Morro Bay

August 29 -- The plan was to drive to Morro Bay this morning to go golfing with the Astons.  We needed to stop in Santa Barbara on the way to talk with an Hermana who was really struggling.  President had done all that he needed to do in preparing for her to return home.  We surprised her with our visit.  Some of the first words to come out of her were "I think I need to go home."  That confirmed the prompting President had.  In fact, when I woke up this morning he said Hermana needs to go home.  That is why we stopped to see her.

I did the driving which allowed him to do all of the phone calls to parents, stake president, and IFR.  We arrived at the golf course in our proselyting clothes so changed there.  We had a nice lunch with the Astons.  We enjoyed being with them and being outside seeing the beauty that surrounds us.  It was a good break.  We ate dinner at Brickhouse bbq and then went to a hotel.  We have training for the missionaries in
San Luis Obispo tomorrow.  

Look for Morro Rock in the background.

Morro Rock is a 581-foot  volcanic plug located just offshore from Morro Bay, California, at the entrance to Morro Bay Harbor. A causeway connects it with the shore, effectively making it a tied island. The area surrounding the base of Morro Rock can be visited. The rock is protected as the Morro Rock State Preserve. Climbing on the rock or disturbing the bird life is forbidden by law.

Looking away from the rock is the bay and there are otters in the water.

Tuesday, August 30 -- We had zone activity in SLO with that zone and the SM zone.  It went well.  Max from Camarillo served a three week mission to Santa Maria.  The assistants were taking him back but we arranged to stop in Pismo Beach to eat at Hoagies (tri-tip wrap - so good!).  After dinner we drove down a street to turn around.  There was a pod of whales.  We counted at least 10 spouts.  We had to get out of the car and watch for a little while.  It was amazing.

Yesterday President received a phone call that Elder Hoff was on his way to urgent care because they were concerned he received a concussion from playing bubble ball with the zone for Pday activity.  We called to get an update and found out he was in the ER.  They wanted to do a cat scan.
So the day started out stressful and the night ended that way.  It was frustrating being up north and not being able to be with Elder Hoff.  President called the Clarks to see if Elder Clark would meet the ambulance coming from Lompoc with Elder Hoff to Santa Barbara.  He was to have an MRI. He received that around 1:30 a.m. but it wasn't read until 9:00 or so.  The whole reason for him to go to Santa Barbara was to get the results sooner.  Elder Hoff has two fractures in the cervical area.  He's in a neck brace and cannot travel.
He stayed with the Clarks after being released from the hospital on Friday. We stopped by on our way back to Ventura.  He'll spend the night at the Clarks then the Hardys will go to the Clarks to be with Elder Hoff so the Clarks can meet us and Hermana Z at the airport to say goodbye. We then went back to the Clarks and picked up Elder Hoff and Sister Hardy (Elder Hardy had to drive back to Ventura for a dentist appointment) and took them to the apartment the hermanas had been living in.  Elder Hoff's brother will drive from Colorado and stay with him for the 10 days before Elder Hoff will be able to fly home.

Visitors

Laurie flew to California to help with the Frei's move back to Utah.  They drove from San Jose area on Saturday and arrived in Ventura in time for dinner.  Jentzi wanted to see the ocean so they drove to the beach while we were at a baptism.

They drove their two cars so it was good Laurie was able to help out.

We didn't do anything but go to church this morning with them but it was so great having them here and meeting Jentzi in person.  

Laurie and I are hoping for her and Kelvyn to do a road trip and come back for another visit.

Love love love this family!

Jerseys

Dell ordered us bike jerseys for our anniversary.  Unfortunately they did not arrive on time.  In fact, he ended up emailing the company since they didn't arrive when promised.  Because of that, we got 25% off.  The plan was to wear them when we went riding on our anniversary but oh well we were able to wear them today.  These are a souvenir from California.

Bowens 8/14 - 21/2016

August 14 - The Ventura Stake had an extra session for their stake conference today.  It was all done in Spanish.  Dell spoke and fortunately I was able to have ear phones for translation.  The missionaries took turns translating the different talks for those of us who didn't speak Spanish. 

The Bowens arrived at the mission home before we were finished.  I was too excited and kept watching the clock.  Fortunately I put together dinner on Saturday so that there wouldn't be prep and it would just go in the oven.

Shae showed us her piano skills.

August 15 - Monday morning it was time to pick avacados and oranges.

We drove to Carpinteria and had lunch at Padara Beach Grill then to the beach.  We put up the tent but we really didn't use it.  

Shae found a sand crab.

Brandon has skills...

The tide came up and washed it all away.

Brooke, Dax, Shae and Brandon boogie boarded.

The Best Dads get promoted to Papa!

We were glad we had plenty of time to cross the tracks and turn around to watch the train go by.
The Bowens treated us at McConnells before going home.  Yummy!

August 16 - We celebrated 43 years of marriage by going on a 27 3/4 mile bike ride.  My longest ride.  We drove to where we could park the car close to the Ventura River Trail.

Here's the map showing the trail to Ojai.

Our destination was here for breakfast.  After eating we rode back to Ventura.

These flowers were beautiful and they were along the trail.

The Bowens went to the beach while we were riding.  We met back at the mission home and went to Camarillo to see Pete's Dragon.  We've wanted to eat at the Lazy Dog Restaurant since we've been here so we took advantage of doing that.

We had an awsome anniversary!

August 17 - We drove to Oxnard to go to the Seabees Museum; out of luck since it was closed for a couple of days.  So we went to the outlets to do some school shopping.  After shopping we drove to the 5th street beach and the road was closed.  We remembered there was Oxnard State Beach Park close by. It's a big park and then a walk way to the beach.   There was a fee to park.  The Bowens were already headed to the beach when we realized the credit card would not work.  We didn't have enough cash.  Melissa who was waiting to pay for her parking was so kind and wanted to give us money.  She kept saying "pay it forward!" We ended up taking a couple of dollars from her and Dell and I searched our wallets for a combining of $3.

Whenever I see a sailboat like this out in the ocean I have a memory of making a mozaic picture with my mother.

Brandon was at it again.  Here's a little hot tub.

Since I didn't exercise in the morning I decided to walk the beach.  I was intrigued with the length of this bird's bill.  This week was the first time oil was stuck to the bottom of my feet from being on the sand.

I loved that Brandon took over in the kitchen to make gucamole.  He makes good guac.

August 18 - We went our separate ways -- The Bowens to Six Flags and us to the Burbank airport to take a missionary who was returning home.  We took the opportunity to stop at Cafe Rio in Santa Clarita on the way back.  I miss those pork tostadas!

August 19 - Shae and I made strawberry lemonade bars in the morning before leaving for the day.

Shae is grating a lemon for zest.

Last week I was looking for somethings we could do with the Bowens.  The review of the Seabee Museum was very positive.
The plan for today was to go to the museum since it would now be open and then go to the beach.
A Seabee is a member of the United States Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The word "Seabee" comes from initials "CB", which in turn comes from the term "Construction Battalion".

Brandon needed a hair cut.
There were many interactive activities for the kids (big and small) to do.

Marbles racing down the slides.

It's been a long time since playing with an etch a scketch.  Loved it!

Shae loved building the trucks.

Did you really think the boys would let this stay standing?

Mandalay beach was not for boogie boarding.  The waves crashed down.

Go Utes!  Shae found a feather to add to her design.

We celebrated Dax's birthday.  He loves cereal so that was for breakfast and pizza for dinner.

Shae and Dax are playing Simon Says with Papa.  He's singing and dancing like a rock star.

Bowens picked a very good week as far as our schedule.  We did not have many conflicts and were able to spend a lot of time together.