Our Final Day

Well I tried uploading more pictures into this post, but for some reason it's just not letting me! Oh well you'll get the point from the ones already on here. Plus once again you can go to facebook and look at tons of them there. So our last day there was the absolute perfect day. I could go back and relive it over and over again. I don't think I'll ever forget it, actually. So we woke up and went to church with the family we were staying with. And yes they are the best family ever!! (aside from my own i suppose.... haha) Church was really great- it was a really small ward. And I mean tiny!! But there was a great spirit about it. From church we drove straight to Monteray, which was gorgeous. From Monteray we all piled into Levi's car and drove to the famous 17 mile drive. I had never heard this drive, but apparently it's famous. Anyway- we got to the drive- which costs $9.50 by the way... and drove around. Along the drive there are various stopping points that you can get out and look around. So we stopped at one of the points and had a wonderful picnic on the beach. It was just so picturesque - if you can't tell from all of these pictures.

After the beach, we headed back to our new family's house for dinner. And wow was it delicious! After dinner we all hung out and took fun pictures with the girls- Rachael, Olivia, Lily, and Gwen. They are the cutest girls ever!! If I haven't already mentioned that. Watching the boys interact with the little girls was so precious! Here's Evan and Olivia.
Gweny Gwen is SOOO cute! Check out that hair!!
Our new big family. So fun!
One of my favorite pictures from the trip. L-R. Lily, Evan, Olivia, Tay Tay, Levi, and Gweny.
The girls were giving us the full treatment! They gave Elise and I neck and foot massages and painted our toe nails. All while Emily was serenading us. Fanstastic
And then we headed back down the beach for the final time to watch the sunset. It was magnificent.



After we got back, the girls convinced Levi and Evan to get their toe nails painted as well! They were such good sports about it! And I know they secretly loved it haha!
We ended the night with James showing us how to make soft pretzels. They were so fun to make and delicious as well!!
So yeah that was my perfect day. I wish it could have never ended. It was sad to leave them and California. But we had to get back on the road the next morning and head back to Provo :( Hopefully I will find myself in California again soon. Hope you enjoyed the pics!

And it doesn't stop there

After our glorious visit to San Fran, we headed down to Palo Alto to say Happy Birthday to a certain E-ho, who was visiting Janna for the week. We met at a Starbucks for a quick breakfast before hitting the road for Santa Cruz

Janna told us about the scenic route along the coast to get to Santa Cruz and boy were we so happy that she did! It was truly inspiring. Evan and I enjoyed the entire trip down
As soon as we got to Santa Cruz, we realized the beaches were incredibly crowed so we headed to Aptos, where Elise's sister and family lived. And they live literally two blocks from the beach so we decided to just beach it up there. The beach was gorgeous and perfect in every way.




I really fell in love with the beach this trip. I've never really appreciated it before. But now I understand why everyone goes so crazy over it! :D

San Fran adventures continued

A day and night on the town. And boy was it phenomenal. I'm running out of adjectives to describe it actually.... So our first stop was the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a blast- the weather was perfect. It wasn't too hot, and yet there was a slight wind that kept it comfortable. We walked across it and took a ton of pictures- so fun!

Our next stop was Fisherman's Wharf on the pier. Of course we had to get the famous clam chowder in a bread bowl. And boy was it delicious!! The chowder? fantastic. The bread bowl? fantastic as well.
Ghirardelli square is right next to Fisherman's Wharf so of course we had to go over and get a free sample of chocolate!
Chinatown was the next destination on our agenda. We shopped around at all of the different shops. They had a lot of cool stuff- but most of the stores only accepted cash- I'll have to remember that for next time.
My good old friend Sarah met us for dinner at a place called Park Chow's. It was tasty! And it was so good to see her. I hadn't seen her since she moved out to CA- which was like 2 years ago!
After dinner we went down town to catch the trolley back up to Fisherman's Wharf. It was SO fun! I figured I would like it, but not half as much as I actually did. Thank goodness Emily talked us into doing it, because we almost didn't!
The only thing open once we got back up there was Ghirardelli square so we went in for ice cream and hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was divine I must say. And the ice cream was fab as well.
Then we made our way back down to our cars on the trolley. On the way back we were the only ones on the trolley, which was exciting.
On our way home we stoped at the Fine arts museum to admire the fine architecture and the beauty.
And that ended our day of touring San Fran. It was so fantastic. I can't wait to go back someday. I wouldn't want to live there due to traffic and parking fees. But a suburb very close by would be ideal I must say!

