22:59:00.000-07:00

Last week my baby sister came home from BYU-Idaho for spring break. We started the week off right by taking a hike on our property and wading in the creek soaking up that California sunshine.

That evening we had a BBQ at Lagoona lake with a bunch of friends to celebrate...it's a great place... if you don't count the wind and all the disgusting geese that plagued us. :)

On Wednesday we went down to southern California to visit our brother and his family. While we were there we got to play pirates with this little guy, complete with a treasure hunt. Aaaarrrr matey!

We also got to meet this little guy, our new nephew Ben. So cute.

On Friday Callie and I took a hike with friends, here I am with our friend Ariel, ready to go.

Love, love my sister.

On Saturday, our last day together, we took a family walk in Moro Bay. It was a beautiful day and wonderful to be near the ocean and with these great people.

Guess who!? I've been wanting to take some shadow pictures this one turned out great!

It was a great week and it went by too fast, we miss her already.

Climbing a mountain...

2011-04-10T00:49:00.000-07:00

Today was a beautiful day on the central coast. My sister Brianna, our friend Heidi and I headed to SLO to go hiking. Here I am on the trail, loving the great outdoors.

Brianna did a good job keeping us entertained during our breaks.

The view was gorgeous all the way up!

Here we are at the top!

All three of us made it to the top!

I'm so blessed to live in such a beautiful place!

On the way back to the car me met these guys hanging out in the middle of the path. Gotta love country living.

Karaoke FHE strikes Again!

2011-04-10T00:22:00.000-07:00

This past Monday we did karaoke for FHE...some of you may remember the wonderful karaoke St. Patty's day FHE we had a few years ago...it was wonderful and oh so fun...so we thought we would try it with our new group. It was quite a hit. Here Brianna and Hector start us off with a duet. Hector was quite in to Karaoke...but didn't know any of the songs "in English" (his words not mine) but he was determined to fake it till he made it and belted out the parts he knew...hilarious .

Brianna and I did a great version of "Good-bye Earl"...here for some reason I look like a character on a children's TV program...I wonder if that's what I look like always when I do karaoke...I hope not.

During breaks in between songs we practiced our "air" instruments. Brianna's air guitar.

Dane's air guitar.

Sadie decided to switch things up with an "air" piano. I like it.

The evening would not have been complete without a duet of "a whole new world". Love, Love Karaoke!

RS Girls night

2011-04-10T00:17:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago our RS had a girls night. Although I've been in the ward for awhile I honestly haven't felt too bonded with many of the girls in my relief society, this experience really changed my perspective for the better. It was so much fun to get to know the girls and bond over jokes, a spiritual message, and lots of chatting. Love it!

My 2nd favorite holiday!

2011-04-10T00:03:00.000-07:00

This year for St. Patties day I pretty much had a business as usual day....besides taking Grammy (my adopted grandma) to her haircut. For dinner I made a green dish...sort of. I made homemade pizza dough, covered it with pesto sauce, cheese, green peppers, and sausage.

It not only looked great, but tasted wonderful! I'm becoming quite the Betty crocker.

Happy St. Patties day everyone. :)

One random Sunday....

2011-04-09T23:26:00.000-07:00

One Random Sunday evening I was hanging out with these girls. We were just chatting and laughing...you know the usual...when we thought what would be more fun than see what we look like with facial hair.

Mom was ecstatic about the idea.

Dad looked great with a handle bar mustache.

Brianna preferred something a little more Hitler-esk.

Not being able to grow much facial hair...Sadie decided on lambchops.

Me I'm sporting a long stringy chin beard. Love that facial hair march....thank goodness it didn't last. :)

Trip to So. Cal.

2011-04-09T22:24:00.000-07:00

At the end of February I went down to visit one of my best friends Hillary for a few days. I went down on a Thursday and we spent Friday morning in Afternoon at our favorite place Disneyland. :)

One thing I love about Disneyland is the plant life there. This is a bush on it's a small world, so cool!

We took some more hat pics to follow our new tradition. Here we are with our ghetto look.

Truck driver.

Boy scouts.

Preppy.

Attitude. Love, these pics so much fun.

That night I went with her to a fancy party held for her singles branch. It was lots of fun. I met a bunch of her friends, everyone was so friendly and nice. It was so great to be around such a great group of singles.

I stayed all weekend and on. Tuesday we went to the Temple to do some sealings before I headed north. Wonderful vacation.

I got to spend the next day with this little guy! One of my favorite people on earth...my adorable nephew adden! We went to the park, to McDonald's of a happy meal, took a nap, and played outside. So much fun.

I came home refreshed and motivated to get busy studying for my licencing exam.

Kids are hilarious!

2011-03-19T19:35:00.000-07:00

Today I babysat 2 little girls ages 6 and 7 and 3/4 (her words not mine). They seriously kept me laughing all day. Here are a few highlights.

