Dancing with Ellen

Whilst my awesome company, Mom and Taryn were with me, we had some big plans. The main event was going to the Ellen show in LA!! Through a series of different events, we had secured ourselves tickets for the April 10th recording of the Ellen show. What fun it was! Free parking, a nice lunch, and great seats! We were actually seated in the front and center row that Ellen dances down! When she danced past us, I'm pretty sure we all just froze. We walked away from the show with $200 gift cards from Khloe Kardashian to Sears, which was such an awesome gift! At first, we were kind of like "eh, Khloe Kardashian?" But, because she gave us each 200 bucks just grew on our hearts so quickly, by the end we were the biggest Khloe Kardashian fans you had ever seen. Here is how cute we looked that day, in case you missed the episode.

enjoying a great lunch just a short walk from the studio

Ellen water. "It tastes funny"

after our dancing, screaming, clapping party with Ellen. Ready to take on the LA traffic.. well, as ready as you can be.

Speaking of LA traffic, I hope the rest of you are as proud of me as I was for surviving the drive to and from LA without getting lost! I thought that was rather impressive (thank goodness for GPS capable phones).

laugh. dance. California.

I sort of completely stole this title idea from my friend Taryn. But, its totally OK, because a) I just cited her and b) she is a big part of this post!

For the rest of my spring break, I was lucky enough to have visitors! First was Taryn. She is one of those people who knows how to squeeze every bit of fun, laughter, and life out of every experience. It is a breath of fresh air to have her around. And, we did breathe a LOT of fresh air on her visit! We were so excited to get to run together once again, and we also went on a very awesome 6 mile hike together to conquer a mountain! Once we got to the top, Taryn and I did some yoga poses, and Starbuck collected some ticks. Here's some snapshots...

Going up, up, UP!

shadows on the top of the mountain

striking a pose

Cause we're the best of friends, having so much fun together!

Taryn is awesome! Striking a real pose, dancer

Starbuck, being traumatized by us asking him where his BFF West is. It's been over a year since they have seen each other, and he still remembers his name.

This was such a fun, exhausting hike! Days later, we discovered some unwelcome friends we made along the way (Starbuck had some ticks, and then passed one onto me... YUCK). There is really nothing better than exploring the beautiful earth God created for us while laughing with a friend.

Later that day, my mom flew in to visit! We had to hurry home to rest so we could all do our 5K the next morning.

We are champs

later that day, we packed a picnic to have at Del Mar beach. The PERFECT picnic spot!

Easter Sunday

I am very thankful for my mom and Taryn, and that they were willing to sacrifice time and money to come visit me! I am one lucky girl.