A Day in the Life of Olivia!

I can't believe it! We have been in California for 7 weeks....and we only have 7 more to go!  Before we know it we will be back to little ol' Rexburg.  I'm not going to lie...I'm kind of excited for the structure that comes with going to school and having a schedule.  I'm going a little CrAzY!!!  I'm embarrassed of my daily routine: 

Wake up

Take Sheldon to the train 

Go home and sleep a little longer

Read scriptures/eat breakfast

Go for a walk

Do homework.................................

Read a book…paint my nails….go grocery shopping…..

Try to find things to do until Sheldon gets home anywhere between 9-12pm…

I've always wondered what it would be like to have absolutely nothing to do...and now that I have it I don't know how much longer I can take it!  I am taking a few online classes, so that keeps me pretty busy, but you can only do so much homework in one day.  I'm starting to explore the area more, I found two great malls and a shopping outlet....But I don't want to spend all of Sheldon's hard earned money!  This picture is gross, but this is my desk (where I do most of my homework)...and Sheldon thought it was funny that we had all three laptops out....Silicon Valley...what can you expect, we gotta try to keep up!

Sheldon thought he would cure my boredom by giving me a honey-do list (I thought I was the one who gave out honey-do lists!!)  So I am now learning how to do our taxes!! Sheldon does taxes every day, so now I'm experiencing a little of what he does, and I'm actually enjoying it! ...this is a picture of me inaction doing our taxes!

I was nervous to come out here at first, and I still miss home at times but I'm grateful for the experience! I'm learning so much about myself and about different places.  It can only help me become a better person...I hope!

Monterey California Adventure!

    Last weekend Sheldon had to work Saturday and Sunday....and this weekend he was FREE!! I was so excited to get to spend two whole days with him!  We decided to not waste a single minute and explore beautiful California a little bit.  We headed out to Monterey (it's only an hour drive south of San Jose).  We've been told that the beaches are beautiful here, and they have a huge aquarium.        

           

The ocean amazes me still!  Sheldon and I could sit and watch the waves crash up against the shore for hours!  I guess one reason why we love it so much is because it's so mysterious, we really don't know much about it and you can't see what lies beneath it's deep blue surface!

It was so warm Sheldon decided to pull out his shorts and flip flops...his legs were happy to finally see a few sun rays!

We parked in town and walked along a path that takes you from one side of the beach to the other.  Here we are standing in front of the boat harbor.

The Aquarium was fascinating! Ive never seen so many different sea creatures. We saw otters and sea horses, jelly fish, flamingos, penguins, TONS of fish, sharks, sting rays, star fish, an octopus, and many other things!  This is one of my favorite pictures.....

They had a tank of jelly fish that looked like they glow in the dark! It was pretty amazing how these boneless, brainless creatures float around.  Here are a few other pictures of things we saw....

These fish were so crazy weird!  They looked like they had been stepped on and squished...they were completely flat, with two little funky eyes on the top.  They were cool because they looked just like the rocks.

I was so excited to see penguins!  They are such interesting birds... 

This little guy was probably our favorite part of the whole aquarium.  This is a bat sting ray, and they will let you touch them without stinging you.  It was kind of scary to stick your hand in the water with this funny looking creature, but it was SWEET!  They are really soft and almost squishy.  I actually got to feed one!! This lady gave me a squid head that I held in the water, and when the sting ray came up he sucked it right out of my fingers!

The beach was beautiful!!....

...and the sun set was amazing!!

What a great weekend! I hadn't realized how much I had missed Sheldon's company! Thought of the day...Don't take for granted the ones you love most!

My New Friend.....

 This is my new friend Tuxedo! She is a little chiwawa who LOVES to play with Sheldon and I!!  I kind of like her because she doesn't bark all the time, and she is kind of cute!

In the  morning when she wakes up she comes and sits in front of our bedroom door with her nose to the floor trying to find us...and then she starts scratching on the door and wimpering...thats when I give in.  She love to lick EVERYTHING!  Sheldon likes to tease her to death by sticking his tongue out at her...and then she trys to grab it.

