Disneyland...yes again

One thing that is so nice about having a Disneyland pass is that you can show up, do 3 rides and go home and not feel bad for not doing anything else at the park.  That is what Kelly and I did this week and the kids loved it!!  Mady was already at Disneyland with some friends, so she met us at It's A Small World and then after the ride she went back to hanging out with her friends.  Aubrey loves going to Disneyland and seeing Mickey and friends!  I love Disneyland with these kids!

Fun in the Sun

I love that I was able to take a few hours and spend it at the beach with Kelly and her kids.  Aubrey loves the beach and loves digging in the sand. I just love spending time with my sister and her two adorable kids, that I can never get enough of!

Half Way Point

I've been trying really hard to lose weight lately and as of today I'm at my half way point!!!!  I got on the scale and wanted to jump for joy!! I'm down 20 and have 20 more to go!!!  Its been a slow process, but I'm hoping that since its been slow and steady it will be easier to keep off than doing a crash diet.  Now lets hope the next 20 are as easy as the first 20!!

El Moro Canyon

I love hiking so its so nice to have friends who like hiking just as much!  Tim and I went and hiked El Moro canyon, which was a lot of fun! I love that each time I spend time with Tim, the closer we get.  I can't wait for our next adventure together in a few weeks!!  :)  Catalina, here we come.

Religion

Religion has been a big topic of conversation in my life lately. I've had several conversations with my co-workers, friends and family. Religion has been on my mind a lot this past week because of questions that I've gotten at work and also because of my dating life...or lack there of.  :) I started getting more and more questions from my co-workers when I was going through the temple for the first time and I have recently had a talk with someone about what I really believe in.  Do I believe in God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit?  Do I believe they are one being or three separate beings?  Why are we on this earth? Why do I go to church?  Have I ever struggled with the standards that I'm supposed to uphold and keep?
As I've had the opportunities to talk to my co-workers and friends about all these questions, I feel like it has strengthened my beliefs and faith, which I'm very grateful for!  Through all of this though, I have also been tested.  I had a very hard week last week and feel like Satan was REALLY working me.  I have NEVER struggled as much as I did that week before and it scared me.  I was able to go to the Temple and its amazing how as soon as I walked in the door, everything that I had been struggling with was gone.  My testimony for the temple grew even more that day.  As much as I struggled and cried and had a hard time, I'm grateful for my experience and the lesson I learned from it!

Fountain Valley Class of 2011

I feel like it was just yesterday that my little sister was born.  I will never forget the day!  I was at home and Nana was over watching all of us while mom and dad were at the hospital.  Heather was also over hanging out with me.  The phone rang and I hear a little baby in the background crying.  It was my dad calling to let us know what Madyson Taylor was born.  I was SO excited to have another little sister! 
I can't believe I am now sitting here talking about her graduating.  I know I'm not old, but seeing my little sister graduate makes me feel old!  :)  Her graduation was very fast, which I was surprised about, but LOVED!!  Congratulations Boo Bear!!  I'm going to miss you when you move to Utah in a few weeks!!

Walking out onto the field

I can't believe she was able to spot is in the thousands of people

Receiving her diploma

I LOVE this picture of these two cute girls!

Mady with the Nunnallys

Mady and Dad

Mom and Mady at dinner afterwards

Grandma and Grandpa Cash.  I promised Grandma I'd only
take one picture, and this was it :)

Grandma and Grandpa Ward

Fountain Valley Reverse Triathlon

I don't know how I my mom convinced me to do the Fountain Valley triathlon because I didn't train for it AT ALL. My mom said she was going to do the Triathlon, but was doing it for fun and not time and she also hadn't trained so why not just join her.  I agreed to do it with her and then wondered what the heck I just did :)  Did I really just commit to a triathlon that I hadn't trained a day in my life for? 

The day of the triathlon comes along and my mom is so sick with phenomena that she can't do the race. I was so bummed and wondered how I was going to do this. I had the run down no problem.  The bike I was STRESSED about! I haven't ridden a road bike in years, I've never gone for a ride to get used to clipping in  and yes I was riding a road bike where I had to clip in, and the bike was 14 miles.  The swim I wasn't too worried about either because it was only 175 yards and that's less than what I normally do for my warms ups.  I could do each of those individually, but I was worried about putting all three events together. 

Right before the start of the race

As I walk over to the starting line I see a few girls that I know and we decide that we're going to run together and take the run slow to make sure our legs were ok for the bike.  About 2 minutes into running me and Katie, who ended up being my running buddy, lose the other two girls behind us and we take the run at our own pace.  Come to find out after, I guess I went a little faster than Katie was planning on going and we actually did the 5k in a time that really surprised me!!  I thought we were going really slow and we did under 10 minute miles.  We had joked about doing 11 minute miles to make sure we didn't start off too fast, and I guess the adrenaline go the best of me and I just went with what felt comfortable.

Just finishing our run and running
over to the transition area

Changing shoes and getting ready for
my bike ride

The bike went so much better than I thought it would.  I actually gained a love for riding that day!  I really enjoyed the 14 miles of biking along the river trail and passing SO many people in the race.  The bike took me about an hour to finish and towards the end of the ride I caught up to Mady, which I LOVED!!  ;)  I rode in just a minute before her and she hated it! She was not happy that I was catching up to her and passing her.  I do have to admit though, she was on a mountain bike, so I'm sure that's why I was able to catch up to her since she was about 7 minutes ahead of me on the run.

I loved how short the swim was!!  I felt like I was in and our in no time.  As I was finishing I heard my dad yell "Mady's right behind you!" As soon as I heard that I got myself out of that pool and across the finish line as fast as I could.  LOL! :) I knew me finishing a race before Mady would NEVER happen again so I booked it to the finish line.  Mady was NOT happy at all that her big sister beat her!!

I had so much fun doing this triathlon!!  I look forward to actually training and doing another one.  My ward is putting one on in September, but its a few days before Napa Valley Ragnar so I'm probably not going to be able to do it.  One of these days, I will for sure do another one though!  I'm so glad my mom was able to convince me to do this race, even though I was very sceptical of doing it!!














Birthday Bonfire

I haven't gone to a bonfire in probably a year, so it was so much fun to be able to go to Julie's birthday bonfire. Tim came over to my place and we walked down with me to the bonfire together. I thought it would only be a mile walk at the most, but it was 2 miles so needless to say it was a great way to get to know him more on a more personal level, which I loved.  He was such a good sport for walking down with me and hanging out with people that he really didn't know.  We all had a lot of fun celebrating Julie's birthday and sitting around the fire joking, laughing and enjoying each others company.

Me and Tim hanging out at the bonfire

Enjoying my smore

Heather, me and Julie (the birthday girl)

Love this cute girl!

Disneyland=Medicine

Disneyland is such a great medicine when someone is having a bad day!! I got a text from Whitney asking me to go to Disneyland with him because he was having a bad day and really needed a distraction.  What I didn't realize is how much our night at Disneyland would be medicine for me as well.  We talked about everything under the sun and got to know each other so much more, which I loved.  We were both struggling with similar situations, so it was so great to be able to open up to each other and give each other advice. I just love my Momo (our nick name for each other) and am so grateful for such a great friend!

He Lives in You

This week while I was in Vegas for work, we decided to go see the Lion King Broadway show. The show was great and the costumes were amazing!!  There are a few songs in the Broadway that are not in the movie, and there are songs in the movie that aren't in the Broadway.  One of the songs that was in the Broadway was called He Lives in You. The song is about Simba realizing that his father lives in him, but while I was listening to the song, I thought of my Heavenly Father.  The song talks about having faith and how He lives in you, me and everything you see.  I have attached a video of the song, which I have fallen in love with! I truly believe that He lives in you, He lives in me, He watches over everything we see

Christa, me and my boss, Demetra after the show

Vegas

For work I travel at least 3 times every quarter, which isn't bad and its a nice change to get out of the office.  This month, so far, I've gone to Vegas and I had so much more fun on the trip than I thought I would.  Of course we worked, but it was also fun to walk the strip, go see Lion King the Broadway and of course, get some pool time.  I'm so grateful for such an amazing job, boss and co-workers who I love!!

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Young

I'm so glad that I was able to be a part of such an amazing day!!  Thank you Nick and Stephanie for letting me be a part of your bridal party and part of your special day. 
All of the bridal party had a sleep over at Stephanie's grandma's house the night before, which was a lot of fun!!  The morning of the wedding we all woke up and either walked or ran to get breakfast.  After breakfast it was a relaxing morning of games and getting ready.
The wedding and reception were at the Long Beach State Japanese Gardens and turned out beautiful!! The night was a lot of fun and it was so great seeing people I haven't seen in a while.

Playing a game of rummikub after breakfast

The bride with her mom and grandma

I don't know what I would do without this girl!

Me and Tim, who I've known since High School

Me and the beautiful bride