Spring Break Day 4

Last day of sleeping in! We woke up to have breakfast and we all gathered together to watch another slideshow of my brother's mission pics. He has a bunch of stories, pictures and videos! It was so fun to have him tell mission adventures and it was great bonding time. We also saw the video footage of my bro coming home while we were at the airport as family and friends. It was great to record that and have it availble for my dad to see. Another post for another day but my dad is still gone in Mexico waiting for his visa to come home. He couldn't be there at the airport so we caught it all on video just for him.

Anyways, after a lazy time in the morning, we all had lunch and got ready to go over to the beach and see the border....literally. As you can see in the pictures in this post, you can see the United States and Mexican border walls and the ocean and although it's beautiful, it also made me kind of sad. It made me upset that politics and silly rules have been keeping my dad from being home for over 7 months. My dad has been legally here in the U.S. for 20+ years and is on course for becoming a permanent resident and then a U.S. citizen. My mom is a U.S. citizen now but she also had to go through this process of naturalization and it's just very taxing, confusing and complicated. So anyways, see the border made me wish that there was more peace and freedom in the world where families would not have to be separated because of silly paperwork or whatnot. There are plenty of criminal U.S. citizens that do not deserve to stay in the U.S. and yet there are good immigrants struggling to become a part of this promised land. Sometimes it just isn't fair.

But again, back to the fun of the trip. We loved taking a walk down by the beach and hanging out by enjoying the sun and the breeze. It felt wonderful! We ended the night by Michelle and I having pizza (cravings) and the rest of the fam had tacos one last time. (Blaine loves these...) and we watched a movie at home to settle down. And oh.... I love Mexican bread!!!

Spring Break Day 3

So while in Mexico we have been sleeping like 12 hours a night....and it's glorious! Blaine and I have definitely taken advantage of this trip to catch up on sleep and to sleep while we can because everyone tells us we'll never sleep again haha but we started the day by seeing my brother's mission pics and they have been great! We had lunch and headed out to go to another little town the distance of Las Vegas to Boulder City and we went to the beach there to just dip our toes in (it was kinda chilly out this day), take a walk, get some exercise in, chat about life and just enjoy each other's company. We headed out back into TJ to kill some time at the mall and out of all the places to have a nice dinner that night, we decided on Applebee's haha in MEXICO. Who cares though, it was delicious! We had planned on watching a movie at night but we passed out...such a fun day!

Spring Break Day 2

Sunday and second day of General Conference! So great to wake up ready to listen and be inspired and uplifted. I know I have a baby on the way but the talks about families really stood out to me. I think 2 or 3 speakers specifically spoke about families and raising children and such and so today was perfect to listen to our wonderful leaders. We spent most of the day watching conference of course and by the time it was over, we had relatives and friends over for dinner at my grandma's house. Since everyone was together this night, we had an inpromptu baby shower! Seriously, my mom and aunts/cousins/relatves put this simple shower together in like 3 days and it was small and simple and way fun. Our little boy was so spoiled and has a bunch of great gifts. It was great to spend dinner with my family and have fun openening presents too. Thanks to everyone!

Spring Break Day 1

1st full day in Mexico and since we got in so late last night, we kind of missed the 1st session of General Conference.....definitely going to go back and catch up on those!!! I can't believe we slept in that much....haha Usually Blaine and I sleep and wake up naturally at like 7 a.m.....even on Saturdays! The latest we've slept in before has been like 8:30 and today we woke up at like 10:30....we must have been exhausted!!! It felt great though, can't complain there. We did make time for the second session of conference though!!! Then the boys had to miss priesthood session because it was only in Spanish so they will have to catch up on that later. In the afternoon we had a fun day out just by hanging out with my Dad, getting mission stories from Edward and just having fun as a family. We went out for Tacos, saw the Hunger Games and of course munched on Mexican pastries all day. Just a fun chill time spending it with family!

Oldham/Davis Camping Trip

 

  

We LOVE hanging out with the Oldham's and they are seriously our best friends right now. They have kids and we love them! We got out of work early to go to Valley of Fire, just down the freeway not too far and we camped in trailer camping area with the Oldham's HUGE trailer. We got there at night ready to have chicken and potatoes for dinner with some cobbler. YUM! Staying up late and chatting playing games. LOVE IT.

Next day we slept in, had yummy breakfast, played outside and visited the visitor's center and did a hike! It was an easy 1-2 mile roundtrip and just looking at all the rocks and formations is so stunning! Heavenly Father did a good job :) We had sandwiches for lunch and while the boys played laser tags the girls chatted and we played more games that night. We had steaks for dinner too! DELISH. Such a fun day that went by so fast!

We had a little adventure getting ready for church by showering all 7 of us in the trailer and had breakfast. We made it to like the overton/logandale area for church and we got there a little too late at first so we drove around and then made it to a sacrament meeting which was really nice. I wore dress pants for the first time to church! haha the boys had jeans. But at least the other girls there had JEAN skirts! they were still skirts! Haha I felt a little weird but I did try to look fancy lol we had burgers for lunch and then hung out by the fire until it was time to go home. Such a fun weekend! Love that place and we for sure have to go back and do more hikes and exploring.

Hawaii Honeymoon!!!

8/10/09-8/14/09

Monday:

Airport bound and we waited for our plane listening to music and ate pizza for lunch. Our plane ride was 6 hours so we slept most of the time & we saw part of a movie. Then the battery died so we were sad but then a movie called the "Soloist" came on the plane. It was ok, interesting so it kept us entertained. We arrived and we got laid! haha they were real flowers and so beautiful. We got our Dodge Charger and headed to the Ko'Olina Marriott Beach Club where it was absolutely beautiful. We were right next to the beach and it was a private beach and many pools and tropical trees. Our hotel room was really nice & had a fun view of our hotel downstairs pools. We then went to lunch @ Kolohe's which is a little grill place right outside the beach! The view is just so beautiful! This resort is the best! We finished watching our movie and then bedtime! Everyday we went to bed early and woke up early too! Time difference of 3 or 4 hours.

