Orange County Register’s 2025 pictures of the year

Ben McCulloch hugs Elizabeth Garcia as he visits Edwards Lifesciences in Irvine, CA, on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. Garcia is part of the valve team who stitched together the actual EVOQUE tricuspid replacement valve in his heart. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A visitor walks on top of the stump of the Mark Twain tree in Sequoia National Park, CA on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. In 1891 the Army cut down this tree so a cross section could be displayed to crowds in New York and London. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Tucker Smith of Laguna Hills flies through the air at Angel Stadium during a performance at the Monster Truck Pit Party on Saturday, January 4, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Approximately 90 of the 124 cats recovered from a Fullerton home are now up for adoption at the OC Animal Care in Tustin, on Thursday, July 24, 2025. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Three-year-old Ridge Kohlenberger gives Haines an encouraging kiss during the dog’s first day of work greeting patients at Rady Children’s Hospital in Mission Viejo on Monday, November 17, 2025. Ridge’s mother is a certified child-life manager in charge of reducing patient stress and anxiety. Haines is the hospital’s first full-time resident dog to help with this mission, although other Rady hospitals in the area have also started the program. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Angel fan Audrey Vanover is offering up her brother, Austin Vanover, for, as she says, “any autograph” before their home opener at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, April 4, 2025. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Woodbridge celebrates after defeating Saddleback in the semifinals of the CIF-SS Division 13 playoffs at Saddleback High School in Santa Ana on Friday, November 21, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Benjamin Chan, center, reacts after students flip their tassels to the left side during the Woodbridge High School graduation ceremony at Irvine High School in Irvine on Thursday, June 5, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Helen Beary, left, Mikaela Brennan, center, and Sophia Lattanzio falling into the campus pool during the Senior Plunge at JSerra Catholic High School backwards in San Juan Capistrano, CA, on Wednesday, May 21, 2025. The wet tradition, which started as a prank in 2009, has seniors running out of the senior’s awards ceremony and jumping in the campus pool while still wearing their school uniform. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A person rides in the San Juan Capistrano Skatepark in San Juan Capistrano, CA on Wednesday, September 3, 2025. The park opened about two months ago. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

GG Szczuka (9), right, of JSerra celebrates with teammates after scoring a touchdown on a long pass in a girls flag football game against Orange Lutheran at JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano on Thursday, October 9, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Ruby Meek, front, Alyssa Williams, middle, and Arlie Smith slide down the center of an escalator that was turned off at Westminster Mall in Westminster, CA, on Monday, October 27, 2025. The Mall, which opened in 1974, shuttered the remaining 40 stores on October 29. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Decan Dinh and Cole Ho play basketball in the empty food court at the Westminster Mall in Westminster, CA, on Friday, October 17, 2025. The Mall, which opened in 1974, is shuttering the remaining 40 stores by on October 29. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Mission Viejo Nadadores divers practice at the Marguerite Aquatics Complex, home in Mission Viejo on Tuesday, September 23, 2025. The City of Mission Viejo formed a committee to attract International Olympic Committee teams to its facilities for training. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Luke Czepiela demonstrates a short take off and landing (STOL) during the Pacific Airshow in Huntington Beach, CA, on Friday, October 3, 2025. Czepiela flies a specially modified CubCrafters Carbon Cub with a lightweight titanium frame, a wider propeller, and a nitrous system for extra power. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Shah White (6), center, of Mater Dei does a summersault as he celebrates with Austin Gerken (21), left, and Bradley Beaudreau (7) after defeating Fountain Valley in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 baseball playoffs at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Overcome with emotion Leslie Magana, at left, is comforted by Sandra Montano, center, and Pinky Manivong, right, after Montano delivered a passionate tirade criticizing the California National Guard, who were guarding the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Courthouse in Santa Ana on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Gray skies don’t take away the joy Hoag OC Half Marathon runners experience at the finish line in Costa Mesa on Sunday, May 4, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Harry Kartinen works to clean trash off the beach near the mouth of the San Gabriel River in Seal Beach, CA, on Monday, November 17, 2025. Kartinen, a former Long Beach police officer, said he’s been picking up trash off the sand every week for the past 11 years. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A scene from Room 13 maze at Knott’s Scary Farm in Buena Park, CA, on Thursday, September 18, 2025. Ten mazes and five scare zones fill Knott’s Berry Farm for the annual scare event that runs from Sept. 18 to Nov. 1. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Spectators wait in the morning light for the Westminster Tet Parade to begin on Saturday, February 1, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A protester raises the U.S. flag after police use tear gas and flash-bangs at the Federal Building in Santa Ana, CA, on Monday, June 9, 2025. About 200 anti-ICE protesters spent the afternoon carrying signs as they chanted and yelled at police. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Shanta Francis, RN, gets a ride in a patient repositioning lift from nursing assistant Emmily Estrada, left, and John Ho, RN, during staff training at UCI Health hospital in Irvine, CA on Thursday, November 6, 2025. The three were practicing on a patient repositioning lift. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Runners take off for the start of the 10K race at the Dana Point Turkey Trot in Dana Point, CA on Thursday, November 27, 2025. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

