Los Angeles...

Well, our 2nd stop on our trek to Texas was Los Angeles, CA.  I know, I know, LA is not exactly on the way from San Jose to Texas, but the people waiting for us there were well worth the detour!  We spent 2 nights with Regina, Chris, Caleb & Aidan.  We had so much fun just hanging out with them.  The boys are always a delight, and they keep me laughing the whole time I'm there.  Although Caleb is not a fan of taking pictures (he would always hide when I pulled out the camera), I did convince him to pose for a few when he opened his Christmas presents! 

We got there late in the evening on Tuesday, so I didn't want to get the boys riled up right before we went to bed by giving them presents.  So, the presents sat in the floor of the living room for the night.  The next day when Caleb got home from school, he looked at the presents then looked at me and said, "So...are you just gonna give those presents to us sometime while you're here, or..." So cute!  He didn't want to just come out & tell me to give him the present (such a polite boy), but he was REALLY wanting to open them! 

Both of the boys were in school on Wednesday morning, so Matt, Gina & I made a trip to Old Town & had breakfast at Panera.  It was a relaxing day!  When the boys got out of school, we all headed to Beverly Hills to see Chris' office & take a stroll on Rodeo Drive.  The glitz and glamour of the stores was all you might imagine, but I'm sure the price tags would have made it much less appealing!  After our stroll on Rodeo, we headed to Fat Burger for dinner.  Wow!  That place is delicious! 

We really enjoyed our time in LA, and hope to get back out there sometime soon.  We always enjoy playing with the boys & catching up with Chris & Gina!  Not living close to them was the biggest reservation we had in moving away from California!  Here are a few pics from our time in LA:

Busy January...

Well, Matt and I had a very busy month to start out 2011!  We began by spending New Year's in Santa Fe, driving back to California, packing up our apartment, hiring a moving company, saying good bye to friends, and driving back across the country (with several stops along the way)!  Wow!  We certainly accomplished a lot in a month!

Matt started his new job as a Senior Associate in Ernst & Young's International Trade department on January 31st, and had 2 snow days his first week!  He seems to be liking his job so far, although with the snow days & a 2 day orientation in Houston, he really hasn't had a "normal" week yet.  He was excited one evening when he was at work around 6:00 & a partner called him & told him to stop working & go home for the night.  This is a definite change from KPMG where he was expected to work all hours of the day & night!  So far, it seems like the working environment will be much better for him!  Hopefully his work weeks will be less than 80 hours!

Since we had just made the long drive between California and Oklahoma twice over the holidays, we decided to take a few extra days to sight see on our move from California to Texas.  We had a WONDERFUL time!  Our first adventure was a drive from San Jose down to Los Angeles on Hwy 1 (aka Pacific Coast Highway).  The drive was beautiful, and with the help of less-drowsy Dramamine, I managed not to get car sick on the twisty, windy roads.

We left San Jose, after the movers packed up our things, on Monday afternoon & headed down to Carmel, California for the night.  We stopped on the way in Monterrey to see Fisherman's Wharf & enjoy a bowl of delicious clam chowder...it was so good!  Here are a few pictures:

 In Carmel, we stayed at a cute bed & breakfast called Carmel Resort Inn.  It was a collection of old artist studios that had been turned into individual rooms.  Ours was called Cannery Row & it was adorable! I loved the atmosphere (and affordable price) of this Inn!  We walked around the cute downtown & stopped in Cafe Carmel for a cannoli & coffee (instead of having dinner...don't tell our mom's!).  The beach was gorgeous & I could have stayed there all day.

After spending the night in Carmel, we woke up & headed the rest of the way down Hwy 1 toward Los Angeles.  The drive was amazing!  We stopped along the way for lunch overlooking the ocean, the fogged rolled in & covered the ocean (but not the surrounding mountains), crossed a historic bridge, spotted a waterfall (though we couldn't get a good picture of it), saw a beach full of elephant seals, & Matt made friends with a hungry squirrel.  What a great day of viewing God's creation!

  

Our final destination for the day was Los Angeles, actually San Marino, to visit Regina, Chris, Caleb & Aidan.  We were so excited to spend a few days with them.  Stay tuned for another post about our visit & to see some fun pictures...