home again!

so i thought i would use this post to tell you about my trip to California! it was grand! we drove straight through, so it took us about 31 hours. almost all of my mom's side of the family lives there; so, it was great to see my grammy, aunts, uncles, and all my California cousins. my brother Jonathan (the one that just got married in Mexico to Kali) also lives there. they had just rented an apartment, so we (mainly my dad) spent our days helping them fix up their new place, which by the way is right on the beach!! (where i spent most of my time!)

i took this this photo standing on their doorstep.  i know, it's not fair that they get to live THAT close to the beach!

I got to spend many beach days with my cousins!

 Seth and me

and Caleb and me with Jacob photo bombing our picture

on the 4th of july, i ran my first 5k race with some family and friends. there were 2,500 people who ran in the race, which is more people than the population of my small town!  it was a bit overwhelming, but  i pushed myself to the max! towards the end i felt like giving up, but when i crossed that finish line it felt so rewarding to know all my training had paid off!

we also had a second reception for Jonathan and Kali for the people in California that couldn't make it to Mexico for the wedding.

the bride and groom all dressed up.

cousins!

and one night during the trip i got to cook with my cousin Rebecca who is an amazing cook! she even has a blog. check it out!

my next post will be about what we made together!

i had to grab one last picture with Grammy before we left. love her so much! oh and she also makes THE best chocolate chip cookies in the world!!

..and we were back on the road again heading home! until halfway home our ac completely shut off! it was miserable! but eventually we reached home and this is what i found.

 the grass was completely brown!

 literally, the only thing green were the weeds

 i walked down to my garden having no idea what it would look like after 2 weeks of neglect.

 and surprisingly my garden was green!

 and as i got closer i could see that it wasn't just the weeds!

 my squash was humungous!

 some of my flowers were blooming!

 my onions had wilted but they were still fine

 my potato plants had died but that was fine because i dug them up and most of them were good with a few exceptions of some worm infested ones

 some of my cherry tomatoes were ripe!

 and my green peppers were getting bigger

and so was my corn! i can't believe how well my garden was doing after 2 weeks of neglect and no rain! it felt great to be home again! i love that feeling of walking in the door of my house after a long trip and knowing that i'm home.