THANK YOU CODI FOR A GREAT TIME IN LAGUNA BEACH

Tre' loved playing "X" marks the spot on the beach. He would run ahead of Paul and I mark and X and then run back. As we walked along the beach, believe it or not, we would stumble upon this X. Tre' would act all shocked and immediately start digging. Sometime we found surprises and sometimes not. Either way, it was a blast watching Tre' run up and down the beach playing this game.

 Maybe when he's a little bigger this mustache will fit perfectly

 Ice cream and a walk

 Our friends who we enjoyed a great week on the beach with. Thank you again for letting us be apart of your adventure. We love you guys!

 

 New Port Beach (Paul and I's meeting grounds)  :)

 This is the private beach that we get to lounge around on. Ahhhhh, I LOVE this place.

This was the wayof Ava on the beach. She loved to roll to roll around in the sand and then eat it. Serious, this made her so happy. I could not get over the fact that a one year old was loving the sand as much as she so there are many pictures of her. I speared you all who are reading this because I knew there was only one other person that would enjoy seeing ALL the pictures as much as I and that would be her mom. (Codi, I will make you a disc)  :)

 I LOVE these boys, and Tre' LOVES the beach. Paul and I were asked multiple times if we could leave our house and buy a new one on the beach. Paul and I are all for it. Well, maybe one day.

 STUCK!

 A Johnny Cupcakes spotting........ We drove in to LA one of the days that we were in California so that Paul could visit the long awaited for 'Johnny Cupcakes'. As we got closer and closer to the shop it was like Christmas morning in our car. I kept laughing while looking at the GPS telling Paul how many more miles and with every update huge smiles would break across his face.
Paul has been very luck to have my Dad send him things and post many pictures from the shop in London but on this trip it was Paul's turn to have his own 'Johnny Cupcake' experience.

 Outside the shop

 The grand entrance

One counter top that held many Johnny Cupcake pins. We stocked up on these. At our house we take all the Johnny Cupcake pins we have ever gotten and turn them into magnets. Out collection is on the fridge.

 OH YEAH, finally, what to get or how to soak it all in

 Duff from 'Ace of Cakes' has opened a shop in LA. Duff loves Johnny Cupcakes and decided that he would make him a cake to show that love. This is all fondant laid over cardboard. The gal in the shop was nice to unlock the case so that I could get a little better look. It sure smelled good when she opened it up.

 Right behind those big oven doors is where they keep their inventory

 This is the checkout counter

 This is our happy family

 Lunch at 'Johnny Rockets' this is one of the best burger places. It reminds me of In N' Out burger but WAY WAY better tasting food.

 Hello from Huntington Beach

'Ruth's' on the pier for dinner. This is a 50's type diner that we stumbled upon. It was very nice. Good food and goo entertainment. There was a balloon guy in the restaurant that was very talented. As you will see below he made Tre' and Ariel. The other that we saw around the restaurant were: headphones, Elmo, flower corsage,dinosaur and  duck. Very entertaining.

 

Welcome, Welcome baby Slade....

Slade Joseph Worthen
February 14, 2012
9 lbs. 9 ounces 21 inches long

Our newest addition to the family. I am so happy about his arrival. The only thing that would make me happier would be to be in South Carolina with him!!!! Oh, airlines please drop a good deal just for me.......

Handsome, Handsome prince......

As many of you may know, Tre' is in love with princesses. Princess dress ups, hair stuff, barbies, babies, make-up, jewelry ect. If you do not know this well, now you do.
For Tre''s birthday this year his aunts came up with an INCREDIBLE idea to make him a handsome, handsome prince game. this way he can still dress up whenever he wants but can be a boy while he does it. BRILLIANT!!!
Here are pictures of the present. I had to post this because I am blown away by the detail of this whole gift. Everything was handmade. We have such a crafty family. Please Tre' never grow up!

The Handsome, Handsome Prince dress up box....

The game board....


Meet the Princes. Left to right....... Flynn Ryder (check out the go-tee) Prince Charmning, Prince Eric, and another Prince Charming.

The outfits. There are enough pieces for 4 players. The other prince attire is blue, red and green.

The real princes and princess in action....

Thank you so much Sara and Whitney. What a special present.

Can you PLEASE send me back to Hawaii?

AloHa from the big island of Hawaii!

Tre' and I just got back from a more than perfect trip to visit my sister and brother in law. In September we came a cross a great deal (thanks Dad) on round trip tickets from here to Hawaii that I could not pass up. We schedule the visit to fall over Tre''s 4th birthday. With some of my brothers and sisters living out of state we are not always able to be together for birthdays and such so this year I thought it would be fun to take Tre' and his birthday to them.

When we arrived to the Big Island in was a lovely 78 degrees, the sun was shining and we were melting away (we were dressed for the cold weather we left behind in Utah) waiting for our baggage, anxiously wanting to rip our swimsuits out of the bag and head to the beach.patient, patient, patient, was all we needed to be.We took a quick trip to costco, had a quick lunch and beach-ward bound we were. I have never known Tre' to be happier than when he is at the beach. he is our water baby indeed. He is SO happy in the summertime when all he gets to do everyday is swim in the swimming pool and play with water toys but the happiness level at the beach is way more than that. I am not sure if it is the miles of sand, the huge body of water, the mass amounts of friends that rotated every few hours, never getting bored but, he was the happiest kid in the world. This was for sure to carry on daily for the rest of the trip. BEACH=INCREDIBLY HAPPY TRE' which in turn equals an INCREDIBLY HAPPY ME :)

Day 2
Rise and shine Kyla and Jim. (Very early in the trip Tre' started calling Jimmy, Jim, it was so funny!! Unfortunately for Jim it has stuck) Every morning when Tre' woke up it was time for Kyla and Jim to be up whether they were ready or not. :)
To start off the morning Jimmy started playing the guitar while singing along. Tre' loved this and wanted to play. Jimmy pulled out a Ukelele for Tre' and the jam session started and was soon to be followed by an outing to the market and an afternoon at BEACH! Our day was soon filled with sand castles, water holes and spaghetti.

