Ventura Vacation

I finally have some time to share how my vacation went last weekend. All I can really say that it was an amazing trip that I needed to much. I dont know what it was, being around such great friends, being where I feel at home... being happy?? But the spirit was so strong for me my whole trip, I felt like I didnt want to leave! To start out, right when I had arrived to the LA airport, my best friend Catherine was there to pick me up. I was a little worried because I hadnt seen her in 2 years and I hoped that nothing in our friendship had changed. As soon as I saw her and got in the car she said, "Wow you still look like a Utah girl but you live in Montana... thats weird." haha I knew that it was like I had never left! She is so hilarious and fun I love our friendship. Right when we got into town we stopped by Buffalo Wild Wings and I sent this pick to Gav just to rub it in a little..

After lunch we went straight to the Kim and Lynda's house and I could not wait to see them. This is the coupld that I lived with while I went to school down there. It was so good to see them. I love them so much and I love being around them. We sat and chatted for hours until it was time for me to go to Kylie's bachelorette party... that was why I went down after all. It was so nice to see Kylie. She was so cute and so excited to get married I loved it. For her party we got a hotel on the beach in Oxnard and headed down to Santa Monica to hang out on the pier and to go to dinner. Her sisters and friends kept me laughing all night, it was a good time. Here are some pics...

I was excited for Friday because I had the whole day to hang out with Catherine and to just relax. We woke up early and hitched a ride with the Allen's down to the beach. Kim either goes surfing every morning or if the surf is bad he takes Thor, his dog, for a walk. Well his health hasnt been too good so he cant go surfing for a while. The sad part was that the surf was good and the water was so nice that I could tell it was killing him inside to not be out there with his buddies. But we all went on a nice walk on the beach, Thor went crazy over every stick and it was nice for me to feel at home.

See the surfers??

Thor loves the ocean

 Isnt it beautiful?

Dead seal, gross and stinky

Kim and Lynda, can gav and I be them?

This is where the ventura river meets the ocean, its a pretty cool sight

After the beach Cath and I went and picked up her mom Lori.. whom I also love.. and we went straight to in-n-out.. of course. We went to the park and chatted at ate and just caught up on life. I cannot believe how much time went by. Catherine and I then headed to the mall for some shopping. I feel a little shopping deprived here in Missoula, when you come you will understand why. They just got an H&M there so we basically went crazy in it. I found this skirt that I absolutely loved...

I sent this pic to Gav asking if I could get it. He then explained to me why I couldnt and I was pretty bummed. I looked at Catherine and she was like you cant get it?? I could tell she loved it! So of course I bought it for her. Hey if I cant have it, why not get it for my best friend. She was so excited and wore it to church that Sunday and I must say, she looked stunning. After shopping we headed to the Allen's for the night for some delicious vegan food and some True Grit. And again I felt right at home like I had never left... I loved it.

Saturday was a crazy morning. I woke up and snuck out of the room so I didnt wake up Catherine and got ready for Jeff and Kylie's wedding. She came and picked me up around 7 and we headed up to the temple which is about 1 hour away. I was lucky enough to attend their sealing and it was so wonderful. I am so happy that they chose to be married in the temple and it is a decision they will never regret! I learned so much from their sealing and soaked in every word. Waiting for them to come out of the temple was beautiful. The grounds there is full of flowers and the sun was shining so beautifully, I just sat in the sun and soaked it in.

After lunch in Santa Monica and a sleepy drive back to Oxnard, it was time to party! I got to see a lot of people that I knew and I got to meet some cool people as well. Catherine showed up at the end and we sat and laughed together. After we got home and I changed into some comfy clothes, yup... straight to in-n-out. haha I had to get it while I could. We went and visited with her family and they are so awesome. They are for sure such a great example of what I want my family to be like. Sunday, I must say, was one of the most amazing Sunday's I have had in a while. We went and listened to Kim speak in a ward and he is just so amazing. He spoke about temples, temple marriage, importance of going to the temple and how much he loves Lynda. I love listening to him talk about Lynda. They are such a cute couple and I look up to them so much. After going to Cath's family ward, it was straight home to pack and we were on our way. Catherine said she had a surprise for me and brought it in. and guess what it was... the skirt I wanted so bad. She said she loved it so much and knew I did too and couldnt let me leave without it! What a good friend, not saying that gifts is what makes you one, but I love that our friendship is selfless like that. I was so happy and gave her a big hug! I got some pics before my trip home...

It was sad to leave. I feel the thing that makes me love it there so much is that when I am there, I feel so loved and so wanted. I know that everyone there cares so much about me and genuinely wants what is best for me. I know they all miss me a lot and it makes me feel so good and so important, who wouldnt want to feel that way? Well I miss it there already, though Gavin is happy to have his wife back and I am happy to be back too. Hopefully it isnt 2 years before I make it back again.

This weekend

We had a pretty fun weekend. On friday we went with our friends Amy and JT to get some delicious sushi, mmmmm it was good. After we headed to the Union Club to listen to our friend Amanda and her band sing. They are called Amanda Garcia and Beyond the Pale. Look her up on You Tube she is pretty much amazing. Saturday after a lazy morning we decided to go to the farmers markets and walk around downtown. We didnt end up getting anything except for this...

Organic cotton candy, yum. I havent had cotton candy for so so long and now I remember why, its a lot of sugar. But it is a fun every once in a while treat.

Today we went on our weekly walk with our friends Chris and Jaime. It was a hot day so we spent a lot of our time in the water.

