Girls trip to LA

Since I have been married I have never been on a trip with out Aaron, unless you count going to the cabin a few times. He wasn't too excited that I wanted to go on a trip without him but I really wanted to go have some fun with my friend Cortney and we wanted to go without kids. We decided back in April that we would go this summer. So we picked LA, CA. She had never been to this part of California and when I went last Hayden was 18 months old and there were things we couldn't do with children. One being...going on a tv show. So once Cortey and I set up our hotel and everything we made some plans. We wanted to go on a talk show but since it was the summer time it was limited to what shows we could go see. I like the Chelsea Lately show on E! and watch it every night. So I thought it would be fun to go. We found out a week before that we got tickets. Looking at the time we had to leave our homes at 6am to get there in time but we did it and it was so worth it. We got to LA around noon. We drove to the Chelsea Lately show parking lot to make sure we knew where we were then we drove down the street to just grab lunch. Then we went back to the parking lot to park and walk to her studio down the street. We got there at 2pm and they said we wouldn't get in until 3pm. The weather was fine I just didn't like standing in the sun and of course we were tired from the drive. One cool thing about being outside is we saw Ross Matthews (Ross the intern) from Jay Leno's show drive in her parking lot and as some people yelled at him driving by in his convertible we heard his giggle. It was funny. Before we got to go in we had to deal with her security. I must say they were so rude to everyone. They were super stricked, sometimes it sounded like they were making up rules as they went along, they all seemed like they have never done this before and just talked to us all so rudely. I was pretty shocked this is how they ran things but I figured maybe they get some real jerks who ruins it for everyone else so they have to act this way. But once we were in and walked into her studio it was all worth it then. It was so cool to see her set for real. It was so small and even though we sat in the back we were so close to the stage. Before the show this guy who works the floor, Brody Stevens, was talking to us to get us excited for the show to start and he ran some rules over with us. He was much nicer and he was super funny. He has been on some movies like The Hangover and he was just cracking Cortney and I up. Before the show started the people all come out and Chuy seemed pretty shy and Chelsea seemed so serious not like she looks and act in front of the camera. That night on the show the guest was volleyball pro Gabby Reece. At the Round Table was John Caparulo, Christina Pazsitzky, and Matt Braunger.

The show aired the day after I got back home so I Tivo'd it and took some pictures of my tv so I could remember it.

This is where Cortney and I sat

The round table

Gabby is so tall!



After the show was done we walked back to our car just talking about how fun that was. It was so cool to see how a show is done plus it was such a blast because this show has so many comedians on just making you laugh so hard. I really want to go again!

After the show we drove to our hotel to check in. The Ayres Hotel was so nice and pretty.

Our room
where we had breakfast each morning

1st night we went to the Santa Monica Pier and had dinner on the Pier

Cortney on the Pier

see the moon on the right? Cortney was so cold she bought a sweater on the pier. I was cold but I was soaking it all in because I knew I would be hot once I got home.



Friday we spent the day at Universal Studios. It was Cortney's 1st time going and my 3rd. But there was lots that changed since I went years ago. Even though we didn't have our kids with us we still took pictures with characters so we could show our kids who we saw. It was fun! I really liked the Simpson's ride and of course the tour is always fun to go on.

Our last full day there was Saturday and we just wanted to relax. We wanted to go to the beach. We drove to Manhattan Beach which was only like 2 miles away from our hotel but as we got there all we could see is tons of people and no parking. We wanted something a little more quiet. So we drove to Redondo Beach. As we got to the beach we had to walk over these big rocks (we were taking a short cut) my foot slipped and my leg slid between 2 rocks. This scratch stung for a long time, I think it was because of the salty air.

I sent this picutre to Aaron from my cell and told him a shark bit me. He of course didn't believe me.

I took this picture with my cell to send my kids

Cortney and I layed on the beach for over an hour just enjoying the scenery and the chance to relax. It was nice to lay in the sand, watch the waves and talk. He took a few shots of us before we left the beach.

I missed my family while I was gone but it was a great trip and a great way to really relax!

Bath time (8 months old)

Paxton + Bath time = CUTE and FUN!







Oh no...he has started to try standing up in the bath tub

Paxton's blessing

We held Paxton's blessing at church on Sunday July 18th 2010. We couldn't give him a baby blessing until his adoption went final and we decided to do it the weekend of his sealing. It feels good to have our precious Paxton sealed to us and now blessed by his father.
Lately Paxton will not look at the camera, he is too busy checking everything out :)

Sacrament meeting was about the Priesthood and we had great talks on it. We even had about 20 men from our ward sing "Because I have been given much." The Spirit was so strong. It was neat to bless Paxton (which is a Priesthood blessing) on a Sunday Sacrament meeting was about the Priesthood. It makes me so happy to have a worthy husband who honors his Priesthood.

Paxton's sealing

Paxton's sealing invitation

Friday July 16th we had Paxton sealed to us. 5 years ago on the same date Hayden was sealed to us. And we were one day off from having Emmie sealed to us one year ago. Emmie was sealed to us on July 17th 2009.
Before we went into the temple we took a few shots of the kids. Man! It was so hot and humid but I got the kids to smile for me a few times.

I just love going to the Temple and its so awesome to go in as a family. Its so neat to have Hayden and Emmie there to witness the sealing of Paxton to us making our family complete. I know Hayden realizes whats going on a lot more then Emmie. He knows going into the Temple is special and he thinks its so neat. They have a nursery for the kids to hang out in before the sealing and the kids just love it in their. Every time we have gone my mom always sits with them too. While in the nursery the kids also got to see and play with some other kids that used to be in our ward. Matt and Sariah Lawes who used to be in our ward was their having their adopted daughter sealed to them. Talking to Sariah Lawes online a few weeks before we had no idea we scheduled our sealings the exact day and time. It was neat to see them there for the same reason we were and we had some time before the sealing to chat with them. After wards we got to see Sariah's parents who also used to be in our ward and Matt's parents which are in our ward now and his dad is our Stake President. We had a handful of family, friends and ward members come to Paxton's sealing. I was happy to see each and every one of them there! I was happy my friend Leah Lowe made it even though she just went through her second round of chemo. It just always warms your heart to see people you know and love in the temple, it gives you a little piece of Heaven on Earth.

Walking out of the temple as a complete Eternal family!




In the temple Paxton was perfect and so cute like always!

Too cute and funny not to share

I was laying on the couch playing with Paxton for awhile. He was trying to move around a lot but there wasn't many places for him to go. After awhile he sat so nice with me and we played with a toy together. As I went to get off the couch I stood up and leaned down to pick him up and I saw that he was being swallowed by the couch cushion. It looked so funny and he didn't even care he was just laying there. I had to grab my cell real quick to take a picture, it looked so cute and funny. Sorry baby boy!