29 on the 29th!

I had a great birthday! I worked in the morning and then this afternoon my great husband took me clothes shopping. So much fun! We have this big patio at our new house and have had no patio furniture on it. What a waste! So for my birthday I got some new patio furniture, including a hammock and lighting for our new and improved patio. I like to think of it more like an outdoor living room. It's so great! James did such a great job hanging all the lights. From the street corner our house looks like such a fun party now! We had friends and family over for a bbq, so we got to really test out the new patio stuff. It was great. I had such a great day!

I Think I Can

Last week was tough, just feeling quite overwhelmed. I completely vented on my other blog and felt all 'whoa is me' for most of the week. Then I read my sister's (in-law) blog. She is such an inspiration to me, such a great mom to my beautiful niece and nephews, and such a great wife and girlfriend to my brother. But anyway, she had a whole long list of her favorite things all of which were amazing things and it made me realize I need to change my thinking. I decided if I just sit and wallow in everything I have to do and how hard it is, it becomes overwhelming. I need to focus on the positive and keep telling myself that good things will come from hard work and I can do this! I've been chanting the mantra from The Little Engine That Could all morning! I think I can, I think I can! Because whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right!

Nobody said it would be easy right?

First Day of Spring!

I'm so glad that winter is officially over! I know I have nothing to complain about, it's been like spring since we got here. But I love the flowers blooming on my trees and shrubs, it's magical! I love that the days are getting longer, and warmer, and soon it will be summer (the best season ever)!

Orange Tree Blossoms

Peach Tree Blossoms

If only it were an apricot tree, I do love singing that song!

Red Hibiscus Shrubs

Our yard is quite beautiful, we lucked out!

Surfing with Dolphins

Today was an amazing day! I went to work for awhile in the morning while it was still cool outside. After work we decided to go surfing. The weather was perfect, about 74 degrees and not a cloud in the sky!

We are loving our house. There are people who drive from all over to park right by our house to go surfing and chow down at Roberto's Very Mexican. And we just get to walk out the front door. We put on our wetsuits, grab our board and it's on! The waves are still pretty big this time of year so it's a workout just swimming past the breakers. Once we got past the breakers we sat on our boards for a quick breather. No sooner had I got balanced, then a school of dolphins went swimming by! It was just amazing, they were like 10-20 feet away and so relaxed just passing us by. It happend twice! The first school was all gray, and then the second group that went by was all black. The second group was even closer than the first. Simpy amazing!

They were so close it looked just like this! If I had been off my board I'm sure I could have touched them. Not that I would, I'm still a little scared of everything in the ocean. Do they bite?

So surfing.

Surfing was excellent! I can't wait to be really good at it! And I'm starting to get used to the salt water. It will be weird to go back to Boise and go swimming in fresh water!

Surfing is a good way to clean out your sinuses! And there is sooo much swimming involved! I like swimming and always thought I was pretty good at it. That is until I tried swimming into water that is trying, with great force, to push me back to the beach! My surfboard is pretty wide too, which makes it even harder paddle. I took the cheaters way out and decided to breast stroke my way out past the breakers and just let my surfboard get tagged along by the leash! I'm not a real surfer yet, so I don't feel too bad about it! My arms were on fire, so at least now I can feel the arm and shoulder muscles I need to work on at the gym!

We have definitely decided we need to get a waterproof camera so we can get surfing pictures. I found this on online, it could have been me! I spent the first part of our day like this:

After while I definitely got the hang of it, well kind of. And I'm now completely comfortable like this:

While it's not surfing, yet, it's a blast! It is kind of tricky to go from being on your stomach swimming to on your feet in one swift movement. I just do it too slowly and end up riding the wave on my knees!

But I am definitely getting a feel for it and really think that the next time I go I'll be able to actually ride like this:

That will be great! I love it and can't wait to go again. Now with daylight savings, we might even have time after work for a few quick waves!