6 year old: If you're older than my sister than why aren't you married?
Me: I haven't found anyone I want to marry yet.
6 year old: you should marry Justin Bieber.

7 year old (while playing Disney trivia): What would happen if a witch gave me a poison apple?
Me: You would fall into a deep sleep until your prince came and kissed you to wake you up.
6 year old: Ewwww.

6 year old (while in line behind a very short man, we're talking 5'3"ish): why is that man so small?
Me: He was born that way I guess.
6 year old: Is he a grown up?
Me: yes
6 year old: maybe he'll grow big when he's 100.
Me: yeah probably.

so, so funny.

A river Runs through....the ranch

2011-03-08T20:37:00.000-08:00

For the last month or so the river bed on our property has been flowing! I absolutely love it when it flows. I have many, many memories of playing in the river as a child, from trying to build a dam with my cousin Micheal to catching bucket full of frogs and tadpoles. :) Now I still can't get enough of the beauty and peace that comes from being both on the ranch and so near the water. Lately I've been spending a couple hours each afternoon sitting in a lawn chair, with my feet in the water, studying my flash cards....bliss. I love, love, love it! So peaceful

This place is heaven.

Attitude of Gratitude

2011-03-07T10:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Morning I was feeling a bit sorry for myself...just one of those mornings where I was thinking about what I lack you know just a bit down in the dumps. After some prayer I picked up the conference Ensign and opened to President Monson's talk from this past general conference entitled "The Divine gift of Gratitude". In his talk president Monson quoted "the Greek philosopher Epictetus, "He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has"" later in his talk he says, "A grateful heart, then, comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives". I was thinking of how important gratitude must be for President Monson to make it the topic of his talk so I started thinking of all the things I have to be thankful for. I'm ME!!! I'm a strong, healthy, faithful disciple of Christ!
MY FAMILY!

I have an amazing family who love me, take care of me, and help to overcome my weaknesses.

My siblings are my best friends! I love them, respect them, and trust them with all my heart.

I have the cutest nephew in the world, a wonderful sister-in-law who is always willing to have us around and likes to be silly with the rest of us.

Graduations:

I graduated from BYU-I with my bachelor's degree after having so many awesome, fun, and spiritually uplifting experiences there!

I graduated with my masters degree in Occupational therapy something I love to do!

Served a mission in the NYNY SOUTH MISSION:

I served in the best mission in the world! I met so many wonderful people from all over the world! My experiences there not only strengthened my testimony of the gospel but helped make me a stronger, more caring person.

Loved so many people!

I got to see people come into the fold!

I met some of the best missionaries/people in the world!
I love nature and live where it abounds:

Family camp @ camp sierra, so beautiful!

Yosemite

Camping in the mountains near Sacramento.

Redwoods in Muir woods near SF

Camping on the coast near big sur!

I Have the scriptures and words of modern day Prophets:

I am so blessed to live in a day when these words are so easily accessible to me and from them I gain peace, inspirations, and a desire to be better.
I have a pass to DISNEYLAND:

Seriously would a gratitude list of mine be complete without Disneyland!
I have had AMAZING FRIENDS in my life, people that have changed me for the better:

People I grew up with!

Friends that have been around for as long as I can remember.

Friends that were around only for a bit.

Mixture of old friends and new.

Friends that accepted me for who I was and helped me to become who I am!

Friends who supported me like family!

Friends who became like family.

Friends who pretty much are family.

Friends who made me feel like I had my family with me. :)

Roommates who supported me even when I was bossing them.

Friends who helped make college life fun!

Friends who were there when I needed someone to lean on.

Friends who you know love you, even when you done see each other for years.

Friends who make you feel like a model.

Friends who help you get over your post mission awkward stage.

Friends who help you come up with a new definition of fun.

Friends who come into your life for a season and leave a lasting impression.

Friends who always remember to include you and make things fun!

Friends who share inside jokes and become like sisters!

Friends who help you adjust to change and become cultured.

Friends who make a random Sunday evening a party. :)

Friends who you admire and make you feel like a million dollars.

BFFs who make you laugh and who love Apolo as much as you do.

Friends who make sure you are taken care of and are always there for you.

Friends who support you and help you get through one of the hardest things you've ever done.

Friends who make a transition time, much more fun.

Friends who even after 10 years, or 25, are still the best.

I'm a Griffith:

These folks are amazing and so fun to be around

Every once in awhile Dreams really do come true:

Due to some good friends, I got to swim in the neptune pool at hearst castle.

I have access to some amazing MUSIC:

In addition to CDs and my I-pod which enable me to listen to some great tunes all the time. I've been to some awesome concerts including Joe Nichols. :)

Opportunities to serve:

Serving others makes you feel good and I'm often given opportunities to serve others and be uplifted others.

