At the beginning of November James and I met up with Gary and Isabel
to run the Santa Barbara Half Marathon.
It was such a pretty course.
And such a blast to run it with Isabel.
What a strong lady!
She helped me finish with my fastest half marathon time yet.
I wish I was as cool as she is at 16.
She's going to do some pretty awesome things in this world.
The last mile was the Veteran's mile.
It was lined with American flags,
and some service men cheering us on.
It obviously should have been the other way around.
Then on the downhill part you are running down to the beach.
This was my kind of race!
In November we had our close friends, The Schwendimans, come and spend Thanksgiving with us.
It was so fun to have family with us for Thanksgiving.
We haven't been with any family for Thanksgiving since we have lived here in Cali.
It was refreshing.
We were able to go see the Cougs play at Cal stadium.
They have been the best friends coming out and visiting as often as they have!
We love them.
Over Christmas break we were able to get the roommates together.
I think it had been years since we were all together,
but nothing had changed.
I love those ladies.
Some of the best ladies I know!
My sweet niece Macy has grown so much.
I swear every time I see her she is so much taller and wiser and cuter.
She's now only an inch shorter than me.
We wear the same size shoes.
And we both have wrinkly hands.
I adore her, and love seeing her become her own self.
She puts her mind to something and goes out and does it.
Pretty remarkable girl.
I celebrated my half birthday with some jumping shots.
I think it's only appropriate to still celebrate your half birthday.
Why wouldn't you take advantage of another day dedicated to yourself?!
Twice a year?! Yes please!
I ran the Hot Chocolate 10k in San Francisco.
It was a beautiful course where you run through Golden Gate Park,
and then you run along the ocean line.
Even though I ran it alone,
I had such a fun time!
People weren't as talkative as they are in half marathons,
but I still would just chat away to whoever would respond,
or maybe just myself at times.
The finish line offered you your own hot chocolate, Belgium dipping chocolate,
and then items to dip in the chocolate.
This was my kind of race!!
James and I were able to go to San Diego over Valentines and Presidents Day weekend.
We had such a relaxing time hiking, shopping, and sleeping in.
This was our view of the USS Hornet at night.
You can't tell as much from the photo,
but they had red, white, and blue lights honoring Presidents Day.
One of James' Christmas gifts was tickets to see Sebastian Maniscalco live in the city.
He was just as funny live as he was in the HBO special.
He was funny telling everyone,
"You can come get your picture with me,
but lets keep it short and sweet.
I don't need to know where you saw me, or why you love me,
just say hi, say your name, lets snap the photo, and lets all get on with our lives."
We somehow ended up in the front of the line to get photos without even trying,
so that's awesome.
Except I hate this photo of myself,
but hey... you win some and you then you don't win.
A friend I grew up, Tami, with now lives in area.
Well like 45 minutes away, but still in the area.
We were able to meet up for lunch.
It was so fun to chat away and get caught up on our lives.
She's always such a joy to be with!
Our sweet baby nephew, Hamish, was born.
We are anxious to meet the little fella.
He's such a sweetie.
And look at all that hair!
And through my never ending conquest to make myself like more foods,
I know officially like peanut butter.
I never saw this day coming.
But ever since meeting James I have been introduced to so many delicious foods.
Beans, ground beef, tomatoes, beef jerky, ham, and now peanut butter.
I'm still not out searching for it, but I can successfully eat a piece of toast with peanut butter.
I'm just proud of myself for getting over these things I thought were never going to change.
And it definitely helps when James just says, "Oh come on, I know you'll like it!"
And he usually is right. :)
And I invited myself over to my friend Colleen's house to see her new place,
and meet her new pet bunny.
She took it upon herself to make legit tea sandwiches,
and then we sat outside having a tea party with her girls.
Colleen is amazing and always has fun stuff up her sleeves.
It was a fun lunch date, and I hope to re-create it for others.
Such a cute idea.
A few weekends ago some girlfriends met up in the city for an overnighter.
We were celebrating the return visit of Erin.
Sleepovers just never get old.
We stayed up until 4 am chatting, and the topics ranged from hair brushes to gospel doctrine.
I love that things can be talked about and discussed with no discord or argument.
I guess we are really adults now.
Other than some small happenings,
we both are crazy busy with our jobs and doing school.
We both are enrolled with BYU-Idaho taking classes to complete our bachelor degrees.
It's nice that we are doing it at the same time, and helps ease the pain of homework.
We feel blessed for being in Cali and having our jobs and being able to do school.
We understand it isn't forever, so we try to soak up every minute of this adventure!
