Some times he knock's my socks off...

Yes folks I am now 30 years old and feel as though I have earned it. Some people feel like 30 is such a big deal and the dread it. I don't feel that way at all. I actually like being 30. I have 2 great kids, a successful business, a wonderful husband. Everything I ever dreamed of growing up. I have. Every year my birthday comes and goes and Justin gets all stressed out about it. This year was no different. Not only is it smokin' hot and we are super busy at work but there wasn't any "thing" I really wanted. Sure there are things I could buy just to have but nothing really that I wanted to spend the money on. While in Hawaii we discovered that we, both Justin and I, love Cake Boss. It is on TLC on Monday nights at 10pm. Watching them make these crazy cakes is so fun and I envy there artistic abilities. Let's face it I have very little myself. One night about a week before my birthday Justin was again hounding me about what I wanted and I still had come up with nothing. We sat down to watch Cake Boss and when it was over I said, "I want a cake like that." Thinking he wasn't paying attention and only answering him with that answer to get him off my back I totally forgot about it. As you can see he didn't. The next day he called 5 bakery's made an appointment and went in for a consultation. He tasted cakes, frosting's, fillings, picked out the colors, and designed the cake. Oh to be a fly on the wall at Freed's Bakery that day. He was there the same time as three other engaged couples were there designing their wedding cakes picking out my cake. It was not only beautiful but delicious. Sometimes he knocks my socks off. I love him so much!!!

Angels among us.

Have you ever seen a couple that looked sosatisfied in your life? This weekend was the

Don and Ora Latimer Family Reunion in St. George, Utah. These are my grandparent, my mom's parents, and they have ten children, 56 grandchildren, 97 great-grandchildren with three more on the way. Yes that's right soon they will have 100 great-granchildren. Of these we had 157 (i think) in attendance. And what a wonderful weekend it was. On Friday we met a church building where the kids, played, danced, sang, we had face painting, and they even made bead necklaces and bracelets. We split for dinner and met back up at the church for Family Home Evening. We talked about being the clay in the potter's hand and they handed out clay to everyone to mold. We molded everything from tree's to temples, and various types of animals. A couple of people got hard clay and couldn't really mold anything. The object lesson went on that if we have hard hearts we aren't as easy for our Savior to mold. My Aunt asked if we thought our grandparents had hard or soft hearts and hands then ask everyone if they had any memories we wanted to share about Grandma and Grandpa about how they have shared their soft hands and hearts with us. Madisen raised her hand and when called on she "Grandma always play tea party with me when I come to her house." Grandma got teary eyed and I got teary eyed...ok we were already teary eyed. We are Latimer's what do you expect. Several stories were shared but because I cry too much I was hoping that one of my siblings would stand and say what I knew all of us were thinking which is they took care of us after my Dad and brother died. We lived with them for a while, when we were sick we got to go to Grandma's house where she took care of us. When we lived in the house directly behind them Grandpa made a fence that went over the wall so that we could just go over the fence instead of walking around. The back door opened up into their bedroom and I am sure I never called before going over and they always welcomed us with open arms. Usually fed us too! Grandpa gave us blessings when we needed them. He came to the school several times to change a flat tire on my car. They took care if us but most important they took care of my mom. After Dad died Grandma slept with her for a month. I will never forget that. She didn't leave her side until she was ready to try to be on her own. I love them and they are the best grandparents in the universe and they are mine!!!

Follow me up a tree!!!

Yep that's right they are dang cute kids!! May be even the cutest kids you have ever seen. It's okay to think they are cuter than your own. I won't tell anyone you feel that way.

If we were at the bar at our condo in Kauai and I couldn't find Tanner I knew just were to look. He was in the tree. On day one he found this tree and climbed it as far as his little monkey legs would take him. I loved this night. Justin and Tanner were going to go see Transformers but seeing how there is only a few theaters on the entire island the line was wrapped around the building to buy tickets and that brought them back to the condo for some kalua pork nachos. I had gotten Tanner and Madisen ready fro a night out so they were clean and cute and smelled good so when I let them go play on the beach in the surf I also sent Justin up to the room for my camera. The sunset was beautiful and my original plan was to shoot some scenic shots of the sunset and the beach and our view and ended up with some really great shots of the kids. I was soaking wet from the waste down by the time I finished. The kids laughed, ran, squealed and had a blast just running and climbing trees to an hour or so and then it was up to the room to watch Cake Boss and settle down for the night. Have I mentioned yet that I want to go back?

More from Hawaii

Tanner while in Poipu found this "Chief's necklace" on the beach. We tied it on for him and made him the boss for the rest of the day. He got to choose where we ate and weather we stayed at the beach or went back to the pool. He loved it.