I'm part of a legacy of girls:

My mom is one of 3 girls, My sisters and I make 3 and my cousins are 3. I love these girls and the strong women we are becoming due to the great women who have come before.
I live in a beatiful place:

My Bestie and I at the beach for my b-day.

I'm part of this awesome family:

I grew up here:

I get to go to the Temple often:

I love to be in the temple and feel the peaceful spirit that abides there, to be reminded of my promises, and to remember that families can be together forever.

I have so much to be thankful for! Thanks for letting me share.

Valentines 2011

2011-02-17T11:39:00.001-08:00

I really dont look forward to V-day for rather obvious reasons. This year it was great though. In the morning Brianna and I went to the gym and got our physical fitness on. After the gym we met our Grandma for breakfast at this great diner in Paso. Yummy! In the afternoon we met up with our cousin Tiana at Grandma and Grandpas house and cuddle her little girl Ava. So adorable. That night we had a great FHE with our north county FHE group. It was a great day way to go Valentines day 2011 you knocked it out of the park.

My Birthday 2011

2011-02-17T10:53:00.000-08:00

It's been a few months since my birthday but my computer wasn't working for awhile, but I finally got things figured out to make this post. Here I am with my birthday banner made by my Mom...I can't believe I'm 30!

On my birthday everyone had to work so I met my Mom for lunch at one of my fav. restaurants in Paso, delicious! After lunch I went and got a pedicure. This place was awesome the chair was super comfortable, the water was warm and they used warm stones with lotion during the massage portion. AMAZING.Then I came home to lots of facebook messages from friends and family.

That evening I got flowers from my Dad and from one of my best friends.

I also received my Masters Degree in the mail, my goal was to get my masters before I was 30, and I did it. :) That night my Mom made tacos, we watched a movie, and my Dad built a fire to make smores. It was a great day.

Over the weekend, one of my best friends Hillary came home to visit for my birthday. We went to the coast, had yummy BBQ lunch and spent some times exploring the tide pools.

There were TONS of star fish out that day. Loved it. After exploring we went and looked through shops and then ate lemon cake. Another great day.

Hillary got me a Carmel apple from Disneyland. Yummy.

Then the next weekend my parents threw me a birthday party. Lots of family and friends came and it was a BEAUTIFUL day. Here I am with the girls Jana, me, Brianna, Tiana, and Annie. It was such a fun day.

Here I am with the lady who made it all happen. Love, Love my Mom! Thanks to everyone who helped make may birthday special.

Florida Trip!!!!!

2011-01-14T16:36:00.000-08:00

To celebrate my graduation from grad school (that's right people I'm finally finished with everything and should receive my degree in the mail any day now!) my friend Hillary and I went to Florida where we spent 8 days at dinsey world and 1 day at Harry Potter world. Here we are with our bug eyes on at Disney's animal kingdom. (one of 4 disney world parks that we sent to.)

At Animal kingdom they also have this awesome "tree of life" it has animals "carved" into it's trunk and it's super awesome looking. In case you can't tell that button I'm wearing says "first visit" :)

There's a nice "walking path" around the tree here I am with a rhino carved into the bottom of the trunk.

At Epcot we walked around the world showcase (located around a lake where there is different areas representing different countries around the world). Here we are in Canada, apparently they have beautiful gardens there.

We also visited Mexico, Como Esta?

My personal fav was our visit to Norway the land of my ancestors. :) Also if you'll notice there is a flocked Christmas tree behind me....turns out a Disney world Christmas keeps going and going, they were still playing Christmas music and had decorations up the whole time we were there through Jan 10th!

Just to split things up, on day 5, we went to Harry Potter world. Here's the cross roads between hogsmeade and Hogwarts. :)

Here's the Hogwarts castle. There is an awesome ride inside...problem is we had to wait 2.5 hours to get inside. It was crazy.

Here we are checking out Hogsmeade where we got to looking in Ollivander's wand shop, honeydukes, zonko's, and try butter beer (delish by the way).

I even got to take this nice photo with the hogwarts express and this jolly conductor.

Then it was back to Disney world for round 2. This is of the world showcase, France incase you couldn't tell, at sunset...beautiful.

On day 2 of the animal kingdom we went on the Safari where we saw many different animals including this cute little guy, a baby giraffe.

On our last day while we waiting to watch fantasmic in the awesome stadium they have in Disney Hollywood studios we looked for souvenirs and tried on some great hats. Here's our ghetto look.

Our funky look.

Our Disney channel original movie look!

Afterward we treated ourselves to some of our favorite treats.

The next day to make up for our sweets we drank our "green goo" as we called it for breakfast. It was an awesome trip. Thanks to Hillary for all her planning and making this trip happen. I loved it.

Extreme Sweater Christmas Eve!

2010-12-30T20:35:00.000-08:00

Every year we spend Christmas Eve with my Moms side of the family. Last year we decided to have a theme....it was PJ Christmas eve....we all wore new pjs. It was wonderful. :) Because the theme was so fun we decided to have another themed Christmas. Here we are at the start of our night. :) Very festive, no?

