Malibu Beach

Nothing too exciting happened this week. Friday we went to PinkBerry in Thousand Oaks to try out their famous yogurt. We thought it was pretty good. Jackie still prefers Cold Stone and we made a trip there on Saturday and Jackie actually tried a new flavor. I was quite shocked. She switched things up from her normal Cake Batter, Brownies, and Caramel to Cheesecake ice cream with graham crackers and strawberries.
Monday we went down to Malibu and explored some of their fancy neighborhoods and then went for a stroll down the beach with hopes of seeing someone famous. We didn't see anyone but saw lots of cool houses.
These houses are anywhere from right above the ocean to having 20 feet of sand in front of their place before the ocean. Lots of signs saying Private Beach, no stopping or it's trespassing.
My cute wife playing in the ocean.
Me being a dork. Couldn't quite figure out how you are supposed to get up to the first stair. Pretty high above the sand. Anyway that was our relaxing weekend.

Reagan Presidential Library

On Thursday night my Mom flew into town for a visit. Friday while we worked she went shopping and hung out at the house. I came home and took her to lunch and showed her where Jackie works. That night we went and walked around Downtown Ventura, went to Applebees and then went and watched the sad Jazz game. Too bad they waited until the last six minutes to put up a fight. Oh well, there is always next year. We had fun hanging out with Spenny, Nellie, baby Logan, and Andy. Saturday we hung around Ventura and then headed to the Reagan Presidential Library. This is something we have been wanting to do since we moved here. It was a lot more fun that I thought it would be and there was so much history to see and learn about it. It was pretty amazing. We spent close to 3 hours there and probably would have spent more, but I like to walk through things somewhat fast. Spent Saturday night watching Transformers and 27 Dresses. Great movies and best of all we were able to eat some good ole Mom's cooking.
I thought this painting was really cool.

This is us standing in front of the Nation's Capitol.
One of the old Air Force One's. We were able to walk through the inside of it. It was really cool inside. Not as fancy as what I imagined, but 20 to 30 years ago it was probaby way amazing.
This part of the Library was all about Nancy Reagan. There were so many of her dresses there and her life story. It was really interesting.
Next to one of the President's bullet proof cars. Maybe I am slow but I didn't know Ronald Reagan was the Gipper in the movie about Knute Rockne. So when you say "Win one for the Gipper" Reagen was the Gipper. That was probably one of the most interesting things I saw. Jackie had never heard that line before, but I guess it is a sports thing.
Us in front of the President's helicopter. I was really glad we went to the Library. It was really interesting and had a ton of history that was really cool to see and read about. Thanks Mom for coming and visiting us. We had a great time and enjoyed your cooking.

2nd Anniversary

Monday the 5th is our 2nd Wedding Anniversary. How fast time flies. With the 5th being a Monday we decided to take a little trip this weekend to celebrate. We decided to go up North along the coast and visit Hearst Castle. We left after work on Friday and ended up eating at Chili's on the way. Yummy mashed potatos. We stayed the first night in Morro Bay and little did we know they were having a Hot Rod Car show there. So the hotel's were a little busy. Lucky us the Hot Rod Car owners decided to leave at 6 am and had to show off their engine noise. That was wonderful to wake up to, let me tell ya.
This is us up at Hearst Castle, the only picture we took together. The castle was huge and had three huge guest houses. To understand how big it is, the smallest guest house has 10 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. So you can imagine how big the rest of the houses are on the grounds.
The pool below is the Neptune Pool and is huge. There was also another indoor pool that had 24 carat gold floor tiles. Amazing how much money was spent on this property to build it over 28 years and it was never finished all the way.
I think the Gardens were our favorite part of the tour. They were so beautiful and smelled so nice!
Speaking of smells, we stopped off at this point of interest. Those things behind me are elephant seals and they are huge and smell terrible. The seals were coming out of the water, laying in the sand, throwing sand on themselves, and I guess they shed their skins around this time. Some of the seals had half of their skin on them. It was a crazy site to see, all of them on the beach.
Happy Anniversary to Us! It has been a fun and wonderful two years. I look to many, many more with my Beautiful Honey Bun!

Hearst Castle

Cafe Rio in Ventura

One of the things we miss most about Utah is Cafe Rio. It is always the first restaurant we go to when we are back in Utah. We crave their food constantly. Our friend Nellie found the recipe for Cafe Rio Pork Salad. Nellie made the salad with the help of Jackie and Spenny. I sat on the couch and held Baby Logan. Needless to say, the salad was great. It was pretty close to being as good as the real Cafe Rio Salad. So thanks to Nellie!!! You are awesome!!!

The picture below is us with Spenny and Nellie's baby boy Logan. He is fun to be around. For some reason whenever Jackie holds him, he likes to poop. It makes me laugh. The other thing that is funny, when we watch Jazz basketball he is as good as can be, but as soon as something else comes on the TV, he gets all fussy. His Dad is teaching him well already. Go Jazz!

Disney Trip

Cory, July, Cayman Visit

Cory, July, and Cayman flew into town on Wednesday. We picked them up at the airport Wednesday night and headed to Anaheim. We went to ESPN Zone first to try to watch the Jazz-Spurs game, but it was a terrible game and the tv's around our table only had a Dodger game or an Angels game going. Next day we spent at Disneyland. It was a lot of fun. Cayman sure keep us on our toes, trying to keep up with her all day.
July, Cayman, Mickey, and Cory
On Friday we went to Newport Beach and played at the beach and walked around. After the beach we went to Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney. Cayman sure liked the animals inside.
Spent the evening at an Angels-Mariners game. It was a great game. Tori Hunter of the Angels robbed a home run in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and guys on base to save the game. Cayman didn't seem to know a game was going on.
Us at Disneyland, and no I did not wear this hat around, took the picture in the store. I will try to add a slide show later with more pictures.