It's Been A While...

Well, it's been quite a while since I last posted. So here's a little recap of the past couple of months:

Anthony and I had our 4th year anniversary in June. We went to Catalina Island and had a blast! We went hiking (sort of), got massages which were heavenly, ate some fabulous seafood, went kayaking and snorkeling (where we slammed into a rock...well I slammed into a rock because of a boat causing a wave), and got a lovely sunburn! Funny story: Anthony and I went back to our room and found a bottle of chilled champagne and two glasses sitting on our table. We both thought that whoever delivered it, put it in the wrong room. So we went down to talk to someone at the front desk. They told us that it was part of the package deal we got. We had no idea. It never said anything about a bottle of champagne! haha! We asked if they could change it for a bottle of Martinelli's and they did. We still laugh about that one!  All in all it was a lot of fun and we want to go back sometime soon.  Maybe for Anthony's birthday. Here are a few pictures from our trip to Catalina:

 The Catalina Flyer

 On our way to Catalina! It was chilly so we were bundled up. We saw some dolphins (well porpoises) on the way to Catalina!

 A view from a walk we went on. Plus my handsome!

 A picture of us on our walk.

After Catalina, I headed to girl's camp with my stake. Girl's camp is a camp for young women ages 12-18 where they learn about first aid, bond, learn about themselves, and God as well as form awesome friendships. I was asked to go up as a cook for camp. I totally loved being a cook! There were a total of 4 women and 4 men in the kitchen. The most awesome thing was that the women prepared and cooked the food while the men cleaned up all of our mess! Talk about nice! One of my least favorite chores is to scrub/wash dishes. I can't wait until we get a dishwasher. I know, I know...suck it up, but honestly I can't! : ) I enjoyed learning new techniques and recipes.

Anthony and I went camping with his family in Mammoth over the week of the Fourth of July. It was so nice to get away from the craziness of life and slow down a little. We went on a hike to Arrowhead Lake and had a picnic lunch. We also went to a hot creek and enjoyed a little spa time. (haha...it was kinda gross with a squishy floor, but relaxing none the less). We also got to see some fireworks which was fun. What's sad is that I didn't take any pictures. I'm horrible at remembering to take pictures. It was such a relaxing few days, I was sad to get back to the hustle and bustle of our normal schedules.

My parents flew out to California while I was camping to fix up their house here in Cali. They needed to repair a few things, clean it up, replace some appliances and repaint the house. I got to help them clean up a little bit before we headed back to Upland. The next day we went to the Corona del Mar beach with some of our friends. It was an awesome day that ended with some awesome steak at an awesome restaurant. Sadly, my parents had to leave the next day, so we didn't get to spend much time together, but I was so happy for what time I did have to spend with them. I love my parents so much and it's so hard having them be so far away in Ohio. My parents put their house on the market and less than a week later had an offer on the house. I'm going to miss that house because it's the one I grew up in, the one that holds lots of memories of my brother James, the one that is where I fell in love with Anthony, the one that has so much meaning that I will have to hold dear to my heart as I already do. Now it'll be someone's new home to make memories in and I'm happy for that.

My brother Nate, will be visiting me in a few days and I'm super pumped! He's going to be looking into different optometry schools out here to attend once he's finished with his degree at BYU-I. I really hope he ends up moving out here, because he'll be so close by we could get together more often.

I'm super excited because not only will my brother be here, but my sister & brother -in-law will be here to visit this weekend as well. We'll be driving up together to Anthony's family reunion in Vernal, Utah (a super duper long drive), but we'll have good company which always makes it more fun. We love Brittany and Matt! : )

So that's a recap of the main exciting events that have past and what's to come. Hopefully I'll be better at writing my blog posts!