Orange County Friends

The last stop on our week-long, California excursion was Irvine and boy, was I excited!! You may remember that before we made it to Irvine, we threw my sister a graduation party, we watched my rock- star sister graduate from high school, we were tourists in Hollywood for 3 hours, and we went sight-seeing in San Diego with my mom and my aunt. But we weren't quite done with So Cal yet.

I hadn't visited Irvine (all my lovely friends) since 2007. Granted, a few of these lovelies travelled to Orlando for our wedding, but that's not the same as getting to spend quality time with them and their significant others in the place where we all met. I was stoked, pumped, thrilled, jumping-for-joy happy to be back with my Orange County friends!

I moved to Orange County in 2005, after joining staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. After a few short jaunts in random places, I settled into an apartment in Costa Mesa with this girl (minus the boys)...


Of course when Rachael and I moved in together we didn't have those handsome men at our sides. We were single and ready to mingle. Or something like that. Living with Rachael was an abosulte blast...when we saw each other. We both had crazy work schedules and they constantly seemed to be completely opposite. I was home for a month while she was in San Fransico, then I was gone and she was home. It was like this a lot, but nonetheless we built a great friendship.


We both attended Rock Harbor Church and loved it! It was through Rock Harbor that I met the lovely Jenni....





and the lovely Angela....





We hung out in this thing called a Life Group for about 2 years with lots of other cool people. It was probably the best small group that I've been a part of in my whole life. We were young and single and seriously laughed until our faces hurt, all the time. There was the occassional drama (as there always is when boys and girls are friends) but somehow we all made it through. It was awesome!


I was really sad to be leaving these lovely friends when I decided to move to Orlando. I secretly wished that I could shove them all into my suitcase and force them to move with me. But I live in reality, most of the time.


So when John and I found out that we would be down in Southern California, I was elated to be able to visit my friends in Irvine. Remember how I said we were all single back in 2007, well thas since changed. Such good looking people aren't going to stay single for very long. Anglea met Jason and they got married in January 2010. Rachael met Noah and they got married in October 2009. Brad married Ashley, Dan married Jen, Katie's engaged to Ben, Jenni's dating Steve, Ryan's dating Hillary...it was so fun to see all the couples while we were there. (Except for Brad and Ryan who are lame because they were out of town. You were totally missed, guys!)

Those two days in Irvine were probably my two favorite of the whole trip! I had so much fun catching up with everyone, and getting to know all the significant others better. I hope we get to see you guys more often. Once every 3 years just isn't enough for me.

Ang and Jason, thanks for letting us crash at your place. Jenni, Steve, Rachael, Noah, Ashley, Katie, Ben....thanks for coming by and spending time with us. It was such a blast and I'm so glad we got to see all of you! Hopefully we'll be out that way again soon. And if any of you happen to wind up in Florida, give us a call. :)

(bear hug with the boys)