socal: seaworld and an armenian wedding

when i heard my friend jonathan was getting married on june 11 in los angeles, i decided to scheme up a socal adventure to make it to his wedding. my plans changed a little along the way but turned out fantastic.

 

i flew into san diego, where my brother noah and his family recently moved, and took care of the kids for a couple days. on thursday i got to use the season passes and bring mckay and lyla to seaworld. it was my first time, and the kids showed me around, and it was super. maybe my eyes welled up a tad at the spectacles of the dolphin show. on friday i hung out with the kids at home. babysitting (which in this case is just playing with some of my most favourite people) made my trip to southern california free!

 

saturday morning i left san diego at 5:30am to make it to jonathan and polin's early sealing in the los angeles temple. i've said it before and i'll say it again - temple sealing = heaven. i stayed after for an endowment session. the la temple is really cool inside.

 

 

after the session, i cruised down to santa monica and had some lunch on the beach at the pier. jonathan's new bride is armenian, and in the early afternoon the cultural wedding traditions started to kick in. we went to a party at polin's house, where there was lots of dancing and gift-giving rituals and pictures. it was so fun! in between the party and the reception, a group of us friends-of-jonathan went to griffith park in glendale. the views were stunning, and the weather was 100% perfect.

 

can you see the hollywood sign right above my head?

 

 

armenian wedding receptions = sparkly things, really fancy dresses, outrageously long eyelashes, obscene amounts of delicious food and never-ending dancing. i had to leave about 10:45 to drive back to san diego, but i heard the party went on until 2am!

 

 

 

serious fun. i'm so glad i got to be a part of jonathan's special day, and i'm so happy for this new mr. and mrs.!

also. i loved being in la and sd, but my conclusion is firm - norcal > socal.