Young Women In Excellence

For our Young Women In Excellence this year my counselors and I chose a pirate theme.  I know what you are thinking....pirates are bad guys so why would you pick a pirate theme for a church activity.  Well, pirates seek for treasures and so do our Young Women.  The mutual theme for this year was "We Believe" and centered around the 13th Article of Faith which ends with "we seek after these things".  Also, Pirates was an acronym for us:  Personal Integrity Raises All To Eternal Standards. 

This first picture is of me and my two very pregnant counselors (due 6 days apart in about 3 weeks)

We had tables set up with a picture of each girl where she could display things she had done this year to show her "excellence".  I took this picture too early.  Only one display was set up.  Oops.

We have a small YW group and many of the girls were missing.  I think we had 11 girls in attendance of our 18.  They had fun dressing up as pirates.  We had an activity night where they decorated their hats and another activity night where they decorated the frames for their pictures.  They turned out great.  Besides the hat, we supplied the eye patches and bandanas for their costumes.

One of my counselors made some awesome looking cupcakes with crumbs on top that looked like dirt (buried treasure) and had a chocolate coin on top.  They were a big hit.

At the end of the evening we had a scripture treasure hunt that led them to clues scattered throughout the church and finally to this treasure chest hidden on the stage.  It was filled with small treasure boxes like the one on top pictured here.  Each girl got one of these and it held things that they should treasure, i.e. testimony (from their parents), scriptures (chocolate version made from two Nugget bars with the 13th Article of Faith as the pages, the temple (a picture of their favorite temple as a reminder to go there some day, and their favorite candy bar because "sweet is the peace the gospel brings".

Our YW Board (minus 3 people)

The cultural hall was decorated with 8 of these awesome palm trees borrowed from my counselor's mother in a bordering stake.  They really added to the ambiance of the whole evening.

This isn't in focus, but it shows how we made our own little set of scriptures for the girl's treasure chests.

We also had a puzzle center where the girls and their parents could put a puzzle together with the 13th Article of Faith on one side and a "treasure map" on the other side.

All in all, a great time was had by all.  I especially loved it when our YW sang their two songs - one fun song to the tune of "A Pirates Life For Me", but I changed the lyrics to go along with the 13th Article of Faith so it was entitled "A Virtuous Life For Me."  The other song they sang was a Jenny Phillips song entitled "We Seek After These Things."  Both songs were perfect for the evening.

Central California Coast - The Final Chapter

The last leg of our trip included Solvang and Santa Barbara.  I didn't take many pictures at either place, but here is a sample of what we did.  Right close to Solvang there is a restaurant famous for their split pea soup.  It is called Pea Soup Andersen's.  We all found it rather funny that a place could be famous for split pea soup, but it does exist.  We couldn't resist the urge to give it a try....well at least most of us ordered the split pea soup.  Some of the more picky eaters (Cheryl) didn't go for it.

Pictures of outside and inside the restaurant.

I have to say that I don't know why they are so famous for their split pea soup.  It didn't pass my taste test and I am a pea soup lover.  I can check that restaurant off my bucket list.

Cheryl having some fun with a dutch shoe in Solvang.  I can't believe this is the only photo I took there.

Of course we had to stop in Santa Barbara to see Kristen & Andrew's new son Jaxon.

He is such a cutie!  Congratulations to the happy couple.  Santa Barbara is such a beautiful community.  I guess that is why Oprah decided to live there.  Kristen & Andrew seem to be enjoying it !

Our last stop before heading back to Lancaster was to check out Oprah Winfrey's estate in Santa Barbara.  Unfortunately, you can't see much from the street.  Her house is past the gates you see in the front.  Oh well, at least we can say that we went to Oprah's house.  The guard made sure we didn't overstay our welcome.  :-)

Central California Coast - Part 4

Hearst Castle is a definite must see for anyone vacationing in Central California.  This was our 4th or 5th time to go on one of their tours.  This was our second time to take the evening tour, which is the best tour of all.  It is a compilation of all of the other tours.  It takes a little longer, but well worth it.  The castle is magestic and oppulent, especially for its day. The land (40,000 acres) was purchased by George Hearst in 1865 and was initially used as a summer camping spot for the family.  George's son William Randolph Hearst later inherited the land and decided to build on it. Construction began in 1919 and by 1947 it had become an estate of 165 rooms and 127 acres of gardens, terraces, pools, and walkways.

Hearst Castle at the entrance

 This is the spectacular outdoor pool

 One benefit of the evening tour is that they have "dinner guests" dressed as if in
 the 1950's ready for a fantastic weekend with William Randolph Hearst

 A view of the grounds from inside the castle

 Another view of the grounds

 I love that you can see the Pacific Ocean from high up
 on the hills where the mansion stands

I took pictures of the inside of the mansion, but they just don't do it justice.
I guess you will just have to go visit the castle yourself so you can see
 the inside and really appreciate all the architecture and beauty there.