People row as the sun rises in the Upper Newport Bay State Marine Conservation Area in Newport Beach, CA on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Chris Kreider (20) of the Anaheim Ducks celebrates after scoring the winning goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the third period of the home opener at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Tuesday, October 14, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A construction worker takes a breather as clouds loom over a Toll Brothers home construction project at the Great Park in Irvine on Monday, November 17, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Pilar Rivera, a senior, displays her pumpkin titled, “Sally’s Pumpkin Before Christmas,” which she created for OCSA’s annual Visual Arts painted Auction and Pumpkin Display in October. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Joshua Ellis, 21 and Dima Alaeddin, 20, of Dana Point kiss before they hit the skating rink at Pigeon’s Roller Skate Shop’s pop-up skating rink at the Kaleidoscope in Mission Viejo on Thursday, January 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Lindsey Szeto, right, ice tubes down Snowflake Summit with her “thrill-seeking” daughters, Lucy, 9, left, and Charlotte, 7, at Winter Fest OC in Costa Mesa on Sunday November 30, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Snake wrangler Danielle Wall holds a Southwestern speckled rattlesnake near Landers, CA on Tuesday, April 8, 2025. Wall volunteers to move snakes from homeowners’ property and relocate them within their home range.

Teacher Jeannette Aguilera is congratulated by fellow teacher Elizabeth Smith after Aguilera was named an Orange County Teacher of the Year from Centralia Elementary School in Anaheim, CA on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Workers with AFSCME Local 3299 began their two-day strike at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange, CA on Monday, November 17, 2025. The union includes patient care and technical workers. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Erika Armenta, widow of Noe Rodriguez, embraces her daughters next to the location where Rodriguez died, during a vigil to honor the life of Noe Rodriguez on the first anniversary of his death in Santa Ana on Monday, December 1, 2025. Rodriquez, who was carrying a replica gun resembling a shotgun, was shot and killed by the Santa Ana Police. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Xavier Smith, 24, from Lake Forest, shouts his way through the finish line in 2:23:41 to take first place in the men’s division of the Hoag OC Marathon in Costa Mesa on Sunday, May 4, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Visitors at “The Shroud of Turin: An Immersive Experience” watch the presentation in the “Immersive Life of Jesus” room at Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA, on Tuesday, November 18, 2025. The 10,000-square-foot exhibit is a look at the story of Jesus and the burial cloth. The Shroud of Turin is a linen cloth bearing the faint image of a crucified man, which is believed by many to be the burial shroud of Jesus Christ. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Harry Pappas reacts as he plays UNO with Hope Galvez at the community center in Fullerton, CA, on Friday, August 15, 2025. Second graders from Scholarship Prep Orange County joined Meals on Wheels Orange County and Mattel as they celebrated the toy company’s 80th birthday with an UNO tournament and lunch. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A boy receives ashes during Ash Wednesday Mass at Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Italo Ferreira won his opening heat in the Lexus Trestles Pro south of San Clemente, CA on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. The event is part of the World Surf League tour. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Alessandra Gim, 8, experiences the joy of snow during Winter Fest OC at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa on Sunday November 30, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A California Scrub Jay flies at Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park in Foothill Ranch, CA on Friday, October 24, 2025. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Stacy Aleman gives a high-five to Alejandro Trujillo after the couple got married on Valentine’s Day at the Old Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana, CA on Friday, February 14, 2025. Orange County Clerk-Recorder Hugh Nguyen performed the ceremony. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A defiant protester waves the American flag as federal police fire tear gas at protesters outside the Federal Building in Santa Ana on Monday, June 9, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