People that walk by us cant help but stare. They laugh at all three sizes of our dogs and they are all friends.

This was a big step for Diesel, he hasnt ever been a big river fan



It is always fun hanging out with Chris and Jaime! We are sad we are not next door neighbors anymore but we love that we still hang out.

The Buckle

We had to take some pictures at work... so meet the gang.

We have so much fun together and I love working with them! Sadly some of my most favorite peeps werent able to make it :(... I will have to post one with everyone soon. You can click on the pic for a closer look!

4th Of July!!

We had a really nice fourth of July. We got invited to our friends house for dinner and a movie. We love hanging out with the Heintz, they are such good friends to us. We had some delicious sweet pork burritos and played outside for a while. We then went and saw the movie Larry Crowne, it was a cute movie and nice and clean, just how I like it. Here are some fun pics.

 

Here are more swimming pics from when we came and visited. Jake and my mom are missing, but we had so much fun, we miss my fam.

I dont know why this one didnt turn out. Well I have a lot of pics from my trip that I just took to california! I cant wait to tell you all about it.

Something Amazing

Want to see something amazing?? Have 3 minutes to spare? watch this video...

https://lds.org/youth/video/laie-hawaii-temple-youth-cultural-celebration?lang=eng

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is so amazing. It is crazy to me that three minutes of seeing how strong our youth is strengthens my testimony so much. This temple is especially important to the Linsley's because my husband and his dad plastered the whole thing. We spent a lot of time on the beautiful temple grounds in Laie, and we miss it there so much. Member or not, you will not be disappointed in the Laie Temple and the feelings you have when you are there. Definately a special place.

This picture I took while we were in Hawaii working



The rededicated Laie, Hawaii temple. All of the LDS temples are so special to me. See all of the LDS temples in the world here..

http://lds.org/church/maps?type=temples_scatter&lang=eng

Going Home... And more

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go and visit our families because Jen Got Married!!! It was such a beautiful wedding and I havent seen Jen so excited and happy since I have met her.

This sad pic is from my phone, but luckily I just got an email of the amazing pictures that the photographer took. She did such an amazing job... as always, and I cant wait to see more of what she has. The photographer is my cousin, Autumn Bennett... look her up!

Jen was the most beautiful bride I have ever seen... She is like model beautiful. Janiel, Gavin's other sister, was wonder woman during the wedding. She made the most amazing cake for Jen, did Jen's hair and the flower girls hair, got her family ready and herself. I dont know how she did it, but she was amazing. Gavin and I also got to meet our new nephew Owen.

He is the cutest little guy. He loved Gavin holding him and was always so good and smiled the whole time, I was so jealous. I would want to hold him, and then he would cry. Maybe I need more motherly practice. Gina is such a great mother, she is so happy holding baby Owen and is so patient with him. Gaynard and Jill are always fun to see, and they missed diesel so much!

Saturday we got to spend the whole day with my family... which I loved. I have missed them so much!! After helping shontel move the piano to her house, which is so unfair.. even though I havent played for years.. we planned on going boating! We got all ready, pulled the boat to the lake with snacks and drinks, backed it in and... battery dead! Ugh at first it was so frustrating for Gavin and I, then we got the offer to go swim at the neighbors house and decided to do that. It was so fun to play with my siblings. Shontel and Kamron havent been up to too much. Shontel got a job teaching in draper and Kamron got a new job as well. Parker is busy dating, with school, and just got a job as a cna. Shyanne is living the life as always, and Jacob is playing waterpolo like crazy and is super tan. My mom didnt get to come and play with us because she is house sitting for family in San Fran, which I am so jealous about. It was nice spending some good time with my dad though. We have such a special friendship that I love and miss all the time.

While we were swimming, we were beating up on eachother, of course. Shontel had one last jump off of the diving board before they had to leave. We all had our swim toys ready, and when she jumped we all threw them at her as hard as we could... well at least I did :) She came up crying and we all laughed at her like.. ya right you are fine. Kam went over to see what was wrong and her ear was bleeding like crazy! We were all trying to figure out who did and it was... Gavin, of course. He through a rock hard torpedo, well, he said he lobbed it.

It did some good damage. After debating whether to go get stitches or not, my dad just super glued it. He is basically superman. Today it is completely healed and just like new. It was a long, sad ride home, but we will be back soon.

The night before we went to Utah, we took the youth to a Missoula Osprey baseball game.

It was awesome because at the back of the field was this big tall pole with a nest at the top. A family of Osprey's lived at the top and flew around, in and out of the nest during the whole game!



The other day we went to McDonalds for lunch. I love the commercial with all the new sauces for the chicken nuggets, and I had been dying to try them. While we were ordering the question came... what sauce would you like with that? I answered all of them. Gavin looked at me like, you dont need all. But I did! I needed to find my favorite so I new what to order from now on. The lady was like.. All? Yup! so .30 later this was where I was at.

Then I look up to see Gavin doing this...

What a dork. Trying to slam dunk his chick nug! This is a pic of our new car..



He is just a little guy, but is pretty much amazing. 40mpg, can't beat that!

Thursday was our anniversary. I can't believe it has been 2 years, and 3 since we met. I got a surprise at my work of a vase of roses and a bowl full of chocolates, which all the girls loved. We had lunch at a delicious place called Jakers and a fun bbq up in the mountains for dinner.

It has been so nice here the past couple of days, I have loved it. We cuddled up to a movie after and watched named "Unknown". It was a pretty good movie, but not one I would buy.

I wish I could have a wedding every year! It was so much fun being a bride and I wouldnt change anything!