Los Angeles 2020

Los Angeles should host the 2020 Summer Olympics.  So there.

2 days in the San Francisco Bay Area

Sunny and Jonathan spent Friday and Saturday in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Jonathan had a meeting on Friday at the University of California headquarters in Oakland.

We flew on Virgin America, a new and very good airline.

Anyway, we had a wonderful time visiting friends and family.  SF was considerably cooler than L.A. (helping us be more grateful for Los Angeles' climate, but we still had a fun time up there.  

We went to dinner at Yoshi's jazz club and sushi bar at Jack London Square - fun ambience.... we ate with Jonathan's East Bay/Oakland relatives, and Sunny's friends.  We spent plenty of time with our friend, Wendy, who recently moved to the Palo Alto area.  Her husband, Brandon, is/was out of town.... We also drove down to San Martin to visit Jonathan's relatives - what a lovely drive through that beautiful area!!

For more photos, click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2176211&l=90f43&id=17818536

We stopped by Stanford University's beautiful campus, In & Out in Morgan Hill, the Golden Gate Bridge, and even the LDS Temple in Oakland.  It was a very busy trip.... we put over 200 miles on the rental car!

We enjoy traveling in California - there is so much to see and do in this beautiful and exciting state!!

My other blog

I maintain a blog called "Who Are Mormons?" as a hobby.

Please visit it at 

http://whoaremormons.blogspot.com

I try to publish interesting stories and articles on Mormons in public life, the media, politics, business, law, medicine, entertainment, etc.

Utah for one day . . . for cousin's wedding

We went to Utah to visit Jonathan's cousin Josh's wedding.... COLD in Salt Lake!

HOT in L.A.

our niece pretending to drive our Highlander....

93 degrees F in L.A. yesterday and today!!! Heat wave! WOW

Korean Air now flies from Los Angeles to São Paulo!

We're excited (especially Jonathan) about this news: Korean Air now offers daily nonstop service between LAX and GRU.  The service begins in June, and they are offering introductory sale fares!

Sunny at Mt. Fuji, Japan

Sunny just arrived from the Far East....  this photo of her and her parents while visiting Japan.  

old portrait

early 2007: group picture; it's missing person(s)

Around the World in 10 days

Jonathan successfully circumnavigated the globe: having logged 25,351.65 air miles since March 22.  

Jonathan's crazy trajectories: 

Los Angeles - Taipei, Taiwan - Hong Kong - Munich, Germany - São Paulo, Brazil - Lima, Peru - Los Angeles!  (Sunny & J were together until Hong Kong... Sunny to Japan)

Photos from the Munich leg:  HERE.

More photos from Taiwan: HERE.

More Photos from Hong Kong: HERE.

Now back in L.A., starting the third quarter at UCLA!

Brazil

Jonathan went to Brazil as Sunny went to Japan.

Jonathan went to Brazil to attend the wedding of Juliana Tabata & Wagner Souza in São Paulo.  Juliana was baptized in 2004 during J's mission down there... She since served a mission in the south of Brazil, and got married in the São Paulo temple this weekend and Jonathan was honored to attend, serving as witness, etc.  

For pictures from Jonathan's Brazil trip, click HERE.  

For even more photos from the Brazil trip: HERE.

Despite the brevity of the stay in beloved Brazil, it was a great trip, and Jonathan got to see many of his close friends there.  

ASIA again . . . Taipei & Hong Kong

We departed Los Angeles for Taipei on Malaysia Airlines... direct flight to Taipei.  Anyway, we got to Taiwan early Sunday morning and stayed til Monday late morning.  Church in Taipei was nice and we got lots of good food there too. 

Monday, we left Taipei for Hong Kong... one of our favorite cities on Earth!  Great food, shopping, nightlife, beautiful skyline, etc.  Love it!!!  

For more photos: click HERE.

In fact, we are still in Hong Kong right now as I type this.... LIVE from our hotel room! :)

Jonathan's final exams....

UCLA Final Exams week . . . . Jonathan is busy and stressed! Friday can't come soon enough: VACATION!

Jonathan's parents love St. Patrick's Day!

Friend Jerry is famous!

Our friend was featured in CES material. He is the second from the left. Go Jerry!

Palm Sunday Picnic at Lake Balboa in L.A.

This afternoon we ventured to the north of Los Angeles City.  We visited Lake Balboa and enjoyed the perfect day for a picnic.  The Lake is kind of famous for its nice cherry trees, which are in full blossom right now. Of course, it is not nearly as exciting as going to Kyoto's cherry blossoms--or even DC's, for that matter-- but it was a very nice Sunday activity.  Next Sunday, Sunny and I will be in Taipei, Taiwan, and we won't be able to enjoy a relaxing Sunday afternoon together until the middle of next month, so we had a great time today.

It was only a 30 minute drive from our place in the South Bay, and it was well worth the drive.  Lots of ducks, children, dogs, soccer, boats, etc. Beautiful area to visit.

See more of our photos at this link.

We are so grateful for good friends and family!  Please come visit us.. we love visitors.  

(we're going to Utah for jonathan's cousin's wedding on April 8th.)

What we're missing this coming week in Spain:

When I was first in Spain back in 2000, I fell in love with Spain's beautiful Holy Week and Easter traditions. One of most exciting is the traditional procession. Here are some video clips of random Holy Week processions:

Sunny in eastern Canada

Sunny departed LAX this morning for Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  She will be back tomorrow evening... It is really cold there right now - in the 30s Fahrenheit!

Sunny: 15 hours traveling, 6 hours working: less than 24 hour trip to Georgia!!

In the Charlotte airport (North Carolina) Sunny took this of these very charming rocking chairs available for passengers to relax as they await flights, etc.  Very interesting concept.... only in the South!  Sunny went to Georgia and it seemed only a few hours later that I picked her up again at LAX.... quick!

Consuls at UCLA

Jonathan has been involved in a program called "Consular Connection" at UCLA... this picture is of the most recent event at the end of February.  Here pictured with Consuls General from Turkey, Bangladesh, and Germany.  (I did crop this shot...)

Also, I recently wrote the Wikpedia article about the Los Angeles Consular Corps.

More Panoramic views of São Paulo, Brazil

Whenever we discuss São Paulo around Sunny's dad (he lived there for a few years), he complains about the traffic (well it is worse than Los Angeles), the food (why???), and calls SP a great "concrete jungle".  

But . . . . I LOVE SP!  So excited to return this month.  Enjoy these great shots of the city: