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San Fernando Mission and a quick trip to Disneyland.

Posted on October 8, 2009 by admin

So last Saturday and Sunday most of my day was spent watching General Conference. On Monday we traveled from Bakersfield, CA back to the San Bernardino Mountains. On the way we stopped at the San Fernando Mission. It is the 4th of the 21 missions of California. It is a beautiful little mission. Made of of course with adobe (mud bricks), it is filled with lots of history.

Mission San Fernando

InnerGardenSanFernando

AJ liked the sprinklers at the Mission until they turned around and chased him back!

AJandtheSprinkler

I learned that “I Love You California” is our California State Song and not “California Here I Come.” It is not that great of a song, I wish “California Here I Come” was our state song.

IloveCalifornia

In addition to being a mission it is home to the Bob Hope Memorial Garden. In a little corner in the back of the mission, it is a beatiful little memorial place. AJ enjoyed the water a little too much and we had to drag AJ away from the pond (sorry if AJ liked your pond too much Mr. Hope):

Then we finished our day at Disneyland. I enjoyed going through the new Space Mountain ride called “Galactic Ghost.” Same ride, but now a space ghost chases you throughout the ride, it is fun. Also, AJ enjoyed the waterball in Tommorowland and I got my first ranking on Buzz Lightyear (yay,for secret targets)!

Rank 31!

It was a really busy weekend, but it was fun!

Two Fairs, 2 Days, 1 AJ…

Posted on October 6, 2009 by admin

This weekend was a pretty busy weekend. We ended up doing lots of things so this will end up being a two part blog post. In this one I will talk about the two fairs AJ went to. On Thursday, October 1st AJ and Denise went to the LA County Fair on free tickets that Denise won while we were at Wagon Wheel (which we also got in for free at). I have had to work overtime that day so I wasn’t able to go, but Denise and AJ had a good time. AJ’s favorite two exhibits are shown below:

"The Wheel's go round and round..."

It's all good as long as the sheep doesn't move.

The other fair AJ and Denise went to was the Bakerfield Fair with Denise’s Mother. Again I was busy so I wasn’t able to go but I heard everyone had a good time:

Grandma how do they move their feet so fast?!?

"Corn Dog Good!"

That is all that I have for now. Much more to come. Stay tuned as we blog about Yoshinoya, the San Fernando Mission, Bob Hope’s Gravesite, and my first ever ranking on Buzz Lightyear….

Okonomiyaki – Japanese Pizza?

Posted on September 27, 2009 by admin

Ok, so last week I was watching YouTube and I ran across this video on how to make Okonomiyaki. What is Okonomiyaki? It is hard to describe, but if you translate the word into English it means “as you like it.” Basically, they are Japanese Griddle cakes made with a batter that looks like the same thing crepes are made out of. If you interested in trying to make it I have a list of ingredients:

1. Flour

2. Baking powder

3. Cabbage (this needs to be fresh)

4. Onion

5. Egg

6. Bacon

7. Potato chips (regular kind, plain)

8. Okonomiyaki sauce

9. Mayonnaise

First thing you got to do is prep…This is done by chopping the onions and cabbage into little squares (pretend you are making a weird Cole slaw), set the cabbage aside. Then fry the onions until they are dark brown (but not burnt) and set aside. In a bowl, mix one teaspoon into one cup of flower and one egg. Add water to the flower mixture until it gets to where it looks like pancake batter (make sure you get all the lumps out). In a mixing bowl, mix together the cut cabbage, fried onions, and some crushed potato chips. Cut your long bacon pieces in half. After being thoroughly mixed pour the mixture into a frying pan into a little round pancake. Layer your bacon on top of the pancake and squeeze some okonomiyaki sauce on top. After a minute or two, flip the pancake and put some okonomiyaki sauce on the other side. After you feel the pancake is well cooked (you’ll know because the bacon will look down) take the pancake and put it on a plate. Kris cross some mayonnaise on the top and serve.

