Our California Home

BJ, Ellie, and I have now lived in California for just over a year. I agree with the insight I once heard that it takes about a year of living somewhere before it starts to feel like home. I am happy here. We love Yorba Linda. BJ always said he would love to raise his family in Yorba Linda if he could, and now as chance would have it, we are doing just that.

After a year I:

-can drive comfortably on the 91, 5, 15, 90, 210, 241, 55, 73, 1, and 10 freeways.

-have established which grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, shopping centers, and movie theaters are "mine."

-have spoken in church, taught the Relief Society how to cook, taught a couple Relief Society lessons, choreographed a dance for the young women, sung in the choir, arranged activities for the young married couples in the ward, fed the missionaries, won the ward chili cook off, and contributed a great deal of smashed crackers to the carpet of our church.

-decided I'd like to teach at a dance studio again, and found a job at a studio 7 minutes away from my home.

-have memorized the hills, pathways, and "do not enter" 

areas in a 3-mile radius of the house.

-have damaged and/or broken several items inside and outside my in-law's home.

-fell in love with cooking like never before.

-joined a book club and read like a crazy woman.

-have witnessed the beheading of a rattlesnake in our backyard.

-have fallen in love with year-round sandal wearing and morning walks.

-have seen my daughter showered with attention from strangers who don't get to see babies wearing bows every day.

-have remembered how it feels to live in the "mission field" and fallen in love with it again.

-have taught dance lessons in the dining room, the movie theater room, and the garage.

-have lived through several earthquakes without a scratch.

-have realized how complaining about the expense of real estate doesn't make it any cheaper.

-paid $500 to get my car registered.

-agree with my husband that I would love to raise my family in Yorba Linda.