California Dreamin' {Newport Beach}

The colder it gets here in Utah, the more I find myself thinking back to a couple of weeks ago when we were on a family vacation in California. Couldn't resist posting one more batch of shots from the beach. Even though it was a cloudy day when I took these, you still gotta love the beach -- rain or shine!


:)

Cali Alex {Newport Beach}

Here are some shots of my Alex at Newport Beach. 


Fun times!!

Day 5 {Cali Mally}

Found some time on our vacation to do some portraits of my beautiful daughter. She's most at home by the ocean, so these express her personality perfectly.


:)

California Day 4 {Newport Beach}

We spent a day at Newport Beach. It turned out to be a rainy, chilly day. First we went to see the Newport Beach Temple. Then we headed to the ocean and enjoyed some time searching for shells, watching the waves and walking out onto the pier. We had the whole beach pretty much to ourselves. 


Here are some shots from the day.

California Day 3 {Surfin' Safari}

Mallory and Alex took surf lessons two of the days we were in California -- Saturday and Tuesday. The first day, the tide was pretty high and there were some strong waves, so they didn't have much success in getting up on the boards.


The next lesson, however, they did much better. 


Mallory has wanted to learn to surf for quite some time, especially after seeing the movie Soul Surfer. Soul Surfer is the story of Bethany Hamilton, a world-class surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack. A movie detailing her inspiring life and her return to surfing came out last spring. I think Mallory has seen it at least a dozen times. Probably more. She dreams of being Bethany Hamilton. Well, minus the shark attack.


I'm pretty sure Mallory's dream would be to live in San Diego -- or Hawaii -- where she could live on the beach and surf every day. Now that she's had a taste of really surfing, I know she can't wait to go back.


It was so fun to watch Mallory and Alex surf. Especially thrilling was seeing the look of complete joy on Mallory's face when she stood up on the surfboard for the first time.


We had a fabulous surf instructor -- Surfer Dude Kevin. Well, that's the name I gave him..I think he really just goes by Kevin...but he was great. He worked so hard with my kids and was very positive and encouraging. We plan to look him up again next time we're in California for more surf lessons.


Here are some shots of Mallory and Alex's two days of surfing.


:)

California Day 2 {Point Loma, Tidepools, San Diego Temple}

More fun in the California sun. Sunday, we went to church, then headed over to see the lighthouse, Cabrillo National Monument and tidepools at Point Loma, then over to the San Diego Temple and Mormon Batallion Monument. 

We went to a lecture about life in the 1500s, and Alex was thrilled to be able to dress up in chain mail and other armor/weapons from that time period.