We have been in Santa Barbara since September. Three weeks after fall semester started, I received an internship offer from Johnson & Johnson to work in the finance department of a recent acquisition of theirs in Santa Barbara, California. The day that I received the offer was the final day to drop classes and receive a full refund on tuition. We decided that it would be a good idea to take the offer with the hopes that it would result in a full time position. Because the terms of the offer were for me to start in exactly seven days, I left to Santa Barbara that week and was homeless for several weeks while I simultaneously worked and found a place for us to live. Britt and Taylor stayed behind in Provo to pack up the house. I am pretty sure that Britt is still mad at me for leaving her to do it all by herself.
I found myself working in an industry that is the cause of a lot of debate, and one that I never imagined myself working in. The company's main products are breast implants. In most companies, if you had a breast implant sitting on your desk, it would cause an uproar of hostile work environment complaints. I have a breast implant at my desk, along with most people around here. It is surprisingly good at relieving stress, and makes a great discus to throw in the air when I'm bored. I'm just hoping to score one of the big 800cc implants to take home before I leave; it would make a great white elephant Christmas present.
In the end, however, we will not be returning to Santa Barbara to work for Johnson & Johnson. We have accepted a different offer from a boutique litigation consulting firm in Los Angeles. I will be performing financial investigations, fraud and royalty audits, business valuations, and statistical and economic analysis which will often be used in dispute or litigation settings. We will start work in the middle of next year after our graduate in April.
Our time in Santa Barbara is winding down. This is my last full week here before we leave to spend Christmas with my family. Let me share a few fun things we've been able to do while here.
We live in an area called Serena Park, which is right between Carpenteria and Summerland. Britt has mentioned that we live in a very small studio apartment (housing is unimaginably expensive here), which is a very large downside. However, we are lucky enough to live a 2-3 minute drive from a gorgeous beach with tide pools. In order to get to this beach, we literally have to slowly walk down a path carved out of a cliff before we get there. The beach is very undeveloped. Other amazing things about the beach is it is a narrow, flat strip of sand with the ocean on one side and sand/limestone cliffs on the other, and it looks out to the channel islands on the horizon.
I have been able to catch a few fun critters on this beach. One time when we went for a walk on the beach we found an octopus the size of my hand crawling on the sand. It must have washed up with the waves. It would extend its long tentacles and pull itself towards the water. This made for a very cool video. Another day, when we went to the beach at the lowest tide of the day, when the water receded to its lowest point before the wave came to th
e shore, you could see very large rocks that were covered 
with large crabs. I caught one of these crabs, and its carapace was as about as large as my fist and had monster legs and claws. In an attempt to take a picture of me holding the crab, Brittany got nervous that the crab would pinch Taylor (I was holding Taylor in my other arm), and couldn’t take a good picture. In the meantime, the darn crab reached its claw behind his back (flexible little bugger) and pinch the bejesus out of my middle finger. Good times.
One of my favorite things about the area that we are currently living in is the avocados. The Santa Barbara area is a prime avocado growing location and our ward consists of many avocado farmers. Each week when we go to church, there are several grocery bags full of monster avocados for the taking. Our neighbor also has a very large avocado tree to which I like to go on walks and pick up off the ground stray avocados that couldn’t hang on. We always have avocados, and Taylor loves to chew threw their tough skin to its green goodness.
Taylor has grown a lot since we have moved to Santa Barbara. She has started to say a few words. She says “mama” for mom, “dada” for dad, and “ba” for ball. She has also picked up some sign language for communication purposes. She can sign for “more,” “please,” “eat,” and “milk” when she wants to nurse (which she subsequently does all day; it’s Britt’s favorite). Her tricks include “shaking her booty,” spinning, making fishy noises, shaking her tongue like a lizard, showing with her index finger that she is one year old, and eating her toes, all on command. Yes, she is very sophisticated.
