We Miss You

I wanted to post Joni's cute nephews that she is missing so much.

Oh....and they are missing her too.

Julia Comes to Visit!

I was so excited to have my good friend Julia come and visit last weekend.  We were the most unholy of mission companions at one time, and still have tons of fun together.  We are smiling in this picture, but actually on the verge of fainting from heat stroke!

Here's Julia, Emily, and I catching some rays and cooling off in the pool at my apartment. Who knew 3 women could fit on 2 noodles?

I am attempting to navigate the streets of Mexico here. We were all a little shook up to discover we were going the wrong way in a one-way. We entered in Mexicali, and drove around for way too long looking for the excitement.  Although we had our hearts set on some good mexican food, a local assured us the Chinese food was where it's at.  There were Chinese restaurants all over the place, so what could we do but go and eat there?

Ok, so I admit that my Spanish is failing me.  Julia has done a great job of keeping up on hers.  It was a running joke in Mexico that I was needing Julia to translate for me.  So, in order to redeem myself I was determined to find out some directions from our waitress (yes, a Chinese waitress).  As I am going off in my flawless Spanish, she stops me mid-sentence and says "Sorry, I speak very little English."  Remember that I'm speaking Spanish?  I stared at her a second, and then burst out laughing so hard I couldn't even get my composure.  She just looked at me and walked off. I couldn't stop laughing for about an hour.  Just the confirmation that I needed that my Spanish truly is leaving me! In this picture are Julia, Emily, me, Jen, and Diana. We didn't get directions, but at least the food was good!

Getting out of the country was a challenge. It took us about an hour.  The temperature climbed to 125 degrees and we were roasting.  Em bought a hat that covers both of us!

I am so glad Emily is here with me! We are just really hoping that things work out for her to stay.  It's been a stressful time as far as work goes, but we have fun on our off work times!

The wetlands park is close to us, and is so pretty.  Niko isn't one for pictures, he's too excited about everything else going on around us.

Niko and I at the Colorado River.  It's so warm, and not deep.  It's a perfect spot for cooling off from the hot day. Niko needs to work on his swimming skills however, I had to go and rescue him once!

Pretty river scene as the sun is going down.  

The sunsets here are beautiful. Here's me by the ponds- just before Niko went diving in head first behind me!

Sunny San Diego

I have been just waiting for the right opportunity to go to San Diego.  It was the perfect weather. Sunny skies, no wind. So beautiful. Emily and I spent all day on the beach. It was so relaxing and peaceful. I needed that in order to put my head on straight again after a very stressful week. 

Luau

We had a Luau on Saturday night.  It was fun with lots of people. Swimming, hot tubbing, volleyball, pineapple bowling, and beautiful surroundings.  Here I am in a self portrait trying to look Hawaiian.  Some friends Ryan and Sam are sharing a bench that is much too small for them. I found this chair under the beach umbrella and parked myself there most of the night.  It worked out good for me.  People stopped by to chat, then left, and more came in! In this one I am with Erin, Miriam, and Ben. The hot tub limit was supposed to be four people.   That didn't really hold out, and yes, they ended up blowing out the fuse.  Whoops! At the table are a girl I don't know, Chloe, a girl who's name I forgot, Ryan, and Justin.  You can see some of the pretty landscape behind them.

Yuma Sky

I love the palm trees here.  They draw your eyes away from the desert earth!

I was on this innocent bike ride, minding my own business when I came upon this pink flamingo the size of a house!  I laughed so hard seeing this.  I had to get a photo with it.  I was just praying a mad dog wouldn't come out and attack me.  That's quality Yuma-ville right there!

It's nice biking territory if you go early enough to beat the heat.  Fields and fields of.... something.

Move in Day!

Here's move in day!  Niko is exhausted, leaving me to do all the work

                  My Oh so lovely kitchen 

The living area. My computer now graces that empty corner

The bedroom.  I dismantled all of this and made it more 'me'.