Color Run

In November I went down to San Diego with Karen and Whitney and did the Color Run. We did more dancing and walking than running but it was a blast. I'm planning on doing another one in LA in March 2013.

Happy New Year

It's been a really long time since I wrote anything, but maybe this year I'll actually update this blog more than quarterly. I'm really excited to start a new year. Last year wasn't horrible, but I like new beginnings. December was a tough month as my grandpa passed away. But the blessing that came from it was spending time with family. The whole family was together for the first time in 6 years. And I got to meet my precious little niece, Naomi, who was born in September. I spent Christmas in Oregon and got to be there for Steven's Eagle Scout court of honor. 

 Eagle Scout Steven

 Together for the first time in 6 years

 Naomi

Naomi and her favorite aunt

So here's to making 2013 a great year and working on all my goals/resolutions which are too boring and numerous to mention here. Happy New Year!

2012 Garden

For Christmas my parents gave me some gardening bags that are supposed to be used on a deck or porch. Hopefully they will work better than the pots I've been using for the past few years because my gardens haven't been the biggest success story. Today I went out and bought some dirt to put into the gardening bags. It seems pretty weird to me that I have to go and buy dirt in order to plant a garden. But I guess that's the city life. I planted some cucumbers, peas, lettuce, broccoli and started some tomato and zucchini seeds. I also finally planted the Plumeria bush that my friend Shana brought back from Hawaii for me in October. For now at least the bags add some color to the porch. I have a few more bags to fill but underestimated how much dirt was actually required to fill them so have to get back to Anawalt to get more dirt.

Good luck 2012 garden!

I signed up for another Triathlon. So far I've convinced 3 other people to do it with me. Good thing Memorial Day is still a couple of months away. I've got a lot of training to do!

Deep Sea Fishing

A few months ago a bought a TravelZoo deal with a couple of friends for deep sea fishing. This past weekend we finally found a time when most of us could go. It was so much fun. There were 6 of us in our group and probably 50 other people on the boat fishing with us. We started bright and early from Newport Harbor so it made for an early morning. But it was a beautiful day and it was great just to spend the day outdoors. Sadly not many fish were actually in season right now but I ended up catching 12 perch. The limit was 10 so I only kept the biggest ones. I took the easy way out and let the guys on the boat gut and filet them. But I did take the bones out myself. The gulls and pelicans were following the boat in swarms while the fish were being gutted.
                                       
 It was pretty fun to watch them diving into the water for the fish scraps. After some advice from more advanced fishermen I cooked up some of the fish last night for dinner. It was pretty amazing. If all fish tasted that fresh I could eat it every day. Even my roommate who doesn't like fish said that it was good! Good thing there is more in the fridge for dinner tonight.

Christmas Pictures

Christmas pictures as promised. It was a glorious week at home staying inside and spending time with the family. Everyone was home except Carolyn and Nathan. The weather was even nice to me and the first couple of days it didn't rain. Susan so kindly cleaned out the hot tub which kept me warm all week long.

 The Christmas tree was a little late going up this year due to the house remodel. But it was all beautiful by the time I got home.

 Apparently you can make your own vanilla extract by using vanilla beans and vodka in some contraption Carolyn gave Mom and John for Christmas. John looks a little too excited about that bottle of vodka though.

 Mom and Dad with the blanket I crocheted for them.

 David before his basketball game. He still hasn't learned how to smile for pictures.

 Kitchen remodel is complete. It looks really nice. I guess the mice thought it was nicer in there than outside in the rain because we had a couple of them join us in the kitchen one night. Good thing we have mouse traps handy all the time.

After Christmas I got together with some old friends from Loma Rica that all live up in the Northwest now. It was so fun to see them and catch up.

Christmas came and went. New Years came and went. And somehow it's almost February already. Where does the time go? I got to spend some time at home in Oregon for Christmas. I'll have to put some pictures up when I have more time (don't hold your breath, it might be a while). Work has kept me really busy during January. There seems to be a never ending supply of children who need occupational therapy services.
A couple of weeks ago I was pretty excited when the 1st counselor in the bishopric told me they were releasing me from 2 of my 3 callings. For three whole days I was just the Mid-singles rep in the ward. Then I got a call from the stake presidency that immediately started my brain racing. I'm sure just about every calling I could have been called to went through my mind. Luckily I was only in suspense for 1 day as I went and talked with President Vargas the next day. So just when I thought I was getting the hang of everything I got called as the 1st Counselor in the Stake Young Women's Presidency. I'm excited to work with the girls and get to know them but I'm sure it will be a lot of work. For now they threw me right into things and I'm in charge of the Service Auction, the fundraiser for Girl's Camp and the Pioneer Trek (yes I get to go to both this year). So never a dull moment in my life.