Tuesday:

Up early for a yummy breakfast! Later we drove to Waikiki and that was so fun! We went shopping and it's right next to the beach too. So people where there! We bought ice cream, got some stuff while shopping and looked inside fun shops. We also stopped by the beach and put our feet inside the water. We didn't have our swimsuits but the water was so warm! The sand feels and looks beautiful! New favorite beaches...so much better than California beaches. So the week was mostly rainy but we always got sun when swimming. So then we went to Tony Romas 4 the best dinner of ribs ever! Whoo! Then too full so we fell asleep early again :)

Wednesday:

Up and awake and after breakfast we went straight into the ocean! That private beach is just so amazing and even at 7am the water feels so great! After we got ready for the day, we then went to the Aloha Stadium for some fun shopping. It's like a little China Town and swapmeet! So fun because we got a beautiful wood eagle wall decor for $35 instead of $50! It was probably worth like $80 too! So beautiful 2 go in our office at home. These wood people are competing against another company we saw there and we think they were both lying about the the quality of the products and how they make them haha Blaine did so good bringing down the price! We bought souvenirs and at the end we wanted some towels and it was hilarious because it was 2 for $12 or 1 for $7 but we only had $10 left in our shopping budget. We really really wanted our two beach towels to match but we only got 1 towel at first for ^4 so we had $4 left. I still really wanted the other one so I went to the car to find money. I only had $0.68!!! Hilarious but they gave us the towel! whoo! Go me :) Then off to the hotel & we saw a movie. Nice little break from tourism. We went to dinner at Chuck's Steak House (just downstairs in the hotel). So delish! They have you a lot of food haha I also had to have a pina colada and it was to die for! Then of course we were dying b/c of being full so we took a walk on the beach at night and although dark it was beautiful! We laid down on the beach chairs and it was starting to rain and that felt so good! Love summer nights in Hawaii!

Thursday:

We were up early and bought our tickets for the Polynesian Culture Center. We had breakfast and we got ready to go to the other side of the island! An 1hr 1/2 drive and we saw the prettiest landscapes. From mountains to fields to like forests! We stopped at the Dole Pineapple Plantation and had to stop to buy ice cream! Their pineapple ice cream is to die for! Also with fresh pineapple as a topping it's completely delicious! We saw how pineapples grow and it's fun to see the 100's of acres of pineapples! Yummy! Then we got to North Shore and saw the other beaches. We went to Laie, HA to see the Laie Temple! It's beautiful but sadly the temple was closed! We did go to the visitor's center & took pics outside. Next was BYU-Hawaii. We took pics & got some stuff @ the BYU-Bookstore! Love that place although BYU-Provo is better! :) So off we were to the PCC but we were hungry so we got McDonald's! ha. haven't eaten there in years but we were hungry and a Big Mac was amazingly yummy. At the PCC, we had such a blast! The first hour was crazy with the annoying ponchos b/c it was raining so hard but then it was ok! No rain whoo! We "visited" six countries: Hawaii, Tonga, New Zealand, Fiji, Tahiti & Samoa. We saw each nation's dancing, some drum playing, how to make fire, tours of their culture, a canoe ride & fun stuff! We went to a Luau for dinner and it was good! The best part was the dancing & music. Also, we had all honeymooner's and anniversary couples go up & dance! So cute! I love my husband then this cute lady wanted to cake pictures of us so we have those great pics. We window shopped & then our show started! It was absolutely beautiful! It was called HA, the Breath of Life. It was about a baby, to a boy, to a teen, to a married man, to a father. Life & death & love. All 6 countries were represented in beautiful music and dance. We loved it!

Friday:

Last day! It was beautiful outside but time to go. We went swimming in the morning though and took advantage of the sun. We even went snorkeling that early! Breakfast and then time to pack up. We actually got to the airport earlier than we realized so we watched an entire movie (thanks laptop) and then had pizza again :) The 5 hr plane ride seemed to take forever! We saw a part of the movie again until the computer died and then watched the movie on the plane. Not too bad when you have something to keep you busy. Finally to Vegas and it feels great to be home although we will definitely miss it there :)

Vacation Pics

1. So Disneyland really is the "Happiest Place On Earth"
2. A Santa Barbara sunset is beautiful with its orange glow
3. Santa Barbara State Street has THE best shops and food...ever
4.The harbor with the wind in your hair feels soooooo good.
5. My sandcastle is awesome......and was until it got destroyed by a wave
6.My siblings are amazing and I love them!

California...there I went

Oh my! Well I haven't blogged anything in forever it seems! I look at my friends' blogs and I realized, I need to keep up. Really, I have such wonderful things in my life going on and so I need to remember them. If someone would like to look at them great but if not, I know that at least I did something for myself by treasuring those memories. First off....

California:

Oh how I love California! Little unknown fact, I'm a CALI girl....born in San Diego not far from the beach. I would say I lived about 5 years in California. Not really home but I love when I visit. I still have some family there so it's good to travel. If money's tight and that dream vacation to Hawaii isn't possible, I totally LOVE California so that is awesome :)

Here are some of my favorite things about California:

1. The Beach...any
2. Santa Barbara State Street
3. Disneyland

4. Universal Studios

5. Harbors

6. Tanning

7. Sandcastles

8. San Diego Zoo
9. Knotts Berry Farm

10. Time with Family