 

A big highlight for me on this trip to Hearst Castle is that I found this beautiful vase

in the gift shop.  I practically never purchase anything from gift shops,

 but after drooling over it for a while, I decided it needed to find a

permanent home in my family room.  I think it fits perfectly with the

other decor.  I LOVE IT!!!  That, alone, was worth the trip up the coast.  :-)

Central California Coast - Part 3

Just a little bit north of San Simeon, California is a place we LOVE to visit.  It is called Elephant Seal Beach.  This isn't a beach you visit to catch some rays or some waves, but rather to view all of the Elephant Seals who have chosen this beach as their "hangout" (it is actually called a rookery).  They are quite a lazy bunch.  They lie in the sun and love to throw sand on themselves...I assume to prevent sunburn.  They got the name "elephant seal" because of the large proboscis (nose)  that the adult males have which resembles an elephant's trunk.

When they are not lying out in the sun, they do venture out into the water to feed and frolic.

If you look closely (zoom in by clicking on the photo) you can see the seals near the edge of the water.  I know, not the best pic!  I need a camera with a good zoom.

The juvenile males spend some of their spare time sparring with one another.  This is in practice for later in life when they will need to fight for mating rights with the females.

Watching them spar is great entertainment...especially if they are "vocal" about it.  It is kind of a barking, growling sound.  No, they are not necking in this photo.

I will share some interesting facts with you about Elephant seals.  They are extraordinary marine mammals.  When they are not on the beach, they spend 8-10 months of the year in the open ocean, diving 1000 to 5000 feet deep for periods of 15 min - 2 hrs.  They migrate thousands of miles, twice a year, to its land based rookery for birthing, breeding, molting, and rest.  There are about 15,000 seals who call this particular beach "home."  Males (or bulls) can reach a length of 16 feet and weigh up to 6,600 lbs.  Females (or cows) are much smaller at about 10 feet and only 2,000 lbs.

Central California Coast - Part 2

Next on our stop up the Central California Coast we visited Montana de Oro State Park.  This place is close to Morrow Bay, a favorite tourist spot of ours but because of limited time we were not able to spend much time there this time around so it will not be spotlighted.  This first photo is of Alan and I at the Montana de Oro State Park Beach.

Cheryl at the beach...just before a rogue wave got the bottom 1/3 of her jeans wet.

Ken & Alan at the beach

A view of the water from up on the cliffs

This picture shows how high the cliffs are

Cheryl, Ken, and Alan sitting precariously on one of the cliffs.

I took this for the view (yes, that includes Cheryl). I sure wish I were that photogenic

Joan & Jane from the cliffs (No, she is not taller than me...I was on the downhill slope)

This stop on our trip was pretty short, but we certainly enjoyed the beautiful beach views...some of the best California has to offer.

Central California Coast - Part 1

A couple of weeks ago Gayle, Jane, and Ken drove down to California for a little get-away.  Well, actually, Gayle came down to welcome her new grandson (Jaxon Van Noy) into her family.  Since Kristen and Andrew live in Santa Barbara, I was able to benefit from their travels.  Gayle stopped at our home briefly to drop Jane & Ken off and eat some dinner and then she was off to Santa Barbara.  To add to the excitement, Cheryl came down a few days later to have fun with us and to also attend her 10 year class reunion.  We were able to spend two days traveling up the Central Coast of California to see some of Alan and my favorite spots to visit.  We saw and did too much to post in this one blog, so I will be doing them in segments.  The first place we stopped at was at a place called Los Osos Oaks Reserve.  This is a fun place to hike around because it is a grove of oak trees, many of which look kinda enchanted because of all the moss hanging from them.  This photo shows the moss well.

Many of the oaks were big and fun to climb.

(Alan, Joan, and Cheryl)

Jane & Ken in front of a big oak near the entrance to the reserve

I found a big tree with a hollow trunk and Cheryl thought it would be fun

 to get inside of it.  I had my doubts about whether that was possible, but

Cheryl taught me that where there is a will there is a way.

This picture shows how high the hole was so you can

better understand why it was a challenge to get inside.

We had a lot of fun with this tree which reminded us of the

 backside of the human body.  Sorry, we just couldn't resist.

Ken was pretty adventurous.  I think the little kid in him

 came out because he liked climbing the trees. You can't tell

 from this picture, but he is pretty high up in this tree.

Los Osos is not a huge tourist attraction.  Most people probably don't even know it is there.  Shhhhh, don't tell everyone about it, we liked having the whole place to ourselves (well, pretty much, anyway) This was a fun stop for us, except for our own little episode of "Lost", which I'm too embarrassed to talk about.  If you want to know about it, ask Jane & Ken.