L.A. ~ 3.4.10

My cousin, Jonathan, has been in CA for a couple months and we've been wanting to get together. He's been working lots and we've been busy, but we finally got in touch with each other and planned a time to hang out. I thought I'd posted these pictures last week, but I was telling my mom about them today and she said she hadn't seen them. I just checked, and sure enough, I'd gotten them all read yand then forgotten to post them. Oops! So, here they are!

The kiddos and I (Ty had school) spent a long day of driving and working our way through Los Angeles traffic, vut it was so worth it to see Jon and get to spend some time with him. We've had so much fun together growing up and it has been way too long since we've had the chance to do something fun together!

After the kids and I navigated our way to Jon's friend's house, our first stop was Santa Monica. The pier was incredible and the beach was gorgeous!! I loved being able to see the mountains from the beach - ocean/mountains is a stunning combination (I'm such a sucker for mountains!)


Jon and Cole at the beach. We played in the sand and had some snacks and just enjoyed being out. The weather is perfect for being on the beach right now. It's cool enough that the beach isn't like and anthill of people, but just sunny enough to make for some great sand play and relaxation time. :)

Sweet Brookie at the beach enjoying the sand and seaweed. :) (she ate some - sand and seaweed - yuck!)

On the move. This girl couldn't get enough of crawling through the sand - so fun to conquer the hills and so fun to find all the burried treasure (and taste it).

Coleman playing in the sand. He stayed pretty close to the stroller and towell. After getting knocked down by a wave last week, he's pretty leary of the water.

This beach baby has no fear. She walked right out into the water with a huge grin on her face.

Lovin' the sand and the water!

Coleman stayed nice and dry while Brookie and I had our little water adventure. Jon watched him, but I guess he wasn't too much trouble...

Hiding and laughing in one of his favorite spots. Thank heaven for this stroller! It's been a real life saver!!! We all love it!

Jon and the boardwalk.

Jon and the water/mountains.

Google. Neat. :)

The L.A. Temple (from the car) - not bad, eh?

We weren't sure if we had time to stop or not, but I'm so glad we did! Cole, especially, loved seeing the temple and I loved the feeling of being on the grounds!

Cole checking out the fountain. Not long before this kid was hiding in the stroller saying "hold me mamma! water get me!" Now I'm sure if he could reach he would have jumped right in.

Jon and the kids at the temple

Me with the kids at the temple

We were talking about Moroni. Cole thought he was pretty neat. He's playing a trumpet - for Cole, that was enough to be awesome!

Beautiful flowers. It wasn't just a beautiful building and beautiful grounds, but also a beautiful spirit that surrounded the temple. It was familiar and welcome after a long day of L.A. experience.

Cole was especially excited to see the temple. He reminded me that "mommy got married in a temple." We got a chance to talk a little about the temple and shat a special place it is and I know he understood. I'm sure it wasn't the talk, but the feeling there that taught him that is Heavenly Father's house.

"I touch the temple!" He was pretty excited to touch the temple.

Jon and the kiddos. He was cute to hold them and help them touch and see everything they wanted to see.

Touching the temple again

The view from the temple looking out into L.A.

American flag flying on the temple grounds - thank heaven for some people in L.A. who still know which flags to fly. It was beautiful.