OK...checked into getting visas...$130 each, and that's if you go in person to the consulate. I'd have to take off work and drive 1 hour each way into LA. The site here for the LA consulate says you must appear in person or have a visa agent do it for you:
http://losangeles.china-consulate.org/eng/visa/chinavisa/t27605.htm
The visa agents charge around $40 each visa plus $25 for FedEx return mail. Did you guys show up in person, mail your application directly to the consulate, or did you get an agent? Just obtaining visas for the two of us is going to cost about $400...ouch! Quite a racket they have going.
May be worth my driving to LA to apply...but I would have to make two trips because they won't mail you back the visa once it's done!