A Packed Visit with Mom, Bob and Grandma Squire

On Friday, April 10th, I headed to LAX to meet Luke's Mom, Bob and Grandma Squire. They came all this way to see us from Virginia and North Carolina. We were so looking forward to them coming!

Our first stop was to take them by Luke's work.  We met up with him while he ate his "Employee Appreciation" lunch in front of us. But after his lunch break was done, I made sure to take them to "The Habit", the best burger place in all of California! (Yes, even somehow better than In-N-Out)

Later that evening we headed to Huntington Beach. Grandma could barely walk to the pier and back, so it was a short trip, but we got to see the sun set and enjoy the views (and the cold wind...)

Finished off the first evening with a yummy dinner

The next day was our big Hollywood day! Since Grandma Squire reads People Magazine everyday and is VERY up-to-date on celebrity news, we knew a trip to Hollywood was a must. I found a great deal on Groupon for a Hollywood bus ride, and it turned out to be a great choice (especially since we didn't have to navigate around ourselves). But the tour was a big hit! It was two hours long and very informative.  Grandma Squire just loved taking it all in, and was sad to have missed the Kardashians (not). On our way back we made a quite stop to the famous Venice Beach

Walking with Stars

All ready for our bus tour!

Hollywood!

The City of Angels

Venice Beach!

That evening we headed back to Huntington Beach to show them our favorite sushi restaurant Matsu Sushi on Beach Boulevard. Luke and I had gone there for Valentine's Day, and have been dying to go back ever since. Grandma Squire had never had sushi before. She grew to like it more as the night went on.

There's a smile with that sushi!

On Sunday afternoon, we took all of them to our favorite new SoCal spot: The Trump National Golf Course.  It's open to the public where we able to get incredible views and walk down the cliffs to the beach. It was a perfect afternoon for a perfect view. 

We saved the best for last: DISNEYLAND. They hadn't been to Disneyland in decades, so it was about time they all needed to go back! We got Grandma Squire a wheelchair which was not only a life saver, but it got us to the front of all the lines! We had a great day enjoying the place Luke and I love most!

Treasure Spots

In the past week, Luke and I have found two absolutely beautiful spots here in Southern California that I just want to share with everyone!

Trump National Golf Club of Los Angeles, Rancho Palos Verdes

On the Sunday I flew home from Portland, Luke and I decided to take a drive up the coast. We decided to go to the Palos Verdes Peninula just north of us. After we drove through the port and were up on the hills of the peninsula, it was like a whole other world.  Since most of the beaches down here are suburbs of LA, most of the homes look like anything else you'd see in the country, except you can get to the beach in 2 minutes. However, these homes truly looked like vacation homes with the cute architectural designs you would see in Santa Barbara or Santa Cruz. As we were driving along the coast line, taking in the breathtaking views (even now, every time we come over a ridge and see the vast ocean, it still takes my breath away), we saw a small sign for a beach park. We followed the signs and were unaware of just what exactly we were about to find.  We found ourselves at the Trump Golf Club of Los Angeles! We quickly realized that it was opened to the public, so we parked our car and went out to explore.  It kills me that words cannot describe (I'm not being cheesy, it seriously does) how beautiful it was.  Here was this beautiful golf course, with lots of grass for family picnics, covered with children playing and running through the lawn, with a million (well, probably billion) dollar view of the Pacific Ocean. The park within the golf course was so beautiful to stroll around.

Almost at the beach!

Panorama beach view

I Googled this to show just how beautiful the location is

It was so wonderful to see that such a prestigious place allows families of all kind to have a nice picnic and stroll around the grounds, while enjoying the beautiful world that God created. From the lawns we walked down to the beach which was very secluded. It was so wonderful to be so isolated in such a busy urban area. You would never guess that just two miles south of us was the largest Port in the US, the Port of Los Angeles, and 30 minutes northeast of us was the second largest city in the US, Los Angeles.

Fun Fact:
The Mitch and Cam wedding from Modern Family was filmed at the Trump Golf Club.

