Solvang

About 40 mins northeast of Santa Barbara is a small, really small town called Solvang. It was settled by some Danish settler, and so has the look and feel of a small Scandinavian town. It is a nice little town and well worth getting off the beaten path to check it out. It had lost of bakeries, restaurants and little trinket shops. Yes we did eat a Danish.

Birds in Santa Barbara

Thanksgiving in Santa Barbara

Since our closest family lives about 8 hours away, we decided to go out of town for Thanksgiving Break. We have been down south to Orange County and San Diego a bunch, but no as yest ventured that far up north. I booked us in for a couple of nights to a Hotel in Santa Barbara. Mackenzie was really excited.
We drove up on Thursday Morning, all the way up the Pacific Coast Highway. It was a pretty drive and not that much traffic which is always nice. The hotel was really nice, the guy that worked the front desk was a complete cheese ball with the same jokes etc, everyday. We did a lot of walking around the old downtown area, went to the beach, walked around the harbor and Stearns Wharf. It was nice to take a break from work and just relax like grown-up's do.

Grandma and Grandpa Rawlins

Now that we live in Southern California, I don't get to go home as often as we used to. We were able to fly up for a few days for the first weekend in October. Of course we had a big family get together, as well as spent some time with my friends. It is always good to catch up with them. I like seeing my grandparents I really miss them and I know they miss us and love it when we come to visit. They never fail to make Johnathan's favorite ice cream dessert, they make it like a week in advance to be sure it is ready. Anyways its nice to be home, but its nice to be back to OUR home also.

Hawaii Trip

We went with Johnathan's parents and Genevieve to Hawaii the first week of September. It was lovely weather as usual. We were there for Johnathan's birthday, and to celebrate he wanted to go to Ruby Tuesday for a nice big hamburger. At about 1 am he woke up puking and got that aweful food poisoning and was up all night, and very sick the next day. All the main tourist attrations were a must PCC, china man's hat, hiking dimamond head, etc, especially since it was Richards first time. Went to the beaches and snorkling, I didn't realize Johnathan's dad was such a scuba steve. The week went by so quickly it was very sad to leave as always but unfortunately we had to get back to the real world. Aloha

The Cupcakes

So I thought it would be kind, of me to make a treat for my Gospel Doctrine class at church. So we ended up making 75 Halloween cupcakes. After a couple dozen we wanted to stop but pressed on the thing that slowed us down was we only have 2 cupcake sheet pans. Needless to say the cupcakes went over really nicely, and all the people that usually chat in the halls during Sunday School attended class that day.

I also wanted to make a special treat to take with us to Eli, and Jolynne's Parents Halloween BBQ. I made a dirt cake complete with Oreo cookie dirt, Coconut grass and worms crawling in and out the cake. It looked cool and tasted great.

Korean BBQ and Kareoke

So this was one of the funnest nights we've had in a long time. As part of my Job I do a lot of dinner programs with Doctors and some of the nurses. This one I took out one of my "Korean Offices" we ate at a Korean BBQ, which alone is an adventure, raw marinated meat you cook at your table and then wrap in Lettuce and mulberry leaves. It's delicious and lots of fun cooking it yourself, come to LA and we'll take you out.
After dinner one of the Doctors invited us to go "kareokeing" with them. We reluctantly agreed, but once we were there we were so glad we went.
Okay so how it works you rent this room for an hour or two, buy snacks and drinks etc. Then they set you up in this room like a recording studio and they bring in the food etc. There is a big flat screen, microphones, tambourines and a huge remote that helps you select what song you want to sing. They have mostly Korean Songs but also a few hundred english/american songs, you know the popular ones, and for some reason lots of Wham and yes David Hasselhoff. You pick the song and you're off. The best part of the whole deal is that the screen plays a made up music Video, that is a Korean shot story, all of them seem to be a music video for some sort of love song no matter what the title of the song. Some guy on a park bench or a beach with crashing waves etc, extremely cheesy but that's what makes them so funny.
We had soo much fun and will go again its a good deal and something new and different.
"They" meaning the Koreans we went with so into it, dancing etc it was hilarious-seeing my doctors realx and have a good time, they went from hardly giving me anytime in the office setting, to signing and dancing and making fools of themselves.

AVP Manhattan Beach

The Association of Volleyball Professionals(AVP), makes a stop in both Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. we bought tickets and went to watch them play on one of the days. They really are so good. I guess they are the best in the world. It was incredibly hot that day, and we got fried.

Take me out to the Ball Game

We went with Eli and Jolynne to an Angels Game it was fun and yes they won. This was on there road to the playoffs, they unfortunately lost the division championship a month later. Eli and Jolynne live in Huntington Beach, it is really fun to have them close we get together often its lots of fun. Jolynne's Mom is a fantastic cook so we also frequent there house for Sunday dinners and BB Q's.

Fun in The Sun

Manhattan Beach is a fun place to live in the Summer. We had lots of Visitors;Wendy came to visit, Jolie and Damon, Johnathan's Parents and Kim and Todd. We love having people stay-provided they don't mind the blow-up matress.
When people come and stay we love to show them around LA, and around the beach cities where we live.
In July Jeremy, Cathrine, Isaac, Lucas and Madeliene, came to visit on there way to Thailand. They will be there for 2-3 years. It was fun to spend some time with them before they left.

Some of Mackenzie's masterpieces

I was offered a Job in LA, with a company called Warner Chilcott. I am a specialty Pharma Sales Rep. Mackenzie got a job as an Orchid Designer- she makes arrangments of Orchids and Succulents for some really "high-end" clients celebrities etc. So we are both busy working and enjoying living in a big city with lots going on.

Can you hear me now?

Sawadee Kup!

We spent a little over month in Thailand for our Honeymoon. It was fantastic, cheap, fun, beautiful and the people were incredibly friendly and helpful. We went to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and even got to ride elephants. The weather was perfect the entire time, and we had so much fun. We went to Bankgkok, Ayuthiya, Chang Mai, Phuket, Karon, Krabi and Ao Nang. The beaches and Island were by far our favorite spots. We rented a scooter and cruised around as we pleased. I highly recommend Thailand. It's a long flight(20+ hours)so stay a while.
It was hard to come back to freezing cold Provo.