Days of Summer - Day 6

We had a summer storm the other night.

We were visiting my mom in Yorba Linda (near the inland empire) to go to her pool with hopes of cooling off from this near 100 degree heat wave we've been having. We were not in the pool two minutes before the thunder started rumbling and the lightning crashing. Out of the pool we came, trying to explain to my almost three year old "why?" we had to get out of the pool.

He hasn't stopped talking about the thunder since!

Apparently the lightning caused some fires in the area, and the storm brought rain in some areas, even near the beaches (not too common here in So Cal for the summertime).

My favorite part, was that it brought a beautiful sunset with it.

I snapped this one real quick when we got home that night.

The Sunset Queen

When I first started to get into photography, it was all about the sunset. I used to drive several times a year to Arizona. I would always plan my return trip, so I would stop at different beach cities along the way, near sunset. I have many photos of sunsets from different Southern California coastlines.

Sunsets are like God's gift to us, an ending and a new beginning, that we are given each and every single day.

I intended to use this week's You Capture photo challenge, "Sky," to get myself back to the beach for a new sunset photo, but it didn't happen. I didn't even get to photograph the sunset from my backyard, since of course, it kind of coincides with someone's bedtime. So I decided to share with you some of my favorite sunset photos that I've taken over the past several years.

Big Bear Lake, Big Bear City, CA

La Jolla, CA

Sunset Beach, CA

(Do you see Catalina Island?)

Huntington Beach, CA

Crystal Cove, CA

If only I could be outside taking a picture right now...you should see the moon here in So Cal...it's big and beautiful tonight! But if you're lucky enough to get a picture of it, be sure and share it over at Supermom's "Mono Monday" black & white photo challenge!