My skinny kid! You can see his ribs in this picture!

Jenessa, Madisen, Justin and Tanner in the pool at our condo Kauai!!

Tanner and Madisen in the ocean. Thanks heavens someone was thinking and brought lots of floaties so that my kids didn't drown. The current was so strong and after a few hours Madisen was being flipped and tossed around even in the floatie. That was when we were able to plead our case to Chief Tanner and beg to go back to the pool. Madisen said to him, "my belly is full of the yucky salty water and I am gonna barf on you if I get any more in my mouth."

Sunscreen, sand, the ocean, umbrellas, Red Vines, my kids laughter and Diet Coke what more could anyone need in this life. I know I have said it tons but I love watching them on the beach. So carefree, very few rules, the vast ocean that seems so huge and always makes me think about what is really important in life. High tides, low tides, just like life and all the beauty, wonder and adventure in between!

The first couple of days in PARADISE!

First day in Hawaii after a long day on an airplane. We were so excited to be near the beach and eat some good food. Next we headed to the pool to let the kids wear themselves out so they would go to sleep in a couple of hours!! Long day of traveling wore me out but as you can clearly see I wasn't super happy to have landed in paradise!!!

I know it's been a week since we got home and I am just getting around to telling you about our Hawaiian getaway!!! That is because I still want to be there. If my kids weren't already missing school the entire week we were gone I would have begged and pleaded and made all kinds of promises I didn't intend to keep to Justin to stay longer. We had the best time ever. The condo we stayed in, just to start, was super nice. It had stainless steal appliances, top of line washer and dryer, two ginormous bath tubs, three showers, two bedrooms, granite counter tops. It was nice. I could seriously live there the entire summer. The pool was way nice two, with two slides a kids wading pool, a "lazy river" type round about with a couple of "caves" the kids loved to hide in and three spa's.

The kids at Santa Monica Pier on Father's Day and just a few hours from flying to Hawaii!

Justin and the kids at the bar at our condo. They had the best kalua pork nachos!

The kids in the back of the Mustang Justin rented. Not very practical with all the luggage that we had but fun!!!

This is us at the first beach that we found and loved!! The kids snorkeled and played in the sand for a couple of hours before heading out to Poipu.

This our first full day on the island of Kauai. We got up and dressed for the beach, which is pretty much how we started every day. The kids got lathered in sunscreen and we were off in our Mustang Convertible to find the perfect spot to play for the day. We found a beach which was rocked off so that the kids could play in the ocean and not get knocked over by the waves. They really wanted to snorkel and this was perfect. They could touch almost the whole way out to the rock wall and there were plenty of fish to see and on the third day there was a sea turtle that must have been dumped over the wall during high tide. We stayed there for a couple of hours got some lunch and then headed out to Poipu, on the other side of the island to play with the other cousins that were there with us. We stayed there for three hours when the waves started tossing Madisen around like an rag doll and she had had enough of the salty water. We loaded our stuff up and went back to the condo to swim in the pool.

Tanner at the beach in Poipu.

That was day one. We have many more adventures to tell you about but they will have to wait until later since it is time for bed and the kids are still playing the drums behind be. When I say the kids I mean Tanner, Madisen and Justin.

Little kid bare feet

I love to take pictures that much is already public knowledge. It annoys my husband and after a few shots Tanner has had it as well. Madisen could go all day if I had the time. This past few months, as I have been scanning all our past pictures I have noticed that most of my favorites have one thing in common...bare feet. So here are just a few. 

Heading to L.A.

This is the kids throwing darts to pop the balloons to win their "super awesome prizes" The three grown men in front of them went away empty handed and dazzled by Madisen popping two of her four balloons and Tanner coming away with three out of four popped! Yes they are that cool!!!

Me, Tanner and Madisen on the pier 

Well the time had come to gather our belongings a head out to L.A. where we would spend the night in a hotel room and fly out the next day to start our 7 days in Hawaii. Sunday morning we loaded our suitcases, yes there were alot of them, into the car and we headed out tho what we thought would be four and half maybe five hours in the car if we didn't have to stop more than once. Well things didn't really work out that way. About 15 minutes from Baker, CA we parked on the highway for about an hour and a half while the California highway patrol cleaned and cleared away a car accident. My kids thought it was really cool to see a helicopter land on the street and then take off again. Needless to say the 4-5 hours turned into 7 1/2. We finally got to L.A. and got checked into the pretty scary hotel room for the night. The kids having been in the car all day were restless so we drove a few minutes to Santa Monica Pier where they kicked butt on the dart game and came home with really "super awesome" prizes. We had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen which was really good and then it was off to bed because we had one more day of traveling before we reached our final destination of Kauai, Hawaii.