My Babes

Isn't she just too cute?

Brotherly and sisterly love. Well, I think Isaac is more into it than Elizabeth.
Licking the beater

Making yummy treats with Jim.
Isaac was sharing his Monster truck with her on the way to church.
Out cold
Sleeping in the stroller at Disneyland. I thought it was so cute that she was holding onto her Minnie
I guess we weren't fast enough when Isaac asked for milk so he decided to get it himself.

Need a Laugh?

Graziadio School of Business

Well, Jim has been in school now for a month. He is really enjoying himself and learning a ton. The way his program works, is that instead of just 1 semester, he has 2 terms per semester. Each term is 7 weeks. Jim said that some people are having a hard time adjusting to the rigorous work load that a 7 week class can present since you start the class and then with in a couple of week you are in mid terms. Jim however, said that he is fine with it and feels that he has been "training" to be a graduate student the past few years since he would take classes like organic chemistry and molecular biology in shortened, condensed terms at BYU.

Jim has meet a lot of great people and a lot of international students. He always comes home talking about them, only good thing. I think that he feels more comfortable around them than domestic students since he had to work with mainly international students at BYU the past 3 years. Jim and I actually went to the President of the University's house for a business type get together for all the first year graduate students. The house was beautiful, the view outside overlooking Malibu and the ocean (the even was held outside) was gorgeous as was the food and the jazz band. I was able to meet many of the people in Jim's program and put faces to the names. It was a really nice event.



He does put in long hours of studying and has a lot of group meetings but I am happy to see that Jim is actually doing something that he is enjoying. That is a benefit for our whole family. We couldn't have picked a better school to come to nor could everything have fallen into place so perfectly. I will try to keep everyone updated on his latest business school adventure, but it is like pulling teeth for him to actually spill the beans about things.

Stick Family

Make your Stick Figure Family at FreeFlashToys.com

Dr. 90210

Today Jim and spoke in church during Sacrament meeting. Since this puts us on the stand, we are able to look out into the whole congregation for a little over an hour. As I was watching people I noticed a familiar face in the pews: Dr. Robert Rey. He is Dr. 90210, the famous Beverly Hills surgeon that has his own reality show on E! I think. How crazy is that? I think it is funny and a little surreal. I wasn't expecting to recognize anyone since we just moved in the ward a few weeks ago. I guess I can chalk that up for another "celebrity sighting." By the way, I am only keeping track of celebrity sightings for a specific friend and yes, you know who you are.

Smiles

Elizabeth has been all smiles for us when the camera is away. I was lucky tonight to capture a couple of her sweet smiles. Plus, you can actually see her strawberry blond hair in these pictures

Make up

Isaac got into my black nail polish when he told me he was going Pee Pee in the toilet. I think he got distracted. He came out and told Jim adn I that he was putting on his makeup. And yes, that is nail polish on his face.

Celebrity Sightings

Since moving to Malibu, I thought it would be fun to keep tabs of the celebrities that I see. Don't get me wrong, I am not some obsessed, crazy, stalker that wants to know their every move, but if I am out and about and I see someone famous, I think it is kinda fun.

I saw Bob Harper from the Biggest Loser when I was in Hollywood. He was walking down the street. Coincidentally, the Biggest Loser Ranch is just right up the canyon, a few miles away, from our place. Where I go grocery shopping in Calabasas is where the contestants buy their groceries and eat they eat at the Subway across from the grocery store.

I saw Pamela Anderson while I was waiting in line at Starbucks in Malibu. I was right behind her. She smiled at me and said hi as she walked by. Rumor has it that she walks her dogs on the many hills of Pepperdine's campus and lives in the residential community bu the bottom hill tennis courts.

I saw Craig T. Nelson the first day I moved here. My family and I were eating at a cafe in Malibu when I noticed him across the way eating dinner with a friend.

I will keep up my celebrity postings. Now, if I can only see my darling Matthew McConaughey while I am at Dumes Beach. He would be my icing on the cake.

Sweet Goodness

So the main idea of this post is for the recipe below, but I thought these pictures could also be sweet goodness


These Chocolate bars are amazing. They always fill my sweet cravings and I just can't get over how yummy there are so I thought I would share. I received this recipe in Utah from my neighbor Robyn.


