As the Washing Machine Rumbles...I Find Myself Blogging Away

A glimpse of my hang out spot as of late...



These last few weeks have been pretty eventful. And now that I have this blog, it's time for me to share about my adventures!
We'll start with graduation, not much to say except that on Saturday, June 12Th 2010 I graduated from Squalicum High School-yes it was a lovely. Okay moving on. All of the sappy goodbyes and pictures at graduation finished at around 1:30, from the high school I drove to my house, and spent the next couple hours packing frantically (however I was grinning from ear to ear knowing that I was leaving on my long awaited ROAD TRIP). I didn't end up leaving till about 4:30 that day, driving my little red bug down to Portland where my dad's sister and her family live. I spent that Saturday night there, and went to church with their family the next day...it really made me miss my home ward. And I'm not just saying that! I really appreciate the closeness I feel when I go to my ward and seeing all of the familiar faces there, the atmosphere is really comforting. I know I'll really miss that when I go to a ward that consists of people that are more my age...weird. Anyways I left Portland Monday morning and drove 8 hours down to Sacramento where Jennifer's brother and his family reside. They have kids my age so it was nice spending time with them-they're a very energetic family. I spent a few days there-laying out in the sun, playing Mormonorman baseball (annihilating fruits with a baseball bat), going to a D.I. store and finding some sweet deals (if you haven't been you should definitely check one out sometime, THEY ARE AWESOME!)...we spent one day up at Lake of The Pines (Auburn, CA) with our Grandparents and other friends. The water was nice and the weather was around 80 degrees...hehe I really can't complain, California has spoiled me. From Sacramento I drove down another 3 hours down to the bay area where my dad's parents live in Los Gatos (it's near San Jose).
Since then I've been driving back and forth from Los Gatos to Santa Cruz. My dad has been remodeling his brother's house (Uncle Bryan) and so I've been helping him out, and from that I've been earning some money. My older brother Loren is down in the bay area too working so it's been nice spending time with him. I also have enjoyed giving him girl advice since there are QUITE A FEW cute girls down here in the singles ward that are fond of this studly RM that I like to call my brother :) That being said, I have attended the singles ward here with Loren and I have to say they do a lot of fun stuff! It makes me even more excited for college. Anyways, besides working at my dad's side and hanging out at my grandparents house, I've spent a lot of time at the beach! Jennifer's sister lives 2 minutes away from Bryan and they have four kids. Two of which are close to my age so I've been hanging out with all of the "Locals" down here in Santa Cruz. I've also been working the Coastal Kettle Corn stand with my cousin Zack who's my age. He signs up to be a vendor at different markets and festivals selling kettle corn and I've become his temporary work buddy. It's been really fun, and not a bad idea for making some money during the summer. Along with becoming an expert kettle corn "sifter,bagger, etc" I've gotten quite a bit better at beach volleyball and I'm finding myself saying "Gnarly" and "Dude" almost every other sentence since I've been here...California Lingo? I think yes, but it's catchy and I like catchy! I AM LOVING IT ALL!!!



Okay calm down, YES I TOOK A PICTURE WHILE DRIVING, WHO HASN'T!?? anyways I just snagged this shot as I was coming out over a mountain pass that I can't remember the name of. The clouds were pretty low, and right as I began my descent down the hill to the valley the blue sky was simply stunning. This was right before I crossed the state line into California. Yay!