Santa Barbara

Recently we went up to Ventura to visit Brody's brother Brooks and his family, and Brody's parents who were in town. It was so great to see everyone--and we all drove up to Santa Barbara for the day! We love Santa Barbara, and since we were the ones familiar with the city, we had fun sharing some of our favorite spots.

Our first stop was in Montecito, at our favorite cupcake shop, Whodidily (I have raved about them on my blog several times over the years).

Looks good huh? And they taste even better than they look.

We had to bring some home for people too. : )

We had some fun on State street looking around in the shops.

And our little niece Marley was excited to test things out like this fountain. : )

I just love this photo!

She was running back and forth, in and out of their sight, and was just so delighted by the game!

(taken with my iPhone)

After a wonderful lunch at a little Italian shop, we took a nice walk out onto the pier. It was a really nice day to be out and about!

Santa Barbara is so pretty! We have loved coming here over the years for work, and Water Polo tournaments.

Brody and his Mom : )

It was great to visit with everyone, we are so glad we were able to drive up for the day!!

Collecting Eggs

My Grandma (my Mom's Mom) passed away just after Christmas. While we were in Palm Springs with family talking about some fun memories, I mentioned that I remember as a little girl admiring and getting to "play" with her collection of decorative eggs. These were collected from travels abroad and or gifts. The first set of three she got were a gift from my Grandpa.

I was fortunate enough to be able to have them. I am so excited and just love them! I have been wanting to start collecting something meaningful from our travels and this is just perfect. To be able to add to her collection and someday pass them down, keeping them in the family. : )

DL with Higginsons

Carol Ann's Brother Brent and family were in town for Ali's play, and made a stop at Disneyland. So we headed up to the parks to meet up with them and have some fun. Unfortunately I didn't take too many photos, but I have a few.

Here we are on CA Screamin'

Front row: Alicia (Brent's wife) and Brent

2nd row: Us

First row: Kelsea and Lindsey

2nd row: People we don't know

All of us on Tower of Terror

Part of the Little Mermaid construction fence.

I was pretending to join in on the congo line! : )

On Toy Story Mania

It was so great seeing them, and spending some fun filled hours in the parks! : )

(Unfourtunatly I didn't get any photos of Luke and Hannah, their two youngest. Next time.)

"We're with the star of the play"

At the beginning of this month we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to go out to Palm Springs to see our cusion Ali as Christine in the Phantom of the Opera--at Palm Springs High School. She was beyond amazing and sounded JUST like the actress we saw play the part on Broadway back in October. She is trained in dance and vocally. We were all so very proud of her!! And it was fun to see the family again. : )

I got my camera out a bit late on this one, and just caught them as they were ending their final bows.

This was, the Phantom on the left, Ali (as Christine) in the middle and Raoul at the end. The guy who played Phantom was also very good, he had the perfect voice for it.

At the end we all got to explore around backstage.

The Pange family.

Marc (my Moms Brother), Chris, Carolanne and Ali : )

More backstage. We all had a lot of fun poking around back there. : )

They had these amazing billboards up around town. I didn't end up getting a photo of one out by the road, by they had these cute replicas at the after party....so, this will do. Just imagine it REALLY big. ; )

Treats at the after party!

My Dad, Mom, Ali, Me, Brody, and Anne (my Mom's Sister)

Being at the play with everyone was just so much fun!! I love every bit of it. Ali is so talented and it was great to share in something that is so special to her. And we just loved seeing and spending time with family. : )

We had a little credit through Priceline do to a hotel mishap the month before, so we used it for a nice out in Palm Springs! We ended getting the Westin Resort. It was SO nice and relaxing, and the weather was just perfect!

Eating pool side! One of my favorite things. : )

Soaking up some desert sun!

Even I came home with some sun, not a burn! Yay! : )

(taken and edited with my iPhone)

This was the bigger of the two porches we had. This one had a little bit of yard to the side of it. It was really pretty.

A little room service breakfast! It was SO good and perfect since we were kind of on a time limit and wanted to hit the pool again before we left. : )

(taken and edited with my iPhone)

Before we headed home, we took a nice walk around the grounds of the hotel. It had a beautiful golf course, a handful of pools and more.

One of the big pounds had all these great fish in it. Some were quite large and did some jumping for us!

So so beautiful!!

These ducks had no fear, and no shame to come right up and ask for food. Sadly, I didn't have anything for them.

This hotel had the coolest long arched hallway. I had some fun taking photos of it.

This was Brody walking down the hall at check in.

(taken and edited with my iPhone)

Brody was checking out while I was snapping some last min photos of the grounds, and this is how he came at me down this long grass way. haha. I love it!!

We had such a wonderful little get a way! It was so fun and relaxing. We love Palm Springs and our loved ones there! : )

Reunited...

A couple weeks ago Malia (for those who don't know Malia, she is the middle one in the above photo) was in town from Fiji!! We were SO excited to have her home again, so of course we got together and had one of our marathon lunches---we only get to see her about once a year. We normally go to Panera Bread and talk for at least 4 hours. It's so much fun to get together a catch up. We have all been BFF's since elementary school. : )

We now have a "secret" group on Facebook with just the 3 of us in it so we can post updates, stories, photos and just keep better in touch, since we are on different time zones....and just busy.

I love these girls so much, and am so lucky to have grown up with such wonderful friends who have always been there for each other and have stayed close all these years! Great friends are such a blessing!!

Can't wait till our next lunch!! : )

Here's a little flash back photo of us at my 6th grade violin recital : )

Check back soon...we're out havin' fun!

First Tuesday

Earlier this week we had the Kogi BBQ truck visit where we live.

This truck has a HUGE following on Twitter and people follow them all around LA and Orange County.

Knowing this, we were pretty curious to try them out!

These food trucks have become so popular! There is a night in LA, I think it's called 'First Friday', where they all meet together and you can try out a bunch of their food. Something we think would be a lot of fun to go to! : )

They were at our stop from about 6:30 - 9pm, and there was a huge line the entire time.

Luckily we got there right on time, so we were toward the front!

Brody ordering.

I had Brody order for me, it felt a little too 'Soup Natzi' for my first run at the Taco truck. ; )

First bite.

SO good!!

We tried all three meats they offer, and came to the conclusion that the short ribs are the best thing ever!!

Brody LOVED the burrito...I had a little nibble of it, and I agree! : )

To the left is a Tres Leches Cake.....

Oh man, one of the best things with sugar I have ever eaten!!

Happy first timers of the Kogi BBQ Truck!!

Make sure to STOP (get it?) and check out the Kogi BBQ Truck if you can! : )

You can follow them on Twitter {here} and check out there menu, locations and more {here}