Visiting California.

I'm finally getting the opportunity to post some pictures from my trip to California! 

I had the BEST time! It was so great to see family and friends. I wish I could have stayed longer but I'm thankful for the time I got to spend with them. 

I flew out Friday afternoon. I hurried home after class to drop Cooper off and so my mom could take me to the airport. 

Flying essentials: A snack and a good book. I actually studied the whole flight from Dallas to Ontario. That's the only time I studied over break. Whoops! ha

Almost there!

Shari picked me up from the airport and I spent Friday night and Sabbath with her. We had a great time catching up and soaking up the sunshine Sabbath afternoon. 

It was so nice and sunny in Loma Linda so we headed to the beach to eat supper at a restaurant on the beach. We went a little early so we could sit on the beach. It was so cold but nice to sit in the sand and watch the waves. 

Laguna Beach.

We even saw a few dolphins! And the pelicans are so fun to watch dive into the water. :) 

Then it was time to eat and it was some yummy food! The view was pretty great too. They had those standup heater things or we would have been freezing! 

We picked up some Starbucks on our way back! Perfect end to a fun filled day. 

Sunday was St. Patrick's Day. Shari loves green anyway so she went all out. Green pancakes and green milk... pancakes were good, milk was just a little weird (psychologically... it tasted normal. ha) 

 Aunt Diane picked me up about 11:00 Sunday morning and I finally got to meet Chase. Ashley had to work Sunday which was to bad. We visited the Adventist Book Center and Loma Linda Market before we headed back to Ashley and Jeffrey's house. I was happy to carry Chase around while Aunt Diane shopped. :) 

Such a happy little guy! 

I hadn't seen Jeffrey in 5 years and Ashley in 3 years so Sunday was spent catching up with Jeffrey and playing with Chase while we waited for Ashley to get off work. 

I woke up way to early because of the time difference. So the first morning Chase and I hung out so Ashley could get an extra hour or so of sleep. 

We spent 2 hours at Hobby Lobby on Monday. Just walking around! I found all kinds of fun stuff and Aunt Diane bought my birthday present a little early so we I could take it back with me. :) (more on that  later)

We wore poor Chase out. 

Tuesday we went shopping! It wasn't the most productive shopping trip but it was fun! 

I have decided they just have different clothes out there. haha We are going to have to take Ashley shopping this summer when they are here. 

I had to show everyone the "synchronized swimming" video. Chase was pretty mesmerized by it at least. haha

End of a long day of shopping.

I was soooo sad to leave everyone. We did a lot of just sitting around, talking and playing with Chase. It was so nice to catch up on life! I need to make this an annual thing (at least)! I have really been missing all of them this week. There is just nothing quite like family. Seriously, you guys need to move closer! I can't wait 'til they come visit in July!

{Looking at these pictures reinspired me to use my camera more. Almost all of these were taken with my phone, which takes good pictures, but not near as good as my camera. It's just so tempting to use my phone, just in case I want to instagram it (ha!) and I always have it with me. Plus it is so much smaller and more portable. But I look waaayyy less pale when I use my actual camera (ha!) and the pictures are just so much better.}

New Glasses.

So, I don't normally do this kind of thing but when I got the email that said all I had to do was write about my glasses on my blog and I could have them for free I thought "why not!" I was in desperate need of new glasses. My prescription was way out of date and I haven't had new frames in a long time. 

I ordered them through Firmoo and I really like them! They came within a week of ordering them and are actually really good quality. I was really skeptical of what I was going to get but they came with a really nice hard case and my prescription is correct. I do have to say that my prescription needs updated apparently. I realized this in the last couple weeks. My contacts aren't strong enough either. Time to visit the eye doctor! 

Firmoo is online eyeglasses store and they have all kinds of deals. You can get sunglasses, prescription glasses or just glasses to wear because they are cool. :)  

I am incredibly awkward when it comes to taking pictures of myself. I don't think I will ever master it. ha! So Coop got in the pictures and I tried not to look to ridiculous. 

