Shelf Road & Toby's 1st visit

Greg's best friend Toby came up for his first visit. We took him on a walk so he could see more of Ojai. If you drive up to the top of one of our side streets it takes you to the end of a fire road called Shelf Road. It's just a dirt road but you get some pretty easy views of the Ojai valley with a simple walk. It walks along an avocado & citrus farm so it smells like orange blossoms. We found a few avocados on the ground & took them home to eat...they were the best avocados I have ever tasted! The valley was still a little bit smoky from the fire but as always, beautiful.

Monty's trip to Ojai

So I decided to take the long way home so that I could go through Tahoe and spend a few days with Heidi one last time before she has the baby. Also, I really wanted to hand deliver the new cushions I had made for her rocking chair. I spent 2 days there, but I didn't take any pictures except of the dogs since she wasn't feeling well. She is at the really uncomfortable stage of pregnancy.
I woke up early and drove home on I-5. Definitely not the most exciting drive. At the last minute I decided to take the back way into Ojai. I had never been very far on Hwy 33 and wanted to get a feeling for what was up there because I'm ready to start exploring. It was a very winding road in parts, but no one was out there and it was better than spending anymore time on that boring freeway. I stopped at the summit for a few pictures. All the plants were covered with lady bugs.
I could tell when I started to get closer to Ojai because everything started to get greener and it was obvious there was the presence of water. I made it home just in time to go to a mothers day dinner in Ventura with Greg's family. It was so wonderful to see everybody getting together for a delicious meal, wine & dessert. It was a great way to officially start our new adventure in California.

Shaking things up!

So, the first week we move back to California...Santa Barbara has a major fire and there was a 4.2 earthquake that was centered in Ojai. I'm pretty sure it wasn't my fault, I was back in Utah getting my car... Crazy!
Photo by Matt Nirenberg

I left my car (& my heart) in Salt Lake City...

So rather than towing one of our cars during the big move... which if you've ever done it, you know it sucks... I chose to leave my car in SLC so that I could get an extra trip in to spend some time with the family. I figured a $250 tow dolly at 45 mph vs. a $89 plane ticket and a good time is a no brainer. Joey picked me up at the airport & it was great to see her again. I stayed with Matt & Cacia & the kids for 2 nights so we all got to go out with Joey for dinner. It was such a great time.
There is nothing better than waking up to the cutest kids in the world. We got lots of hang time in... What a great family. Luckily, Cacia had work off so we got to spend a lot of time together. I love her so much, she is the best! I got to finally see one of Aiden's baseball games and got a great picture of him about to hit the ball. Since I was going to miss Aiden's birthday party we got to go to Target so he could pick out his present. He decided he is like his dad & "doesn't like surprises" LOL. He's such a little man.
Grace was trying on sunglasses while we were at Target and Cacia got a great picture of her. She is so sassy & seems to already have fun shopping. Jax & I also have fun shopping and got one more impromptu Ross adventure in before dinner. I will miss our 'what not to wear' trips.
Matt & I were on our way to the store to get something to BBQ when we saw a big fire. We had to go take a look. It was controlled because it was a training exercise for the fire department, so we were able to drive right by. It was awesome and really hot! He is such a great brother! Another highlight was getting to hang out for kitchen bath time with Coleman & Grace playing and having fun. They were so cute together. Coleman is getting so big! He is almost walking without any assistance.
I am so lucky to be so close to them. It was really hard to drive away with them all standing in the driveway and waving, they are my heart... Here are some of the pictures.

Finding our new place...

So we've made the big move back to California. Here's some pictures taken on our first day in Ojai while we were looking for somewhere to live and pics of the place that we found. The whole ground level of the part of the complex that you can see street side is ours. It is a very large 2 bedroom 2 bath with a gigantic living room and a huge fenced patio. We love it!