The Niven Clan: California Trip for Jessica's Wedding

I've been looking forward to this trip to California ever since I knew Jessica and Peter were engaged, as it’s been a year since I went for my sister’s wedding. I spent that time down in Orange County, though, so it was nice to be back in my old town. We drove there Tuesday all day, and thanks to my sister, Jamie, the boys were entertained the whole way with a dvd player and screens to watch their shows. We stayed with our good friends the Francom’s while we were there. It brought back great memories of my childhood, as I used to sleep over there at my best friend Kim’s house. The night we got there we visited with Jason, Annika, Lana, and I finally got to meet their cute baby, Ryan. It's been a long time since I’ve seen them besides on Skype! Wednesday morning we went to a park to meet some of my Camarillo friends and our kids played. I forgot to take pictures there! My mind is so forgetful, I can’t remember what we did Wednesday after that...? On Thursday a lot of the family met at the beach and we had fun playing, digging for sand crabs, boogie boarding, visiting, going on the zip line, and getting some sun. That night we all got together for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Friday was the wedding day. Tara came up with her kids and Matt to Simi and were there that weekend visiting his kids, so we dropped off Ethan and Austin to her during the temple ceremony. They had lots of fun with Gavin and Bailey and Matt’s kids swimming all day!

The temple wedding at the L.A. Temple was wonderful. It was so nice to have the whole Niven family there. Jessica also had both sets of her grandparents there. What a special day! :) The L.A. Temple President has been friends with the Niven’s for a long time, President Brimhall. His daughter was in our Camarillo ward. It was such a wonderful ceremony and everyone was in tears. Jessica looked absolutely gorgeous and I can’t wait to see the photographer’s pictures. After the pictures and traffic getting home, it was pretty much time for the reception when we got back to Newbury Park. The reception was beautiful too. The Niven’s backyard is so pretty! The whole day went so fast, but it was great! After all the clean-up Jeff, Barbara, the kids (except for Peter and Jessica), and their spouses all sat down in the living room and talked and relaxed.

We were originally going to leave Saturday morning early, but since we were up so late and the whole trip seemed to go too fast, we stayed one more day. We met up with our friends Scott and Sarah and their kids at our friends, the Gholdstons, who have a pool and swam for a few hours. Then we went to the Stake Chomp and Stomp activity. We left early Sunday morning. Peter wanted the honeymoon to be a surprise so no one knew where they were going. The first night they stayed in Westlake, but then they drove back to Utah so Peter could go to his first week of classes, and then they left on their honeymoon. They went to New York for a few days, up to Canada, and then to Bermuda! I know! What a honeymoon right?

We had a fun trip! Here’s a million pictures.......