I got them just in time too! My allergies have been terrible so I have been wearing glasses a lot the last few weeks. Thankfully they have been a little better the last few days and I can breathe without taking benadryl! 

Flying By!

It really seems like I just can not keep up with life right now. Is it really already March 11?? Where did the time go?? I feel like I am about a week or two behind. I did take the only test I have this week this morning so I'm hoping to get caught up on some things before spring break starts so I can enjoy my time in California! :) 

This weekend was pretty laid back. The Pathfinders went camping, which means my Sabbath School kids were gone so I decided to visit Adventist Fellowship. It worked out perfectly because Shelley was here visiting and it was so good to see her! Plus I got to hang out with Stephen, Michelle, Melissa and this sweet guy the rest of the day. 

It is really great to have friends that you can, not see for a long time but when you do see them, it's like you were never apart. Shelley and Michelle are those kind of girlfriends. (Well actually most of my girlfriends are like that. ha!) I can't remember the last time I saw Shelley so it was so nice to see her and catch up on life. I wish we could have spent more time together! And of course, no pictures were taken. I'm really falling down on the job... but it was a really nice relaxing day! Even if I did have an annoying headache all day. 

Sunday was another special day! My sister turned "21" and Michelle also had a birthday! 

We have seriously got to work on the picture taking thing, Michelle. This is the most recent one I could find! and it's from over a year ago. ha!

Happy Birthday Girls! So thankful for both of these ladies in my life!

I'm trying not to let myself slip into spring break just yet. Just a few more days!

Growing!

I finally got the seeds started for my garden! And when I told my parents what all I had growing my dad's response was, "Maybe you can just pick the healthiest ones." ha! 

My garden does seem to grow every year... I'm just praying we get some good rains to fill up the pond so I can keep everything alive this summer. Well there are more important reasons for needing rain but that one is now on the list. 

Brighten Your Day.

My friend Julie posted this video to my Facebook profile a few days ago and it totally made my day. I was laughing so hard! I have watched it quite a few times since, and it definitely just made my Monday better. Especially after taking a virology test this afternoon. 

Now if that didn't just brighten your Monday then I don't know what will! You can't get much cuter than baby goats! :)


(Elisa, this is worth your bandwidth. Just get everyone together because they all need to see it. ;))

Out of My Routine.

Last week I had 3 tests plus a take home test. I was pretty brain dead by the end of that week. This week I only had 1 take home test. Well when I opened that word document and it was 15 pages long, I was pretty irritated. Really? 15 pages and we are supposed to spend at least 8 hours working on it. This teacher is one of those that is just really annoying. To smart for his own good... ya get what I'm sayin'? Anyway, I'm about to finish it up after I write this lovely blog post. 

Another thing that happened this week was a snow day. Yep, we were supposed to get a blizzzard. They cancelled school at noon on Monday before it even started snowing and then cancelled school on Tuesday. There really was no reason for either but it was nice to have a day off. It had rained so much before it started snowing that the snow just hit the ground and melted. The roads were just wet, but better safe than sorry I guess. So I came home and pretty much got nothing accomplished. ha

The roads were clear and the snow was gone by about 11 in the morning. 

The funny thing is that last week I woke up to this....

...and they didn't even let us come in late. Which it really wasn't a big deal but people around here do not know how to drive even when the rode isn't slippery. It was an exciting drive to school.

Oh! And I wore my Muck boots to school on Monday because it was raining most of the day. I know, I'm so stylish! :) 

I'm really ready for things to get back to normal. Get back in my routine and get these next 2 weeks over with, because then I will be on spring break, headed to California!! 

Right now though, I'm just having a frustrating day and thankful that it is almost Sabbath. I have been dealing with some pretty crazy allergies that I have know idea where they came from and I just got a really frustrating e-mail from the school that I'm trying not to overreact about. Hopefully, next week, things can get back to normal. 

TGIF!