An Amazing Weekend (Part 1)....The Boys

Our much anticipated weekend began with the arrival of Janelle, Scott and the boys from Boston. We were happy that they made it down in record time and that the boys were extra good travelers. It is amazing how much these sweet little guys have changed since we saw them toward the end of February in Boston.....such sweet smiles from James and Alan seems to have all kinds of new things to discuss. We have such fun with them. Here are some pictures of our fun.

Good morning, Grandma. Would you like to play with some of these toys?

All smiles......all the time

Check out those blue eyes!!

Look out.....BEST BROTHER IN THE UNIVERSE coming through!!

Here I come!! Now that I can crawl there's no stoppin' me.

Caught Reading a Good Book

Evan's school is sponsoring a little contest to see which class can be first at getting a picture of each child "caught" reading a book at home. I sent in two photos. The first is a photo of Evan sitting in the black chair reading "The Walnut Tree". The second photo was sent in at Evan's request. It was snapped in the LAX airport as we were headed home from LA last Monday. As we waited to board our flight to Houston, an enormous man and his wife came into the waiting area and sat down. I was sure it was Yao Ming but had Steve look him up on Google just to be sure. Several people approached him and asked for an autograph, but he was not really interested in making a scene. I decided to just "sneak" a little photo of him from the side. Yao Ming was caught reading a good book, too. I guess he will be an honorary member of Mrs. Foster's class this week. :)

California or BUST!!!

We were delighted to be able to go see Stephanie and Marc in Los Angeles last weekend. They have lived there for almost a year and we had not gotten a chance to visit them yet. We finally just decided to do it. With help from the kids here at home and Grandma Foulk, we were able to go for about 4 days. Unfortunately for Marc (he was the person who had to pick us up from the airport) we flew into LAX. He was a good sport, though, and picked us up on Thursday. After Steph got home from work we went out for Chinese. Yum!!

Although the usual "sunny California" was not in effect over the weekend due to a "winter storm....i.e. lots of rain and unseasonably cold", we went to see the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame, Hollywood sign, and the Reagan Presidential Library on Friday. Way fun!!

The next day it just poured so we were thankful we had planned to go the the Los Angeles Temple. We weren't able to get a photo outside, but the temple was just beautiful and HUGE!!

The rain subsided a little in the afternoon so we checked out a farmer's market downtown. It turned out to be mostly devoted to food....such a shame ;), so we enjoyed some New Orleans food, some Armenian food, and a nice crepe with Nutella, bananas, and whipped cream. There were lots of people walking around with green clothes and green beer since it was St. Patrick's Day. Pretty funny. That night we made some delicious homemade tacos with pico de gallo and guacamole. So good!!! That night we also visited the Griffith Observatory which is about 15 minutes from Steph's house. Where she lives in Burbank is so close to Disney Studios, Warner Brothers Studios, and NBC Studios. We drove past them whenever we went anywhere. Steph said that she has seen Jay Leno multiple times on her way home from work. He tapes at the NBC studios and she passes him in his car on her way home from work.

Sunday we got to go to church with Steph and Marc. Primary was a hoot. Those 3-4 year olds sure keep you hoppin'. Then we traveled about 45 minutes away to where my sister, Julie, is buried. It had been about 8 years since I was there and it felt good to be able to go. Then we came home, made a delicious chicken dinner and played the bean game .

We had to leave the next morning, but had so much fun seeing their great little apartment and seeing the area in which they live. Such a fun trip.

Here are some photos from our time there....mostly from the Hollywood sites. Believe it or not, this is a very edited version.

The entry to the famous Hollywood Bowl

This was the first star we saw...we parked right by Gladys.

The King...and Steph

No caption needed

Can't miss the Osmonds

One of our favorites

A less obvious choice....Ann B. Davis....aka Alice from The Brady Bunch

Steve and Stephanie in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater

Do you know the way to San Jose?

The Kodak Theater where the Academy Awards were held

So, we saw these people bringing out this sleeping bag that looked like it had a dead body in it or something.

Next thing you know....there's Denzel!!! (in wax of course)

So we got a few snapshots with him

He was so cooperative

These next ones are pretty self explanatory...again a very trimmed down list....but some of our favorites!

We spotted Lucy a little further down the street

The far away shot by the famous sign

And the close up where Steph decided to smile and point at the sign and Steve decided to look serious and hold up the sign....I love it!!

Near the entrance to the Reagan Library.....such a peaceful place

The view from the front of the library....so beautiful!!

Just hanging with the Reagans

Steph at the Reagan Inauguration...George HW looks so young!!

One of the coolest parts of the tour.....yep...that's Air Force One...in the Library!!

...and we got to go in it

Come on aboard....oh wait...you can't, sorry

The back of one of Pres. Reagan's limos

And his final resting place

So glad we could visit this amazing place

We didn't actually visit the Disney Studios, but since they are on the same street that Steph lives on we snapped this cool photo of the building with dwarf pillars. Pretty cool!

And check out the fence around the property....Mickey Mouse shaped finials on each post and little Mickeys along the top of the fence......(also notice the cross street sign...very fitting)

Los Angeles at night....taken from the Griffith Observatory

The front of the observatory on kind of a rainy but beautiful night

Stephanie at one of the shops in the farmer's market. Unfortunately, the jelly we bought in this one could not be taken home on the plane. :(

Steph and Marc in front of their very cute apartment

My sweet little sister's grave....I still miss her so much.

Thank you, Stephanie and Marc, for taking such good care of us. We had such a great time.

Lift Up Thy Heart and Rejoice

The Cherry Hill, New Jersey Stake held its annual Relief Society Conference on March 10th. It was a lot of work by a lot of people to put it together but turned out so good. We had some great classes, some wonderful music, and some great food. We also had a special presentation by Sandra Turley. She has sung on Broadway in the role of Cosette in Les Miserables and sang a number of show tunes tied together with uplifting thoughts and stories. Our goal for the conference was to uplift the sisters and I think the Lord helped us accomplish that goal. Thanks to all the wonderful brothers and sisters who helped make the day a great success.

A sweet sister in our stake drew sixteen beautiful drawings of well known musical artists, past and present. They were a huge addition to the spirit of of the day. This is her rendition of Sister Turley.

Thank you, Sister Algecera!

Do you recognize Mack Wilberg, Janice Kapp Perry, Michael Ballam, and Jenny Oaks Baker? These are just a few of the many!

Here are Doris Guzman and Angie Roman late in the set up process. We could not have gotten it done without all the help we received!! Thanks to all you great ladies!!

Here are Dalila and I during set up. It was very late...but still a lot of fun..(plus, we had some of Robin's delicious rice pudding to buoy our spirits. :)

Our fancy table settings...so fun!!

It was a very special day.

D&C 25: 12,13