My Birthday Fun

 First of all, I'm sorry with all the weirdness blogger has been having lately. My last post pretty much disappeared. No worries though, nothing has changed.

 I'm here to talk about my birthday weekend and how fantastic it was! Gary came home Friday night, and we went a few places, but mostly stayed at home nice and cozy. We had a trip ahead of us!

Saturday was amazing. We awoke around 8-9am (nice) and started getting ready for the day. We packed up our stuff and headed out to the temple! We didn't have a session time planned, it was more "whatever time it's closest to when we get there". We arrived a little after 1 o'clock session and decided we were going to go to the 2 o'clock session. Unfortunately we never got to check out the new Visitor's Center (bummer), but instead bought a few things from the Distribution Center. After we entered the temple and waited for our session, we noticed it was clearly East Stake temple day and I saw many people from Monica ward and a few other East stake wards. Some people I saw I hadn't seen in years. It was great. They were just coming out of a session, so we didn't get to sit with them, but that's okay. A young girl, by herself, walked shyly into the seating area and glanced around, asking, "Is this where we wait for a session?" When someone answered yes, she sat down. I noticed she had been fiddling with an engagement ring and the dress she had been wearing was very bride-like. I felt a little sad she was by herself (minus her husband-to-be on the other side), but happy she chose this path.

Anyway, the session was wonderful as always and Gary and I used the time after to ponder and pray for confirmation about the adoption idea. I hadn't received anything and wanted to cry (I realized later I had been thinking too hard, but Gary had received answers and his words made me feel a ton better, allowing me to relax and feel the spirit myself). We are still going to pursue adoption. When I said "soon", I didn't mean right this week or day, but soon. Few weeks to a few months. Gary was told we need to prepare just a little more and we'll know when it's the right time. I completely trust him. I've actually reached the point where I've accepted the fact I may never get pregnant. It feels good to finally accept that. I know years from now it's still a possibility, but I've let it go. It was a nice free feeling.

We spent the rest of our Saturday in various places, mostly in the Woodland Hills area. We shopped the Topanga Westfield mall and area, then finally headed home and crashed. It was a perfect Saturday.

Sunday was stake conference, so we just enjoyed the day. No big worries, just relaxed and had a fabulous day together.

Then Monday-my birthday! I awoke around 8 o'clock to several, and I mean several, text messages from various people wishing me a happy birthday. I was also tempted to turn off my Facebook notifications on my cell phone, but decided to let it be. Gary awoke shortly after and told me to make plans if I wanted to do anything fun today. I spent awhile (the night before too) trying to figure out where I wanted to go. The original plan was head to Ventura and do some light shopping on the beach. The weather was a bit cold and rainy. As much as Ventura is always a perfect idea, for some reason I was in a bit more of a city mood. I'm not a city girl at all, but I do love visiting big cities occasional for fun; I just can't live there. I noticed a Bass Pro Shop in Rancho Cucamonga, but the drive was rather a long distance (hour away, but 2 hours in traffic). I also thought about Santa Barbara, but too far. Finally I told myself to just pick something.

Gary and I have been in Santa Clarita for over 2 years now, and had yet to visit Hollywood itself (except for a few shopping places in N. Hollywood). It never seemed like a big deal to me, but I decided I wanted to go today. So, we went. We visited the Hollywood and Highland center. To our surprise, it was less than 30 miles away and we didn't have to touch the 405. It took us maybe 20 mins to get there. See how much I know LA? Haha.

I know, this is a crappy view. We were going to head up there after the shopping, but couldn't find our way. So, not wanting to deal with the traffic, we headed out. No biggies.

Not really a fan, but this was the first building upon entering Hollywood Blvd.

We were going to eat lunch there, but changed our minds. Instead, we ate at a fantastic little pizzeria and had calzones. Mmm, it was delicious!

Walk of Fame. Of course, they were all up and down Hollywood Blvd, but still, wanted to get a shot. Partial-Gary in there. 

Kodak Theatre (Academy Awards and other big events are here)

Ripley's Believe it or not Museum. What a fun tour! It was about an hour long (self-guided) with lots of interesting little facts, passages, etc. I loved all the cool light effects, music, games, illusions, etc. We enjoyed it very much.

 There was also the Guinness tour and Wax Museum tour. Sorry I didn't take too many pictures! We were too busy having fun. I realized later we didn't have any pictures of each other. Oh, well. We had a definite blast! Gary even bought me a few nice presents :) I was super spoiled.

After spending the day in Hollywood, we decided to head North and let Gary enjoy his favorite super video game store. We finally headed home after, then shortly went out for ice cream and Chick fil-A. I didn't feel like cooking on my birthday, lol.

It was such a wonderful weekend! Starting with that temple trip was just amazing. Time to enjoy another day off. Things to do!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!