Here is a little video I made:

Finding the okonomiyaki sauce was tough, but you can use housin sauce (Chinese barbeque sauce) if you can’t find okonomiyaki sauce. If you’re interested in finding the sauce and you live in the Inland Empire area of California leave a comment with your email address and I will let you in on the secret.

How did it taste? Well let’s see what AJ had to say…

He Likes It!

The Pedrozas and Pompeii

Posted on September 9, 2009 by admin

“If you are having troubles viewing the videos or pictures please come visit our blog at www.johnpedroza.com/blog1.

If I had all the money I wanted (which I don’t) and all the time I needed to spend it (which I don’t) I would love to one day go to Italy. As it is, we were lucky to get one of Target’s Free Holiday Monday passes. I wasn’t feeling that good because I caught a virus and the medicine the doctor gave me made me feel kind of woozy (poor Denise had to drive the whole time), but the tickets were free, so I didn’t want to pass it up. My mom came with us and we started by going to IHOP (International House of Pancakes) for Lunch and we walked two blocks to Museum Square (See video):

We then walked through the La Brea Tarpits, this was nice, except I was already kind of woozy and the tar didn’t make it much better, needless to say I took a lot of rest stops on this adventure, at least I didn’t get stuck in the tarpits!!(see video):

When we got to the museum it was very crowded and very noisy. For most people this would be bad, but since we were with AJ, it was all good. Even though AJ learned his voice echoes inside the art museum and not everyone wants to hold his hand, it was all cool because all the other people masked his noises out. The Italian Folk Singers were the best noise control anyone could have ever wished for (see video):

While we waited for our time to come up we visited the other buildings and exhibits.

When our time was up we waited in a really long line.

The Pompeii exhibit was very interesting, I am sorry I was not allowed to take pictures, or I would of put some in.

After the museum we tried to go to a noodle house in Hacienda Heights, but it was closed for Labor day. So we ended up going to Alfredo’s in San Bernardino. If you ever have the chance to go they have REALLY good pasta and bread. They are on Baseline Ave. and have been in San Bernardino for a long time, they have really good food, and they are not that expensive. My meal of Raviolis and Spaghetti with a sausage was $12.00 dollars (and it was soo big I took half of it home).

“

Ponyo

Posted on August 30, 2009 by admin

“If you are having trouble reading this come to my website at www.johnpedroza.com/blog1
<%image(20090830-ponyo.jpg|312|362|Ponyo)%>Today we did a little cleaning up, but the most interesting thing we did was see a Japanese movie named Ponyo. Another great movie by Hayao Miyazaki, it gives a very interesting story. Sort of like the Little Mermaid it involves this little fish that wants to be a real girl and a 5 yr old boy who wants to help him. I love watching Japanese films because their story lines are so much different than our own.
It is being distributed by Disney, here is a trailer:

After the movie we went to Wendy’s and I tried their new boneless chicken wings. I order the sweet and spicy ones, didn’t like them at all. I will never order them again. Basically, they were McNuggets drenched in sauce. It was gross, save your money for a bigger frosty freeze.”

Zion National Park

Posted on August 24, 2009 by admin

“If you have trouble viewing the videos or pictures in this blog post please visit our blog at www.johnpedroza.com/blog1

