Two Carpinteria Trips In Two Weeks

We love Carpinteria beach!
(Warning: this post exhibits partial nudity. Viewer discretion is advised.)

It was perfect how it worked out for Sheehan and I to be able to go on both trips in between work. The first trip we crashed Aunt Michelle's site for the day on Thursday the 8th. Sheehan was able to take the day off and I didn't have any work that day so it worked out beautifully for us. We enjoyed our favorite vanilla chocolate chip shake at The Spot.

Sheehan had lots of fun digging holes in the sand with Zach-a-doodle. They were HUGE! Zach calls him "Digger." We were trying to make a tunnel between two big holes. The second trip was from Wednesday, the 14th to Sunday the 18th. I have inherited a love for Carpinteria beach along with the rest of my siblings so we never tire of going. My Dad made a sand castle creation of the Los Angeles Temple. Just showing us his architectural skills. :)

He didn't stop there though, next he made a life-size dolphin that the people were stopping to admire. All the boys joined in on the dolphin project.

Devin thought he would grace us the ENTIRE trip with his wonderful home taught ukulele skills.

On Friday we piled in Lyssa's van and my Dad's car and made a trip to the Danish town, Solvang and got the famous and delicious abelskivers. Zach-a-doodle thought it was Small World at Disneyland.

We enjoyed walking around the shops and buying shoes, clothes, and purses then we had lunch at the nearby park.

On Saturday we played on the beach all day. We played Frisbee, pickle, boogie boarded, and had an attempted try with rafting.

Can you tell I really wanted to go rafting? No one would join me....
Finally I had some takers. The waves were really small the whole day so we figured it would be no problem getting past them out to the deep blue. Little did we know, the moment we decided to do this adventure the waves would become the biggest of the day. There are a ton of rocks this year as well so it makes it that much harder to do anything since you don't have a sure footing. Going in we were ready, calm, and collected. Coming out was a whole different story....

We made it past a few swells then we were slammed by a big one that took us almost all the way back to shore. It was the best wave ride of the day in my opinion.

Sheehan decided to hop out of the boat and pull us along through the swells. All the while I'm screaming my lungs out. Eventually the whole middle of the raft was going under water so I was trying to throw water out of the raft between each swell. It was kind of a lost cause but I tried...


Sheehan and Devin were yelling for "Wilson" as we were swimming through the swells.
Between Devin paddling, Sheehan's swimming, and me trying to cup water out of the raft I thought we were almost successful. We were on the last set of humongous waves when mother nature sent one last HUGE wave that devoured us. There's Devin, a little bit of the raft and Sheehan is swimming under the wave. I'm missing in action being washer machined somewhere in the wave.

As you can see Devin is the only one remaining in the raft and he is a little dazed and confused. He was at the front of the raft on his knees at the beginning and now he is on his bum in the back. He said he didn't even know he was still in the raft cause as you can see it was so full of water. I think he was doing back strokes inside the raft trying to reach the surface. Eventually we all popped up and out of the water way far apart. That last wave tore us up!

We never made it past the wave but we still had a fun rafting adventure. Since the waves suddenly were bigger Sheehan and I thought that it would be fun to boogie board but then the water turned back into a lake of tiny waves. The ocean was taunting us...


On our way home on Sunday we stopped on our way through Santa Clarita to go to Courtney Lisonbee's mission farewell sacrament. We saw so many families that my parents have known since before I was born. We had a great time hanging out with the Lisonbee family and being a part of Courtney's farewell.

For a quick update: Sheehan is on the last week of his rotation with the Census. We are waiting to find out if he is going to be rolled over into the next operation or not. Sheehan has had a lot of work and is the Crew Leader Assistant in his group. I have had a measly 4-6 hours of work every week since I started training on the 15th of March, but something is better than nothing. Our main office in Bakersfield has had repeated computer failure and can't put together our paperwork without them so work has been slow for me and my Quality Control group. We are shooting for June to move back to Utah but things always change depending on work.

Our First Anniversary!

Sheehan and I celebrated our first anniversary a day early since our anniversary fell on a Sunday. We have made it through our first year! It's been an eventful and great year. Sheehan planned our anniversary and was going to surprise me but leaked some key hints so I had a good idea of what the day was going to be like. Our day was close to what our engagement story would have been like if a major snowstorm hadn't hit Bear Valley on that same day. Nonetheless, Sheehan still did very well on the engagement.Sheehan had made a small map to show what we had in store for the day; because my favorite song is "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer and they mention taking a trail on a map. Each thing we did had an explanation and so we begin with Denny's at around 11:30 am to get two milkshakes. The first night Sheehan and I met was at a YSA Murder in the Dark activity where afterward, Sheehan and his roommates chased us down on the freeway and signaled for us to pullover then followed by asking if we wanted to go to Denny's. At midnight that night we got two milkshakes. I got the the usual chocolate...and Sheehan got the usual strawberry... I surprised Sheehan by giving him what he has been searching for the last few month. A 1986 proof set of U.S. coins. He was born in 1986 and he enjoys collecting coins so although it may not seem romantic to some he appreciated it.We went to the movie theater right down the street from where Sheehan proposed outside of my favorite restaurant in downtown Tehachapi. I really wanted to see Alice in Wonderland so we saw that. Then we got some Subway sandwiches and made our way back to Bear Valley to my favorite trail walk. Stage Coach Stop. This is where Sheehan had originally planned to propose but quickly got sabotaged by a stream that overtook his shoe, a trail lost in the snow, and the realization that even if he made it to the hidden away picnic table and oak tree I wouldn't want to blaze through a blizzard to get to Stage Coach stop anyway. So a year later we finished what he had originally started when he asked me to marry him. This is the best time of year to go and it was BEAUTIFUL!! Everyone was out enjoying the nice day and we saw many horse riders on the trail. Sheehan had packed a bag of picnic supplies including a cute picnic tablecloth. We sat under the oak tree at our picnic table and ate our lunch together then climbed around the surrounding hills to see the views of the valley. The creek alongside the trails was running and was perfect background sound to top of the afternoon. After our trail walk we went to lake and fed the ducks ending our perfect day in the evening just as it was getting cold outside. Sheehan did a great job planning our day and made it exactly as I would have wanted.

Pine Wood Derby for Grown Men

Sheehan participated in our ward pine wood derby for the Elders Quorum. A lot of the men went all out on their pine wood derby cars. Sheehan decided to, of course, make a Superman that was holding the wheel axles in his fists. He received many compliments from the Cub Scouts. He is now the coolest Cub Scout in the ward. haha

Sledding With Our Best Friends!

Sheehan had his friend Aaron come down from Barstow for the weekend.Aaron was man enough to sport the leopard headband/earwarmer.We decided we would go sledding up in mountain park in Tehachapi.I recruited one of my best friends, Katie Pezzillo, to come and show us the prime sledding area up in mountain park.
Here is Katie's blockade.I also brought Katie along because I wanted an "exit buddy" of my own since Sheehan had Aaron. "Do you have your exit buddy?!" -Finding Nemo ReferenceIt was lightly snowing while we were up there.
This was our favorite sled run!

Lauren and I's Quick Jaunt to Sin City

Sheehan was in Washington State for two weeks working with Ty Winder selling alarms. When it came time to pick him up at the Las Vegas Aiport on February 12th, 2010 I needed a co-pilot to take on the journey with me. Lauren, after much begging, schmoozing, and guilt-tripping agreed. Lauren is one of the best friends a girl could have. ;) So we were off and made it without any problems.
We had about 2 hours to kill before we picked up Sheehan from the airport. We found a place to park right on the Vegas strip. As we pulled into the parking structure, there were signs that parking would cost $3.00 dollars. I grabbed three Sacajawea gold dollar coins and was prepared and ready to give them to the parking man. I pulled up and cheerfully said, "Three dollars, right?" He just stared, not very nicely I might add. I wasn't sure if he didn't speak English or didn't hear me, so I opted for the last scenario and repeated, "The sign said three dollars right?" He continued to stare. Meanwhile Lauren is leaning over the center console of the car looking at the man with the same confused face as I had. Finally after looking around and trying to sort in my mind what the heck was going on he spoke....,"Don't you see the sign?" In my mind I'm closing in on hysterical and thinking, "of course I read the sign! It said $3.00! I've been holding them out of the window for the past awkward 45 seconds!" Instead I repeated, "The sign says three dollars these are gold dollar coins, my grandma gave them to me for...." he cut me off. "Don't you see the sign?" At this point I was wondering if they had made a wax figure and stuck him in the ticket booth for to prank people. Frustrated but trying to stay calm I started to look around to see what sign I was supposedly missing... Finally I said, "I'm sorry I do not know what sign you are talking about." He pointed to a small handwritten paper sign that he probably taped up there to make some extra dough that said, "Cash Only" Apparently Sacajawea gold dollar coins are not cash; good to know in the future. So I gave the man a $20.00 thinking to myself, "How much time have I just wasted of my life because this man is the ULTIMATE hint dropper!?!?!"
As we drove away in awed silence, I broke out, "What the heck was that about?" Lauren had a reply in gibberish as she was collapsed over in hysterical laughter which continued for a good 5 minutes until I told her to collect herself and lets get out of here before he hears you. Anytime you mention the Vegas parking man to Lauren she loses laughter control as was spoken of previously.
Off to a good start we enjoyed walking the strip and seeing all of the crazy people. Lauren and I participated in the Guinness World Record of the most hugs given setting it at 7,777 of which two of those famous and I'm sure unforgettable hugs were given by Lauren and I to Teddy McHuggin raising money for the American Heart Association. Lauren and I are just trying to do our part.... haha.

The picture is not a good one but it is the only one I had from the short but eventful trip.

Nevermind, We Are in Tehachapi...

I often say that my life changes every 5 minutes or so....just ask my friend Lauren Brewer. (refer back to my first wives post, haha) At breakfast we're living in Victorville for 2 more years, lunch we are moving back to Utah, and at dinner we're in Tehachapi. Maybe we can throw New York City in there for a pre-lunch snack.Well, Utah is currently on hold for a couple weeks. We will be in Tehachapi for at least 8 more weeks while Sheehan and I work for the U.S. Census. Sheehan was recruited first since he is bilingual. (WHY DIDN'T I PAY MORE ATTENTION TO MS. ROBINSON IN SPANISH CLASS?!) I'm tempted to put that I am bilingual. Apparently just looking bilingual doesn't count. I could just review some spanish "COMO SE LLAMA?"....I think it could work. So Sheehan is starting training on March 15th and mine is yet to happen. ugh.... patience is not one of my virtues.
I am finishing up my Pharmacy Technician program. Katie Pezzillo and I will be taking the national Pharmacy Technician Certification Board exam this weekend. It's nice to have friends going along for moral support and not to mention the competitive side of it as well.
Having nothing to do has made me pull out the projects where I usually say, "I don't have time to do that." translation: "I have the time but I'd rather sit on the couch and watch Dr. Oz right now." Unable to fall back on that excuse, I've pulled out my UFO's (Quiltspeak for UnFinished Objects) and have committed to finishing my Sudoku Quilt. I love fabric stores. I love picking out quilts, but I quickly lose steam. I loathe binding quilts. I can't even give a legitimate reason why...I just don't like it. So here is the quilt so far...