It's kind of nice having someone to play with during the day while Sheldon is gone....One day I will convince Sheldon to get e a puppy!!

Sheldon is working hard and is loving it! I think the company like's him too...because they keep him there really late!  They keep giving him more projects to do which is good because he is getting all the experience wanted!!  I don't get to see him a lot, but I get him for eternity!!!

Santa Cruz!

Sheldon took me on a fabulous date to Santa Cruz!  It's about 45 minutes away from where we are staying, we went down Friday night and stayed in a hotel right across from the beach!  We got up early and went for a walk on the beach and watched the surfers that were getting an early start on the waves!  We wondered what it would be like to live here and go for a run along the beach everyday...AMAZING!

Later we went for a walk on the Wharf to look at all the little shops and we found......

.....Some very noisy sea lions!  They were so funny, basking in the sun, pushing each other in the water, and barking up a storm!  It was fun to watch them for a little bit.  

This is a cute little light house, and at the point is were all the surfers go to catch the best waves.  We had to go over there to check it out for ourselves!

These are all of the surfers waiting in the water for the next big wave! There were so many of them out there, I had to keep Sheldon from jumping out there!...He thought he was a pro after watching them for 10 minutes

It was a great day to explore the area and the beauties of the ocean!  I miss our amazing mountain's in Utah...but the ocean is something!  

We decided we needed to go on these little adventures now before Sheldon gets so busy with work and he won't get any free time!  I'm so glad I get to go on these adventures with my best friend, everything is so much more fun when he is there!

Price Waterhouse and Coopers

PWC is the company Sheldon is working for in San Jose.  They are a big accounting firm that has offices all over the world!  So far Sheldon is loving it, he loves being apart of a large office, dressing up for work everyday, and riding the elevator to the 15th floor to his personal cubical! 

This is the PWC building in down town San Jose

Sheldon has been working for two weeks...and he is already getting busy!  I take him to the light rail station at 7:30 in the morning and then I go pick him up any were between 6 to 8....depending on how busy he is.  They already asked him to work this coming Saturday (I'm not to excited for that) but Sheldon is enjoying the work.  He is going to gain a lot or really good experience while we are here for the next three months!  It's crazy to think that he is almost done with school, and then he can get started with his career!!  We are so grateful for the opportunity we've had to come out here!

The Oakland Temple

What a beautiful temple!  Our new goal is to visit all of the different temples in the world.  It is amazing how each of them are so different and unique in their own way, but bring the same peace and comfort!  The Oakland temple is an hour drive away from where we are staying, so it isn't to far. After talking to some of the  members of the church around here we feel very blessed to be able to see the Rexburg temple light up the night sky from our kitchen window!

This is the view from the temple grounds. This is downtown Oakland city, and in the far distance is San Francisco!  I saw my first ever blimp in real life flying around the city! (I didn't really considered myself a country girl...until I came here!)

The water was so beautiful you almost wanted to jump in it! It was 70 degrees that day....I thought about jumping in the water!  Sheldon and I think it's SO warm...and it's fun to see Californians wearing huge winter coats and boots!

I was a great temple trip! We hope to make a few more trips there before we leave.  It's amazing how going to the temple makes you feel like you're at home again!

San Francisco

 We made it to California!! We have actually been here for a week, I've been slow at blogging it! So far everything is going pretty well.  My mom came out with us for a few days to help us get settled, and then flew back to take care of her motherly duties!  It was nice having her out here for a few days, before Sheldon started work we went and explored San Francisco.  This city is like nothing we have ever seen before!  I can't even imagine how they fit so many people, and cars, and houses so close together.  The Golden Gate bridge is absolutely amazing.  While we were there it was really hazy so couldn't see much but the bridge.  

While we were there taking pictures we were amazed at all the different people that were there.  Sheldon heard a family speaking German...so for a few minutes we followed them around so Sheldon could here the beautiful language!  After this we headed back across the bridge toward the steep hills of San Fran.  These roads are NUTS! and they are a bad idea with a stick shift, Sheldon was nervous, but he conquered those hills like a true Californian.