California Christmas pt. 2

Dec. 26th was going to be a pretty important day for me and like many days on this trip it had been one I had been looking forward to for a while. Alisha and myself where driving up to Santa Barbara so I could go on my visit to Westmont College, a school that had been recruiting me basically as soon as I was over in the U.S.. It was about a 4 hour drive up from Alisha's house at Canyon Lake, it might have been shorter but we hit some heavy traffic after getting through LA. My visit started with lunch at a nice cafe with Coach Azain. We had a great conversation and a great meal after that it was time to drive up and have a look around campus. Westmont was beautiful in was in the foot hills of Santa Barbara and the place felt almost magical. What I love especially is they had plenty of imported gum trees which made me feel right at home. We got to walk through the gym, see the track and field and baseball fields. Walk all around campus. It was amazing, it was as if someone had put a school in the middle of the botanical gardens back home. From the higher points on campus you could see the ocean, which made me so happy because 1 thing I am really missing in Casper is the beach.

Westmont Campus:

After the walk around campus Lish got to be my tour guide of Santa Barbara as she had lived there herself for 4 years so first of it was apparently a must do to go get a smoothie from blenders, It was amazing I will definitely be making frequent visits there I am sure. After the smoothie It was time to drive around and see Santa Barbara. The town was just amazing very typical California amazing beach, palm trees a massive jetty (or the pier as Americans like to call it) with restaurants on it. It's one of those up scale places which is nice all the buildings are amazing. There was still about 2 hours before I had to be up at the gym to get an individual in before practice so Alisha took me to her favourite beach where we got to watch the sun set. Then we took the long way back to Westmont through the hills by all the nice houses, including Oprah's estate.

We got up to the gym and first up I had an individual workout with Coach Azain and also got to meet Coach Moore. The workout was good and once that was over I was able to meet some of the team before practice. The team practice was great, We prayed at the start and end of practice. Everyone was working hard and it was just a fun group to be apart of. What I think was so great about it was that it reminded me of our Centrals ABA practice back home and that was probably been my favourite team to be apart of so anything that reminds me of that group is always going to be a positive.

After practice I stayed with one of the guys in the dorm rooms. It was good that I was put with him because He came from a JC and we are doing the same major (History Education) we got to have a good chat and he was able to fill me in on Westmont life. In the morning I went to breakfast with Coach Moore where we enjoyed a great discussion of numerous things; God, Basketball, Westmont, Santa Barbara, my life, his life. It was a great breakfast and as soon as we got done there it was time to get back on the road.

we stopped off at a nice outlet mall to spend some Christmas money, I found a Cotton On in the U.S. and bought numerous items as well as strolling around and getting a few items to help out my suit for the wedding coming up. Alisha also got her dress for the wedding and a few things from Cotton On.

After our little shopping trip we had one last stop before getting back to Canyon Lake. Alisha took me to one of her favourite places in the world. The Griffith Observatory, It was beautiful we were able to look over and see the Hollywood sign as well as the lights from Los Angeles bright up the night time. We were only there for a short time as Alisha was meeting up with her two best friends from high school that she hadn't seen for a very long time so back on the road it was.

I wish I could tell you first person that Alisha had a great time catching up with her high school besties and I'm sure they did but although I was there, I wasn't really basically I was awake for introductions and enough to see them open there time capsule but from then on I was passed out on the couch and was woken up when it was time to go. I'm sure they all had a blast.

Nap time :)

The 29th was yet another day I had been looking forward to for a long time, It would be the day that I and Alisha would get to reunite with our great friends and newly weds Josh and Natalie. Alisha was lucky enough to see their wedding but unfortunately for me I had to be up at Casper so I was very excited for this day. We got into Tuscon about lunch time, after a quick stop at the mall we got to the Kollasch Condo. After a good catch up, lunch and brief planning we headed of to the mall for a stroll around. On the way we also got to pick up a beautiful little blexican boy who Josh and Nat help look after he was precious. Our night plan consisted of a nice dinner/movie combo double date. Who was dating who became questionable as me and Joshy wore matching sweaters and look liked quiet the cute couple. My dinner was great I had a nice rack of baby back ribs while Alisha's dinner was a little more interesting. she had a run in with a very hot pepper, Josh also tried it. I quiet enjoyed there reactions apparently when I didn't want to try it, it meant I didn't care I just call it smart. We also got to enjoy a quality movie in New Years Eve definitely recommend it. We didn't stay up to late as we had a big day coming up. So after a great breakfast and some goodbyes it was time to head off.

 Cuties

Hanging with the Chipmunks

The 30th was a day that Alisha had been really looking forward to for a couple of reasons, She was finally meeting up with her bestie after nearly a year of being apart and it was also another one of her good friends wedding. I was also looking forward to this day one to meet Alisha's best friend Kerri in person and for the wedding as well because I love, love. We picked up Kerri from Tuscon airport and made our way up to Phoenix or the wedding. It was a great ceremony and was awesome to see two followers of Christ become one. After a fun reception and an after party involving Catch-Phrase (which I happened to gain rookie of the year honors) me and my team mate Kerri pulled of plenty of Jordan game 6 like plays to put away the competition in a strong 7 games series.

 Looking Sharp

 Meeting Kerri

In Love



The next day, New Years Eve was a day spent a lot of time in the car. We dropped Kerri off at the airport and headed back to Canyon Lake where we would spend our last night together. It was a quiet night spent finishing packing up, watching movies, my last dinner with the Heglund fam and just enjoying Alisha's company. We made a quick stop at the party Laura and Dale were at but we spent the rest of the night praying for the up coming year had our first NYE kiss then it was pretty much bed time.

Happy New Years

The next day was one I was hadn't been looking forward to but one that had to come. We where up early and on our way down to San Diego so I could head back to Casper. Good byes are never good but me and Lish did pretty good with this one. So it was back to texting and skype but it's okay I'll be back in Cali soon.

Good bye for now.