NEWPORT BEACH, CA – NOV 4, 2025: The moon rises over Saddleback, Santiago and Modjeska peaks, as boats fill Newport Harbor. In the 1930s, dredging work commenced, and artificial islands such as Balboa Island and Lido Isle were created. With approximately 9,000 boats, Newport Harbor is one of the largest recreational boat harbors on the West Coast. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Orange Lutheran’s Michelle Urkov (#10) tries to get past Corona del Mar’s Faith Hastings (#13) during the Bill Barnett Holiday Cup at Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach, CA on Friday, January 3, 2025. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Women lean into the wind while walking across the Chapman University campus in Orange, CA on Tuesday, January 7, 2025. Offshore winds were blowing through Southern California. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Angel Peguero gives a kiss to her brother Isaac during the first day of classes at West Orange Elementary School in Orange, CA on Wednesday, August 20, 2025. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

COO Nathan Shinagawa takes a group selfie after officials received the key to the new UCI Health – Irvine hospital on Jamboree Road in Irvine, CA, on Friday, September 19, 2025. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The snow capped San Gabriel Mountains are seen from Anaheim, CA on Friday, March 7, 2025. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Volunteers with the nonprofit group, Project O, use paddle boards and kayaks to check for trash in kelp forests during a beach cleanup at Fisherman’s Cove in Laguna Beach on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Sgt. First Class Mike, right, of the California National Guard gives a fist-bump to Donovan Diaz, 7, of Santa Ana, after giving him a bottle of water, as his father, Michael Diaz, looks on after the protesters left the vicinity of the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Courthouse in Santa Ana on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Police use pepper spray as they move protesters away from a van leaving the Federal Building in Santa Ana, CA, on Monday, June 9, 2025. About 200 anti-ICE protesters spent the afternoon carrying signs as they chanted and yelled at police. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A man uses a traffic cone and baking soda to extinguish a tear gas bomb during protests against ICE outside the Federal Building in downtown in Santa Ana on Monday, June 9, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A person takes a photo of hundreds of jellyfish swimming near the surface in Newport Harbor in Newport Beach on Wednesday, August 20, 2025. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Huntington Beach Fire Department Captain Rex Rysewyk, left, laughs along with Lois Rufus, 102 years old, after she hand-cranked the siren following a ride in Huntington Beach’s first motorized fire engine, built in 1922, in Huntington Beach on Thursday, July 17, 2025. Rysewyk drove Rufus around the parking lot in the restored vintage Seagrave engine. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A young boy scoots down a path as the sun sets inside Huntington Beach Central Park in Huntington Beach, CA, on Friday, January 3, 2025. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jasper Robertson, 5, reacts to a thumbs-up as he protests with his mother, Beverly Robertson, a cancer researcher at UCI Medical Center in Orange. About 200 health care professionals demonstrated “unfair labor practices,” and “bad-faith bargaining,” on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Tammi Tran peeks out from under an umbrella as her mother, Aiphi Nguyen, and friends take a picture in the photo booth during a Lunar New Year celebration at Advance Beauty College in Garden Grove, CA, on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Harper Forsting, 6, and her sister Josephine Forsting, 4, with their grandmother, Elaine Reames, reach out to an animatronic dinosaur as they visit the Outlets at San Clemente in San Clemente, CA, on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. The dinos started out as “Jurassic Beach” at the Carlsbad State Parks campground, but with the Jurassic movie released this month, they were commissioned by the outlet center. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Protester run from police as they use tear gas and flash-bangs at the Federal Building in Santa Ana, CA, on Monday, June 9, 2025. About 400 anti-ICE protesters spent the afternoon carrying signs as they chanted and yelled at police. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Cliff swallow chicks are fed at their nest in the Upper Newport Bay State Marine Conservation Area in Newport Beach, CA on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Anita Bajpai hugs her husband, Brett Peterson, after discovering on Saturday, January 11, 2025, that her 1940s-era childhood home survived the Pacific Palisades fires. Maps indicated it was in the fire zone but only a garage apartment in the back was destroyed. Bajpai’s mother, who is safe, lives there now. The couple are from Orange County. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A man shoots hoops on a beach-side half court at Main Beach in Laguna Beach, CA, on Friday, October 31, 2025. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jared Chandler, left and Courtney Gebhart, get U.S. flags in honor of their son, U.S. Army PFC Jake Chandler, during a military honors ceremony at First United Methodist Church in Costa Mesa, CA, on Wednesday, November 5, 2025. Private Jake Chandler was killed in a skydiving accident on Oct. 26. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