Here's the sibs: My brother, my nephew, my sister-in-law, my sister Brianna, Me, and my sister Callie.

My adorable parents in their finery.

Sisters looking hot, hot, hot.

Aunt Brianna giving Adden Christmas kisses. :) He was obsessed with our red lipstick...he couldn't stop staring at it.

Even Grandma got into the spirit...that's a tiny Christmas mouse/hedge hog thing she Velcroed to her sweater. Addie is giving it a pat.

The cousins arrived wearing their Christmas sweaters as well. L to R: Adden, Addie (cousin), Sadie (cousin), Callie (sister), Brianna (sister), Me, Katie (cousin), and Mike (K's bf).

Adden will do 2 fingers right up into the moment you want him to...peace on earth, good will toward men.

Disney Land at Christmas time!

2010-12-18T22:44:00.001-08:00

Over a month ago was my sister Brianna's birthday...and her wish was to celebrate by going to Disneyland. Well it turned out that the soonest was could go was this week so on Tuesday we headed down to LA to visit our friend Hillary and spend 2 fun filled days at Disneyland. Here we are in front of the castle all decorated for Christmas.

In spite of the cold we still went on Splash mountain (our fav) and we got soaked!

The whole place was festively decorated for the holidays. :)

It's a small world was especially festive.

The Christmas tree on main street was ginormous!

The next day we started out at California adventure. :) Here we are ready for our favorite ride "Toy story mania"!

and rap ourselves as the perfect holiday gift. :)

We were totally ghetto while attending the "bugs life" 3-D show.

For my treat I got a Santa mickey candy apple. Yummy!

We had an awesome time at Disneyland at Christmas Time, Happy Birthday teen! :)

Sing Noel!

2010-12-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

Last weekend my Dad, my sisters, and I participated in a Christmas choir concert for our stake called "Sing Noel". What's sing Noel you say? Well Sing Noel,is a big Christmas program that our stake puts it on every 2 years. This is the year for it and the choir had been practicing every Sunday night since September. Here we are ready for the performance. It all went beautifully and really helped bring the true meaning of the Christmas season to heart.

Finding our Christmas Tree

2010-12-18T22:18:00.000-08:00

Every year we go to a Christmas tree farm to get our Christmas tree. Having a real tree that we chop down ourselves is a very important part or our tradition. This year we went to the Christmas tree farm and found the perfect tree in just minutes. Isn't it a beauty?
Another important part of our tradition is every year while we put up our tree we drink egg nog milk shakes. A few years ago when I discovered my "Lacto" status...I had to switch to soy nog and soy cream. Let's just say it's not the same but I still drink it just to be part of the tradition. My Mom asked me on our way home what tradition I wanted to start with my future family since it's not a secret that soy nog isn't up to par. Since I really have no idea I thought I'd ask you my blog readers what your putting up Christmas tree traditions are. So go ahead lay it on me. :)

Walk on the Ranch

2010-12-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

On Thanksgiving weekend my family and I decided to take a walk on our property. Adden my nephew who is 2 wanted to hike "that mountain" so we headed out. My brother who is Addens "Best friend" walked with adden hand in hand. :) so cute.

When we got to the "mountain" Adden needed "mommy's" help to make it up. Here's Adden hiking with my sister-in-law and grandma.

I took along my graduation gift! An awesome camera to take some photo. Here's one of the fence line.

From the top of the hill.

Sun setting

Love, love oak trees they have such character. :)

Brianna and Callie checking out the darkening sky with Adden

Zipping up Adden's jacket for the walk home. :)

The creek bed on the way home. My new camera is AWESOME! I love the quality of the photos I'm able to take with it.

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-18T20:44:00.000-08:00

This year for thanksgiving I decided to get in touch with my domestic side and put together some decorations for the tables. Here's the decore I put together for the main table, very festive no?

A few years ago we started a tradition of taking cousins pics on thanksgiving day. So after dinner we headed out for our photo shoot. Here I am with my sister Callie and cousin Sadie waiting for everyone to get ready.

Pose #1 the country girls. Addie, Tara, Katie, Brianna, Callie, Sadie.

"Country girls from the side"Addie, Tara, Katie, Brianna, Callie, Sadie..

Pose # 2 "Girl band/Album cover"Sadie, Tara, Addie, Brianna, Callie, Katie

Pose # 3 "cousins who like each other alot"Addie, Callie, Katie, Brianna, Sadie, Tara

"Sisters-piggy back" Brianna, Callie, Tara

"Shortest to tallest-Tara barely made it style"-Addie, Tara, Brianna, Sadie, Callie, Katie

"greek goddess" Tara, Brianna, Sadie, Katie, Callie, Addie

"Hugs not drugs"-Addie, Katie, Tara, Brianna, Callie, Sadie

After the photo shoot we all made gingerbread houses! Here we are with our houses on display. :) Brianna, Callie, Addie, Tara, Sadie, Katie, Mike!It was a great day and as you can see lots of fun!

