What to do in Pismo Beach

If you ever are able to take a trip to the central coast in California here is a list of fun things to do!

First: Go to Solveng, you will feel like you are in Denmar, try on some wooden shoes and eat an aebelskiver!

Second, walk out on the Pismo Beach Pier and watch the dolphins swim by and the big waves crash.

Then stay in a cute hotel on the cliffs and get cinnamon rolls from Old West Cinnamon Rolls-they are the BEST!

Take a nice morning walk along the beach!

Then head up and take a tour of Hearst Castle, it is so incredible! It was built back in the 1920s and he spent about 10 million dollars building it, I can't imagine how much that would cost today.Visit one of his 3 pools (2 are outside and one is indoors)
You can then go to Grover Beach and drive your car along the sand and look for sand dollars

Also go to Moonstone Beach and look for moonstones (we didn 't find any)

We ended the trip where we started-on the Pier in Pismo! THis was such a fun trip, I cannot believe how beautiful the central coast is. There is so much to do and so many good places to eat-two must haves for a fun vacation!

We love to Cruise

We booked a last minute cruise to Ensenada with some of our friends from Utah for this past week, it was only $99 dollars! How could we pass that up?? I had never been on a cruise and luckily didn't get sick at all. We had a blast, it was so fun to do a trip with our friends Jamie and Leo, we called this their "babymoon" since she is 18 weeks pregnant! They invited another couple who ended up getting engaged on the cruise! The weather couldn't have been more perfect, 80 degrees and sunny, which meant we were able to lay out which I love to do.

My favorite things about the cruise were:
1. Minature golf and volleyball on the top of the cruise ship and volleyball.
2. Ordering 2-3 entrees each night at dinner
3. Shopping for fake designer stuff on the streets
4. 24 hr ice cream
5. Having the boat rock me to sleep at night (this is Chads)

Last Weeks Outings

Last week we went to the first Dodger playoff game with some friends. I'm normally not a big baseball fan but I do like going to baseball games, get a dodger dog, nachos, and cotton candy! It was really fun and the Dodgers won, go LA!

We also went to the LA Temple (my camera died so no pics) which was great, that was where I went for my first time and I haven't been back to LA since. So it definately brought back good memories! After the temple we went to Westwood for CPK and stopped at Diddy Reise which has the BEST cookies!

On Saturday we went for a drive to Palos Verdes to check out Terrenea, a new resort up on the cliffs. It was SO beautiful up there, the weather was perfect, the landscaping and view are amazing, and there was a wedding set up that looked so pretty. I would love to work for a resort like that and be an event planner.

Randomly there was a lady up there with this beautiful owl, it had the orangest (if thats a word) eyes I had ever seen, very Halloweeney!

I think this pic of Chad and the owl is funny, it looks like the owl just posed with him like they were real friends.

I didn't know I married a mountain man!

Last weekend we headed to Mesa, Colorado with Chad's parents to visit his Aunt Brenda, Uncle Dave and two cousins Jeff and Gina. I was told they lived way in the mountains but I didn't realize how FAR out there they really lived. We flew into Grand Junction and from there made a 45 minute drive up the side of a mountain, then a 2 1/2 mile drive on a dirt road to their home. It was so GORGEOUS! I was thinking how I love much I love California because of the weather and the beach but besides that its filled with a bunch of freeways, cars and homes. Colorado was so different because it was beautiful trees, lakes, mountains and SPACE. Don't get me wrong I do love being in California but it was a nice change. The leaves were all changing which made the mountains looks so colorful, like a bowl of frootloops!


Chad was in heaven up there, he loved going hunting twice a day and fishing in between the hunting sessions. He had a great time with his uncle who it a real true moutain man. Chad wore camo gear the whole weekend it was really funny! I went fishing with him out on the lake and caught my first fish, pretty exciting!

Unfortunately the last day we were there Chad was shooting some powerful rifle and the scope kicked back and cut his forehead open! When I went outside and saw blood everywhere I was pretty nervouse, luckily his aunt is a nurse and cleaned him up. We ended up needing to go to the Emergency Room to get his forehead superglued back together. It was a bummer to have this happen but it could have been much worse. Overall a great trip, I hope that we can go back again.

Fair Food

If its not friend, it doesn't belong at the fair. Thats what I figured out when we went to the LA county fair last Wednesday. So many friend foods to choose from: deep fried zuccinni wennie, deep fried crispy creme chicken sandwhich (yes Im serious), deep fried oreos, deep fried sliders, deep fried twinkies, or deep fried snickers. These are just some of the choices. For dessert we got a deep fried s'more. It was pretty unhealthy I am sure but we had to do it.

Beach Volleyball in Vegas?

This summer we have gone to see the AVP Beach Volleyball tour down in California but last weekend they had an all star tournament in Las Vegas, and Chad decided to sign us up as volunteers. So we headed up there last Thursday and spent Friday and Saturday at the event. We were there for 12 hrs one of the days and it was so hot. I have decided beach vball is better at the beach! They hauled in a TON of sand and had their whole set up in the parking lot at the Mandalay Bay. We got to hand the balls to the players during the game, which doesn't sound too cool but it was because we were had the best seats for the games. This tournament had all the best players which made it really fun to watch.


Here is Chad volunteering at one of the games, the morning games were pretty empty since it was in Vegas.

Chad is congragulating Phil Dalhausser (Olympic Gold Medalist) after one of his wins.

Our cute matching volunteer shirts! They got is in free though for every game and a free lunch each day.

After our long day we went to the Rainforest Cafe for some dinner, but not till 11:30 at night.
The pool was a lot of fun, there was a lazy river and a wave pool.

Chad loved laying in the innertube and discreetly poured water on the passerbys.

Ellen and the Kings Game

I got tickets to see the Dave Matthews Band at the Ellen show outdoor concert. Im not a huge DMB fan but thought it would be fun to see them and be on the Ellen show. It ended up being a LOT of waiting for a little bit of show. We waited for about 2 1/2 hours in a hot parking lot, then a bus took us to the WB studios where we waited in the bus (which had a/c thank goodness) for another hour. Then we finally unloaded the bus and headed over to the outdoor concert. We were told they would be coming out in a few minutes so I didn't think I had time to go to the bathroom. A few minutes turned out to be an hour so by the time Ellen and the DMB came out to perform I had to pee SSSOOO bad. It was cool to see the performance but all I could think about was not peeing my pants. After they sang 4 songs it was over, and the show coordinater announced that the bathrooms were closed!!! I couldnt believe it, I started panicking and told Chad I really thought I was going to go in my pants I couldnt hold it. As they herded us back to the buses I remembered there was a bathroom on the bus, and that saved me!

We couldn't take cameras in so this is us right before we started our long day!

We were given tickets to see the LA Kings play, so we went from the Ellen show to the Staples Center in downtown LA. Chad and I both were pretty tired but we were excited to watch the hockey game. After we got stopped at Phillipes for their famous french dip sandwhiches we were good to go. The hockey game was great, there were a lot of fights, and a lot of action right by our seats! Thanks to our Bishop who gave us the tickets!

Palm Springs

Last weekend Chad was supposed to go to Ohio for work, but his flight ended up being delayed for so long he wouldn't have even been there for 24 hours so he decided to go another time, which meant we had a free night to go somewhere. We found a great deal at the Hyatt Resort in Palm Springs/Indian Wells and had a great time! We got in that evening, went out to dinner, then in the morning we played tennis and layed out at the pool for the afternoon. It was 111 degrees during the day! So hot that you had to be in the shade or the pool just to stay cool, but we still had a great time.

(We had to use the self timer and as you can see i didn't do too good of a job)

Labor Day Weekend

First can I just say I LOVE LOVE LOVE being back in California, it is so nice to be here with our families and be able to be more apart of their lives. On Saturday we went with Chads parents up to Oxnard/Camarillo and the Channel Islands area. We took PCH and drove all the way up through Malibu, it was such a pretty clear day. Then we ate at BJs for lunch, went to look at the Channel Islands, and had to complete the day with checking out the Labor Day Sales at the Outlets in Camarillo. It was such a fun trip and a great way to start the weekend.

On Monday morning Chad went surfing and I decided to tag along with him and get some pictures.

After surfing we met up with my family, aunt uncle and cousins, and my grandparents at Alamitos Bay for a FULL day at the beach. We kayaked, windsurfed, played smashball, went swimming, and ended the day with a bbq back at my grandparents. I love Labor Day!

Beach Volleyball

This past week we have dedicated to playing beach volleyball. Chad wants to enter the AVP tour next year (not really) but kind of! Its been perfect though because we got a heat wave here in California so the beach is at optimal conditions. We went to the beach everyday, twice a day and ended with a bang by spending 8 hrs at Manhattan Beach on Saturday. Its been a lot of fun playing with Chad, he has gotten pretty good. Here are my two favorite pictures of him playing volleyball.