The Golden State

I have no good excuse for not blogging for so long!  Life has been great and my new place of living has very little wireless internet, so let's blame it on that.  In the last few weeks I have gone to two family reunions, hung out with my sister and parents, gone crabbing, said sayonara to Oregon, moved to Pebble Beach, Cailifornia, started my LAST INTERNSHIP, and I'm loving it all.

Leaving Oregon was hard.  I have loved my family and the chance I had to be close to them.  I forgot how awesome it is to just call up a family member and invite yourself over or get a hug from a little cousin or not have to explain how your colorful family history makes you say weird things.  Here are some pics from my last few days there...

italian soda fun with birgette and stefan

this lady is making my bouquet.  whatever flowers i want for $10 

my poor uncle hurt his hand so me and my aunt Michelle were on crab duty

yes, they can be scary 

me and my cousin Haylee

A few days after all this fun... I find myself in one of the most famously beautiful places on earth!  Thanks to the kindness of a Mormon family that we connected with through a family friend, I am living in Pebble Beach, only 1.1 miles from the ocean and about two blocks off 17 Mile Drive.  It's so pretty, I have even been inspired to start jogging.  I know, crazy.

I'm working at the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, locally referred to as CHOMP.  It is the nicest hospital I have EVER been to and I love it.  I work in the ICU and the telemetry unit so these patients are very different than what I'm used to, but it is fun to do something new.  My co-workers are great and the days fly by!

the best part of my new room: storage for scarves and vera

that's monterey baby!

i like these venice-y looking buildings

this is what i get to jog to

just some deer, hoping to catch some golf

SUCCULENTS ARE EVERYWHERE HERE!  and i love it!

carmel-by-the-sea, where houses are named instead of numbered.  it's adorable

and this town is so great that there is a nautical shop, where they only sell horizontally striped clothing and large model ships

berries at the monterey farmer's market

Monastery Beach

Beach Week

Being land locked for years at a time makes one miss the Ocean, but I'm happy to say that this summer I got to see or touch the Pacific Ocean for ten whole days in a row, on four different beaches!  I went to Cannon Beach to be with my uncle and aunt for the weekend, left Monday for work, back Tuesday night for the 4th of July, back to work on Thursday, then Friday night, down to Winchester Bay with my mom's side of the family!  All I can say is... I can't wait to buy my beach house.

Short Sands Beach
Me, my cousin Rachel, and Cannon the dog headed down to Short Sands beach in Oswalt West State Park.  I'm pretty sure this is my favorite beach I've ever been to.  It's about a mile hike in, lots of surfers go there, and it's the perfect place for dogs to run around and have fun!

Cannon Beach
We went to Cannon Beach a few times over the ten days.  It's beautiful and iconic.  We went down to Haystack Rock at low tide and saw some adorable baby seagulls up on the rock.  There was also the 4th of July parade complete with candy and lots of fun.  My cousin is selling baked goods to go on a Washington DC trip next year and we made some scones and cookies to sell at the parade.  Cannon Beachers are always willing to pay money to help a cute little girl!

Arcadia Beach & Hug Point
Before they banned fireworks on Cannon Beach, the 4th of July was the most magical night of the year.  Dozens and dozens of families would go up and down the beach and light off those awesome aerial fireworks that you can only get in Washington.  Even if you didn't have any, you could just go and watch everyone else's.  Now... in the name of wildlife conservation, fireworks on Cannon Beach are banned.  But have no fear, Arcadia Beach is here.  There are still a few families that go down to the beaches south of Cannon to do fireworks, light a bonfire, and enjoy America's birthday.

             

               

Winchester Bay
To celebrate my cousin's birthdays, the Strong and Rounsville families always go down to Winchester Bay for a week or so.  My uncle likes to fish and this weekend we got to go crabbing, fishing, and beaching.  We ate some amazingly fresh seafood, played in the sand, sat around the campfire, made cake pops, and they even gave me crab to take home and make crab bisque!

Cousins

Last weekend I went to see my family down in Cottage Grove.  We had a blast.  My two little cousins are almost 4 and almost 9 and they are just great.  I'm not sure if anything is better than getting a hug from a little girl and hearing her say "I love you Ashley."

Getting ready to watch BRAVE.  I loved this movie.  After watching this and week 6 of the Bachlorette, I want to go to Scotland SO BAD!

Our last feeding of the bottle babies.  They got sold this weekend, so they are down from 8 goats to 6.

My aunts new gold flecked nails.  I think they turned out pretty good.

Our combined stash...

Sleeping (or not sleeping) in grandma's bed since they are still out of town.

My uncle saw this on Pintrest and had to try it.  Favorite quote of the weekend was when my aunt tried to take over the bacon making process and my uncle says... "I saw it on Pintrest and I'm going to make it!"  They were dang good.

Yet another round of painting, while rockin' out to Taylor Swift!

Putting on the finishing touches to our homemade strawberry angle food cake.

Sweetie Pie, the sweetest not-bottle-fed goat around.

Just practicing my goat herding skills.