Weekend visit!

2010-12-18T20:18:00.000-08:00

For Veteran's day weekend I took a trip to the Bay area to visit friends. :) On Friday night I met up with a bunch of friends and went to dinner. It was quite an adventure including a trip to the airport, designated driving, and an extra dinner but lots of fun anyway.

On Saturday morning after meeting up with friends for a yummy breakfast of crepes I headed out to to see some of my OT friends for the first time since graduation. So fun to catch up and hear about all my friends field work experiences.

After the OT party I went to a birthday party for a bunch of friends from my old ward and got to catch up with them as well. It was great to be back up in the bay area and enjoy all the good food and friends I miss. :)

Brianna's Birthday Weekend

2010-11-12T11:49:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we celebrated my Sister Brianna's Birthday. On Friday we got together with a few of our friends in San Luis and had a party. Here's all the happy partiers.

Peace...Brianna's go to picture pose. :)

We played some wild games of pit.

And had yummy birthday cake washed down with laughter and costco pizza.

The next day we had a family birthday party for Brianna. Matthew, Carrie and Adden came to join in the celebration. After a yummy dinner we let our food settle and took a walk. Here I am with my sister-in-law and adorable nephew....who apparently wasn't into taking pictures at this point.

Most of the family came along on the walk.

Here I am with Adden looking over the fence at the neighbors animals

Sisters are the best!

Sisters & Cousins the best friends a girl could ask for.

Especially cause we can all be ourselves...apparently Katie and I have a similar way of expressing ourselves.

When we got back from our walk we were ready for cake...Dad and uncle Kevin even came to get us and let us know it was time for something sweet. Great weekend. Great Family. Love it!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-11T23:14:00.000-08:00

For Halloween this year my sisters and I went to our singles ward dance. Here we are ready to party it up. I was a pirate, Brianna a vampire, and Callie a gypsy.

Here we are in character.

I was a sassy pirate, but somehow this didn't stop my bishop from asking me to read his palm...he thought I was a fortune teller pirate apparently.

The next day our institute service project where we helped run a carnival for kids, here's Brianna helping to run the bean bag toss booth.

Somehow I got picked to help with the costume contest! I was the one who lead the groups of children in front of the judges in parade fashion. It was a good times and fun to see all the adorable costumes the kids had.

Here we are showing off our Mormon helping hands. (that's what our shirts said). Lovely day and great way to celebrate Halloween weekend.

Pumpkin Farm!

2010-10-21T12:42:00.000-07:00

Last weekend after the baby shower My Mom, my sister Brianna, and I met my brother Matthew, his wife Carrie, and our nephew Adden at the pumpkin farm. They have the place set up really cute with a hay maze, a hay pit, animals, fresh fruit and vegetables, and pumpkins galore.

Here's Adden and I checking out the pumpkins

Siblings. Matthew, Brianna and I.

Aunt Brianna with Adden.

Grandma with Adden...he was kinda sick of pictures by this time

So we took him through the hay maze which was incredibly narrow and made all of the adults feel claustrophobic and then to jump into the hay pit which he LOVED!

We went home with fresh corn and apples making this an evening full of all things lovely and fallish. :)

Baby Shower for Tiana...well really for AVA

2010-10-21T12:04:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my sister Brianna, our friend Jana and I threw a baby shower for my cousin Tiana who is set to have a little girl (Ava) in early December. On Saturday morning after spending most of the evenings that week prepping we drove down to SM to set up for the shower. Aunt Lisa helped with the food thankfully so we set up the cupcakes (I spent the afternoon/evening the day before making approx 130 cupcakes), decorate, and arrange seating. By the time the shower was ready to start everything was beautiful.

Brianna and Jana mad this adorable dipper cake to go in the middle of the table.

Here's a sampling of the cupcakes I made. On top was chocolate cupcakes with mint frosting and Andi's mints on top. The middle tray was yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting and kit-kat or peanut butter cup on top. On the bottom was my fav. lemon cupcakes with raspberry cream cheese frosting and a raspberry on top.

Here's the banner we made from scrapbook paper with "baby girl" on it.

The flowers Jana arranged which we put next to the punch were beautiful.

Tiana's many, many presents and in the background another banner we made to decorate.

As you can see Jana was the photographer so I don't have many photos of people but here's one my mom snapped of Jana and I at the start of the shower. All and all things went beautifully and fun was had by all.

Cheese Party!

2010-10-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I've mentioned it lately but I really have an awesome family. Here is just one example of our awesomeness. On conference weekend we all got together at Aunt Lisa and uncle Joe's house to watch conference and spend time together. This year Aunt Lisa decided it would be fun if we had a cheese party between sessions of conference. She called everyone up and told them to bring their favorite cheese and any other sides that would be appropriate. My cousin Michael and Grandpa really enjoyed the stinky cheese.

