8-4-2011 Thursday - Mary Poppins Musical

We took Noel, Luke, Shera, and her friend, Jane went to see Mary Poppins the Musical at the Segerstrom Performing Arts Center. We had orchestra seats. It was great!!!

8-1-2011 Monday - The River with Friends...

Luke and Shera got to each bring a friend to the river at last. They had been begging forever to do it, and finally we got it all arranged. Luke brought his friend, Drew Christensen from church. The boys have blue zinc cream all over their faces here. What a mess that was to clean up!

They went hunting for snakes and scorpions. They found this kangaroo mouse instead. It was so hot, they could only keep it for about an hour, and then let it go.

Shera brought her best friend in the whole world, Sloane Werner. They have been friends since they were three years old! She's a really cute girl and they have a blast together whatever they do.

Even when they are getting flipped into the air on the raft!

Of course all the kids loved doing that this trip!

7-30-2011 Saturday - Lyle Pedida Gets Baptized!

Jeff had the wonderful opportunity to baptize one of his seminary students this Saturday. His name is and he is from the ward. His friends introduced him into the church. He had to wait until he turned 18 because his family didn't want him to join the church. But now he his up at BYU-Idaho and loving it!

7-28-2011 Thursday - Santa Barbara Victorian Homes... Who Knew???

Who knew that Santa Barbara had gorgeous old Victorian homes?

These homes were built primarily after the Civil War when there were an influx of Easterners that moved to the west.

They wanted to bring their own style with them to the west coast so they'd feel more comfortable in a new area. Soon, there were more Victorian style homes than Spanish Colonial homes.

Many of these lovely homes have remained private residences, but some have become doctor offices, shops, and bed and breakfasts. The Simpson Inn is a 5 Star B&B.

It is such a pretty sight to come upon a beautiful Victorian home while driving through the neighborhoods of Santa Barbara.

8-28-2011 Thursday - All The Parks In A Row...

We went to several parks while we were in S.B. This is the S.B. Botanical Gardens. It is very natural with lots of trees, very wild looking. The Indians used to get their water here and it became the water source for the mission. The Indians built the aqueduct that ran to the mission from this stream.

These perfectly sized and shaped holes were made from woodpeckers!!!
Pretty cool, huh?

Shera is counting how many years old this tree is... Ha! Ha!

We loved seeing this field of wild clover! Do you see the four-leafed one?
Neither do we...

Alameda Park is one of the oldest parks in Santa Barbara and takes up 2 city blocks. It has an 8,000 square foot wooden playground that includes a castle, swings, and slides - totally great for the kids!

Holly's friend from BYU, Pace, lives in Ventura and came up for the day to visit us. We went to the turtle pond, a place where his grandmother used to take him.

There were literally hundreds of turtles all over in this huge pond!

Ducks and fish were there too. They all lived very harmoniously together. Luke and Shera had a great time catching the turtles!

We went to Santa Barbara's famous Crushcakes for lunch and cupcakes too. This is one of Rachel Ray's favorite cupcakerys in the country!

7-27-2011 Wednesday - Fish & Chips & ...

This Fish 'n Chips Dive was soooo good!!!

The girls and I got the traditional meal served on English newspapers.

Luke chose the Clam Chowder...

I also wanted to try something different, so we ordered a small serving of Haggis. I had never eaten it before. It's a traditional Scottish dish that consists of Sheep's Pluck (heart, liver, lungs) minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, and spices simmered in the Sheep's stomach for 3 Hours. Uhhh...
I won't be trying that one again! I could only eat it for the gravy...

And then, just to top it all off and make sure we felt really good and sick afterward, we had deep fried Cadbury and Mars Bars with "Love" (Chantilly Cream)!
Now those were delicious!

7-26-2011 Wednesday - Santa Barbara Farmer's Market

Every Tuesday from 4 'til dusk, part of State Street closes down and has a big farmer's market.

Luke and Shera were eating berries by the bag! It was great!

There were all sorts of fruit and veggies and other goods.

This is beautiful rainbow chard.

Jeff always says there are hippies, and everyone is green - and ya know - he's pretty much right in SB!

This one had a Starbuck's too!

7-25-2011 Monday - Riding Bikes on the Stearns Wharf!

Shera loves her beach cruiser and brought bread for the birds (and herself) on the pier.

There is a long boardwalk filled with bikers, walkers, and skaters everyday.

The pier was a daily event while we were there for a month.

Holly loves her new bike for school...

Stopping for ice cream. The movie, My Favorite Martian, was filmed right in front of this shop!

Nothing is better than ice cream on a nice hot summer day!

7-23-2011 Saturday - SB Museum of Art

On Saturday, while the kids went window shopping downtown, Jeff satisfied my cravings for some culture and took me to the SB Museum of Art.

The marble statues were gorgeous in the front foyer.

This was my favorite one - look at the details and soft dress folds of this Greek statue.

Jeff loved this one - as soon as we saw it we both said, "Hey! The Maltese Falcon!"

The ancient Egyptian glass was so pretty!

This carving of the son of Rameses II was found in his Egyptian tomb.

Degas...
So beautiful...

Ancient Chinese Warrior Armor...

7-22-2011 Friday - Quiksilver Miniature Horse Ranch

Look at how cool this miniature horse is!!!

She's a mama and stands about three feet high!

Luke was taller!

We decided to follow the sign's advice...

She had her little foal with her and they came up to let us pet them!

The Quiksilver Ranch is just outside of Solvang and is so amazing. Don't go all the way to Solvang without swinging by to see them. The owners are so great and are happy to let you drive right onto the property, wander around the ranch and pet them.

Cute little baby...

This guy had a little scratch!

There's a miniature donkey ranch around the corner too. They are cute and tiny also. And they have a 1/2 zebra 1/2 donkey too!