Los Liones Canyon Trail

Luke had a three day weekend for Easter (and who says California isn't religious enough), and so we decided to take the day to do some hiking which we haven't had a chance to do yet.  After much research, I found a trail to try.  Our biggest thing was that we wanted ocean views, and boy did we find a trail with ocean views.

We hiked the Los Liones Canyon Trail  in the Santa Monica Mountains. It hugs the west side of the montains, meaning almost the entire time we had views of the ocean.  Once we got high enough up, there were 180 degree views of the ocean, and also peaks of the LA skyline.

So much ocean!

Once at the top, you had the entire world in front of you.  We lucked out with a clear morning of no marine layer (the morning fog off the ocean) or smog, meaning the visibility was great! To the east was the LA skyline, the LA basin to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the West!

Santa Monica and the pier

And in the mean time, there's still been lots of time for Disneyland!

Family Party Time (Northern California and Portland)

Luke was kind enough to let me go and have fun for a few weeks! While he had to work some longer hours on a current project, I headed up to Northern California to spend time with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It's always so great to get to spend time with my grandparents.  We all really went through withdrawals when Luke and I moved down to Southern California, after getting to spend every day with them.

Four Generations!

A trip back to Stockton also included getting to visit the office I use to work in.  It was so fun to see people again and catch up! It's no secret that my favorite two people to see were my cousin Allie and Dave Dinubilo (a family friend of over 40 years).

Luke and I recently bought my parent's car. My mom very willingly drove the car down to Stockton to bring it to me. It was great to spend time with her in her home town, and we took the opportunity to take a four generation picture while we were all in town!

My mom then drove the remaining 6 hours with my back down to Orange County.  We had a great mini road trip, one of the dozens that we have such fond memories of together. We spent one night at my place and the next day Luke took us to the airport and we flew to Portland!

Spending a week with my parents was one of the best decisions.  It was so nice to have it be just the three of us, and not be there for any particular reason, making it nice and relaxed.

My first day, my dad and I hiked Beacon Rock at the Columbia River Gorge.  Hiking has always been my dad's thing. We talked about everything, and he gave me a lot of business advice on my new company. And the view, gorgeous.  It really is the most beautiful corner of the country, and that's including my beloved Southern California.

Sadly the entire week I was fighting a cold. Even though I was loving the rain, apparently my body wasn't! But it was so nice to have a relaxed enough trip that didn't matter if I was sick. Our time together included Downtown Portland, sushi, Nicolas, lots of Thai food and friends.

After I had already booked my tickets, I learned that I was lucky enough to have overlapped my trip with Bailey Rhoad's homecoming! She just got back from serving in Brazil. It was so specially so see a beautiful woman who I've known since I was six, come home and see just how much she was shining! Chelsea (her twin) was in town too, making me the luckiest girl alive to have two of my best friends from high school actually be in town when I was in town. At one point, when Chelsea's baby, Logan, was napping, it was just me, Chelsea and Bailey.  No boys. Just us.  I can't remember the last time that was, and who knows when it will happen again, but it was special.

Also timed so perfectly was the fact that my cousins Bri and Madi were in town! They are both going to school in the Bay Area, and were home for Spring Break.  We squeezed in an hour together at The Laughing Planet to catch up on EVERYTHING. Sadly, I failed to remember to snap a pic of the rare sighting of the three of us all together.

At the tail end of my trip, my other grandma came down from Canada to visit.  I haven't had a chance to see her since my wedding (and we all know that seeing someone during your own wedding doesn't count). We had a great time going downtown which included the staples of Saturday's Market and Powell's Books. My grandma had never been, so of course we had to go!

All together, it was a great trip, and I cannot wait to return in 3 months for Alex's homecoming!

A New Yorker Visits The Golden State

Pretty much, Chelsea Sue is the coolest person ever.  I've been lucky to have known her 3 of my 4 years at BYU, and we are still close enough that she flew all the way across the country to see me and Luke (well, to use us for an excuse for sunshine, Disneyland and fish tacos, but we will use her when we go to New York).  She's now gone, and Luke's in Indiana for the week and it's pretty lonely all alone in the sun, so I've been reminiscing on one of the funnest weeks.

