LA to AL

Welp, another 6 months, another move. But this move marks the half way point of Luke's rotations with Parker Hannifin! We've been so blessed with this opportunity for Luke to get so much corporate exposure.  Yes, moving around so often is as emotionally hard as you probably think it is (I'll admit to that as I've now cried at least 3 times at the thought of leaving California, or more the west coast in general), but the good balances the sorry when we know that we are doing it together, it's a phenomenal career builder for Luke, we meet great people along the way, and have an opportunity to experience new cultures and landscapes.

It's time to say goodbye to California, and head on out to Birmingham, AL!

We've been in California for a year now. Both Luke and I didn't grow up in California, but to us, this has become home.  We've fallen in love with the sunshine, beaches and lifestyles.  People are just so friendly and happy, or at least they hold their anger in until they hit the road, but you get use to that. It's hard to be mad when the sun is shining, it never gets too hot, and the ocean is so near.

I, like many others, only had the perspective of Southern California through the media.  SoCal is portrayed as the land of the very rich and famous, and if you don't have plastic surgery, live in a mansion or drive a Bentley, you may as well pack your bags and leave.  That's true for a small portion of the metro area. I was surprised how much people aren't in competition with each other here, and we live in a wealthy beach town (a dinky apartment, but still among $6 million dollar mansions). Yes, it's no secret that it's expensive here, but that brings some good things: People live simpler.  Where I grew up people had big houses because land was cheap.  Here it's not, so people have a more modest home meaning there's less room to collect junk and such. Plus, when the beach and mountains are so close and there is so much to do outside,  how much time will you really spend cooped in your house anyways? Seeing how people are made me not want to spend my money on stuff, but on memories.  That's what people really master here in their smaller houses, something I'm so glad I've learned!







I've always loved the beach.  In high school, my family went to our friend's beach house on the Oregon Coast at least 2 weekends a month (not exaggerating).  To have so many memories with Luke at the beach as been a blessing.  From city beaches like Santa Monica, sandy beaches like Huntington Beach, to our favorite cliffside beach in Ranchos Palos Verdes, all of the beaches are incredible. We will really miss walking just half a mile to our own Seal Beach for evening walks along the waves.

It's no secret that Luke and I got addicted.  25 minute drive + free short term parking = at least one night a week (once it was even three) at Disneyland.  For so many of Luke's stressful days, the only thing that would get him through was knowing that he'd end the day at Disneyland.  It was so cute to
see how much he loved it there, I never thought he'd love it more than me.  We just loved being among so many happy people (and screaming children with their tired parents).  There really is something magical there.  I am 23 years old and still tear up when tinkerbell flies above the castle at night, because (I know I'm about to sound so cliche, but it's true) it brings up memories and emotions you forget from your childhood, and when those come, they hit you.  I know I am a cry baby, but Disney really knows where to get you.  Luke and I are so excited to bring our own children to Disneyland one day.  It was always be a very, very special place to us.

Goodbye California.  

Thank you for the best year!

Disney 5k

Of all the Disney memories that Luke and I have had together, this 5k race topped it all off!

The race was first posted in July (10 months earlier) and sold out in 48 hours.  Crazy, right?  The night before the race, we picked up our bibs at The Disneyland Hotel, and we were ready to go!

That night we stay at Jorg's house (a long time family friend) since he only lives 3 minutes away from Disneyland.  When you have to show up to a race at 3:30 AM, living 25 minutes away still isn't close enough.  So at 3 AM we woke (to pouring rain, may I add) and by 3:30 we were driving down the road to Disneyland.  I was so happy to see that the Starbucks was specially open at 4 am, so we warmed up with a warm steamer and breakfast sandwiches. 

While we waited at the entrance of the castle, we got to watch a 4:30 am firework show, how rare is that?? It was silent of course, but super cool.  Right at 5 am, the race began! The funnest race ever.  There were about 8,000 people in the race and everyone was just having FUN! Running through the empty park was special enough, but getting to run through a bunch of areas that are otherwise closed to the public was the best. Ending at Paradise Pier was surreal, and hundreds cheered the finishers in!

