Adventure #15: San Diego and Dana Point

"Our memories of the ocean will linger on, long after our footprints in the sand are gone." - Anonymous

July 29 - August 6, 2014

We got home from Colorado on Sunday night, and left for California the following Tuesday! We were so blessed to be able to take two vacations subsequently. We were especially blessed to visit the temple where we were married a year and a half ago. We hadn't been there since our wedding day! Can you believe that? 

Tuesday was our driving day and Wednesday was our temple day. We went to see one of my best friends (Aroha) go through the temple to receive her endowments. 

We weren't able to get a picture square in front of the temple (like this one) on our wedding day because they had a nativity scene set up. Jordan and I were very happy we got to take this picture.

My Daddy was there with us. It was nice to be at the temple with him. 

He took us out to In-n-Out right after the temple. :)

Jordan's favorite pose. 

After we got home from the temple, we swam in the pool and just chillaxed the rest of the day. The next day was Thursday which meant bachelorette party day!!! I got to be in charge of this shindig so of course I got Aroha some party gear...

She is way too beautiful for her own good.  :)

For the bachelorette party we just went to lunch and played a silly game. It was fun to see friends I hadn't seen in forever! I missed them so much! It was also nice to meet some of Aroha's new family. I don't remember much of what happened the rest of the day. We probably went swimming again and then did some more relaxing.

Then came Friday... Aroha's Wedding!!!! She looked so radiant. I almost started crying when I saw her because I was so happy for her and her new hubby. Great, now I'm about to cry just writing about it. Aroha couldn't have found a more amazing person than Chad. He is so sweet and I know that he will take care of my best friend forever.  :)

My mom was taking pictures of everyone else taking pictures, so Jordan, me, and my dad tried to stand out (we're in the back jumping). 

You're probably sick of seeing so many pictures of me and Jordan, but I like them, 

and so I will keep posting them. 

That same night was Aroha's reception. It was so much fun! I love Polynesian culture. Everything about it just makes me so happy. Aroha's family was great and performed a lot for us.

 The two with the leis are Aroha's parents. The rest are Aunts, Uncles, and cousins.

They performed a few songs, but here is just one.  :)

 I cannot get through one Daddy-Daughter dance without crying! Aroha definitely is a Daddy's girl and so watching them dance was very precious.

I cry every time I watch this. I can't believe she is married! I'm so happy for her and her husband. Watching Aroha dance just makes me think of how beautiful she is inside and out. She stuck with me through everything. I am glad we are going to be friends for eternity.

 After all the usual stuff was finished, the dance floor was open! Jordan of course jumped out of his seat and was groovin' in no time. My mom was way too happy at that. I used to be so embarrassed by my mom's dancing and so I guess marrying Jordan is sort of karma. This picture is my mom hugging Jordan after they line-danced together.

 I also got to hang out with some friends from high school! Alyssa and Felisha

 Aroha, me, and Felisha. Man, we had some great times in high school. All three of us took French together, Felisha and I did choir, Aroha and Felisha were on the tennis team, and Aroha and I were just best pals. We had many fun sleepovers together - let me tell you. 

The next day, Saturday, was the beginning of our family vacation. What better way to kick things off than to kick off the football season? We drove down to San Diego for the Chargers' Fan Fest! Basically you watch the players warm up and scrimmage - analyzing who the best players are and such. You can also get some autographs if you like being trampled. We have enough autographs in our collection for now, so we just enjoyed watching some football.

 I'm glad I have the cutest and sweetest brothers in the whole world.  :)

 Jordan didn't have any Charger gear, so we decided the Superman shirt would do.  lol

 The team looked pretty good. I'm definitely excited for this season.

Once we finished at Fan Fest, we headed up the coast to Dana Point to meet my parents at the condo where we were all going to stay for a few days. We hit a lot of traffic, so it was a long drive. Good thing we had good entertainment. Between our funny conversations and listening to awesome music, we had a good drive. When we made it to our condo (which was so nice, by the way), we just HAD to go down to the beach. Not to swim. Just to enjoy the sea and the salty breeze (Iron & Wine anyone?). 

Jordan loves making everything exciting. I'm just glad he didn't actually throw me in (it was chilly). 

Okay, Jordan was not a fan of California sand crabs. He just didn't think that they were real. He insisted that they were not crabs. I guess he's used to East Coast crabs or something.

After our short visit to the beach we had dinner at Lucille's BBQ. It was very yummy. And super satisfying after a long day. Once we got home we a few different board games and went to bed!

We slept so well our first night at the condo! Ryan slept VERY well and was dead asleep when most of us were awake. James and Jordan decided that a prank would be very fitting for the given situation...

James started it by piling blankets and pillows on top of Ryan and... no reaction. So the next logical thing to do was put the other mattress on top of Ryan, too.

 It doesn't even look like any one is in there, but trust me Ryan is there peacefully sleeping.

We took some good pictures and then cleared everything off Ryan. James had the genius idea of just showing Ryan all of the pictures after he wakes up. It was awesome. Ryan had no idea what had happened and he was stunned when we showed him pictures. ha ha

Our first full day at the condo was a Sunday so we spent a lot of time relaxing, eating food, and playing a few games. We also spent a couple hours working on our family history. It was so nice doing family history together. It wasn't as daunting. We made some good progress, too! Oh, and we watched the LEGO Movie!!!

I LOVE sunsets at the beach. Watching the sun go down over the ocean is just magical to me. I could watch this kind of sunset everyday. 

Monday came which meant our first beach day!!! It was a bit of a walk to the beach, but those 100 stairs were probably good for us. 

The walk was also very beautiful. 

Within seconds of finding a place to put our stuff, Jordan grabbed a boogie board and dived into the ocean! Usually my family likes to set up our chairs and umbrellas, put on sunscreen and just relax for a few minutes. Jordan has a different routine I suppose.  lol

Jordan had never seen waves this big. He could believe how powerful they were either. (This picture is just a few seconds after the previous picture with the giant wave over his head).

This is the first wave Jordan has ever caught it the Pacific Ocean!

I also was not prepared for how powerful these waves were. I had never been to a beach like this! If you walked towards the water and stood where the sand was wet, there could be no water at your feet and then suddenly a four foot wave comes and smacks you! It was so weird to me. I was used to a more gradual experience. With boogie boards, we had to time it perfectly. We would wait on the dry sand until it was calm and then would run and swim as fast as we could past where the waves were breaking.

The first day was rough for me. I got smacked down at least five or six times. I would try diving under the wave, but then the wave would just flip me around. I felt like a rag doll. No control over where I was going. Needless to say, by the end of the day, our swimsuits were full of sand.

We look so cute! Little did we know we were all being fried!!!! And just in time for our family pictures that evening. lol

Here's a sneak peak of our family pictures we took. Thankfully we don't look like lobsters.

I really don't care if you think I'm super cliche. Sometimes cliche can be beautiful!

Unfortunately my little brother Ryan had to leave Monday night to go to AP Camp. So Tuesday and Wednesday it was me, Jordan, James, and my parents.  On Tuesday we decided to go on a mini trip. Jordan had never been to a mission in California so we went to the San Juan Capistrano Mission. It was only a few minutes away from our condo. It was so beautiful. They even had an audio tour so that was really cool learning all the history behind the mission.

Hopefully you can't tell from this picture, but we were still fried from the day before. We tried to stay out of the sun as much as we could. Seriously, any time there was a small spot of shade, we all tried to stand in it.  lol

The building on the right of this picture was the old church. It was destroyed by an earthquake just six years after completion. 

My dad, Jordan, James, and I are look at the statue of Padre Junipero Serra.

James and I taking in the sights

Jordan wandered into the courtyard and picked an orange from the tree!!! He didn't think there was any problems touching things at a two hundred year old mission.

This is the chapel that is still used everyday for mass. It had a really pretty altar piece. There was also a painting on the wall that had been recently restored. It hadn't been displayed for almost one hundred years.

I'm pointing to the organ at the back of the chapel. My mom and I both play the organ at church.

This was also a nice place to get out of the sun. It was a hot day! I love James' smile.  :)

They also had a really old olive mill. 

This fountain was so pretty AND it had koi fish in it!

After we toured the mission we ate lunch at a cool sandwich/burger place. I have to say, my sandwich was REALLY good.  :)

Once we were done eating, we headed down to the beach! I was much braver this day and actually enjoyed the ocean. Jordan was always so helpful. He tried to make sure I didn't get obliterated by the waves.

Ya, we are wearing full on clothes because we were still burnt so bad! But the cool ocean water felt great on our burns.

Jordan and I running into the water...

You can't tell, but we were actually running in slow motion. ha ha The pictures look legit though.

Jordan and I were even fortunate enough to catch a few waves at the same time.

ha ha ha... yes I got knocked down by a wave... again.  lol

I can't believe I screamed! ha ha