one year older.

I have a lot I want to post about--I am so behind in my blogging. So I guess I'll just start with my birthday.

About a week and a half ago, I turned twenty-one years old. Crazy right? Now I can legally do a bunch of things I don't ever want to do and won't do. yayy. The birthday was really good, for the most part. I have the best family and friends. Ever. I love them all so much. My family threw me a little party serving hamburgers, steak fries, and malts (one of my favorite dinners) and they gave me awesome gifts. Afterwards, some of my friends threw me a party complete with an ice cream cake, lava monster, and Megamind. I also got mint green skinny jeans... I love them.

You know whenever you have a birthday at least one person is probably going to ask you something like: "Do you feel older?" or "Do you feel any different?" or "How does it feel to be [whatever age]?" even though everyone knows you probably feel just the same as you did the day before. Well, on my birthday a friend asked me if I felt any older. Of course I told him I didn't, then he started talking about how it's interesting that on your birthday you don't ever feel any older than you did yesterday... but really when you think about who you were 5 years ago, a year ago, or even 6 months ago it's amazing how much you have changed. Then I started thinking about how different I am than I was a year ago. It's scary to think about how much I'll change in the next year.


I'm really loving my twenties so far. I know I'm in my very early twenties, but it's looking like it's going to be an awesome decade in my life. Probably the best one so far. Way better than being a teenager--that's for sure.

I found some old photos a few weeks ago. I think some of them are hilarious and some are embarrassing and I'm so glad I've changed a lot. But here's Maren through the ages:

 The end!

A trip to California.

About two weeks ago, my family packed up the car, drove for ten hours, and arrived at a condo we'd rented in Oceanside, California. We stayed there for a week.
We arrived Saturday, so on Sunday we attended the local LDS ward. It was... interesting and very different from testimony meetings at home. The Bishop specifically began the meeting by telling everyone to limit their time at the pulpit. In our home ward you'd never need to do that, but as soon as the members of this Oceanside ward started getting up they each gave, like, half-hour long testimonies. They talked about everything, from missing the freeway exit to the temple, to being evicted and asking the ward for real estate agents and lawyers, to randomly mentioning the mark of Cain and making a Harry Potter scar motion across the forehead. It was good... just not anything like home.
After that, my parents decided to go check out this church we'd probably never find at home, which was located pretty close to our Condo. We like learning about other religions--it's really interesting. We walked around the grounds a bit and then decided to join the members of the religion for their after-service question-and-answer session. I've never been to anything like that. Ever. They talked a lot about astrology and how you can tell things about planets just by getting on the freeway. They all seemed a little off their rockers... some more than others. It was just interesting, to say the least.

On Monday we went to the San Diego Zoo. It was awesome!! That place is huge. We stayed there for several hours and we saw all sorts of wildlife. Birds, snakes, spiders (I didn't like that), a baby jaguar (it was freaking adorable), lions, bears (grizzly, brown, koala, and panda), as well as panthers, bob cats, tigers, etc. etc. My favorite was probably the baby jaguar. It looked like a little cat and there was a zoo worker in the cage with him just playing with him and petting him. So cute!
That night we went to Ruby's, a diner on the pier closest to our condo, and we had the best strawberry/oreo shakes ever.
The rest of the week is sort of running together in my memory. I can't recall what we did on specific days. I still remember what we did though. We went hiking (sort of) and sat on cliffs next the ocean. Although it was cold, it was relaxing and pretty. We enjoyed the beach near our condo a few times... I really wish I lived by a beach. We toured the Midway, which was so cool! We had a harbor tour and went shopping. We went to this amazing little taco place and another amazing pizza place that I can't remember the name of. On Friday, my mom, my sisters, and I went to Disneyland and rode the Tower of Terror and California Screamin' as many times as we could. It was so good. I love roller coasters.
Then Saturday we packed up and headed home.
The End!

Here are some photos from our adventures:

Pinterest love: recipes.

Here's what I'm loving on Pinterest lately (I'm really hungry right now):


Strawberry-Nutella Panini... this looks so amazing right now.

Source.

Cinnamon Rolls... Apparently these only take one hour to make!

Source.

Baked Ziti... yum.

Source.

Strawberry Mango Salsa... I would definitely take some of this right now.

Source.

Peach Smoothies... Just leave out the vodka.

Source.

Rosemary Bread... Like the kind from Macaroni Grill.

Source.

Yeah, so someday I need to make all of these and really make sure they are good. :)

Congraduation!

This weekend was pretty fantastic.

Here's why:

•  My amazing little sister graduated high school! I was so proud when she walked across the stage to get her diploma--I literally couldn't stop grinning.
• My grandparents from Florida and my Uncle from Minnesota came to celebrate Camille's accomplishment with us. 
• My family is just the best. From Brick Oven and random concerts to silliness with my cousins and watching my dad get so hyper with my Uncle (they were shooting a melon with a rubber band and wearing sunglasses sideways... teenage boys much?) we laughed pretty hard.
• I bought a swimsuit!
• I got to have some good conversations with my mom. Glad she likes listening to me rant/ramble (she says she does anyway). She might be the only one!
• I just love Sundays because my singles ward is the best. I don't know why I put off going to this one (for three years) because the people are just so great and I really do love them all even though I'm just getting to know them.
• I'm going to San Diego on Saturday and that makes everything in life better. :)

 Also, this is random, but I watched a cool clip on the movie Inception. It's 45 minutes but really interesting. Now I think Inception might be cooler than I thought. I'd recommend watching it: