California!!!

We finally bought another car!!! I know it seems hard to believe. On Tuesday we bought this beauty from Mariwuinha Fernandes, aka Kinya, a gal moving home to Angola!!! For those of you who are not Geography buffs Angola is right next to Zimbabwe.

The deal went down in a "Planned Parenthood" parking lot in SLC...ans yes it felt as shady as it sounds!

So, on Friday we packed up the Santa Fe and headed for California. It was the first time i drove the car...kinda funny. We had a great time.

We celebrated Grandma Ginny's 88th birthday and Jeff's 55th birthday at the Cheesecake Factory. It was the first time i have ever eaten there. We have gone before but the wait was always too long to stay. There was no wait at 4pm.

After dinner we went to Joel's Aunt Ann's house. Her house is in this really posh neighborhood with a private lake and all these rich people have little electric boats that they drive around on...ridiculous but fun.


Joel and some of his cousins did some cliff jumping. I was on mommy duty so i had to stay in the boat. This is Joel sanding on the dam wall. What a sexy man!

A little family picture on the boat.

Carley is a total beach baby. Our first day on the beach was a little cold so i but some pants on Carley. I think she ended up looking like a homeless old lady wearing all her clothes at once. Only Carley could pull this look off.

We enjoyed relaxing on the beach a lot this trip.




Oh how i love Santa Barbara. It is the perfect place. We got engaged here and i love going back to visit. Joel insisted on letting Carley be naked this day.

Monday we hit up Snoop Dogg's favorite place. Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles in LA. Unfortunately, it was too early in the day for Snoop to be there. As odd of a combination as it sound it was the best fried chicken and the best waffles i have ever eaten and they were super tasty together.

After filling up on chicken and waffles the boys headed to a Dodger vs Brewer game and Andra, Carley and I went shopping in Santa Monica. Luckly we had a GPS or we would have never made it. I fell in love with the H&M store...I was way bummed to find out there is not one in Utah and you can't shop online in the US...what is the deal with that?

Carley discovered her toes in Cali and would not leave them alone. Now when ever she is on her back she has to hold onto her toes...so cute!

We explored Ojai this trip. It is so cute. We bought a huge bag of oranges for only 5 bucks!! They were so good. We enjoyed some fish and chips by the fountain in this amazing little garden in the middle of the city. For any fans of the tv show "Brothers and Sisters" Ojai is nothing like it is portrayed on the show.

We had to circle the block to get a picture of these two "walking" their dogs.

The last 2 days we stayed with Aunt Claire and family. Uncle Shayene is from Iran and is the best cook in the world!!! The food was to die for and so healthy. We are going to try to cook some Iranian food so get ready for a theme party.


We spent the night in Mesquite on the way back so of course Joel had to hit up the buffet. Carley grabbed a rib bone off his plate and went to town. She got upset when we took it away. It was the most upset she got the whole trip.

She is the perfect baby she let us drag her all over and never slept. After we took her rib bone away she cried a little and fell asleep in my arms. She got a good half hour nap while Joel finished eating at the buffet.

She continued her nap by the cigarette machine....we are not going to win any parenting awards after this trip that is for sure!

We decided to see if she had any beginners luck on the slots. We were up $3.50 before they kicked us off the floor.

I love Cali it is so hard to leave but it is nice to be back in my own home again. Maybe one day my home will be in Cali.