Chocolate Filled Oatmeal Bars

Cream: 1C brown sugar, 1C soft butter or applesauce, 1C reg sugar, 2 eggs

Add in: 2 cups oatmeal, 2 flour 1 tsp baking soda, 1tsp vanilla

Mix all together

* On a greased cookie sheet, spread 3/4 mixture

Chocolate Part: 1 cube butter, 1 can sweeten condensed milk, 1 bag chocolate chips or 3 cups... mix on stove at low temperature.

pour over cookie mix in pan

use remaining dough to plop small amounts on chocolate

Bake @ 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Settling In

Well, we have been here in Malibu for a couple of weeks now. We are settling in and starting to find our groove. Minus the last few boxes in our bedroom that we have to figure out what to do with, we are unpacked and settled. My Mom stayed for a couple of weeks to help out while I set up house which was a HUGE help! To go anywhere like Costco, Walmart, Target, DMV, AAA, etc, I had to drive a minimum of 30-45 in one direction with out traqffic. Those errands are not quick trips anymore. My Mom would watch Isaac when Elizabeth and I would head on out for the day to accomplish the errands that needed to be done.

We were able to spend a few days and have fun. We wen to to the beach, Disneyland, the beach and Hollywood. My Mom has never been to the Hollywood walk of Stars nor has she see the Chinese Theatre or the Kodak Theatre so we decided to take her to her first visit to Pink's hot dogs and then to Hollywood to see the sites. When we were looking at the hand prints of celebrities at the Chinese Theatre, there is a life size statue/figure of Samuel L. Jackson. Jim and I saw it and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to play a joke on my Mom. we say, "look, there's Samuel L. Jackson." My mom responds with, "*gasp* really?" (Looking VERY excited.) Then Jim and I start laughing...really hard. She starts laughing too and saying how mean we were. We wanted to take her picture next to it, but she said it would end up on my blog (she was right) and she didn't want to look more stupid. We still think it is funny. There is also a movie theatre there, and I had to take a picture because I couldn't believe that it was $20 for an adult to get in to see a movie.







The fires in SoCal haven't effected us beside the random billow of smoke in the air seen from a distance. However, when we were in Hollywood the air quality was really poor. As awful as the air quality was and all those acres burning, it makes the sun look amazing during the day. I took some pictures but I don't think they so it justice.




After my Mom left, I was faced with being on my own while Jim is in school. It has been great so far. There are 5 other Mormon couples in my complex on campus and 4 of them has kids. Us moms walk the steep hills of Pepperdine together, work out in the morning and have play dates. Last Saturday when BYU was playing Oklahoma we reserved the clubhouse and invited others to our pot luck and watched the game. We probably had about 25 people there including kids. It was a great time. They are also in our Ward.

Our ward is the Pacific Palisades ward which is located in between Malibu and Santa Monica. We really like it so far. Everyone has been really friendly and welcoming. We are actually speaking in Church next Sunday which I am looking forward too.

Yesterday, Labor day, we decided to go to Disneyland in the afternoon Jim did some studying. On our way there, we blew a tire. We were lucky because within 2 minutes a CHP officer came and called AAA for us and AAA was there 10 minutes later. We were also fortunate that the spare on our van wasn't a doughnut but an actual tire. Yay! now we have the fun part this week of buying a new tire. Anyways, Disney;and wasn't crowded which was very nice. Isaac is really into pirates and Jack Sparrow. We bought him a pirates hat the says "Captain Isaac" on it and a pirate gun so he can shoot other pirates. He LOVES Disneyland. I think he inherited it from his Momma or maybe it is just in his blood. He told us yesterday that he likes going on the rides and doesn't want to go home. Elizabeth is a great sport. She just hangs out in her stroller and goes on all the same rides we go on with out even fussing.






When we were going to our car on the very top of the parking garage, the fireworks show started. This is the 3rd time we have seen it since we moved here and every time we have seen it, we have been in different locations. Last night was really cool because it was like we were right there with the big ones that were set off. They were so loud that you could feel the booms vibrate in your body and they would set off the car alarms which Jim and I thought were funny.

Well, now back to reality. We are enjoying it here and don't mind visitors. So if you are planning a trip down to SoCal , give us a ring. We would love to see you.