August 3rd Birthday

Latisha is my very organized and creative child.  This time we were blessed to share in August's 3rd birthday party.  It was a dinosaur theme and so fun.  Latisha always decorates cute, cooks amazing, and makes sure the kids have fun.  It was so fun.  With Alex and Ivy living closer it is so much easier for them to attend parties, and as always I love being surrounded by my family.

Latisha made the piñata

look she is crawling now

triceratops cupcakes

Aunt Ivy loving time with Brinley

Moving/Birthdays

June began with a bang.  Alexander and Ivy had been considering and praying about moving closer to home.  It has been on their hearts for a while and God totally opened the doors for them to have a pastoral job closer to home.  They now live less than two hours a way and Alex is the Youth Pastor at the church we went to when he was younger and where he first felt the call into ministry as a young boy.

The day they moved was close to Alex's birthday.  Since they stopped here for the night before continuing to their new home it gave us the perfect opportunity to throw a birthday party for Alex and Cassandra. Their birthdays are very close and Cassie was thrilled to celebrate with her big brother again.  The next morning they were off to their new adventure.  I am so excited for them and am looking forward to seeing what God has in store for them, not to mention it is so much easier to go and see them now.

Here are some cute pictures of the party.  We had fondue.  I usually have it for my birthday but Alex hasn't been able to be at my birthday party for a few years.  He loves fondue so I made it and it was wonderful.

Hope you are all having a great day and God Bless

Alicia

fondue served buffet style, a lot easier for a big crowd

Hubby Time Part Two The Big Island

The next day we flew to the Big Island.  This was the time of the volcano scare but we were just fine.  It is a big island and I believe they said the volcano was a couple hundred miles away.  David had won the trip, so we were treated in style.  Someone picked us up at the airport and took us to our resort, The Fairmont.  To say it was beautiful is an understatement.  I loved walking around the grounds seeing the amazing landscaping and the adorable little yellow birds.  We had a company dinner on the beach that night that was ... well amazing.  

our resort

having fun walking around

the beach where we snorkeled

it was quite breezy while we were there

Look at that gorgeous sunset

 The next day we went on my first catamaran ride.  It was fun.  I was concerned because I get motion sickness, but it was no problem.  We came to a lovely area where we could do some more snorkeling and we found turtles to swim with, yep, amazing!  Isn't God so amazing to make all this beautiful world with such amazing creatures.  I was in awe.  We got a little shopping done that night.

after snorkeling we had a ring around our face, they called it the snorkeling hick

 The following day we hung out at the resort.  They had a great exercise room, breakfast buffet, snorkeling and just relaxing.  While we were snorkeling at the resort we saw, yep, more sea turtles.  I loved it.  They were swimming all around us.  Sooooo AMAZING!  

One of the things I was looking forward to was a helicopter ride.  My grandparents had gone to Hawaii years ago and Grandpa's big advise was to take a helicopter ride.  So the next day we did.  It was absolutely, you guessed it, Amazing.  We had headphones on with fun music, as we zipped up and down and all around the mountains, looking at the canyons and an abundance of waterfalls.  I was videotaping it all, when suddenly I was not doing so good.  I was seat belted into my seat and my arms couldn't reach the little white bag in front of me.  Poor David, I tapped on him and one look at me and he knew it wasn't good.  He was thankfully able to get me the bag in the nick of time and well... I threw up.  What a humbling experience.  When we landed I had to carry my bag of shame off the helicopter and wait for clearance before I could take it to the garbage.  David offered to carry it for me, what a man.  My advise would be to not video tape if you are prone to motion sickness, and take a couple Dramamine or Motion Sickness wristbands.

I was so excited

here we go

amazing

after the fact

That evening was the big awards ceremony, the food was amazing.  I was very proud of my hubby and all the hard work he does for our family.  

Dinner

wonderful dessert

The last full day we spent enjoying the resort, more snorkeling, more food, and more relaxing.  That night they had a luau on the beach and I felt like I could live in that moment forever.  The sunset over the ocean and all seemed well in the world.  

Ready for the luau

gorgeous

We got to hang out in a hammock and listen to the waves

We flew out the next day but our flight wasn't until 8:00 pm. So, once again I enjoyed walking around the resort, sitting on the beach, taking pictures, and David and I played cards. That evening we sat upstairs and ordered a pizza.  The sun was setting and someone was play a guitar and singing the song from Brent and Latisha's wedding which was appropriate since it was their 4th wedding anniversary.  I video taped it and sent it to Latisha.  We enjoyed our pizza and ate the whole thing.  The waitress came and asked us if we enjoyed our pizza and we told her yes, it was quite good.  Then she explained we got someone else's pizza.  We thought it didn't taste like what we had ordered but thought maybe it was just fufu pizza.  Nope it was the wrong one so they gave it to us for free.  Not a bad end to our trip.  The flight was an all nighter but we were able to sleep a little.  

All in all it was an amazing trip.  I am grateful to God for his blessings in our lives.  I love to travel and thankfully he provided us with another trip in the books.  Time with my husband for a getaway is wonderful. 

Have a great day and God Bless

Alicia

Hubby Time Part One Kauai

Bright and early, the day after Sierra’s graduation, David and I flew out on a trip of our own. David had won a trip to Hawaii. We had been to Hawaii before but we had only been on the island, Oahu.  This trip was to the Big Island. We decided to extend our trip and spend a few days in Kauai, before heading to the Big Island.  I love getting away with my husband and Hubby time is great.

 When we arrived it was dark and we had had a long travel day.  The next morning we awoke to this beautiful Hawaiian Island.  We had rented a car and stayed at a condo on the beach.  After exploring our area and running to buy groceries we took a lovely drive.  We drove up the canyon and saw some amazing sights on the west side of the island, then went to a beach and played in the water for a bit, then back to our town for a lovely dinner and watched the sun set. 

our condo

looking out our deck

The first waterfall of the trip

at our condo

these lovely flowers were falling from the trees all around us

our beach

such a cool tree

the canyon

the end of the road

silly chickens all over the island

the beach we went to

Watching the sunset at our beach

 The following day we explored the north and west part of the island.  These silly chickens are all over the island and the locals do not appreciate them at all.  One thing I really enjoy is checking out waterfalls which we saw several. Another thing I really enjoy is light houses and we found one of those. The day was wonderful!

Our last day on Kauai, we just relaxed.  In the morning we went for a long walk on the beach and spent the rest of the day on the beach resting and snorkeling.  It was so exciting to see a big turtle just lying on the beach.  As we were walking by someone said look at that big turtle.  I started walking out toward the beach and it was lying right in front of me.  It totally blended in with the rocks and I would have walked right past it.  I also love snorkeling in the water.  The day was a bit breezy, but when I am snorkeling I don't even notice.

  

 pt two tomorrow