I left my heart in San Francisco. Literally.

Next stop? California! I went on an incredible roadtrip this past weekend. And I'd like to take a few posts to try and do it justice, if you'll allow it. My fellow roadtrippers were Evan, Levi, Taylor, James, Elise, and Emily. What a fantastic group- they really don't get any better in fact. We all left on Thursday at like 7 in the morning. We took 2 cars- which was great because it was more comfortable and convenient. The drive over was really great. We all got to know each other even better than we knew before. When we got there, we stayed with some people that live right in the middle of San Fran- so a great location. We spent Thursday night frolicking around Golden Gate Park. See below:

Elise and Evan on the way to the park- so happy to finally be in Cali!

Strolling down the street, just loving every minute of it
At the park, posing for a picture, obviously
Tay Tay and Levi soaking up the glory of the golden gate park
Oh just you wait- there is so much more to come!

Blogathon. First stop? The circus!

K I have seriously been slacking in blogging. Yes, I know. And I deeply apologize for it. So to make it up, I am going on a little blogathon. Yes that's right- multiple posts in one sitting! Isn't it exciting?? To start the night of blogging out - I'd like to tell you about a little circus party we had at my house 2 weeks ago. It was amazing!! We had so much going on and SO many people there. And a lot of people came in costumes surprisingly enough. haha. Good times. Big shout out to Elise and her mad party planning skills!! And to Angela for renting the llamas. Because you really can't have a great party without them, right? Emma was an incredible fortune teller and Emily made funnel cakes all night! Can you believe it? Yay for deep fried goodness.

So here is out little fortune teller- Madame Shmadame if you will.

We had a face painting booth. John's cheek was so sweet, don't you think? ;)
Joel looked quite dashing, really. He and James made balloon animals all night long. Love it!
Tay Tay was our ringmaster along with Levi the tiger.
The human cannon ball and a mime were also there. Evan the mime was incredible- he stayed in character all night long!
Adam was our clown for the evening. So good!
The bearded lady also made an appearance along with Steve the extraordinary juggler!
Elise looked super cute in her yellow dress and pigtails. And what's a circus without a giant lolly pop?
Angela controlled the llamas in the back. And they were great as well.
This is the outside of our house before the party started. Welcome to the circus!
Me with one of our furry friends. His name escapes me at this moment in time.
There are oh so many more pictures, but hey that's what facebook is for, right? Go ahead and add me if you haven't already and take a gander at the large amount of pictures we took. :)

Texting

So I've realized that a lot of people that I spend time with lately really hate texting! I just don't understand this. I mean seriously, it's like I always say, texting is the way of the future! I suppose some may take this is as a negative thing, but I don't, and I'd like to explain why.

First I'd like to have a little disclaimer. There are times and places for texting. I don't agree with being rude, and there a lot of ways to be rude when it comes to this form of communication. Let me give you a few examples. Say you are at dinner, or in a social situation that isn't just casual hanging out. This is NOT the time to text. It is rude and you are basically saying that you would rather be talking to whoever you are texting than with the people that are in front of you. And that is not ok. No matter what. Texting during church is also not ok. You are there to worship the Lord, not text your friends and family. It's rude to the speakers and teachers as well. So basically what I'm saying is that I do not advocate being rude, so let's have some control, shall we?

Texting is so great though for so many reasons. I have a lot of friends that I like to keep in touch with. And to be honest, I don't have the time to call every single one of them on a regular basis. Talking on the phone takes so much longer, and when you are on the phone, you have to dedicate your entire attention to the person that you are talking to. Who honestly has time for this? I barely have the time to talk to my family. So what's wrong with texting someone just to see what's up? The idea I'm trying to get across is that there is nothing wrong with it! The great thing about it is that I can still be getting my daily tasks done while keeping in touch with people. Isn't it great? We weren't able to do that 10 years ago! I can be at work, I can do homework, I can practice the piano, watch my favorite tv show, etc WHILE keeping in touch. And to me, that is a great thing about this generation.

Getting information out there is also a great thing to do- and texting is the perfect way to do it. Let's look at an example. Say person A (let's call him Billy) wants to invite me to do something, such as a party. Here's how the conversation would go if he called me:

(phone ringing)

me: Hello?