A Packed Christensen Week

This past week we packed our little 1-bedroom apartment with Christensen and it was a blast! Just a few hours after Luke and I ran our half marathon, Logan, Christine and little Oliver flew into Orange County to come and see us. This trip has been planned for almost 6 months and we had been so looking forward to them coming.

We barely brought them back to the house to drop off their stuff before we headed for the beach. We decided to drive the extra 10 minutes to take them to our favorite beach: Huntington Beach. This was Oliver's first real beach experience, and he took off running! Literally. He couldn't top wanting to go in the waves and splashing and jumping.  We held his time the entire time of course, but who wouldn't want to with such a cute little thing.  His smile was ear to ear.  His favorite part was being a cool dude on the skim board. He's stand on it and we'd push him around while he laughed and laughed as the waves came crashing in.  He was having the time of his life.

Logan and Christine then went to San Diego to visit Christine's brother's family for a couple of days.  But when they got back, we packed up and went to day one of Disneyland. We started it off right with a breakfast with Mickey and Friends.  We weren't sure if Oliver would love the large costume characters or be scared of them, but he definitely loved them! He couldn't get enough of Mickey, and even got in the middle of people's family pictures to make sure that he was maximizing his time with Mickey.

We then headed off to Disneyland where Oliver did surprisingly well.  He loved all the rides, especially Dumbo and the Teacups.  He was learning the lesson of taking turns on these rides as he screamed and screamed every time we took him away from a fun ride. Luke joined us later that day after work. He was so excited to take Oliver to Toontown where Ollie D went crazy getting to play in the fun house with all the cool cartoon-like features. Another big highlight was Autopia.  Oliver was quite the driver and Luke was the worried passenger. I myself almost lost my hearing when I had to carry Oliver away from the ride. He was just having too much fun!

Our second day at Disneyland was spend at California Adventure. Oliver got to build a snowman with Olaf, which was so much more fun than all of the snow he gets at home anyways.  Bugsland and Carsland were two other highlights for Oliver as he loved riding Towmader and the Ladybugs again and again. He'd even hide on the ride to see if he could stay on (which we did a few times since there were no lines).  And needless to say, Oliver was mesmerized while watching the Pixar parade as his favorite Disney friends danced by him.

The rest of our time with Logan, Christine and Oliver was filled with good Mexican food and sushi, lots of John Oliver (thank you Logan), and of course so much beach time.

Zero to 13.1-- My First Half Marathon!

On October 11th, 2014, I watched Luke run a marathon in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  It was amazing to see all of the people who had trained so hard for this event, especially knowing all Luke put into his own training.

The next day, I signed Luke and I up for a half marathon.  I figured if I was every going to run one, I better sign up for one quickly before all of my inspiration is gone.

For any of you that know me, you know that I have NEVER been a distance runner.  I ran my first 5k at the 2013 Rex Lee Run at BYU and thought I was going to die (it didn't help that there was an overnight snow storm and it was snowing through the whole race).  I've always considered myself active, but never enjoyed just running long distances.

But somehow I got the inspiration to do this race and I stuck to it.  My official training didn't start until January, but starting in October, Luke and I started taking long walks. From there he started running 2-3 miles with me.  It was so hard at first.  I couldn't believe I had signed my soul away to run another 10 miles!  Even on the worst of days, I somehow didn't give up and kept going.

When we moved to Southern California, I was happy that I could continue to run in even better weather.  It's been so nice to train in a beach town that is so safe, quiet and of course beautiful to run in (what gets better than getting to see the ocean as you run?). Once while running along the San Gabriel River, which flows through our town and out to the ocean, a seal swam right along side Luke and I all the way to the ocean.  How cute is that?