Creative Wardrobe

This winter weather (60 degrees or less) has been tough on me. Not only does our lovely Greenfield not have functional heating but my office is freezing. While we've all taken to wearing our snuggies and turning on the fireplace while at home I can't exactly do that at work. This week I've spent a lot more time than usual at the office since the schools are closed. When I get there in the morning it is about 55 degrees outside and even colder than that inside. It's pretty bad when you open the doors and windows to let the heat in from outside during December at 9:00am. So I've taken to wearing t-shirts, long sleeved shirts, sweatshirts, vests, jackets, gloves, ski hats, and bringing a blanket to work. And when we're lucky no one is in the waiting room and we can steal our 1 space heater and bring it upstairs to the office. It gives me a whole new appreciation for the sunshine and the warmth it provides. I'd take the 90 degree heat over the 50 degree ice any day!

Martini has a new owner

As of this week I officially own Martini, my 2009 Corolla. It'll be wonderful to finally have her fixed after the rainy day mishap where the Escalade hit me. Then I can really celebrate Martini being all mine!

Last weekend after a couple of weeks off from all physical activity (except work) I thought it would be a good idea to get moving again. Karen, Ali, Allison, Chelsea and I went back to the archery range and man was it ugly. I was even worse the second time around than the first day. But after some one-on-one refreshers I was able to hit the badger with one of my arrows (never mind that I wasn't aiming for it). After archery was over I got out and played a little tennis. It was so good to get out there again. I've been neglecting the court for several months but I think it's time to put a renewed effort in. I do love playing tennis. I think that if I'd just done archery and tennis I would have been fine but to top it all off Ali and I went running when I got back from tennis. It was only about 2.5 miles but combine it all together and I think my body is warning me that I better take a little more care of it. Right knee is still yelling at me, right and left shins are stabbing me and my upper back is a dull reminder that I haven't used those muscles in far too long. Moral of the story: I must do all these things more often.

New hobby

As a Relief Society activity last weekend we went to the archery range and I think I found a new hobby. I'm really not good at it at all, but it was a lot of fun. Somehow I managed to hit myself with the bow string twice in the arm which left me with a bruise about the size of a tennis ball. But despite the injuries I think I'll be going back again.

Halloween

For Halloween this year a group of us decided to be a foosball team. We quickly ditched the PVC pipe after taking pictures because it was way too hard to dance with all of us connected. Our ward was responsible for setting up a lounge area at the dance which is pictured below. It turned out really cool. I didn't get a picture with all of the apothecary jars full of slimy stuff and body parts sadly, but everyone seemed to love it.

Gotta love my girls!

Shana's Wedding

October 22nd one of my old roommates and good friends, Shana, got married here in LA. I was one of her bridesmaids and got to help with all the festivities. We had a great bridal shower here and a bachelorette party at The Grove. Turns out that they don't let you go up to people at The Grove and do things like ask for a dollar for your honeymoon fund, ask for a piggy back ride, or for marriage advice. Sadly Shana only got to do 7 things before security shut us down. The actual day of the wedding was beautiful. It really couldn't have been better weather. It did get really foggy at night, but things turned out great. Shana and Steve looked great and were really happy so I guess that's all that matters.

Employment

Before I left for Europe I finally decided that I'd had enough with my job and quit. I decided to take another job at a clinic one of my friends worked at in Culver City. I am still working with kids but now I see kids all the way through high school. We contract with the Inglewood School District so in the mornings I see kids in the schools and in the afternoon I am in the clinic. It's been almost 3 weeks there and I'm starting to feel at home. I really like the people that I work with and things are going well so far. It has been a nice change of pace from where I was before.

Europe

Now that it's been over a month since I left for Europe I guess it's time for me to catch up. My brother-in-law spent the summer over in Norway and in August I met he and my sister for 10 days. I booked the flight earlier in the summer and my first thought after booking it was anxiety over the flight. I really do not love flying and the thought of flying for 18 hours by myself was a little more than I wanted but it's the only practical way to get the Europe. So once again practicality wins over my irrational fears.

I left LA early Friday morning and flew threw Quebec and Frankfurt before ending up in Stockholm. Luckily I managed to make all my connections, barely, and after watching 4 movies I ended up in Stockholm on Saturday morning. The airline lost my luggage in one of the quick transfers and it was kind of stressful the first day. It ended up being a blessing because instead of lugging my stuff around Stockholm all day I just got it about 9:00 that night. The first day was hard enough to stay away without having luggage to drag around. I didn't know that it was possible to fall asleep standing up until spending 34 hours awake topped off by going through museums. I really don't remember anything about those museums.

In Stockholm we were the typical tourists and hit up all the museums, the royal palace and grounds, a cool cemetery, a 1700s salvaged ship, and many more things. After exhausting ourselves through Stockholm we rode the train to Oslo, spent the night there and then took the train from Oslo to Bergen. It was a gorgeous ride. The scenery was absolutely beautiful and I found riding the train was much more pleasant than flying. Then we spent the rest of the time in Bergen.

We did less touristy stuff in Bergen but still hit up a few things like Bryggen, an old Hanseatic village, and some more museums. We also took a cruise through the fjords which was incredible. We also took a 15 mile hike through the mountains surrounding Bergen which was a little exhausting but totally worth it. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip. It took me about 2 weeks to finally get back on the pacific time zone when I got back. But I had a great time and would totally do it again.

