5k Disney Race

Today my cousin Cathy and I ran in a 5k race through Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. It was tiring, but we had a great time. As we were running through the park, we (of course) stopped to take some photos. But we still made good time as we finished the race running, and we are very proud of ourselves. we were the last ones to start the racein front of the matterhorncan you see all the disney characters behind us?monsters inc characters...
as we were going through california adventure

My Friday....

Yesterday was Friday, and it was a long one.
The day started off awaiting the Plumbers who were going to arrive at my house by 8:30am to start working on putting in a gas line for my new washer/dryer. Well, they didn't arrive until about 10:30am, and then didn't get started till around noon. So what I thought was going to be a morining off work, ended up being the whole day. The plumbers worked hard all day, and it wasn't till about 6:30pm that they realized they didn't have all the parts they needed to finish the job. So one left...and came back empty-handed. His warehouse was closed couldn't get the part he needed. So they left for the evening, with a plan to arrive on Saturday (today) to finish the job (which they did...it all works and its so exciting to be able to do laundry at home!!). So that was my morning and afternoon, and early evening.

Also that afternoon, my little Annie had quite a few seizures. Poor thing has been having them a lot lately. She had 5 within one hour!!! :( It could be that she got too excited with the plumbers there, but its really sad watching her go through them. Pray she is healed!

Later that night I headed over to my cousin's house for Paige's birthday dinner. Cathy cooked, and it was GREAT! I miss home-cooked meals! Yeah, Yeah, I could cook...but I don't. :) Anyway, dinner was tasty! After dinner we went swimming and I had fun playing with the girls in the pool. It was a fun night, and I think Paigey had a good time too :) Happy Birthday, again, Paigey :)

time for clean clothes!

I got a stackable washer/dryer today! I'm so happy and so excited to be able to do laundry at home! I can't wait to get it hooked up so I can get started on my LOADS of dirty laundry! Hurray for appliances that do all the hard work for you!!!...I definitely couldn't manage in the olden days when you had to handwash everything - yuck! Just look at her, isn't she wonderful?
I'M SO HAPPY!!!!

Birthday Bling

More birthday surprises!!!

Danny, Jessie, Townes (and baby in Jessie's belly) sent me my birthday present....it is so great! They sent me a gold necklace with a charm of a tree.
It is to represent:
A firm root in God and faith & the fruit that it will bear. Secondly, a strong family tree that will continue to grow and strengthen.
a strong foundation,
a strong family,
and growth
I LOVE IT!

Thank you so much for the
very sweet, thoughtful, and meaningful gift!!! :)
I love you guys!!!
I hope to see you sooner rather than later!

Simple Pleasures

I left work early today to go to the Dr. for a routine check-up. Lucky me that my doctor's office is out in Newport Beach! So after my apt., instead of sitting in traffic, I headed over to the beach and spent some time enjoying the simple pleasures in life....the waves crashing, kids playing, couples holding hands, watching the sunset, taking photos, fishermen catching dinner, birds eating sand crabs, and the list can go on forever. I had a great night just walking down the pier and enjoying all the sites and smells the beach has to offer. It was so enjoyable.
my favorite part of the day...
it feels like home!catch of the dayhis last wave of the day (a mini one) :)little birdie on the hunt for sandcrabsoh, to be a kid againsunset swim?
palm tree paradise

I'm melting!!!!

Oh my gosh! Our office is SOOOOO HOT!!!!! Our AC just decided it didn't want to work today and its 95 DEGREES in here! How are we supposed to stay focused and work in this heat? I've had so much ice water I'm about to explode, and I just can't cool down. I need a popsicle and a swimming pool to jump into!

Calgon, Take Me Away!
(haha, remember that commercial?)

SURPRISE!!!

My cousin Christy turns 40!!!
Last night we had a surprise birthday party for her. She was very surprised! Christy had been looking forward to having dinner that night at Bucca de Beppo with her friends, but instead of dinner at the restaurant...they had the food come to her! All of her friends were there and her family, and she was able to catch up with people she hadn't seen in awhile. She had a good time! :) As did I! I had a great time chatting with everyone, and it was great to catch up with my cousins. My cousin Ricky and his girlfriend Karen were there, and it was really good to talk with them, as I don't get to see them very often. Anyway, the night was a success and Christy was surprised :) I'm glad that her big birthday was made special for her :)
Happy Birthday Christy!
I hope you had a very special and enjoyable 40th!!!
I LOVE YOU! :)
All the party girls! :)
All the party boys with the birthday girl :)My Cousins!!!
Me and Cousin Ricky :)
(sorry, those are the only pics I have...my camera battery died early)

PS...Thank you Stacey again for Annie's little dress - doesn't she look so cute in it? :) This was on our drive this afternoon to go pick up lunch. Annie loves dressing up for her car rides...she even has little black bows in her hair :)

Birthday Burger

Today a couple of my coworkers and I went to Red Robin for lunch because I was sent a FREE Red Robin Birthday Burger coupon in my email! :)
So my birthday continues....(I love it!)Olya and I with our Freckled Lemonade - YUMMY!
I made sure to find all the strawberries :)

