Muir Woods & Karaoke!

Last weekend I went up to Berkeley to visit friends and bring home another load of my things. On Saturday my friends Kathy and Sam and I went to Muir woods something I've been wanting to do for the last year, here we are ready to explore.

Here are Kathy and I at the first bridge of our beautiful walk.

The river and the ferns were especially beautiful.

Same and I enjoyed the "peace"fulness of the beautiful woods.

There's just something about looking up through leaves that brings peace to my soul.

Sam looked like a little girl gazing up into this tree.

Lucky clover along the path.

There was one tree that was hallow inside, Kathy and I climbed right in.

We had a wonderful time in our beautiful surroundings.

Ferns are so lovely.

The river was beautiful.

Afterward at the visitors center we checked out the really cool bear statues. Here I am taking a rest.

Sam got down to meet this one at his level.

When I got back to my place I wanted to take a pic with my pumpkin I've had since October.:) Still going strong.

That night I got together with some friends for a graduation/karaoke party. Here I am with my friend Beth @ the party.

Brendan and Elsa rocking out to karaoke.

Katie and Elsa singing their hearts out...

Gar and I singing lean on me. It was a great day and wonderful to spend time with such amazing friends.

Disney Land in May!

During my break from school I took a trip to southern California to go to Disney land with my good friend Hillary and her Mom Dale. Here we are ready for the first day.

One of our first rides was the haunted mansion, here we are looking scared.

Here I am in front of my favorite ride "splash mountain". I had to ride alone because Hillary and Dale both refuse to ride it,not wanting to get wet, but one advantage was I was able to single ride and got right on with no wait.:)

On our 2nd day at DL I took this pic for my Berkeley friends, who have suggested I become a tour guide due to my, according to them, extensive knowledge of DL. :)

I also bought a graduation mickey cap to wear in celebration of my graduation. Here are Hill and I ready for my favorite ride at California Adventure. It was a great trip and so much fun. :) Love good friends and good fun at DL.

My Last Week in Berkeley

After classes were over I decided to spend another week in Berkeley to rap things up, pack, hang out with friends, and help out with my last activity as activities co-chair in my ward. I had a great time having lunch with friends, shopping, etc. and it was nice to have some time to do rap things up and not have to feel rushed. On Friday my Friend Kathy and I walked across the golden gate and back something I've been wanting to do since I moved to the bay area. My Granddad (my Mom's dad) grew up in SF and walked across the golden gate bridge the day it opened as a little boy and I really wanted to have the experience for myself.

Here we are at the beginning of our journey.

Me and Kathy

About half way across, Kathy said this is my senior portrait...which is fitting since I'm graduating this month.

On the other side, I kinda look like I have a comb over but it's just because the wind kept blowing my hair. I'm not doing anything new and weird with my hair.

This is at the park on the SF side of the bridge showing how thick the cables are, you really can't tell looking at it (check it out in the back ground) or driving across it but those things are SUPER thick.

After our walk we met up with our friend Beth and saw "how to train your dragon" at this really cool old theater in Berkeley area where you can sit on couches and order food while you watch your movie. It's super cool and the movie was really good. Afterwards we went and go pedicures, here are our feet looking hott!

That night we went to the RS quilting activity tying quilts for needy families in the area. Before the Activity I did Kathy's make up (she's in red) she looked really good and I was proud of my skills.

The next day was May day. In the morning I went to the Temple and was able to do some work for my great great grandmother. It was wonderful. (If you want to learn more about the LDS church involvement in family history work check out http://www.lds.org/) Then after going to lunch with a friend I headed over to a institute to gather up the needed materials for our ward BBQ/picnic in the park. Because it was May 1st (May Day) one of the girls from our ward mad a may pole and a bunch of people danced around it.

Here are some of my peps from Berkeley at the BBQ I was sitting in the orange chair. :)

My co-chair Brendan manned the BBQ along with several others. Good job guys.

After the food was gone there was a game of soft ball that got going. I actually threw the foot ball around with some friends (I know so sporty of me) and actually did pretty well. It was a beautiful evening and a good time for all. That night I got together with a few of my friends for one last hurrah before saying see you later.:)

On Sunday at church I took a few pic with some of my fav. people. Here I am with my friends Veronica and Brittany.

Katie and I (with Lane in the background) this girl is great!

Some of my fav people ever. :) Sam, Beth, me, Kathy, & Gar. Friends are the best. I'll miss Berkeley it was a good experience and who knows where life will take me after field work.

I wasn't meant to be an Only child...well only adult.

Last Sunday after noon I packed up my little Honda civic and drove home to Paso to begin the process of moving in with my parents while I complete my level 2 field work over the next 6 months. The brilliance of this plan was to move home so I wouldn't have to pay rent while doing field work as it is unpaid and lets face it I don't need any more debt.
It's been a busy week and it's honestly not that I'm bored or that I don't LOVE my parents it's just that I've never lived at home with out at least one of my siblings before and honestly...It's weird. Just me and my parents. They are great and I love them a lot but it's not the same as having a sibling around to entertain you. Today I was sitting on the couch before church and we were all home but it was so I quite I said "cricket, cricket" (a family joke). Well it wont be long (just a week from tomorrow) and I'll be starting my filed work and living with my aunt and uncle during the week and just coming home on the weekends. By the time this rotation is over my sister Callie will be home and we'll both be living here for the fall. This experience just makes me realize even more than ever before how grateful I am for my siblings and that I wasn't and only child. :)

Re-building together & Karaoke!

Last Saturday a group from my ward participated re-building together in Berkeley. My group helped paint the home of a 96 year old man. Here I am busy at work.

It was beautiful day and it was fun being outside and helping to clean up our community.

Todd was kinda crazy on the ladder and I'm afraid Nick wasn't very helpful as he was taking a soda break...Katie and Chiquies however had the safety thing down.

Here I am painting along with several members of another local congregation.

Funny story:

As we were cleaning up I offer to take a paint pan and brush from the old man's caretaker, a man in his late 50's probably. As he handed over the items he said "you know if I ever get married again I want to marry someone like you." (I nervously laughed and kept walking, try to keep up with my friend Todd to make it less awkward) instead of helping the old man up the stairs as he was planning to, the caretaker followed along after me and gave his reasons why I would make such a great future bride, "Your young, your intelligent (not sure how he knew that since we hadn't talked) and your HANDY" again I nervously laughed and said "wow, you should tell all the fellas..." My friend Todd simple snickered at me, no help, no help at all.

It was a fun day, we were worn out by the end but satisfied that we had done good work.

[our group: Chiquies, me, Nick, Katie, Todd]

That night I went with a group of friends to do Karaoke. Here's my friend Michael and Ben, very passionate about karaoke.

Ben, Thomas, and Erica singing their hearts out.

Veronica and I were loving it!

Erica wasn't so sure about the song but I was loving it! It was a great day full of good work and fun!

Graduation Party!

This last week I finished my final semester of Grad school classes!!! So exciting! Our graduation isn't for another month but we had a party to celebrate on Friday night. Here I am with my good friend Katelyn who was the first person I met from our class on orientation day, she saved me from being in the bathroom crying for all of lunch (I was really nervous) and has been my friend ever since.

Here I am with Breanna and Dani, two of my favorite classmates. Such great girls!

Group photo of our research group plus a couple more. :)

Friends at the party!!! Way to go ladies!

Eating dinner and hanging out with my great classmates.

With my 2 favorite professors, wonderful women and professors.

One of my favorite classmates and I. I learned so much from this lady, she's amazing.

At the end of the party ready to head out dancing.

After the party a bunch of us went out dancing. It was a great night and so much of fun to celebrate our accomplishment