In Zion we stayed at a nice place called the Zion Ponderosa Ranch. It was a resort ranch place where you could go as high as renting a lodge for $900 a night or do what we did and rent a campsite for $20 a night:
<%image(20090825-zionwebcamp.jpg|448|336|Our campsite)%>
Our site was not much, just a dirt lot and a picnic table, but the real bonus was the ranch itself. The ranch has hot showers, wi-fi, a pool, a park, and an activity barn. They have a lot of activites you can pay for like canyoneering, horse back riding, massages, etc. We however just used the free amenities. The two we used the most were the pool:
<%image(20090825-zionoverweb.jpg|448|336|Nice two tiered pool.)%>
and the park:
<%image(20090825-ajswingsweb.jpg|448|336|AJ really likes to swing.)%>
We could of stayed all day doing things at the ranch, but we were really there to see Zion National Park. The first day we were there we parked at the Visitor Center and took the tram up to the Temple of Sinawava and did the Riverwalk trail up to the narrows. It was a good thing we did this our first day, because the second day it rained and would’ve made it impossible. On the walk to the narrows we saw many things. First was the scenery:
<%image(20090825-zionnarrowsweb.jpg|336|448|Zion from the Narrows)%>
<%image(20090825-ajdenisenarrowsboulweb.jpg|336|448|Big rock)%>
Then there was the wildlife:
This Black Snail is only found in Zion, it is really small:
<%image(20090825-blacksnailweb.jpg|448|336|Zion Black Snail)%>
The Squirells have no fear of humans, you are not allowed to feed them, but they are not afraid of taking it from you with or without your permission. You have to do what you can to avoid them:
<%image(20090825-squirellweb.jpg|337|336|attack mode)%>
In addition to the narrows, we visited the Museum of Man and I climed up to all three emerald pools (the first one was easy, the next two were a bit harder). The view from the Upper Emerald Falls was great though:
<%image(20090825-viewupperfallsweb.jpg|336|448|View from Upper Emerald Falls)%>
While Denise explored the Marketplace AJ and I went hunting for petroglyphs. These are some we found of Ancient Publeons, it was an easy hike just took us a bit to find it (not advertised that much by the Rangers):
<%image(20090825-ajandmepetroweb.jpg|448|336|Ancient Pueblo Art)%>
In recap Zion National Park was a great way to end our vacation. As if to say goodbye, today when we left the park for the last time we saw some rock sheep grazing by the road. We stopped and took pictures and they didn’t care at all that we were there or up close:
<%image(20090825-rocksheepweb.jpg|448|336|I counted 5 from our car.)%>
<%image(20090825-caprocksheepweb.jpg|330|275|We didn't leave the car, because they had big horns)%>

August 21, 2009 Orem to Zion

Posted on August 21, 2009 by admin

“If you are having trouble reading this or seeing the pictures come visit our blog at www.johnpedroza.com/blog1

After a brief breakfast we started out on our quest again. Our first stop was Salina Utah. Just off the 15 in Scipio our oil went out and one of our belts slipped. Fortunately, we were quickly able to find a mechanic and $35 dollars later we were in our way.
<%image(20090823-scipioweb.jpg|336|448|Scipio Garage)%>
Right outside of Salina we hit a bird then a few miles later a deer. We stopped at a gas station to check for damage and asked if were required to report the deer, but we were not required. We then explored the small town of Salina looking for the Gooseberry Old Spanish Trail stamp. We did not find it, but we saw a very old school now called Miss Mary’s Historical Museum. A nice little historical schoolhouse
<%image(20090823-missmarys.jpg|448|336|Miss Mary's Historical Museum)%>
We ended up finding the Gooseberry stamp in Richfield, UT, wierd, but it was fun to get two stamps at once.
<%image(20090823-fishlakeofficegooseberry.jpg|448|336|This is where we got the Gooseberry, UT stamp.)%>
We had lunch at Arby’s, nothing special, but it was cheap. On Hwy 89 we passed through numereous small towns.”

August 20th, 2009 Heber to SLC to Orem

Posted on August 20, 2009 by admin

“We got up early and had breakfast and started on the task of cleaning out our campsite (Sariah 1). Breakfast was leftovers of everything, rather interesting really:
<%image(20090823-everythingbreakfast.jpg|448|336|Everything Breakfast)%>
From Heber we went to SLC where we found a land management office and got 4 stamps. We parked under the Conference Center and strolled Temple Square. The planters were being refaced with granite and so it was a bit noisy. At the North Visitor Center we saw the Christus Statue, but not it’s presentation. While Denise made arrangements to see her friend Jenny, AJ and I looked at a presentation on prophets. The church had a lot of good exhibits. We met Denise’s friend Jenny at a place called the Fallafel House and had middle eastern food.
<%image(20090823-fallafelweb.jpg|448|336|Fallafel House)%>
They still wanted to talk so we went to Sugar House Park. Having many coffee houses and churches not of the LDS faith, it was defunately the non-Mormon part of town. We saw a place called Snelgroves and thought we could get ice cream but it turned out to be a distributorship location for Dreyers.
<%image(20090823-snelgroveweb.jpg|448|336|Snelgrove)%>
We ended up going to Baskin Robbins, here we said goodbye to Jenny and went on to Orem. We got to Uncle Dave’s house around 8PM , but they were not home. They left the front door open for us and so we let ourselves in. Several people in the neighborhood eyed us strangly, a pair of elderly ladies asked me who I was, she seemed ok with me once I spoke to her in Spanish. We stayed up a bit late talking to Uncle Dave and Aunt Bonnie, then we went to bed.”

