Home, Home on the Range...

I get to go home today for a few days, and I haven't even blogged about what life in California! First of all, I decided that even with a temorary home and a permanent home, home is wherever Cris and I are together...

I am enjoying it here, and Cris is, too, but we are too small-town to live here forever. The area is really interesting. I have everything I need within a ten minute drive in any direction-- shopping, malls, church, Disneyland, Angel Stadium.

The beach actually takes us about 20 or 30 minutes to get to. We are closest to Newport Beach, but we are trying to explore the whole coastline. One of our favorite beaches so far is Aliso Beach in Laguna. I got a jar, and decided to pick up a shell and or rock every time we go for a walk on the beach, so we will be able to take a bit of the beach home with us when we go.

I have had so much fun putting our apartment together. It is tiny, but just right for the two of us. We purposely didn't look at apartments in suburban areas, so we could live a different type of lifestyle temporarily. We are in a redevelopment area, and have a little bit of everything around us. We are on the banks of a dry riverbed with a bike/walking path, so Cris rides to work occasionally.

There are several freeways close by that we use to get around -- the 5, 55, 57, 22 and 91 are those we use the most. I am getting more comfortable with driving on them, and honestly, most of the time they aren't as bad as I thought they'd be! Cris bought a little navigator before I got here, and it has been such a lifesaver. It gets me/us everywhere we want to go. We have fun changing the voice on it -male, female, accents -- it gets frustrated when we don't follow it's directions, and then we start talking to it, sometimes arguing with it, teasing it, and trying to predict what it will say next. We decided it takes the place of our pet, since we don't have Sophie here.

I haven't had my bike out yet, but that is one of my goals. I have been pretty good about working out in our fitness center, although some mornings it is a struggle to push myself to go. I'm becoming familiar with the machines and equipment, so hopefully that will help build my confidence and motivation to keep it up!

Our ward is interesting and fun... It had a large number of retired people and young married college students who go to Chapman College. There are some great people there, and we are starting to make some friends. It already makes me sad to think of leaving them in a few months!

It finally got cool enough last night for me to wear a sweater when Cris and I went out. And they are having a snowstorm in Denver! I actually can't wait to see the snow!