Why I Love California

I love southern California for a multitude of reasons, many being that I have been able to share so many fun experiences there with Hubert.  We spent our honeymoon there, revisited and spent time with wonderful people that Hubert served during his mission, and recently while I was seven months pregnant, went with our wonderful friends, Matt and Jenny Meese, who was also pregnant with their beautiful twin boys Graham and Harrison.  But what I find interesting about all of the times I've been to California is the pictures that I have brought home with me and how some of them are so random, yet really funny, and how some of them are so wonderful and show our fun times with the friends we have made.  The following pictures are the top five reasons I love southern California:

1) When we went on our honeymoon, we ventured throughout San Diego, New Port Beach, Santa Anna, and many other places.  So why is it that the only pictures we have are of the animals at the San Diego Zoo?  Who knows, but I love this picture of what I assume is some sort of pig that swims and also the animal that I associate with the "Piggies" in Orson Scott Card's book Speaker for the Dead.

2)  We went on the Universal Studios tour where it takes you through various movie sets such as the War of the Worlds set, the Dr Suess set, the motel where Pyscho takes place, and many other interesting movie sets.  But what I loved most about that tour was none of those things, it was sitting behind this man and staring at his birth mark on his head.

3)  When we went the first time after our honeymoon, we spent some time with the wonderful Alcala family whom Hubert baptized.  Since their conversion, Simone, the father, has since become a bishop.  They are a humble family with three beautiful girls, the oldest twins, who live in a tiny two bedroom apartment, but they still know how to have a great time.  Oh, and when this picture was taken, I had the most horrific sunburn.

4)  The last time we went which was this past May, we had the opportunity to go with our wonderful friends, Matt and Jenny Meese.  Like me, Jenny was also pregnant but instead of one baby to come, she had two.  We had a wonderful time with them and went to such places as the Late Show with Jay Leno, In and Out Burger (my favorite place), and somehow we were at the red carpet during the American Idol finale laughing our heads off.  But we love Matt and Jenny and I love this picture of them when we were on one of the piers in New Port.

5)  And finally, the thing that Hubert and I love most about California is the beach.  We spend hours sitting on the sand just talking and looking out over the ocean and we love to walk up and down the beach and have the ocean water cover our feet and make them sink in the sand.  I love this picture because we are at the place we love the most, just months away from having our baby girl.