We're Moving West!

"West?" you may think. "They live in Santa Barbara....ON the west coast. How can they go any further west?"

Well, I'll tell you. How about Sydney, Australia? Is that west enough for you? That's right! Garrett and I are moving to Australia...in less than one month!


Garrett has been accepted into a PhD program at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia. For those of you who don't know, Garrett works at a vehicle crash test facility as a mechanical engineer (I know...awesome, right?) and does crash injury research. While at UNSW, he will continue his research in rollover-crash related injuries.

Here is the current plan: Move all of our things to Gridley on July 2nd. Spend lots and LOTS of time with family. Move to Sydney, Australia on July 19th, bringing only what we can carry. From there we plan to live in Sydney for 3 years, throughout the duration of the program. At the end of 3 years we plan on referring to Garrett as "Dr. Mattos".

I am so proud of Garrett. He works so hard and is so dedicated to our family and to his work. We have such overwhelming support from his boss, his UNSW supervisor (who is taking such good care of us), our friends, and most importantly our family.

Santa Barbara has become our home. The thought of leaving our friends (our new found family) that we have made here brings me to tears. This Sunday will be our last in the Goleta Valley Ward, and the first of many goodbyes.

And our family..... if you don't know this already, Garrett and I travel home for visits at LEAST 6 times per year. We are extremely close to our family and being so far apart from them will be the greatest trial of all. We are dreading July 19th when we have to give our hugs and say our goodbyes. But lucky for us we have been provided with annual visits home.

As hard as goodbyes really are, it isn't as bad is it could be. I am so grateful for the modern technology that we have at our fingertips.....literally. Phones, email, facebook, blogs, and free video chats through Skype. We have the luxury of having contact with our families everyday. We are so, so blessed.

As for our Australian adventures, we have listed many and hope to be able to check each of them off of our list, like: attend a performance at the Opera House, learn to play a didgeridoo, scuba dive (yes, we are both certified!) at the Great Barrier Reef, venture through the outback, go to the camel races, watch a sheep-sheering competition (quite a serious thing over there), become avid cricket and rugby fans, and so much more. Garrett and I have both been told many times that we will have to start blogging more. All I can say is that we will try to find time to blog between our many excursions.

Although we will feel a bit of sadness and heartbreak when we leave, we can't wait to begin this next exciting adventure of our lives. Australia here we come.....

Lemon Cupcakes

I made some birthday cupcakes for my dear friend, Cherry Field. Yes, that is her real name. And she is such a doll! Cherry wanted lemon, lemon, lemon! She decided on lemon cupcakes, filled with lemon cream cheese icing, and iced with lemon frosting. So delicious..... I topped the cupcakes with candied lemon slices and....cherries (an ode to Cherry, the person). I am so happy with the way these cupcakes turned out and that Cherry loved them, too! The cherries tie in with the cupcake liners, and then the cake, icing, and the lemon tie together as well. Too cute! Happy Birthday, Cherry! I love ya!

art in the streets

Last month Garrett and I decided to take a trip to LA. Garrett heard about an art exhibit that was taking place at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The exhibit was called Art in the Streets. It showcased the history of graffiti and street art. The art was displayed in a time line starting in the 1970's, tracing the evolution of what street art and graffiti has become today. We both really enjoyed it. It was so interesting to see how graffiti has changed since the 1970's.

After the art gallery we went to the fashion district so I could check out all of the fabric stores. It was ghetto. It was chaotic. It was amazing. So much fabric everywhere I looked. We went to a store where they sell fabric by weight....$2.50/pound. I bought 10 yards of fabric for $12. AMAZING! I chose the fabric. They cut how much I wanted and then they put it on a scale. So cool! I'm definitely going back.


At the end of the day we spent some time with Garrett's cousins that live in LA. Before we headed to LA I did some research on LA bakeries. I wanted to go to one of the best bakeries in LA, so we went to Sweet Lady Jane. Delicious! Garrett's cousin, Denver, had an Oreo Tiramisu. Garrett had New York Cheesecake. And I had Praline Cheesecake. Mmmm.....I want more.




By the end of the day both Garrett and I knew for a fact that neither of us could ever live in LA. Too crowded. Too much traffic. But we don't mind making day trips every once in a while.