While the parents are away...

Foti and Lola play!
Sorry I know that was corny, but I couldn't resist...

Ted and I made a fast trip to AZ this weekend for our friends wedding, he was in our wedding party almost 7 years ago!

I got this pictures emailed to me that said:
"Foti and Lola square off, and Lola won!"

Our close friends here in El Segundo, came and checked on Lola 3 times a day, we are SO grateful!

We are so happy for Kurt and Meghan.  It was a beautiful Wedding Ceremony (Iin the LDS temple), a reception that night in Mesa, AZ, and then a reception the next night in Tucson, AZ.  A weekend packed full of fun!

We even got to celebrate Ted's little sister, Amanda's bday!  It was  fun to see family, even if it was just for a little bit!

Us at the Tucson reception

It was a fancy reception!  They had this logo made with their initials on it, it was everywhere!

They even had wooden signs with the logo as you entered the ranch where the reception was.

There were lots of little booths where you can do different things.

This was a huge black board you wrote your note to the Bride and Groom and got your picture near it to make a book for them.  

Don't know how I missed getting a picture of the Gelato cart but it was a big hit!

This little girl kept getting more and more cones with Gelato, she was so cute!

Their wedding video, all the little girls loved watching the bride!

Kurt's Grandparents, I love them!  So fun!

I collected straws for Kurt's grandpa for months before, he makes art projects out of them.

View of the reception.  It had a theme of the "Secret Garden" very cool!

July Visitors!

In July Ted's sister and her family came to visit us!  We were at the end of their 3 week road trip with a 5 month old....they are brave!

We LOVED seeing them and had a great time with them!  Despite trying to go to Pinks for hot dogs and the line being way to long,  the weekend was great.

Julie, Ted, Baby Truman and I in front of our casa

Truman at the beach watching his dad boogie board.

Family Picture :)

Our family picture after Ted went surfing, yes he went and I am wearing a jacket...COLD!

The boys surfing and boogie boarding they stayed out there for awhile

Mom and snugly Truman watching dad ride a wave!

Truman and I chilling, he is SO cute!

New Recipes

New Recipes and a Facelift to The Gourmet Economy (my healthy food blog)!  Check it out!


Lemon-Lime Chicken and Honey Sweet Potato Fries, ENJOY!
thegourmeteconomy.blogspot.com




Enjoy!

Malibu

Ted's parents didn't leave until today, we had such a GREAT weekend with them!

Yesterday we were able to take our first trip up to Malibu with them and a close family friend who now lives in El Segundo too :)  

It was nice to see the actual full campus of Pepperdine.  Ted's campus is nice, although it is a tall sky scraper in LA not so much a traditional "campus." But it is a 10 min drive with no freeways (that's big in LA!) and Ted LOVES his program.  I knew we made the right choice from the beginning, but when he came home the first day and was like a little kid about the subjects they were going to cover and had already read at least 50% of the books for the year I knew he is REALLY in the right Doctorate Program.  

View from lunch.  We ate at the Cove, you drive through Pamela Anderson's trailer court to this little restaurant that has been there since 1940 and you get to look at this!

The restaurant.

The pier, view from looking the other way from The Cove

Katrina, Valrie (Ted's hot mom), and me

Family :)

Beach wheel chair

(Guess you need this at a beach trailer court ha ha)

Can you see Ted and I's dream trailer (a silver bullet) in the trees!

That's a million dollar trailer for you!

View from a study deck at Pepperdine, don't know how much I could study there!  Look at that view!

More Visitors! Yea!

This weekend Ted's parents are in town!  We LOVE having them.  They came to help us move in but haven't been back since.  It is fun for them to see our house a little more settled (although we need to hang more pictures, hopefully Ted's sis Amanda can help with that in the next few months, she's great at that type of stuff!)

They came in Thursday and we didn't waste any time we went to Sea World for the 2nd time with them this summer.  Ted even got me to ride on a roller coast, wow I must be feeling better and must love him a lot!

Barely tall enough :)

Valrie showing you the Polar Bear in the Cave he was HUGE!

We went to a show there that featured common household pets.  It was AMAZING (pot belly pigs, dogs of all variety, cats, and birds)!  They have all been rescued from local shelters and can all do incredible tricks!  Jack and Valrie are in front of the show :)

Valrie and I in front of the Penguin exhibit it was cold inside, smelled like fish but SO cool.

Ted and I at the Polar Bears :)  My hair is a mess from getting wet on the roller coaster....

Surprise Ted!

For Ted's big 3-0 birthday I threw him a surprise party (with the help of some great friends) in our new backyard here in El Segundo.  Ted had a hard transition to the 30's so I thought we had to celebrate his new wisdom!

Ted being surprised 

I am very proud that I kept it a secret and actually snuck around planning the party for so long.  

Being a little mad at first :)  Ha ha!

Our friend Foti called Ted and had him "help" measure some stuff for their front yard to get him out of the house for 3 hours.  In that time we (Me, Sarah, Caitlin, Kelsey and Jamie...thanks!) transitioned the backyard into a fun party, and decorated Ted's cake fewwww!  That was a lot to do but well worth it.

We borrowed some white Christmas lights and hung them all over the yard

We had a great turn out and a good variety of people there.  My Cousin and his cute wife and boys made an hour drive to come, we had people from the community, church, and our friends here.  It was a great time!

Sarah and I preparing (Sarah is on the phone telling her husband to bring Ted home)

Kelsey and her hubby

Sarah and Foti (thanks Foti for helping!)

My "jr" cousin so cute!

My other jr cuz, love him!

Sarah and her mom Barbara(she's fancy:)  She lent us all of the white lights!

Sarah and Foti with Grandma (She and Ted have a secret political alliance if you ask her, we love her!)

We did all desserets and a fruit salad.  We made the cake and my friend Kelsey made some amazing cookies, and my other friend Caitlin did Ted's favorite treat peanut butter rice crispy treats.  (I ate cookies and rice crispy treats for 3 days straight after the party!  Yumm!)

The Cake and desserts, it was a moist chololate cake with cherry whipped cream filling and buttercream icing, Ted's favorite.

Best sugar cookies EVER!