August 19,2009 Timpanogas

Posted on August 19, 2009 by admin

“Today we were up at 5:30 am. We had breakfast duty, we served left over scones, pancakes, eggs, and fruit. I drove with Grandpa Jackman to the Timpanogas Temple.
<%image(20090823-timptemple1web.jpg|336|448|timptemple)%>
It was fun, he grew up in this area and has a lot of fun memories of fishing for chubs and trouts at the resevior, he also talked about hiking trails and whatnot. I helped out with baptisms and confirmations for our group and another group. Mt. Tempanogas Temple is a very beautiful temple. It was wierd seeing it in person since I had attended it’s open house while at the MTC back in ’96. After that the children were dropped off at Discovery Park and several of went back to do an endowement session at the Timpanogas Temple. After the temple we went back to Discovery park, picked up the children, had a quick bite to eat, changed in a very stinky rest room, and headed off to Timpanogas Cave. The park is small and the 1.5 mile trek to the cave entrance was a bit more streneous than I thought it would be.
<%image(20090823-denisetoptimpweb.jpg|336|448|Denise Timpanoga)%>
The big problem was carrying AJ on my back. Denise and I switched off, but it was still tiring. Getting to the top paid off in a gorgeous view of some spectacular geological formations found in the cave along with beautiful vistas.
<%image(20090823-denisecaveweb.jpg|336|448|Denise in the cave.)%>
On the way back down AJ was soo tired he fell alseep on my shoulders.
<%image(20090823-ajtimpweb.jpg|448|336|AJ fell asleep.)%>
We were very thirsty and stopped at a gas station for drinks. Utah might not know how to do Mexican food, but they know their ice cream. Inside a gas station in Highland, UT. I got a Rocky Road Milkshake soo thick you could of turned it upside down and you would have no fear of spilling it. It really tasted good after the 3.5 mile (round) trip in Timpanogas Park. We headed back to camp really tired.”

August 18, 2009 Heber Valley Camp

Posted on August 18, 2009 by admin

“If you are having trouble viewing the pictures please visit our blog at www.johnpedroza.com/blog1

Last night was a bit rough for us with no tent, but I set up our tent inside the Priesthood tent and so things are looking good for us now.
<%image(20090823-tentinatentweb.jpg|448|336|te)%>
Today we woke up and it was a bit cold but ok. What really made it OK was the hot shower, I can survive mlI helped out with Uncle Scott’s crew with breakfast. As with all family reunions there was too much food. I normally am not a breakfast person but the scones were too much to pass up. I did skip lunch, I was too full anyhow. After breakfast we took a family picture in our renunion tshirts. I don’t look very good in light blue, but I will survive. After my lunch time nap it was off to the lake where I of course had to drop my camera in the lake. Luckily I got it out pretty fast and it dried out ok. AJ and I enjoyed paddling, we took Grace a long with us. We then went to the challenge course. Our first challenge was a 40ft cargo net, walk across a sparse suspension bridge to a zip line. It was quite the challenge, but fun. The other challenges were a tight rope, a spider web, blind tag, and a swing bridge. Our group wasn’t the greatest but we got through it. Back at camp I wrote letters to Brittney and Adam Durfee. I don’t know them that well, but we are related so I wrote a letter. Tonight we had BBQ chicken, it was pretty good.”