California

spon·ta·ne·ous

   [spon-tey-nee-uhs] 

adjective

1.

coming or resulting from a natural impulse or tendency;without effort or premeditation; natural and unconstrained;unplanned: a spontaneous burst of applause.

2.

(of a person) given to acting upon sudden impulses.

3.

(of natural phenomena) arising from internal forces orcauses; independent of external agencies; self-acting.

4.

growing naturally or without cultivation, as plants andfruits; indigenous.

5.

produced by natural process.

Jared and I were just that last week. My sister and her family from SLC were in California for a family vacation for the week. Phoenix is about 6 hours from LA. I mentioned to Mark that Heather was there, but he said nothing... really, he said nothing. The next morning I reminded him of Heather's vacay status, and that we could see them, and stay in HB with Rose and "what if we went to California for a few days?" He said, "fine with me." So, I woke Jared up and had him do some wash (so glad for that Family Life Merit badge) and pack his things while I was at work. We left and made it to Huntington Beach around 9:30pm. 

Jared spent the night in Newport Beach with friends from home. They woke up early, (earlier than I would have, therefore the sleepover), and headed over to San Onofre Beach. 

San Onofre Beach

Jared was so excited to surf. Bro. Sewell has offered to teach him since we first moved to Mesa. He had his 3 boys and a friend with him and they went to San Onofre Beach to have some fun. Jared donned the full-body wetsuit and off he went. 

After surfing we made our way slowly back to Huntington Beach. We stopped at the Rainbow Sandals outlet for some fun flip flops. Jared and I each found a new pair of sandals :)

Dana Point

Laguna Beach

Sea Stars

After a fun day of surfing and exploring in the Pacific Ocean, we made it to Huntington Beach Pier. A beautiful sunset and yummy burgers and shakes finished the fun day with Rosemary.

Sunset at Huntington Beach Pier

We met up with Heather and her family Thursday at Disney. This was Jared's first time ever at any of the Disney resorts. He has always felt a bit gypped that he has never been to Disney. Sean and Taylor have been to EuroDisney (since renamed to Disneyland Paris). Never mind that he has been on many safaris, previously had season passes to Busch Gardens, season ski passes, etc.... Ya, right Jared. 

0.83 of the Hadley's and 0.4 of the Gygi's

Magic

We stayed for the fireworks show and the World of Color show to make it a long day but a lot of fun. Next time the 0.6 members of the Gygi family will join us.

People I Dearly Love

FAMILY! People that I am grateful for the influence they have had on my life and the life of my children. Love you all!

The Hadley Family

The Hunt Family

The Plott Family

Harrison, Ryan, Lynette & Brevin

Cason! I need your photo!

Yes, I stole all of these photos from fb...

Jared's Eagle Project

Finally! Jared has done his Eagle Project... Well, he still has the write up to do. So am I jinxing this by writing about it?

I'm so glad this literally fell into his lap. Ethan's Run! Jared provided the pancake breakfast for the event. It was delicious :p

ethansrunaz.com

More to come...

Come on Jared, finish the paperwork!!!

My Encounter With Skin Deep Magazine...

I had an opportunity to be interviewed for a magazine called Skin Deep. Yes, Skin Deep.

It's exactly what you think... a magazine for skin care professionals. 




















Several months ago I received a phone call from a writer for Skin Deep Magazine named Rebecca Jones. She told me who she was and that my name had been given to her by CG Funk of Massage Envy Spa. I know who CG is, but didn't know that she knew of me :0

CG Funk

Ms. Jones was writing an article about working as a skin care therapist for a franchise and wanted my opinion. Really? MY opinion? I love my new career, and was honored to share some of my thoughts with other skin care professionals. 

Check out the article here... (page 11)

Groundhog Day

One of my favorite movies:
Groundhog Day


The legend of Groundhog Day is based on an old Scottish couplet: "If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, there'll be two winters in the year."


Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania



I love this movie and could watch it monthly. Did you know the movie is about death? Really. 


Denial: This isn't happening to me.
Anger: Why is this happening to me?
Bargaining: I promise I'll be a better person if...
Depression: I don't care anymore.
Acceptance: I'm ready for whatever comes.


Here is some trivia about the movie. 

Dad's Story

Otto, Sean, Dad, Jared

The following is part of Mark's letter to Taylor:


I had an interesting missionary experience myself several weeks ago.  I had been praying that I might have opportunities to share the gospel.  Well, several weeks ago I was getting ready to take a late night flight from Salt Lake City to Phoenix.  While I was waiting for my plane to board, I noticed in my airport gate area a college football team and they were all headed to Phoenix.  It was a teach from the College of Eastern Arizona and they had just played a football bowl game in Salt Lake City against Snow College.  Anyway, I got on the plane and it was late and I was really tired and I just wanted to sleep.  But, one of the football players sat next to me.  He was a big black kid and he introduced himself.  I found that he was very nice and well mannered and I started to talk college football with him.  He was from Miami and he had played at the University of Miami as a freshman, but he messed up and got bad grades so Miami pulled his scholarship.  So this kid came to the College of Eastern Arizona to get his grades up and get his college football career back in line.  He was just finishing up his year at this college and he said he now had scholarship offers for next year back at Miami and also at Florida State.  Something told me that I need to figure out a way to introduce him to the Church.  I then remembered that I had my IPAD and a picture of you with Todd.  So I asked if he knew T.H. and of course he did.  I then showed him the picture.  His eyes got way wide and he asked how I knew Todd.  I explained that I am a Mormon and so is Todd.  He then asked about you and I got to explain about missions and what you are doing in California.  I'm really glad I got to share a bit about the Church with this young man.  I bore my testimony in Church today and related this story.  Brother Heap was at Church today since the Cardinals didn't make the playoffs :(  After Church, Todd came up to me and we laughed and he then asked how you were doing.

Brother Heap & Elder Gygi

This is 51!

I'm looking for some input. Which vehicle can you see me in?

Getting some fresh air....

"I've got to go get some milk. Wanna come with me?"

I love the sound of snow crunching underneath :)

Me stuck? Never!!!!

This one comes with the best view, HANDS DOWN!

Jeeps have always been a love of mine since I was helping dad pull people out of snow banks in Park City, Utah. But, they don't have the best track record for maintenance so, let me give you 2 more choices.

Well?....