Here is the link to my photos from the trip rather than trying to post all of them or trying to pick out my favorites.

Europe Photos

Summer in 5 minutes

Somehow it has already turned into August and I feel like the summer is rapidly slipping out of my fingertips. It's been a busy summer for sure, but a fun one too. I had some time off work the second half of June and took a few little trips to pass the time. First I headed down to Gilbert, AZ to visit my cousin Melanie who was one of the only other people I knew that had time off during the summer (she's a teacher).

It was ridiculously hot there with a high of 113 one of the days. But it was great to see her and just relax. I also got to see my friend Courtney who used to live in LA but moved down to Arizona a couple of years ago. We just hung out in the pool all day. It's either the pool or the air conditioning there.

I was in Arizona from Monday-Thursday and then on Friday Ali and I headed up to Sacramento for her state hearing aid dispensing exam. She had to bring a subject with her so I volunteered since I didn't have to work. It was a lot of driving in one week but it was kind of fun to be back near my roots in Northern California. We walked around Old Town Sacramento, checked out the mall (LA ones are better, no surprise), saw X-Men, and even made it to a Rivercats (the As minor league team) game. The weather was gorgeous.


For the 4th of July weekend I spent all day Saturday at the beach for Whitney's birthday. Then Whitney, Karen, Ali and I went to the Hollywood Bowl to see Hall and Oats and see the fireworks.

On the actual 4th of July Shana and I went to the beach in the morning and then I headed down to Orange County to hang out with my family. John was still in town so it was fun to see him. We ate a ridiculous amount of food and the not so little cousins gave us a good fireworks show in the street at Brad and Carol's house.

Since then I've gone camping twice, gone to the Wiener Dog races, been to a Dodger's game, celebrated our ward victory in the watermelon eating contest, pie baking contest and tug of war at Pioneer Day, and signed up for another triathlon. Soon I need to start preparing for Norway and Sweden which I will be visiting at the end of the month.

80s Awesomeness

Once upon a time 27 seemed old. I remember my first home teacher when I was in the singles ward at Oregon State was about to turn 27 and I thought he was ancient. Hopefully not everyone thinks that about me (particularly because most of the people reading this blog are older than 27).
For my birthday my lovely roommates Jessica and Ali decided that I needed to have a party. I was less than excited for my birthday but we decided that since I had come to possess two rather 80s looking jumpsuits it would be the perfect opportunity to have an 80s party. The girls decked the place out and then we went to work on making ourselves the epitome of 80s awesomeness. I guess you'll be the judges to whether that actually happened. Getting ready with the crimper, large can of hairspray, neon nail polish and bright pink lipstick was almost more fun than having the party. The neighbors maybe didn't appreciate the 80s music jammin' from our place last night but we sure did. It was pretty fun. Complete with furry slap bracelets, fingerless gloves, pixie sticks and pie. We almost never have birthday cake at my house and almost always have pie so the girls carried that tradition on for me.

So what does a can of hairspray, a crimper, 10 shots of pixie sticks, and all the neon we could find give you...



John is staying with the Grandparents in Orange County and even made it up for the party. It was great to see him too.

Memorial Day in San Diego

This weekend 7 of us spent the long weekend in San Diego. The lovely Karen's parents were kind enough to let us stay at their house. Her mom even cooked for us. We drove down on Friday night and got there in time to check out Karen's house and hit the sheets. Saturday morning we all went to the San Diego temple.

It was the first time I'd been inside. It is really beautiful. After that we hit up El Indio, the birthplace of the taquito, for lunch. It was pretty good. Then we went to Old Town and sampled the taffy in the candy store and learned how to throw a tomahawk.


We then went to the Mormon Battalion site. It has been recently redone and was pretty fun. I even struck it rich panning for gold there! Then we drove down to the border and went shopping at the outlet mall.

Good thing we didn't take a wrong turn here!
Sunday we went to church and then went to the La Jolla cove to watch the seals and take in the beautiful ocean views.






After that it was back to Karen's house for more candy than I should ever consume and lots of games. We even threw in MASH for a while where I ended up getting married in 2015, having 77 kids, living in a portapotty in Tijuana with a batmobile for a car. Man am I going to have an interesting life. Monday morning we headed back up to LA so we could be there for our ward activity of slip 'n slide kickball. Since I never made it past 2nd base I did not partake in the slip 'n slide which I wasn't that sad about since it was only 70 degrees. Not quite warm enough for me to want to get wet.
My resolution after this trip is to take more.

Welcome home Elder Evans

On Friday I flew home because my little brother Thomas came home from his 2 year mission to Colorado Springs. It was great to see him. He flew into Eugene which is the best airport in the world, only 2 terminals. The place was like a ghost town at 10:30 at night. It was fun to be home with most of the family and to see Thomas. Really it was just nice to be home and not think about any of the stresses of real life just for 2 days.

Cinco de Mayo

For Cinco de Mayo we had to go out and celebrate so we headed to Olvera Street for some stuffed churros. They were amazing. I'd go back every week.