Here's everyone waiting for the party to begin.

Brianna and I about to enjoy our first bites.

Here's my Mom reading a fact about cheese before passing around her favorite cheese.

Grandpa got in on that action too, reading a fact about cheese before he and grandma passed around their cheese provolone, which Grandma of course pronounced provo-lone-eee.

After the party another session of conference started and Grandma and Grandpa fell into a cheese coma...or maybe it was just a quick nap. :)

Joe Nichols Concert!

2010-10-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

Being country loving folks, my family and I went to a Joe Nichols concert. Here's my Mom, my Dad, Callie and I with our tickets ready to go in.

All the girls ready for the concert!

We were really excited that our tickets were sparkly!!

We arrived at the concert at 8:00 pm....it was scheduled to start at 8:30. The first opening act started right on time followed shortly thereafter by opening act number 2. Then they the put the radio on the speakers and we waited, and waited, and waited....for 50 minutes before Joe finally came on stage. Needless to say the crowd got a bit restless. But when he finally came out the concert was amazing. We were really close to the stage. The picture below is taken without a zoom. We were close enough to catch Joe's eye a couple of times. It was great and he sang all our favs and we arrived home happy to spite our sore feet. Love Joe Nichols. :)

Dreams really do come true!

2010-09-30T22:39:00.000-07:00

This past week my family and I had the opportunity to go swimming in the Hearst castle pool! Here's me and my Sister Brianna on the bus ride up to the castle we were so excited.

When we arrived at the castle we used the "ladies dressing rooms" to put on our suits....so cool!

Here we are ready to jump in.

It was sooooooooo amazing. The water as you can see was clear and beautiful, the sun was shinning and the weather was warm. The perfect day for a swim in the most amazing pool ever!

Here's Brianna and I enjoying the water.

It was so cool to finally be able to just Jump in, I've dreamed of it for so long, and guess what it is as cool as you think it is!

Brianna and I swam under each of the 4 fountains streaming into the pool.

The pool is 9 feet deep in most places so we took a few minutes to rest up at the pool side.

I was the last one in the pool guess all those days in the ocean as a kid really paid off, endurance is everything.

At the end of the evening we were sad to leave but so happy to have had the experience of swimming in the most amazing pool on earth!

I think I found my calling in life!

2010-09-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

I recently started my 2nd and final Field work experience (aka an internship I am required to do for school). My first field work placement I did over the summer and it was at a nursing home where I had the opportunity to provide therapy for elderly individuals most of whom had recently had surgery (hip, knee, heart, etc.) It was fast paced and at times I was stressed to the max trying to get everything done. But I enjoyed it for the most part and met some wonderful people who taught me a lot and who I was able to help. I also learned a lot from my field work supervisor who pushed me, was open and honest, and was an awesome and knowledgeable therapist. After a month long vacation I started working again, this time in pediatrics. For the past 3 weeks I've had the opportunity to work in a medical therapy unit with children. So far I have seen many diagnoses but primarily Cerebral Palsy. In spite of the fact that each case is complicated and unique and that children seem to have so many more aspects to look at than adults, I LOVE IT!!! I love working with the kids and figuring out how find things that are fun to do to help them develop the skill necessary to be independent and functional. I LOVE that the kids respond to me so well, that they smile and laugh and seem to love me instantly. The kids that I work with have some pretty severe disabilities but each one is so special it amazes me....their patience and dedication to a task blows me away. I'm learning so much but the biggest thing Ive learned so far is that this is what I want to do, it's my gift from my Heavenly Father that I have a special connection with these kids. I'm so grateful for my knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father and that he has a plan for me. I have felt his influence with me each step of the way as I've moved closer and closer to my educational and professional goal of becoming an occupational therapist. I know I'm going to keep needing it as I move closer and closer to becoming an full fledged OT! I'm living the dream.

Griffith Family Reuinion 2010

2010-08-15T18:51:00.000-07:00

On the last weekend of July my Dad's sisters flew in for a visit and to attend my cousins wedding. The weekend they got here we got together for garage saling/girls day on Saturday. Lots of fun, good deals and laughter. On Sunday we all went to church with Grandma and Grandpa! It was cool to see my grandparents with all their kids and many of the grandchildren at church. After church we all went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner and played a game where we had to share memories from growing up, it was cool to share past memories many of which included other family members. Here I am with all the girl cousins who were there. Me, Tiana, Brianna, Callie and Christina (somehow we ended up in age order)

Here's all the girls with our new cousin Mette who married my cousin Brent the following weekend.

Sisters pic we always take one of my dad's 2 sisters and Brianna and I.

