A little taste of Malibu, CA

Saturday, January 21, 2012- Getty Villa and BYU vs. Pepperdine

Travis really wanted to watch BYU play basketball since they were going to be playing in California and I think he is going through withdrawals. We decided we would make a day trip out of it. We headed out at 9 in the morning. We arrived in Malibu with time to grab of bite of some local pizza. We enjoyed driving down the coast in Malibu where the houses just line the beach. I wish I could live there!! Then we headed to the J. Paul Getty Museum.

A Timeline of the Getty Villa (Compliments on the museums brochure)

1945
J. Paul Getty purchases a sixty-four-acre site in Malibu

1954
He opens the original J. Paul Getty Museum in his home to exhibit his collection, of which Greek and Roman antiquities are an important element.

1968
Getty decides to re-create a first-century Roman country house, the Villa dei Papiri, on the property to display his growing collection of art.

1974
The new J. Paul Getty Museum opens to the public, becoming one of Southern California's cultural landmarks.

1997
The Malibu site closes for renovation; the Getty Center opens to the public

2006
The newly renovated Malibu site opens as the Getty villa, dedicated to the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria.

I loved walking around the gardens. It was so peaceful and beautiful!

The artifacts in the museum ranged from 6,500 BC to 400 AD. The gold wreath above was one of my favorites.  This is the type of wreath they would give athletes who won. There was a statue of Zeus, cupid, Venus, Hercules and many many more Greek/Roman gods. It was just amazing to see what items had survived the test of time and the elements. I always enjoy learning more about history and broadening my knowledge. Some people might thing that museums are boring, but I find them quite intriguing.

After spending a few hours at the museum we were off to the BYU vs. Pepperdine Basketball Game. The Pepperdine University Campus is set up on a hill overlooking the ocean. I would have loved to go to college there!! They are really good at volleyball....makes sense.....they have sand volleyball courts lining the beach for several miles. SO JEALOUS!!! It was a really pretty campus.

We were glad that basically every seat was a good seat because their gym was so small. I would say there were just as many BYU fans as Pepperdine fans. We had a good time cheering the Cougars on to a victory of 77-64. The center, Brandon Davies, scored a career-high of 29 points. Noah Hartsock joined the Elite BYU Club by scoring his 1000th career point. Even though there was a total of 6 hours drive time, our trip to Malibu was WAY fun and well worth it! Plus, who doesn't enjoy some good conversations and singing in the car with your hubby :)

Thoughts on Friends...

I've been thinking a lot about friends lately. Who are my friends? What makes someone considered a friend? How do you make new friends? How do you know who a true friend is? How much do you have to have in common to be friends? The reason I've been thinking about all these questions is because of my situation. I had good friends back in Utah who I miss very much along with my sisters, mom, mother-in-law and sister-in-laws who don't live close anymore. Of course they are a phone call away and I talk to them a lot, but it's different....you can't just run over to their house or have them come over and chat, laugh, bake, shop, craft, watch chick flicks, and have girl talk. You can't do that easily if at all over the phone. It hasn't been the easiest thing to make close friends here. I have the people that I say hello to and chat with some, but I haven't made any close friends yet. The one's that you can call at anytime when you are in a bind or need someone to talk to, who fully understands your life and what situations you are in and know exactly how to help you. You're there for them and they're there for you at all times. These are the friends I'm talking about.

I work full-time and most of the women I know don't work and have a couple or more kids. I guess I just haven't figured out how I fit in with the "motherly" crowd of women who have play dates during the day and can relate to each other on parenting situations or problems. Back home, none of my close friends had kids yet, and so I never really ran into the situation I'm in now. It is just new to me, so I'm having a hard time finding my place in the crowd.

I think it is hard to make close friends. It always takes some times of awkwardness of asking them to come over for dinner or them asking you to come over. You don't know if they really like hanging out or if they are just being nice. It takes many conversations to get to the point with a friend to where you share almost anything with them. To where they genuinely care about you and you are always wondering if they are doing okay.

I'm really glad I have my best friend along side me as we have taken this new journey to California together. Of course I can talk to Trav about anything and share with him my joys and concerns, but sometimes you just need to have girl talk. Where you can talk about things, now let's be honest here, that guys don't really care about. ha ha.

Just some thoughts that have been running through my head. I feel like you can't expect a close friend to just walk through the door. It takes time, effort, and someone that has some common interests as well. I'm not getting discouraged because we have only been here 6 months, but I sure hope that 6 months from now I can say I have some closer friends.

To my close friends- I don't think I fully appreciated your friendships until now. Thank you for your examples to me of true friends. Thanks for the love and concern you show towards me. I miss you all so much! Let's please keep in touch.

Christmas Letter 2011

I can't figure out how to get our Christmas Card I made on Mixbook show up on my blog, but since this is my life history/journal I wanted to make sure I put on the blog the letter we sent out to our friends and family this Christmas with our Christmas Card.


December 2011

We’re thinking of you and hoping that you are all having a wonderful Christmas Season so far! This year has brought us a lot of change, readjusting, and a big move to California!


Michelle left a job she really enjoyed as an administrative assistant for the Commercial Real Estate Group after five years with Wells Fargo. She is now working for Kaweah Delta as the Secretary to the Director of Rural Health Clinics and starting to get the hang of things there. She loves her calling as a Relief Society Instructor, Teachings for our Times.


In June, Travis graduated from the University of Southern Nevada with his Doctorate in Pharmacy (Pharm.D.). He got a job with Target as a pharmacist in the Visalia, CA area. He worked as a post-grad intern pharmacist for a few months while working to get licensed in California, which we quickly learned wasn’t a small task. We found out he passed the State and National Boards in October, and now he is a full-fledged pharmacist at the Tulare Target Store. He has dreamed of this day since senior year in high school, and we are both so glad it is finally here. No more STUDYING!! He is serving as the Assistant Scout Leader to the 11-year-old scouts and enjoys their energetic personalities.


The biggest story of the year is we moved to Visalia, CA! We knew that we needed to go wherever the job opportunity came, and we feel fortunate that it brought us to a nice town. The population is 125,000 and before we moved I had to be sure it had a mall….it passed. It has been difficult to adjust to being away from family, but we have made some great friends here. We have also been able to enjoy some of the beautiful areas of this state. We visited Sequoia National Park, Pismo Beach, and San Francisco. We have had many opportunities to serve such as feeding the missionaries, working in the Church’s vineyard, and helping paint a Habitat for Humanity house. We look forward to the many new adventures and growing opportunities we’ll have here.


We have been very blessed this year, and we are very lucky to have all of you in our lives to be our support through the celebrations and challenges of life. We are definitely grateful for the Savior as we reflect on his birth this time of year, and we wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!