Seacrest... Out...

I know ya' all wanted to see more pictures of my fro... so here they are....

Wasatch my back

This past weekend I ended up in Utah on yet another trip.  This time it was to run in another  Ragnar relay race.  Some people hear about these things and think that they are crazy (and they are totally right to think so) but I seriously think that they are so fun.  There is something fun about being around other people who are crazy enough to stay up all day and all night to run a total of 178 miles.  Last time the race was in Arizona but this time it was in the promise land of Utah.  

Our teams name was Ryan Seacrest. Not sure why. But this is our pre-race picture of Van #1 of Ryan Seacrest.  Our team was short a runner so I recruited one of my favorite people in the world to run with us.  Miss Emily Beesley.  With out training for this race she jumped on team Seacrest and was awesome!  

Jeremy, April, Emily, Lisa, Rodney,Kelly

This is the first hand-off between Rodney and I.  I was runner number two.  I was worried about running in Utah since it has a slightly different elevation then her in corona del mar... but what I didn't really think about was the heat.  Oh my goodness, the elevation was no problem.  But it was so hot.  My first run was 6.7 miles in 95 degree weather.  At one point a kid sprayed me with a hose and literally in two minutes I was completely dry again. 

This is Rodney getting ready to head out for his night run.  I think this is my favorite part of the race.  The night run is amazing.  There is something so cool about running in the middle of the night with nothing but the stars and the moon.  There is nothing else like it.  

One of the best parts about this race is that its a team effort.  Most running events are really individual but this one its all about supporting your team and I had an awesome team.  Lets just say that we found a radio station that played Paula Abdul right after playing Snoop Dogg. Plus Rodney brought a blow horn... so you can only imagine the fun we had and the friends/enemies we made with that.  

 Emily running with me on my last run while she gave me water. 

So.. I owe Utah an apology.  Those of you who know me know that I am kind of anti-Utah.  I think that its a great place to visit but I have always been kind of aversive to it.  But that's because I apparently have never gone to the right places before. Seriously, for most of the race (basically every where except my three runs) we had amazing views, fields of green and flowers, and lakes.  I was shocked and totally had to take back a lot of the negative things that I have said about Utah.  It is a beaUTAHful place.  I still hope that I never have to live there. BUT... I do have a new found appreciation for it. 

 Rodney, Me (my frowy I've run 15 miles hair), Jeremy, Emily

The girls of Van #1... Kelly, Me (more frowy hair) Lisa (hiding in the back), Emily

My tough face (I am not so tough), Kelly, Jeremy, Lisa, Emily

This is the full team of Ryan Seacrest! 

Our team was full of amazing people.  I was so glad to get to know the people that I ran with better.  Just one question for my team "How do you breath with no air?"

Bay Area Tour

Last weekend Holly and I took advantage of Jetblue's new flight from Long Beach to San Jose to spend sometime at my parents house and to tour the bay area. We arrived on friday night and spent the evening in downtown San Jose. 

Saturday morning we woke up early to make sure we got everything in that we wanted to see. We started our tour in Big Basin Redwood State Park to check out the big trees and enjoy a little fresh air. 

From there we drove the PCH down the coast and checked out the 17 mile drive. 

The 17 mile drive ended in Carmel California where we enjoyed the shops and the cafe's in this cute beach town. After that we checked out Monterey. 

On sunday  after checking out the Stanford singles ward we continued our journey up north and spent a few hours in San Francisco. 

I had so much fun hanging out with Holly and spending time in the Bay Area.  

The Crow Bar

I have a lot of summer projects that I am working on this summer.... On of them I came up with with my good friends Charity and Holly. We realized that we live in a place where there is a lot of food options.  Yet we continuously go to the same restaurants.  So we decided that it was time to get out of our comfort zone and venture out to new places.  So it is our goal this summer to eat at every restaurant in CDM that is along PCH.  So last wednesday we are started out our adventure at the Crow's Bar.  For more information our journeys of eating our way through CDM take look here...http://cdmfeedingfrenzy.blogspot.com.  And if anyone would like to join us in any of our outings this is an open invite!  

The Other Boleyn Girl

This months book group book was "the Other Boleyn Girl." This book was a book that I just started reading off a whim and I feel in love with it.  It is one of those books that you can lose yourself in and you don't want to put it down.  Now I am not going to lie... its not the most wholesome or spiritual uplifting book but it does a great job if you are looking for pure entertainment. So when I saw that this book was coming out on DVD I was super excited to see it. With all the drama and scandal of the book I thought that it would be an excellent movie.  

So instead of our typical book group discussion/meeting we decided to get together at Aubrey's and watch the movie together.  Boy were we a disappointed group of girls.  As usual the book was WAY better than the movie.  While watching the movie I kept wondering to myself (or out loud) if people didn't read the book how in the world would they know what was going on in the movie.  Although the movie was a bust it was still so fun to get together with these girls and have a movie night!  

Aubrey and Charity got comfortable on the floor. 

Krista and tired looking me

Jessica and Laura

Ethiopia

Last week the gang met up again for one of our international lunches.  With summer here and all of our schedules conflicting we have been having a hard time finding time for us all to get together for lunch (except for the few occasional rendezvous to Yogurtland which is now located only about a mile away from our office) but with two of our solid gang members leaving for extended leaves of absences we made sure that we got one more outing in.  

Our dear friend Jaire was accepted into a pre-med school program at UCLA and will be leaving us for 6 weeks to prepare for med school that he will hopefully be starting in the fall.  We are all super excited for him to start this journey but we are also selfishly sad that he is going to be leaving us.  Emily on the other had is off to do some good in the world with a service trip to Ethiopia for a few weeks. So we thought what better way to send these two off then to try some Ethiopian food. 

Ethiopian food is unlike anything I have ever eaten.  They serve it all on a platter like the one above in the picture.  Then you take the napkin looking things next to the platter (referring to the picture) and you use that scoop the food up.  

This was probably one of the most interesting food I have tried so far.  But I have to admit... it was pretty good. 

Emily and Jaire we will miss you and we can't wait for you guys to get back and tell us all about your magical adventures!

Look who's getting older...

And how do you feel about getting older Olivia?

So this is clearly not the best picutre of the twins but its the only one that I had saved on my work computer. It's the twins birthday! I seriously can't believe that they are three. I talked to Luke on the phone today... seems like yesterday he was born. I love these little babies and can't wait to see them in July.

Kare bear gets married

It was another busy weekend for me.  This weekend it was off to Denver to see my cousin Kari get married.  I really can't believe that we are all old enough to be married. Her wedding was held in these beautiful botanical gardens and she looked equally gorgeous. 

Kari, Jonathan

I didn't really get the chance to get to know my new cousin Jonathan.  He seemed a little preoccupied by other things but I am excited to get to know him at the family reunion in July.  Nothing like a game of big booty to break him into the family. Or maybe we should start with the spanish horse race.  

The wedding was great and it was so fun to be able to see other family members. 

Grandma Gustavson, Anna Banana

Two beautiful blushing bridesmaids. I also got to meet both of their new babies! 

And don't you worry... I caught the bouquet.  

The next day I was able to spend some quality time with the Mom and Dad. I am seriously so lucky to have parents that are so loving and supportive! 

In my hot tub