BIG ONE!!

So here we are. I made it back to South Dakota safely. Hearing the weather report made me a little nervous for the flight, but I knew that if we were unable to fly out today, I would be able to stay in Cali until Friday (I'd miss a day of classes, but oh well)...So the idea of a cancellation wasn't so bad. =P

We had one incredibly busy week, it seemed. I feel like it lasted longer than a week, just because we did a lot of stuff and were constantly going somewhere.

Ready for some photos?

On Monday I actually didn't get a shot ALL DAY. I know, I know....But I was traveling all day and was just SUPER worn out by the end of the day. HOWEVER...As I was lying in bed that night knowing I failed the project for the day, I knew what my photo WOULD HAVE been. So I made sure to get it and just throw it in where it should go. Here it is:

94/365: NEW LENS!! Brian got this 50-200mm for me as a Christmas gift. He is definitely the best and knows the way to my heart. Haha! I was (and still am) super excited about it.

Monday evening when I arrived on California soil, we went out to dinner with Brian's godparents. It was a very fun feast and meeting them was pretty special for me. We came home and I showered and slept VERY soundly due to being worn out and having a very comfortable bed to sleep in. Ha!

On Tuesday afternoon we drove around the area and Brian and I had some good conversations. I love how we always can go weeks or months without seeing each other and then meet up again and can't shut up. Haha...We drove up to Signal Hill because the skies were very clear and we could see the mountains.

Love this one. Thanks, new lens. =)

Los Angeles is way back there.

95/365: I enjoyed this view a lot. Can you believe that green grass in January?!

Our reason for the trip. Worth it. =)

Grabbed this one from the car window.

We had lunch at a Hawaiian BBQ restaurant. Brian ordered this for me...I put my trust in him to choose something I would like...And he most definitely succeeded! I couldn't finish it, though...of course.

On Wednesday we headed to the beach late afternoon and caught the sunset. First we stopped at the yummiest little bake shop and got some sweet goodies. Brian got a police car cookie:

And I got this chocolate chip fudge cup. Mmmm!

96/365: SO PERFECT! If you use your imagination and open your mind, it looks like she's putting ripples into the sky.

So nice. Brian was continuously telling me to shoot the sailboat. So I did. =)

Lots of surfers at sunset. This one was my favorite.

Thursday we visited Universal Studios Hollywood. They had a pretty fun tour and some great rides and attractions. Too bad we didn't see any movies or TV shows being filmed. A lot of 3- and 4-D stuff going on. Aside from getting squirted in the face with water during the Shrek show, they were all pretty fun. Ha!

Here we are in front of the globe. This took quite a while to get our positioning right. Instead of just being smart and asking someone to take the photo FOR us, we made 10 attempts and finally settled on this one. (The one before it is better, but Brian's eyes were closed. Grrr)

97/365: Cutest family ever? I believe so! Look at that coordination!!

Giant gummy bear sucker. (I did not buy this, sadly)

 Funny story here: To get to the "Lower Lot" portion of Universal, they have this series of 5 escalators which are all pretty steep and high. For some reason, we thought it would be fun to take the stairs on one section instead of the escalator. Here's the view from the bottom:

112 steps up.

 

 

 

And the view from the top. Yeah our legs were DEAD after that ascent, especially after walking all day first.

Friday we had a sort of "date night"...We did a little shopping (key word: little) and had dinner and went to a movie.

We parked next to a Ferrari in a parking garage. WHO PUTS A FERRARI IN A PARKING GARAGE?!

Crazies. Can you imagine what their other cars look like?

98/365: Sunset reflection on the car.

 Saturday evening we headed to the Huntington Beach Playhouse and saw the musical "Oliver!" performed by area kids and adults. I fully enjoyed it, not sure if Brian did though. Ha!

99/365: The set.

Sunday we drove down to the San Diego area and looked at some houses with Brian's parents. Then we checked out LegoLand, which was very impressive.

SWEET POOL!! (and view!)

I have a TON of photos from LegoLand, but I'll wait for another post with those. It can be an entire post in itself!



When we landed in Sioux Falls today, I realized that I sort of missed the snow all week. I do have a soft spot for our winters here in SD (something about bundling up during the day and cuddling at night is just very comforting) so spending a week away, although refreshing and amazing, was a big change.

I'm staying at D&E's house tonight, since the roads/weather are so icky. Hopefully I'll get home tomorrow and then head back up to MY home in Madison later this week. Praying that the weather cooperates for me. I can stand the cold, but I can't handle the ice!