YUMMY, YUMMY, YUMMY. This picture does not do the size of these avocados justice. They were seriously the size of a medium size spaghetti squash and tasted better than any avocado I have ever had. When we got home we were scooping the avocado with a spoon and eating it. MMM!

Cheers to sweet little bananas.
Shave ice time!I just want to go to the beach!

Day 5Tre' and Jimmy decided to start the morning by launching oranges off the back deck. This was a huge hit and carried on daily through the rest of our trip. There was once launch where the boys ran in the house because they almost hit a car that drove by. You can't see the rod but it is right on the other side of the big bushy tree you can see behind Jimmy's head.


Day 3--- Happy 4th Birthday Tre' Bug!Good Morning to presents, streamers, balloons and a sign that welcomed Tre' to his princess party. Yep, you read that right. This boy LOVES princesses! Paul and I are very okay with this and just go with it. Some may not agree with this but, we are okay with him enjoying what he enjoys.
Today we went on a submarine ride. This was a very cool experience. We went 106 feet below sea level, saw 2 ship wrecks, lots of different kinds of fish, and an eel.
After the submarine guess what we did...... that's right, we headed to the beach at the pier :) Where Tre' and I both paddled boarded for our first time. SO FUN!
After hours of playing we met Jimmy for dinner at a really good restaurant called Humpy's. They served the best fish and chips that I have ever sunk my teeth into. MMMMM! At the restaurant they did not have any special birthday dessert so we ordered Tre' and oreo sundae. Our waiter was a true rock star. When he brought out Tre''s dessert he managed to find a candle in which they place on all tables and lit in for him in place of a candle, then sang him happy birthday. This waiter totally made Tre''s night. I was so happy!
After dinner we went home and did birthday cake with Kyla and Jim. What a fun and special day Kyla made Tre''s birthday. Thank you for everything Kyla and Jimmy!!!




A present sent from Daddy. He decided it was fun to spend his funds tipping people around the island.



I know these are really hard to see but we got to see two different ship wrecks when we were under water. It was pretty cool.
Here we were 106 feet below sea level. CRAZY!!! I know this is really blurry but the camera was not doing so great that far down.



Thank you so much Auntie.!!!
This was after our waiter really came through with the birthday song and candle for the bug.
the last and final birthday dessert. Kyla let Tre' make and decorate his own birthday cake.



Day 4Pedicures, pedicures...... Tre' sat like a perfect angel. He loved having his feet rubbed and toes painted.


Dinner was eaten at the Brew Pub tonight with a delicious slice and a salad. This way you got a slice of pizza with any 2 toppings and a salad of your choice. INCREDIBLE! (I am listing all the food and places we go to dinner because eating out at new restaurants on vacation is one of my favorite things to do on vacation.) :)

Day 6 Kee-Kee ponds (kid beach)We finally spotted the turtles and saw a whale breech. AMAZING! Tre' had been waiting to see turtles for days now. I think he was totally shocked with how close he could get to them without having a glass wall between the two of them like at the aquarium.
On the walk back from the turtles Tre' invented a game called "fetch the hole" this meant that you were suppose to collect the coral off the volcano rock and throw them into the holes found in the volcano rock. He loved playing this guy with Kyla.

Happy Birthday from Uncle Joey.....


On the Halualoah Kona Coffee Farm. We are going to visit the farmer. (Kyla and Kimmy's friend Jason) when we first got the re Jimmy rounded up some bananas so Tre' could feed geese and possibly some chickens. Well, one chicken was a little inpatient while Tre' was unwrapping a banana and bit Tre''s finger. He flipped out. Jimmy knew that making Tre' laugh would solve the whole crying situation so, what did Jimmy do...... started chasing the chicken say "Never hurt my friend again" At one point as you can see in the picture Jimmy got the chicken and for Tre''s sake let him know who the boss really is. Problem solved. Thank you Jimmy for making Tre' laugh and forget about his sore finger.

Jimmy let Tre' drive all the fun toys.............

Ohhhhh the side car. By far Tre''s favorite part of the trip.


Day 7--- Last Day :(

The beach and Aloha Kona Coffee Farm............
Today we went to Aloha Kona Coffee Farm (Jimmy's work) Here I was able to get a personal tour of how to get your cup of coffee from the very beginning. By the beginning I mean from the moment the coffee bean is picked from it's tree. I was able to watch Jimmy at work. Once we got the coffee beans sorted into their different grades, Jimmy weighed some out and we took the weighed amount over to the roaster and started roasting our very own coffee. This smell of coffee to me is so delicious! The roasting process it's self is very stinky. The final product on the other hand MMMMM good!
Jimmy thank you so much for taking the time to show me the ropes and for letting me have part in the process. ( These pictures are coming, they were on Kyla's camera :) )
I shared the fresh roasted coffee with some friends at work who I knew would appreciate the fresh roast. They were so grateful and said MA HALO!Of course we ended our Hawaiian adventures at the beach where Tre' and I were able to have one last hoorah.
We enjoyed dinner another night at the Brew Pub. Tonight I indulged in a Kahlua pork sandwich that was divine! Also to be followed with a brownie sundae with coconut, whipping cream and bacon. Yes, bacon. Sounds awful............ definitely was NOT. Thank you Joe!