You may have heard about the earthquake we experienced here in Southern California on July 29th. It was a 5.4 on the Richtor scale, so pretty substantial.
Miles and I had met some friends at the Kids Summer Movie they have at the movie theater. As usual we left early because he's too little to stay through the whole thing. After a quick stop at the grocery store Trader Joes, we were home having lunch. Miles was sitting in the high chair and I was standing next to him at 11:42 when I felt the ground under my feet start to move from side to side and then the whole house started to shake. I picked Miles up from the highchair and was ready to run for cover when it stopped. It lasted only about 15 seconds. Miles was oblivious to the whole thing. I had a huge adrenaline boost. My heart was beating so fast. I grabbed the phone to call James. It took 3 tries before I could get it the call to go through and hear a ring. Once it did ring, I could hear James, he couldn't hear me. When we finally connected he told me he was in the Trailer - he works in these nice construction trailers but they're just not very stable, no underground foundation so they're really shaky. Everyone in his office felt it and they all ran out. Once they made sure everything was ok, they were back to work again.
My friends were still in the movie theater. They couldn't tell if it was an earthquake they felt or just some serious sound effects rattling the place. I'm glad I was home to get the full effect! Thankfully it was a short quake and the epicenter was Chino Hills (laughably Chino Hills is an area we have been considering for our next move..hhhmmm maybe we won't move there.) which is about 1 1/2 hours south of Palmdale. The news coverage of the quake was really great. I had it on for hours and was really grateful to hear how minor the damage was around the "southland". Although experts warned there will be a "big one" sometime in the next 10 years and we need to be prepared. This quake was like a wake up call for everyone.
That night I had a girls night out activity with the ward and everyone was buzzing about where they where when the earthquake hit. Some sisters missed the whole thing and didn't even know there was one!