My Shelly and Me

Tonight I met up with my old and dear friend Shelly. I finally got to meet her boyfriend too! We met up at the Marriot for dinner and spent the evening catching up, chatting with the workers (as Shelly and her bf know them because they used to work together), and we ate ALOT of good food! The cook came out and talked with us a few times (also one of their friends) and asked what we wanted for dessert.
Jody: Hmmm, well what do you have?
Chef: What do you want?
Jody: What do you have?
Chef: What do you want?
Jody: Well, what do you have?
The dialogue continued and we were all laughing. Well, I gave in and said "chocolate covered strawberries" and he immediately went in the back...and 15 minutes later, VWALAH!-chocolate covered strawberries appeared before us! He was awesome, and they were soooooo good!!! :)The Chef
Our strawberries
Even though we were pretty stuffed from eating all the other food, we managed to eat almost all of the strawberries. Actually, at one point Shelly got me laughing so hard that I couldn't keep the chocolate in my mouth and it started seeping out...it was gross, but funny! Anyway, it was a good time hanging out with Shelly again. I love that girl! She is so sweet! Love you Shelly-Belly! :) Don't be a stranger!

Paige's Birthday

My cousin Cathy's daughter Paige is having a birthday!! :)
Last Thursday night I went shopping with Cathy and Paige at the Ontario Mills mall and Paigey got to pick out her new Build-A-Bear stuffed animal. That store is SOO cute! You pick out an animal you want, you watch them fill it with stuffing, you pick out a heart and they put it in the animal, and they close it up. Then you pick out the cutest little outfits! After all that, you name it, put all the information into the computer and out comes a birth certificate of your new little Purrcey! That is what this little kitty was named (well, I'm not sure if that's how they spelled it). How fun!Tonight for Paige's birthday dinner we went out to the Elephant Bar. Paige and her little friend Cloey were having so much fun with each other, giggling, putting on lipstick, and all those other little things that girls do when they get together :) They were so cute! Happy 8th Birthday Paigey!!! I love you :)

My 30th Birthday FUN!

Hi Friends and Family, Here's the summary of my very special 30th birthday yesterday!

The day started off with breakfast at Mimi's with Tom, Judi, Kristy, Luke and Tad. It was so nice spending a couple hours visiting with them, opening presents, taking pictures, and eating yummy food. Tom got me a great gift(and was very proud of it, and very excited to give it to me)...my very own box of Cherrios (my favorite cereal)! :) Very sweet! I love to keep a box of Cheerios at my desk at work, and snack on it throughout the day. He knows me well.Judi gave me the cutest Vera Bradley bag that I will be using as my carryon for my flight to Europe. Inside some more goodies, to use for travel, and some spending money as well. Very sweet and thoughtful! Thank you Judi and Tom!! :)

After my wonderful birthday breakfast, I headed over to my friend Carissa's house where we played a little Miss Pacman and Asteroids (I think that's what its called) while awaiting Kristy's arrival. I'm so bad at video games, but it was fun :) Once Kristy got there, we piled into the car and headed out towards Temecula to do some antique shopping. We had fun walking through the stores, and eating yummy gelato...and of course taking pictures (they are good sports). We also had a very tasty lunch at a little Italian restaurant/deli. I had a great time hanging with my girlies!! Thank you Carissa and Kristy for spening the afternoon with me, and making my day special! And thank you for my presents :)

Later that night was dinner with my cousins (Christy & John, Cathy & Don, and their friend Stacy) at the King's Fish House at Victoria Gardens. My cousin Christy's birthday is today, and so we had a dinner last night to celebrate her 40th bday! They were sweet and celebrated my birthday too :) We exchanged some gifts:
Thank you Christy and John for my bangles and necklace! I love them...and they are SOOOO ME!! :) And thank you Christy for the Coach purse! I LOVE IT!!!! :)Thank you Cathy for my scarf/wrap/sarong (you know I'll get creative with it) :) You made me laugh when you were trying to make it a top, that was so great!...I will research online how to make it work like that :) Its beautiful, thank you! :)

We also had really good food (NO I didn't have any fish...are you crazy!!!), walked around Victoria Gardnes and went into a few stores, hung out at the Yard House for a bit, and then headed home. Cathy and Don hung out at my house for awhile chatting, which was great!, and then they headed home.

I had such a great birthday! Thanks again to everyone who made it so special!

I also received more birthday mail...
Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Hyde for my card and money! It will be spent wisely in Paris! :)
Thank you mom and Ray for my flowers, card, and photo magazine subscription (I'm so excited to get it!).
Thank you Stacy for the cutest little dress for my dog, Annie! She loves it and it looks so cute on her! :) It was great hanging out with you again!
Thanks to all my friends who posted birthday wishes on my myspace and facebook...and sent me text messages - that is so nice!

Wow, so far 30 is great! I'm really looking forward to this next year...and decade! :) I hope its true what everyone has been telling me...that my 30's will be the best years of my life! I can't wait! :)