California Again

In the last several months, we've made a lot of trips (mostly Mark) to California. This time was for a much happier reason and an exciting occasion. One of my cousins was getting married and was kind enough to invite her cousins to the small and intimate event. We spent just over 48 hours in California and packed it with fun, adventure, and great food. Because of the craziness of the trip, I got about half the trip on my phone and half of the trip on my camera....sorry.

Friday: We arrived in Los Angeles at 8:30AM. After waiting in line for a good 45 minutes for a rental car, we thought we were on our way out to freedom keys in hand. Sadly, I dropped my license in the car somewhere. They wouldn't let us out at the gate because I didn't have it on me. After a mess of digging, retracing steps and the hassle of getting approved to let Mark drive out rather than me, we were on our way to Simi. Yet I was still fearful my license was gone and I'd have to call my boss and tell him I wouldn't be back until Tuesday because I couldn't fly. Thankfully Mark happened to peek in a cup holder and see it tucked under the rubber part that grips the cups 5 hours later. Thank goodness! That afternoon we enjoyed a delicious lunch at Baja Fresh. Think Cafe Rio/Costa Vida but less (visible) grease and 10 times better. Summer time is the best because they have the mango salsa to eat with your chips.

Friday night we caught a Dodger Game with my parents, 2 of my sisters and my Aunt Kath (who is a MAJOR Dodger fan) and her 2 girls. We got Dodger Dogs, malts and sang 2 energizing rounds of "Take Me Out the Ball Game" at the 7th inning stretch. Afterwards, they had a fireworks show, which made the game worthwhile despite Dodgers losing 17-1.

The next morning, 16 of us went to Reds, a local barbecue far better than Texas Roadhouse or any other BBQ joint for that matter. My Aunt used to have a tradition of taking us there on the last day of school. It's actually where we ate lunch (though I do not remember) while my parents went to the hospital to have my younger sister back in 1990. Needless to say, we put our hand over our hearts each time we talk about it.

After stuffing ourselves of their signature rolls and yummy food, we all hopped into cars and made the 80 minute trek north to Carpinteria for my cousins wedding. The wedding was beautiful and though the temperature was a tad warm, it wasn't bad at 4:30 in the afternoon.

The bride's sister (my other cousin) Ashley was the maid of honor. She looked beautiful along with the other bridesmaids.  

 The bride and her dad walking her down the aisle. She looked beautiful and though you can't tell from the picture, she was glowing!

After the ceremony (not during I promise!)

 I picked out Mark's tie all by myself! 

After the ceremony they had an hour of cocktails. We enjoyed a few lemon lime fizzes (Sprite) and found giant Jenga that kept us occupied as we enjoyed alternating breezes of manuer and salt water from the ocean below the ranch. 

 My two younger cousins Kaelyn and Natalie and Cheriss. Natalie missed the memo that I was taking a picture....

 As you can see, the tower got pretty intense. Especially when a few blocks were put on their side based on the listed rules. I'm just glad no one put them standing up! We may or may not have detained some guests (and the photographer) from taking their seats for the dinner because our tower was so high. Our apologies to the bride and groom for stealing the show hehe! 

 After dinner was the best part and by far a must in any wedding...dancing! My grandpa even got in the circle and cut a rug for a little bit. 3 of the 4 sisters that were there had spouses and ironically, none of them like to dance. They were at least good enough sports to dance a few slow songs. The best by far was dancing with my husband to Brad Paisley's "Then". Total cheesy moment. But dancing with my favorite man to my favorite country musician? What could be better? We really had fun dancing up a storm and the best part was most of the other guests had been drinking. So no one cared that we were doing goofy moves like "the sprinkler" and "the shopping cart"!

 I just happened to capture this cute moment of my cousin Ashley dancing with some of the flower girls. So cute! 

Table centerpieces: mason jars with tea candles in them. It was perfect for an outdoor wedding with an evening reception. It was so fun to be able to take part in my cousin and her new husband's special day! I don't think I've been to a wedding that fun since my own! 

Although we had to leave Sunday afternoon for our flight back to Utah, we hung out for a few hours at my grandparents' house and were able to visit with my uncle and his kids who live in Texas. It was great to see them as it's been a few yeas since we've seen them. 

Although our trip to California was a blur and went by way too fast, we had so much fun cramming so much into those 3 short days. Although Utah naturally feels like home after 7 years, it still feels good to and see palm trees, the ocean and the things that Utah just doesn't have...pretty much everything we did in those 3 days! I guess I'll always be a California girl at heart.