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Christmas Break, Part 2

The day after Christmas we took off for California. The traffic was pretty bad between Las Vegas and Los Angeles.  But we finally arrived at our rental house in Costa Mesa.

The next day we went to a nearby church.  I always enjoy attending church in a new place just to see what it's like.  After church we had a discussion with our younger children about our family motto for 2016.  After some negotiating, this is what we came up with:

"In 2016, our family will strive to be cheerful, tolerant, healthy, proactive, faithful, and kind."  Hopefully we can A. remember it and B. make it happen!

On Monday, we visited the Discovery Cube which is a science museum.  Everett and Talmage had a great time making a stop-action video.  And visiting the dinosaur section.  I don't think it was quite as interesting for my granddaughter.

Later that day, during low tide, we visited a beach with some nice tidal pools.  We saw hermit crabs and sea anenomes.


Tuesday was the wedding for Jan and Sallie--the real reason we came to California!  It was a great day and we really enjoyed it.  They got married in the Newport Beach Temple.  The man who performed the ceremony gave a very good talk beforehand and it was very meaningful to me.  After taking lots of pictures, we went to Sallie's parents' house and had a wedding luncheon.  Then that evening we attended the reception at the LDS Institute in Long Beach.  Except for my high heel shoes killing me, it all went really well.  All our children were there except for Lincoln on his mission.  My brother and his family and my sister and her husband were there to support us.



There are now 14 of us, just missing Lincoln in this picture.



Wednesday, we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific.  We got there early to beat the crowds but after a couple of hours there were so many people we just wanted to go.  We especially enjoyed feeding the lorikeets with some nectar.  The birds land on you and slurp it up.






I especially enjoyed watching the sea lions who were very active and putting on quite a show.

Thursday was a beach day.  Some of us rented wetsuits and boogie boards and tried to ride the waves.  The wetsuits helped a lot with the cold but the waves were pretty small.  Still it was fun.


It's really hard to get a good picture with Katie smiling but I'm going to keep trying!

Friday was our last day.  David and Stephanie flew home that day from the LA airport.  We went back to the beach--the Corona beach.  While we were there we ran into some friends from our neighborhood.  That's always so amazing when that happens.




Talmage and Everett were playing a game with Everett's sandals and the waves.

On Saturday, we got an early start and took off for home.  It was so early that my 13-year-old son forgot to put on his glasses and left them behind, sadly.  The rental house company mailed them back and we ordered new ones so now we have two pairs.

It was hard to put on Christmas, prepare for a wedding, and go on a big trip all at the same time but it all worked out well.




















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