I could not have been happier with the day of the race.  I felt calm, yet excited.  The sun was out, but there was a nice ocean breeze.  There was no anxiety, just happiness to get the show going! I was so blessed to have Luke by my side every moment, even if he could have gone much faster. I didn't stop running once! We paced ourselves well. Most people passed us at the beginning, but that was ok.  The great feeling was passing so many people the last three miles.  And even better: My last mile was my fastest mile! I couldn't believe it!! I was so happy that such hard work paid off so well.

If you are like I was, and want to run a big race but are too scared because you are starting from zero, here are some tips I have for you. I am by no means suddenly a running expert, but these are my tips for getting motivated and prepared for that first race:

1. Pay for your race far in advance- This is the advice Luke gave to me. When he's run his marathons, his real motivation came when he had made the monetary investment.  After that, he didn't want to waste the money (and races aren't cheap) and so it forced him to make sure to train for the race.  Don't keep saying "Oh in 6 months it'd be cool to run a race". Sign up for one NOW. I signed up 6 months in advance. Had I not already paid, I know for sure I would not have actually ran a race this month.  So set your goal, pick one now and pay for your race.
2. Invest in the right shoes- Luke told me that we really needed to invest in the right shoes for me.  I had been running in Asics that I got freshman year of college. Luke said we needed to go get me fitted because everyone's foot is different.  At first I didn't want to fork out $120 on a pair of shoes, but I'm telling you, it's the smartest $120 I've ever spent.  I've heard that if you don't invest in the right shoes, the doctor bills you'll be paying later on will be a lot more than a pair of shoes would ever have been. When you go into a running store, they check how you walk and look at your arches.  They can tell what arch support you need, and if your feet roll on the inside or outside of your feet. With that information, they find the perfect shoe for you. I could tell a huge difference after even my first run.  My feet weren't soar at the end of each run, my feet felt lighter, and my feet seemed to roll on the ground better.  
3. Have someone to be accountable to- For so many reasons, I couldn't have trained as well as I did without Luke. But the biggest reason was because Luke kept me accountable.  I remember last month when I was out of town for about two weeks.  I had my first 10 mile run coming up, and I really didn't want to do it because I was tired, and I wouldn't have Luke with me (he was always there on my long runs). The night before I had told Luke that I wasn't really sure if I was going to do my 10 miler. I was making all these excuses to justify myself by saying I was too tired, I couldn't do it by myself, I didn't have time with my trip.  Had he given once ounce of approval of my decision, I wouldn't have run. But instead, he kept telling me again and again that if I skipped, I'd really pay for it the next week and I'll just make my training harder and he really did not want me to skip. Well, that next morning, mostly because I'm such a people-pleaser, I got up and did my 10 mile run.  And you know what? It went great! I was so grateful that I went, and had someone push me to go, not letting me fall behind.
4. Find a course you love- During my weekday runs, they were shorter and I was on my own. I found a loop around our town that was 3 miles, and found variations or it that made the course 4 or 5 miles.  I stuck to these and ran them 3 times a week.  I got to where I loved getting to see everything there was to see from the river, the ocean, gorgeous homes, the pier and all the people.  It made my run interesting.  If you don't live right where you can run around like this, go find a park with a great path! It's important to do a run that you can look forward to. Running can be SO boring, but if you make the most of it and search for a place you will enjoy, it will make it so much better. 
5. Don't think too far ahead- Like I mentioned earlier, when I was struggling to run 3 miles, I couldn't get the fact out of my head that in my race I'd be running another 10 miles on top of that.  So often I expressed my concern to Luke, and he kept saying that training is slow, and over the weeks I'll be amazed by my progress.  When there were really bad runs, he'd tell me again and again that everyone has bad runs, he has bad runs.  No matter how often you've run 5 miles, you'll have a day where the 5 miles will kill you. Each day has different circumstances. and you can't let one day define how the rest of your running will be.  Take the bad days, and don't think too far ahead.  Stick to a steady training schedule, and you'll do great! There are several great training courses, but I used one by Hal Higdon that I'd strongly recommend.   

Bottom Line: YOU CAN DO IT

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!