Thanksgiving Part 1 - L.A., a Wedding, and a Confused Cashier

I came to California sorely unprepared. I brought one light coat, flip flops and one pair of socks. Well, let me tell you, it does get cold here and it DOES rain in L.A. (This is a long post, the cashier part is a little funny.)

If you would have asked me 6 months ago if I thought Annalise would be married by the end of the year I would have bet all my money that the answer would be no. This isn't to say anything bad about Annalise by any means. Shes one of my absolute best friends, but I don't think anyone saw this coming. She met Ryan, her husband as of November 20th, while he was on his mission believe it or not. He taught her sisters boyfriend. (Yes, Ryan served in her homeward and got to know Annalise and her family very well.) I am not sure how they switched contact information, but they started writing when Annalise moved back to Rexburg. He came home after a few months exchanging letters with Annalise and before we knew it they were engaged.

We arrived at 10:30 on Friday night to a damp and cold Los Angeles. We got a Chrysler Sebring for less than $40.00 for the whole weekend! (Hotwire.com has had the cheapest car rental deals 90% of the time... for the next time you need to rent a car.) So Saturday we woke up, to not a damp, but very wet L.A. Of all days to rain in L.A. it had to rain on Annalise's one and only wedding day. We saw at least 5 big accidents during the 40 minute drive from the hotel to the Los Angeles temple. The rain must have really thrown L.A. for a loop. But thankfully by the time the ceremony was over the rain had stopped and it was just very cold. Here are some pictures of us goofing off until it was time to take pictures with the bridal party.

I wish I had taken more pictures! I didn't get pictures from the reception or anything else in L.A.

Between the wedding and the reception Jacob and I hung out with my friend Rebecca who lives in Alabama and I do not get to see very often. We decided to go in on a gift with our other friend Amy, (pictured above). Its a tradition for us to leave a basket of wedding night goodies in the get away car. You know, the kind of stuff your best friends get you. Amy had already bought her part of the gift so Rebecca, Jacob and I went to Target. (Im going to make this as family friendly as possible.) We found a set of "pajamas" and Rebecca thought they were so cute she decided she wanted some too. So I bought one set of pajamas for Annalise and Rebecca bought her own set and we split up some of the other treats, peppermint whipped cream (for their hot chocolate... of course) and a sample box of stuff that can be found in the family planning section. While we were checking out, Rebecca started chatting with cashier, and then it was my turn. Jacob had taken a trip to the bath room and hadn't found us yet. So, she had started ringing me up and got to the matching "pajamas." She looked at me... then looked at Rebecca... back at the me... down at the pajamas... back at me and said, "oh... you're together." If you only knew the assortment of wedding night goodies Rebecca and I had picked out...

"Yup!" As soon as I said it I knew what the cashier was thinking. So I quickly corrected, "Our friend just got married, so we're buying her a gift." I am not sure if it fully explains the matching set of "pajamas," but I wasn't going to let her go on thinking what she was thinking.

In other L.A. happenings, we accidentally found the W.B. studios.

We drove down Rodeo Dr. in Beverly Hills. Lust, LUST, LUST.

We saw the city of my birth, Panorama City. A far cry from the stereotypical glamorous L.A. No ritzy shops, palm trees and big houses. All you can see from the freeway is a big Budweiser and Bud Light factory.

We drove home with my parents who had come to the wedding too and stopped at the famous Harris Ranch in the middle of no where for lunch, then slept and slept until we woke up at home.