Birthdays, L.A., and Fourth of July... oh my!

There has been a lot that has happened since I last posted. We celebrated Jeffrey's birthday and my Mom's birthday in June. We celebrated Jeff's birthday a little bit late so that my mom could be home to celebrate with us. She had been in Pennsylvania taking care of her sister after an accident that she had. Mom made Jeff a rich chocolate cake and he got some clothes and a sports bag that he wanted. We watched a movie with him which is a tradition that we have at our house. For my mom's birthday we went out to dinner at China Run which is a new restaurant near our house. Then we celebrated with a birthday cake which I made for her (this cake was a sherbet ice cream/angel food cake covered in whipped topping), by request! She got some new kitchen things as a present. Here are some pictures from the birthdays:

Kaylie liked watching Grandma Harrison make Jeff's birthday cake. Grandma even let Kaylie eat some frosting out of the tip decorator!

Here Jeff is blowing out all 19 candles!

This is at the restaurant we ate at for Mom's birthday!

And here mom is blowing out all her... candles as well!

At the end of June Mom, Jason, Kaylie and I headed down to Los Angeles to be part of my cousin's son's baptism. Jenn Thompson has an eight year old! I can't believe it! We had a great time with family there.  Grandma Hall, Beckie, Michael, and Susie Harrison, and Katie Lee and her kids were all there too! We had so much fun with all the kids together and we got some girl time too! We arrived on a Friday evening, June 29th and then on Saturday morning, the 30th, the adults headed to the L.A. temple while Susie and Jason watched all 7 kids! I was a little nervous but they did a great job and we had an amazing time at the temple!

After the temple that morning we went to a nearby park with the kids to get their energy out! It was a cute little park with a little fire engine for the kids to climb all over.

Kaylie even let me take some pictures of her! She is 15 1/2  months old in these pictures.

The last part of the evening was the baptism of Connor and the blessing of Archer. There was a great turn out! It was a very special experience and we are so glad that we could be there! 

Jenn's Beautiful Family!

Baby Archer, born February 14th!

Michael is sharing a cookie with Kaylie so that she will warm up to him!

The trip was not over after this! We stayed Sunday and spent most of the day with everyone until they all left for a get-a-way in Driggs, ID. My mom, Jason, Kaylie and I stayed in Jenn's home for a couple more nights. Monday, July 2nd, was an eventful day. We walked to the famous Rodeo Drive and walked around to see all the expensive shops! After Kaylie took a nap we went to Hollywood and walked down the road where they had the "Walk of Fame". That was pretty neat! We could even see the Hollywood sign from where we parked! Then it was off to Santa Monica Pier! We spent the rest of the day on the beach. We caught great weather! Kaylie got to experience the ocean for the very first time and she absolutely loved it! We even went on a couple rides on the pier. Kaylie was able to go on the ferris wheel with us. We finally made it home and ready to eat dinner around 8pm. Kaylie was a trooper with only one short nap the entire day!

Some of the shops on Rodeo Drive 

This was a cool little area on Rodeo Drive! We rode the glass elevator just for fun! We'd never been in one that was outside before. Ha ha!

Here is the Hollywood sign from where we parked! (zooming in on it of course)

The Walk of Fame! The sidewalks were crowded but we found a lot of our favorite stars!

This one is Sandra Bullock! One of our favorites!

We even ran into Shrek on the street! Ha ha!

Here we are on the Santa Monica beach!

 Playing in the ocean!

Gettin' messy in the sand!

As we walked to the pier we stopped by the swings for a little break.

Picture in front of the pier!

We rode on the ferris wheel and a small roller coaster at the park! Fun!

We had a wonderful trip and Kaylie did great on the car ride home too!  Our July 4th was fun as well! We had a pancake breakfast in the morning, went to a parade in the early afternoon and then we went to my aunts house for a BBQ. Afterwards we watched a firework show right in Carmichael! We love the 4th!

Here is a picture from the parade!

Some of us at the BBQ/Swim Party!

 Here we are at the firework show!

  We all went together!

I've been getting together with Steph French and Lynn Colvin for girls nights lately. 

Here is a picture of the three of us together!

Just a quick little update on Kaylie! This past week she has become so talkative. She is trying to say every little thing that she can. Another thing she has been doing is getting down on all fours and pretending to be a puppy! Sometimes she will even lick us! It's both adorable and hilarious! Last night she thought she was so funny putting random things on her head. We love it when she gets so giggly! Her laughter is extremely contagious. Kaylie also does this really cute thing where we ask her to make us smile and she grabs our cheeks and says "cheese". She is such a character! She is really catching onto the picture taking and remembering to say "cheese". The funny thing is that sometimes her cheese face comes out really funny lookin'! We are going to have to think of something else to say. Ha ha! Kaylie's obsession with Elmo is continuing. We recently bought a couple of Elmo DVD's that have several Elmo's World clips on them. Its a good thing he is such a nice little monster. Kaylie will be 16 months old this week. I can't believe I almost have a  1 1/2 year old!