Sam with his parents before the commencement.
Me and my cute hubbie. Doesn't he look so smart!? :)
Sam waiting for his professors to place his hood on him
The commencement was a bit long because they did both the MBA and Bachelors in Business at the same time. It was a nice ceremony though and we were able to see our friends Brooke and Chris there (Chris was graduating with his Bachelors). Fun times! 
Cute Sam after the ceremony is over. I'm SOOO glad that this chapter of our lives is over, but I have a feeling that Sam's not going to stop there. He's been talking about getting more schooling after this. *sigh* Luckily, he's agreed to take a break this summer and then we'll discuss things this fall. What a motivated guy! I'm so proud of him and I'm so lucky to have him. :)
Me holding our niece Remi. Her hair was all cutsy with pigtails and bows, but she ripped those out of her hair. . . thus leaving crazy hair. She's still an adorable girl! :)
Hayden and Gaige riding their bikes in the street. Gaige just got a bike for his b'day, so he was eager to show it off to Uncle Sam.
Gaige and Hayden and their awesome bikes. I was surprised by how big they've gotten! How time flies! Well, we had a blast in Bakersfield. Now that Sam's done with school, we look forward to hanging out more with the fam!
Here's a pic of our ADORABLE bed and breakfast that we stayed at. It was conveniently located a few blocks away from State Street, and so it was very centrally located to all the restaurants and cute shops!
We had our own private entrance into our room at the B&B. Look at the cute garden right outside our room!
One thing I really don't like about B&B's is awkwardly eating breakfast with total strangers. I'm sorry, but if I'm staying at a B&B, I'm trying to spend time with my hubbie, not random people. Well, this B&B found a way to solve that problem. . . they deliver your breakfast in a basket right to your room door. That way you can eat it in your room, or go down to the beach and eat it! I LOVE this concept! :)
Look at the yummy breakfast from inside of the basket! And it was warm too! Yummy!
That Saturday, Sam and I decided to head to the Santa Barbara Mission, since this was our first visit to Santa Barbara. Our tour guide was the cutest old lady who was filled with all sorts of cool info. It was amazingly fun!
Being in the mission kind of change me. . . I became a monk! Hahah! It kinda suits me, huh?
Sam enjoying the serenity. . . if only I can get him to smile in his pics! :)
That evening, Sam and I made reservations for Opal. Prior to our SB visit, I had researched Opal online and discovered that it was a local favorite. Boy am I glad that we found that place. First of all, everyone was so friendly (we got wished a happy anniversary by like 5 employees. . . the manager even offered to take this pic of us outside of the restaurant- how kind!), and the food was AMAZING! I had the duck with a berry sauce and Sam had a cheese rizotto. Holy cow, it was YUMMY! We still talk about how amazing the food was!
For dessert, we ordered a berry creme brulee, and look at what they wrote. .. IN CHOCOLATE! It was SOO yummy! I'm DEFINITELY coming back to Opal on our next visit! :)
Sam's request for that evening was to watch the sunset on the beach. So we found this park that overlooked the ocean. It was SOOO peaceful and romantic!
I can't believe it's been 5 years! Wow! How time flies! :). On Sunday, we lounged around at the B&B, went to church, and then headed home. We hit lots of traffic, so we're glad that we left early. We had SOO much fun in Santa Barbara. . . if only I can get Sam a job there where his salary is over $500,000. Hahah! :)