Santa Monica

We did not waste a single day when Chelsea was here.  Seriously, I'm exhausted! On day one we packed in Huntington, Santa Monica and Venice Beach. I've been to Huntington countless times now, but had never been to Santa Monica or Venice Beach.  Santa Monica Pier was neat to see the end of Route 66 which is now I-10. The pier is cool with its little rides, but considering it was the middle of a Tuesday in February, it was pretty dead.

Venice Beach and the BEST Fish Tacos Ever (Seriously)

Next was Venice Beach.  It was nothing like I expected.  At first I didn't live how dirty it was with graffiti everywhere, but then I realized that's what Venice Beach is all about.  It's full of young people (a lot like young people in Downtown Portland) where they all lift weights or play basketball at Muscle Beach or skateboard at the skate park.  The most important thing that needs to been known though about Venice Beach is that it is home to THE BEST FISH TACOS IN THE WORLD. I kid you not.  I am salivating right now as I right about them.  Just at a little stand right there on the beach, for $2 you get the best fish taco EVER. It's all in the sauce.  Literally every day that Chelsea was here we tried to get fish tacos that were better, but nothing compared.

The Happiest Place on Earth

The next day was DISNEYLAND!!! Seriously, I'm so not sick of Disneyland yet.  How can anyone get sick of it? Luke and I are still averaging one night a week there. This was Chelsea's first time at Disneyland.  She went to Disney World in January, and she was excited to compare.  Her conclusion: Disneyland won, hands down.  She loved how it felt so local, and it wasn't overwhelmingly big, unlike Disney World. We had a great day enjoying the short lines of a weekday visit. Luke joined us later that day when got done with work for the day.

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

And then for the highlight of the week: Jimmy Kimmel Live!! This was a big deal for me because I had never been to a live taping of a show. I was so excited! Since our car broke down and our "new" car won't be here until the end of March, and we were feeling adventurous.  However, the train went through Compton on the way, and we definitely underestimated our adventure levels. Luckily, we made it home alive.  All I could do the whole time was laugh to cope with my nervousness.  Multiple times I whispered, I can't believe we did this as we chuckled quietly to ourselves. Jimmy Kimmel was awesome to be at! The studio was a lot smaller than I expected.  Chelsea and I had perfect seats towards the front and center. At the end, when I yelled Jimmy's name, he came up and said hi to me (melt). And Chelsea's trip to Hollywood couldn't be complete without a trip to her Goddess Celine Dion's star. I've never seen her so happy as the moment she saw the star (but then I guess I wasn't with her when she saw her in concert.

San Diego

One of our days the three of us went to San Diego. It's a gorgeous two hour drive from our house.  On the way down we did a session at the San Diego Temple.  I am extremely bias to the Portland Temple, but SD comes to a very close 2nd.  Everything about it was breathtaking, and it truly felt like being in a princess castle! After the temple we headed to La Jolla Cove for some incredible views of the ocean with the cliffs in the background and after that to downtown SD to enjoy good food and shopping along the water at Seaport Village before we headed back up north.

Los Angeles

On Chelsea's last day, we squeezed in a couple of more things since she was taking a red-eye back home.  Luke left that same day for a business trip to Indiana, so after we dropped him off, we continued up to LA.  We ate at the well-known "Farmer's Market" to enjoy some good food in the sun.  Seriously every ethnic food you can imagine in one place, and it was authentic!  Then a few blocks down we went to the Los Angeles County Art Museum.  Even though Chelsea has access to all the amazing art museums in New York, she was quite impressed with this one.  We saw Picassos, Degas, Renoirs, and saw a whole exhibit on 1920's German Film that we both would have had no idea about if it weren't for our beloved Dr. McFarland from BYU.

The day in LA was topped off with a trip to the LA Temple and Visitor Center.  Such a beautiful and majestic building nestled in the high-rises of LA.  On our way to LAX we couldn't resist and drove all the way to Venice Beach to get those fish tacos one last time.  Sadly, for whatever stupid reason, they were closed by 6pm.  But we didn't let that put a damper on our week.

If anyone wants to travel and explore, Chelsea Sue is the perfect buddy. COME BACK CHELSEA.