UC Irvine School of Medicine graduate Flora Park runs to her friends after she announced she will be doing her residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in general surgery during the annual Match Day the UC Irvine School of Medicine in Irvine on Friday, March 21, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Cedar Badenhoop, 3, center, rides on the shoulders of his mother, Lauren, as they congratulate Australian Kai Ellice-Flint after he won the finals of the longboard division at the 2025 Lexus US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach on Tuesday, July 29, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Kids ride the Bumper Boats at the OC Fair in Costa Mesa, CA on Thursday, August 7, 2025. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Santa Margarita defensive end Kingston Jimmerson celebrates after the Eagles won the CIF State Open Division football championship over De La Salle in Mission Viejo on Saturday, December 13, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

Rows of homes destroyed by the Palisades fire in the Alphabet Streets neighborhood of Pacific Palisades can be seen on Jan. 9, 2025. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Thousands of structures sit in ruins in Altadena, CA, on Sunday, January 19, 2025. The Eaton Fire, fueled by intense Santa Ana Winds, ripped through beginning on the evening of January 7. Fires across Los Angeles County have left at east 27 dead and over 180,000 people under evacuation orders. Over 12,000 structures, many of them homes and businesses, burned in the Palisades and Eaton Fires. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Pacific Palisades residents affected by the fires stand while parishioners pray for them at St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica. Members of the burned-down Corpus Christi Catholic Church also attended the service on Sunday, January 12, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Six-year-old Paige Nolden is all smiles as she gets pampered during a hair-styling event for fire victims at Pasadena City College on Sunday, January 19, 2025. Nolden’s elementary school burned down. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Wilder Ball, Luca Shea and Jaxon Avdee, from left, ride a wave at Boogie Camp in San Clemente, CA on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. The camp teaches body boarding and ocean safety. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Dana Point Harbor in Dana Point, CA is undergoing a multi-year revitalization. Traffic moves around the harbor on Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Firefighters on the First Street and I-5 overpass pay tribute to Kevin Skinner, an OCFA apparatus engineer, as his body is transported to the Coroners Office on January 5, 2025. The veteran firefighter suffered cardiac arrest and died while on a kitchen fire call. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A reflected ray of sunlight shines on the first patient at City of Hope hospital in Irvine, CA on Monday, December 1, 2025. Staff cheered as Di Bella was being taken into the hospital’s Evaluation and Treatment Center. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

As summer comes to an end, beachgoers enjoy a sunset walk along the surf near the Huntington Beach Pier in Huntington Beach on Monday, August 25, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Saturday, May 24, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A group of costumed women plunge into the Pacific to celebrate the new year during the annual Surf City Splash in Huntington Beach on Wednesday, January 1, 2025. The group decided to dress like crayons to signify that everyone on the planet is unique, they said. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Narciso Barranco reacts during a press conference in Santa Ana, CA on Friday, July 25, 2025 calling on authorities for “humane treatment of immigrants”. Barranco was detained last month by federal immigration agents, which a video that went viral showed him being hit in the head several times. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Adelia Sandoval, right, of the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians of the Acjachemen Nation, blesses surfers with smoke from burning sage during the Welcoming of the Whales Kickoff Ceremony on the first day of the 54th annual Festival of Whales in Dana Point on Friday, March 7, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Madison Becerra of Fullerton, a senior studying at the Orange County School of the Arts, is the vocal music Artist of the Year for 2025. Becerra is pictured in the Julianne and George Argyros Plaza at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Newport Beach Fire Chief Jeff Boyles hams it up after winning the Motorhome Madness Demolition Derby in the Action Sports Arena at the OC Fair in Costa Mesa on Wednesday, July 30, 2025. The Motorhome Madness and Figure Eight Demolition Derby raises money for the Children’s Hospital of Orange County. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Camper Luke Macias is passed through a rope spider web at the Quo Vadis Catholic Boys Camp at the Santiago Retreat Center in Silverado, CA on Thursday, July 10, 2025. Teams had to pass from one side to the other without touching the rope and only using each opening once. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Military personal appear to do crowd control drills seen from outside the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, CA, on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)