I loved spending time with my poopsie (my cousin Ross, who I call poopsie)

My Dad's immediate family was all together: Grandpa, Aunt Laurie, Aunt Debbie, Uncle Joe, My Dad, and Grandma

We took pics of all the graduates in our family. Here I am with Aunt Debbie the only other family member with a masters.

All the grandchildren (minus Matthew and Carrie) who have their bachelor's!

Fun hanging out with my cousin Christina.

On Monday evening the Men had a "Man Day" for my cousin Brent who was getting married the next Saturday. While they were out shooting guys and being manly, we girls had a baby shower for my cousin Tiana who is having a little girl (the first girl great grandchild) in December. Here I am with my Grandma at the shower.

Tiana with the outfit Brianna and I gave her for her little girl.

We had yummy Shirley temples and strawberry cheesecake for dessert.

Aunt Lisa and Brianna on the front lawn at the baby shower. Show lovely enjoying the evening together.

The week went by fast and on Thursday Night we all got together with Mette's family in Camarillo and had a big FHE and got to know each other. Here's my Dad, My cousin Michael, My Grandpa, and My brother Matthew at the FHE.

Me, my nephew Adden, and my sister Callie at the FHE.

After dinner and games out on the lawn we all headed inside to watch a movie my cousin Josh made for the couple. It was adorable and hilarious! Here's My sister Brianna, My grandpa, My grandma, and I after watching the video.

After the video we had ice cream sandwiches made with homemade cookies ( I made 5 dozen
chocolate chip cookies the week before, and aunt Laurie made another 5 dozen and aunt Lisa still had to buy some more there were so many people)!Here's Aunt Lisa, Aunt Debbie and my Dad after making ice cream sandwiches for everyone.

That night we drove down to LA and stayed in a hotel across from the temple so we could be there in time for the sealing in the morning. It was a beautiful sealing. Here's my Dad and his siblings outside the Temple waiting for the bride and groom there were tons of weddings that day.

My family outside the Temple after the sealing.

The girls after the sealing. Me, my Mom, my sister Callie, My sister Brianna, and my sister-in-law Carrie.

That afternoon we drove back to Camarillo and checked into our hotel and got ready for the reception that night. Here I am with my sister Brianna and aunt Laurie at the reception.

Here I am with my grandpa at the reception. Which was lots of fun, and since we weren't in charge we got to leave and go swimming that night at our hotel pool. :)

The next day we got up and had breakfast, did some water aerobics, and got ready for the day. On our way to Santa Barbara we stopped at in-and-our. Here I am with my Mom and my cousin Ross.

That afternoon we went to the Santa Barbara zoo. Me, Callie, Christina, aunt Debbie, Uncle Gary, grandma, grandpa, aunt Laurie, Ross.

While we were at the zoo we took a ride on the train just our party took up a whole car.

Here's my cousin Ross looking like a prairie dog. :) you can see one behind him if you look close

Me, my sister Brianna, and my cousin Christina pretending to be monkeys...well I'm not really sure what Christina was up to.

Here I am with my Dad at the zoo.

Here I am with my Mom at the zoo! It was such a beautiful view!

Brianna and Callie pretending to be flamingos!

Adden making aunt Callie kiss his giraffe toys my Mom bought him at the zoo gift shop. After the zoo we all went out to dinner and said our goodbyes the Californians drove home that night and the out-of-towners stayed at a hotel and flew home that night. It was a great reunion, we have so much fun together it's exhausting. :)

Roommate Reunion

2010-08-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

In the middle of July 2 of my roommates from before my mission at BYU-I/Ricks College came to California to visit one of my best friends and roomie from the same time Hillary and I. They arrived on a Friday while I was working so Hillary picked them up from the airport and they went to the beach until they met up with me at about 4. That evening we just hung out and caught up. It was so good to catch up with everyone. The next day we got going pretty early and headed to the coast to visit Hurst castle. Here we are waiting for our tour. Traci, Melanie, me and Hill.

We got VIP treatment because good friend of the family who works at the castle.

Here we all are at the castle. Traci, Melanie, me, and Hill.

The castle is absolutely amazing! Every time I go I'm blown away by the grandeur of it all. This is pic of the ceiling in one of the rooms. So beautiful.

From the garden.

lovely fountain in the garden.

trying to take a new profile pic for Traci, very California, No?

Another attempt. She's so cute.

Me with the indoor pool...it's amazing, it's my dream to swim there someday.

After the castle we went to lunch to give the girl a taste of central coast BBQ. So yummy. After lunch we went to the beach to see the seal lions.

Here we are together: Tara, Traci, Melanie, and Hillary.

After the beach we headed back to San Jose to spend the night and the girls flew out the next morning. It was a quick weekend and lots of fun to spend time together.

Berkeley Bridal Shower

2010-08-15T11:31:00.000-07:00

One weekend in July I went to Berkeley to visit friends and help throw a shower for my roommate Sam! On Friday night I drove up to Berkeley and had dinner and hung out with my friend Kathy. On Saturday morning I went with my friends Jonathan, Gar, and Kathy to Bake sale Betty, an amazing restaurant where we had chicken sandwiches, banana bread, and strawberry shortcake...yummy.

After bake sale Betty Gar and I went shopping and did a few errands to finish getting ready for the shower.

For dinner we met back up with Jonathan and Kathy for pizza. :)

Then it was time for the shower. For the shower we had fondue here's the pretty food table.

Kathy made a face out of her food plate.

As part of her gift I got Sam and egg slicer, who knew an egg slicer could be so exciting.

Another friend got her a bridal survival kit including a mini pocket knife...Sam is going to be very safe with that thing around.

Here's the whole gang at the shower. It was a good time and lots of fun. The next day I went the church and headed home. Great weekend that was over all to quickly.

4th of July Weekend

2010-07-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

My brother Matthew and his family came home for 4th of July weekend. Here I am with Adden dressed in our red, white and blue, ready for church.

Here I am with my adorable Dad, ready for church on the 4th. :)

On the way to church we made our traditional 4th of July stop and the cemetery to visit Granddad's grave and place a flag on it.

That evening I went with my Aunt and Cousins to Cayucos beach for the fireworks, it's been about 5 years since I had been at the beach for the fireworks and it was a great time. Katie's Bf Mike was working that day at his uncles shop across the street from the beach so not only was he able to get us the best parking EVER, he saved us each a delicious fish taco!!! Love it when we have the hook ups!

Here we are Katie, Mike (katie's bf), Sadie, Addie, and I

Happy 4th of July! God Bless America!

Even my toes were patriotic.

As it started to get dark we got cosy waiting for the fireworks to begin.

It was kinda hard take pics because of all the smoke and fog...but I heart the beach and it was fun to be there with my cousins.

I decided to get out my new camera (my graduation) gift from the parents and takes some pics of Adden while they were visiting. Here he is dancing with his Daddy.

He dumped an entire bag of fish crackers on the carpet and then sang "clean up" as he put them back in...maybe if I was his Mom it wouldn't be funny...but I thought it was hilarious.

Adden Loves his Cars.

....and playing in the sandbox...I love this face!

Sand is quite fascinating

Love that giggle :)

Fun with Grandma Kathy

Kinda a gross pic of Me but we were having such a great time I decided to post it anyway.

Making Sand Angels

Hanging with brother and Car at my favorite time of day, evening on the ranch

Love this place, so beautiful.

My adorable Dad.

Great weekend, great company, great fun.

Graduation Party!

2010-07-29T20:24:00.000-07:00

So it's been awhile since my last blog post but I wanted to share the pics from my graduation BBQ on memorial day weekend. Here I am enjoying the party with two of my beautiful cousins Sadie and Katie!!!

Being silly, love these girls!!!

With one of my very best friends Hillary (her family is always at the family parties, love them:))

Here I am with my favorite boy, Adden!!! I've been told this is the best Adden and Aunt Tara picture ever...what do you think?

For those who were unable to attend my graduation I hung my cap and gown on the hall closet so they could see how cool it is, and the background is cards my wonderful friends and family gave me.

Here I am with my Mom, the one who made it all happen.

Last but not least my adorable grandparents. :) My grandma Donna's mom graduated from college as did my Aunt Debbie, My sister Brianna, and my Cousin Tiana!!! My grandma is very proud of her educated posterity. :)

Graduation Weekend

2010-06-01T20:48:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was my graduation from grad school. Here I am hugging my department head after she "hooked" me. :) Such a happy moment.

Here I am with my friend Brooke during graduation. :) Hurrah for MSOT's.

I was really blessed to have alot of family and friends come to my graduation (one of the perks of going to school just 3 hours from home). Here I am with my aunt Jean (mom's sister).

Aunt Lisa and Uncle Joe (Dad's brother), who I'm staying with this summer while I intern, made the drive too.

My Grandma (Mom's Mom) who has been so supportive of me during my education came to help me celebrate.

Here I am with my friend Chara. She was my partner for adult clinic and she's amazing. We did it. :)

My brother and sister-in-law cam the farthest all the way from LA. I really am loved.

My one of my very best friends Hillary came to support me to, she was such a big help.

My friends Kathy and Beth came from Berkeley to show their support.

My Dad and Mom showing love to the graduate.

Me and my siblings, looking good on my graduation day.

After the graduation a bunch of us went to dinner to celebrate.

The next day was my Mom's 55th birthday here she is with the pink chocolate chip pan cakes we made for her birthday breakfast "55" and Mickey mouse.

The next day we took some pics of my sister Brianna and I in our caps and gowns to commemorate the excitement of graduating just a month a part, her with her bachelor's in elementary ed. and me with my masters in occupational therapy.

Yippee we graduated!

We did it!! It was a great time and so exciting to finally be done with course work!