California 7/2010 and other stuff

For a sort of replacement honeymoon (because we got married on a Friday and I had to get back to school on Monday) we decided to make a trip to California. This trip also had two other goals: 1) see family and 2) visit some temples we haven't been to.

The trip started with the St. George post I did about a month ago, where we visited my sister, and went to the St. George temple. The next leg of the trip was Los Angeles, California. My brother and his family have lived there for a few years and I haven't gotten to visit them very often.

On the first day in Los Angeles, Darrin and I explored downtown. We saw a few scary areas, but we also saw some things that were at least a little exciting for us:

Here is Darrin standing outside the Staples center-where the Lakers play. Darrin wanted to go see if Kobe Bryant was home, but we never made it inside.

On our walk downtown, we also visited China town. We went to a bakery and got some Chinese treats that Darrin has been missing like Mochi and pineapple bread. Here we are at the entrance of China town.

Our next stop was the Getty, an art museum in Los Angeles. My brother had taken his wife there for her birthday and she recommended it. It was pretty cool. We really liked the gardens outside too.

Jeff (my brother) and his wife, Jackie took us and their kids to one of their favorite beaches-Zuma beach. It was a pretty cold day, but we still managed to have fun. This was Darrin's first time at the beach! We built a sea turtle, can you tell?

Here is cute Vanessa. I regret that these are the only pictures I got of my brother's family. I guess we'll have to go back soon. :)

After having fun in Los Angeles (and going to the temple), we took a drive down to San Diego. Neither of us had been there before and we're both glad we went!

Our first stop was the zoo. Wouldn't we fit in a safari?

Here is Darrin outside the polar bear cage-one of our favorite exhibits.

Next stop: San Diego temple. Even though it was under construction on the outside, the inside was soooo beautiful! Probably my favorite celestial room ever!

On our last day (or so we thought) in San Diego, we went to Sea World. It was a lot of fun, but we don't know if we'll go back because it was so expensive!
The Killer Whale Show:

We ended up staying in San Diego an extra day because our car broke down-I was not happy. Luckily, Darrin knows how to cheer me up. Because we stayed longer, we got to go to a beautiful white, sandy beach and collect some shells two times.

Our last trip of the summer was in August, to Idaho and West Yellowstone, Montana. Darrin had never been to Yellowstone Park (while it seems I grew up there), so I had to take him. We also went to a show at the Playmill Theater, Beauty and the Beast. Amazing. As always.

Here we are waiting for Old Faithful to go off:



And here she is! The wind was being annoying and making all the steam get in the way of us seeing the actual water. Oh well.

That was our summer. Now Darrin is super busy with the accounting program and I am busy teaching my sixth graders science!