Billy: Hey Grace, how's it going?

me: Oh really well, how are you doing?

Billy: I'm doing great, what are you up to tonight?

me: Oh I'm just working- I'm actually at work right now

Billy: Oh yeah? what time do you get off?

me: Oh at 9, so I'm free after that.

Billy: Oh ok, cool. Well my roommates and I are having a movie night tonight, do you want to come?

me: Oh yeah that could be fun, what movie are you watching?

Billy: The Lion King- one of my favorites

me: Oh yeah, I like that one. Ok well yeah I can head over after work.

Billy: Oh ok, awesome. It's going to be fun!

me: yeah, sounds like it

(this is where the conversation gets slightly awkward because neither of us know how to get off of the phone)

Billy: ok... well I guess I'll talk to you later

me: Yeah, see ya

(hang up phone- wishing he had just texted me)

So yeah- this is a short conversation, I know. But this is basically saying as little as possible. I rarely get off the phone, having only said that little. And getting off of the phone is the worst! So how do we fix this problem? That's right- texting!! Here's how it would go if it were texting

Billy: hey grace, we are watching lion king at my house tonight at 10. hope to see you there!

(at this point I can choose to not respond at all, or if I really want to, I can)

me: yeah, sounds great! See you there!

See how fast that was? Efficient, easy, and none of the small, unnecessary talk. Perfect. Moving on- many people are against texting because they say that it can often come off the wrong way because you can read into texts the wrong way. This can often happen when it comes to texting someone that you are interested in or dating. All I can say to that is that it's your own fault. If you know someone well enough, you would know how they were coming across anyway. But let's just pretend that you don't know someone very well. Here's how to get around those problems. If you are joking, saying something like jk, lol, or haha. Is it really that hard? Don't say things that could be taken rudely- or hey here's a thought- don't fight over texting. Just text saying that you want to talk about it in person later. I have had serious conversations over texting and it turned out fine. Just have control and keep in mind who you are texting and how you could come across. As far as texting someone you are interested in goes- I think its a great thing to do! Texting someone you like just to see how they are doing throughout the day is a great way of letting them know that you are interested. Or if you take a girl out on a date, boys. Text them when it is over if you like them! It would be silly to call them because you just spent a night with them on a date! Just saying something brief like "I had a really good time tonight. I hope we can do it again sometime" or "You are really great, I hope I can spend more time with you." There are many other things you could text them- these are just examples, be it lame ones. haha. Girls love it when boys text them! So boys, if you want to let a girl know that you are interested in them, maybe give texting her a try!

I do have one warning however, if you want to be super flirty through texting- which that is fine. Then back it up in person! There is nothing worse than getting all of these flirty texts from a guy and then when you spend time with him in person, nothing happens. Just remember to be yourself. And remember who you are texting. It's very easy to get really flirty if you forget who you are texting. I don't mean literally- it's just easy to get caught up in the fun of flirting and such. Get what I'm saying? Hope so.

So there you have it- texting has got a bad rep- and I'm here to defend it. And I'm sticking to it. Just be smart about it- that's all that it takes, really. Come on now people- we all have common sense, right? Let's use it.

Summer has Begun

Yeah, I know, I know. It's been a while since I last updated. About 2 weeks actually. I will try and be better. To make up for it, however, I did put lots of pictures up for you all to enjoy. The weather has been very fickle lately. It's either gorgeous and sunny or dreary and cold. Everytime it was sunny, though, I managed to get outside and do some fun activities while soaking up the sun. Not that my skin shows any evidence of that, but hey here are some pictures to prove it. My friend Adam has a scooter, so we went on a ride to the lake!

Levi was in serious need of a wardrobe makeover, so Elise showed him 'What not to wear.' And boy does he look handsome!
We had a cinco de mayo party with a moustache contest and dancing.
Here's the winner of that contest.... yes, that is real. (This pic is for you, Elise!)
My mom came out to visit and to help my brother pack up after his first year at the U. Now he's headed home to prepare for his mission, which starts in July.
We went disco skating! Here are John and I with our skates
I went to Jon and Kenna's wedding. A lovely reception
We went to IKEA, and enjoyed E-ho's mad shopping cart dancing skills. Made the whole trip so much better

And that has been my life since I last posted. Hope you enjoyed, and I will be posting again soon!