coronado island

I really miss the beach. Even kelp covered ones.Our thanks again to the Whites and Barkers for a great time on the island. I have been feeling very nostalgic as I look through our vacation pictures. One day at the beach just wasn't enough for me. Dave still isn't sold on the beach now that we have kids which makes it that much harder. But that is true about anything in life. Every now and then I get this longing for it, living here in Utah. Landlocked.

I miss the warm sand in my toes when laying in the warm sun. I miss the sound of the waves crashing. When we were in Coronado and we could hear them at night, it took me right back to BYU-Hawaii. What a lucky little 20 year-old I was to be living there well, for many reasons. But one of the things I miss the most is falling asleep to the crashing waves.



I miss how good hot dogs and s'mores are when you roast them on the beach. I miss watching the sunset, and the sunset at Sunset for that matter. I miss cutetanlines. I miss the smell of coppertone mixed with the smell of the beach. I miss standing in the surf and feeling the sand being pulled out beneath you. I miss the beachy breeze. I miss it all...the good and bad, tan and sunburn.

Here is my nephew Charles' recent experience at the beach. I wonder if he misses it at all.


What do you love and/or miss about the beach?

sea world

One of our days on vacation was spent at Sea World. Inez really loved watching Shamu as well as the dolphin show. Since returning home, she has named this little wooden dolphin Dolly, after the high jumping dolphin from Sea World. I love Sea World, it makes me miss living near the beach and also reminds me that I once wanted to pursue oceanography. That is until I actually took oceanography at BYU-Hawaii and there was way too much chemistry. Ick.

Here we are feeding the bat rays. Inez was really excited to do this until I fed the first one and kind of let out a little squeal because it was a bit startling.





Feeding the dolphins

sprinkles of makaafi

So when we were in So Cal, we visited Beth, my very dear and old friend (as in longtime, not age), and her cute little family.

So we (as in the Lesues) visited them (as in the Makaafis) whilst in the real O.C. We let the kiddies run around awhile and then we went to Sprinkles for some delicious fatness. After that, we headed on over to the Newport Beach Temple where the children were perfectly reverent angels. Except that Inez stole a rock from the fountain. They are all glued down or sealed or cemented or something, but she must have pulled one loose somehow. Oops. Maybe we'll put it in the fountain of the Provo temple.

Here are some pictures of the Makaafi children, who should all be modeling and putting their parents through vacations and houses and such. My children couldn't look whiter next to them, and rightly so since that is what they are. Beth's children are half Tongan and once again, rightly so since their father is Tongan himself. Ilai, Inez, Gwen, Eden and Anela (or "Vanilla" as Inez called her).



I was also priveledged enough to taste some taro (is that right Beth?) with coconut milk. It wasn't too bad. The coconut milk helped, I think.

Then Sprinkles...

It looks like someone is presenting them in this picture, but it is just Inez going for the one with the candy dot on top. The flavors are (left to right, top row): banana, chocolate peanut butter and dark chocolate, (bottom row) black and white, another chocolate p.b., and vanilla. They are very rich, and very yummy.

And not too far from Sprinkles is the Newport Beach Temple.


Beth and Fo'ou posed for the Prom

Here's our perfectly reverent angel.

the whites

Well our little vacation was spent mostly with James, Melissa and Natalie White. James and Dave were roomates at BYU, and all four of us were in the same singles ward. Over the years we have forged many memories. To name just a few there were many BYU Football games, a Dave Matthews concert where some drunk girls wanted to fight, and transporting a mattress across town on the top of their jetta without rope. We got minor cases of frostbite(not really) as this was in the dead of winter and we had to hold it, with our hands, on top of the car from the inside. Did I mention there were no ropes? Ironically, Dave and I witnessed a very similar scene in the streets of San Francisco. I think it was near Lombard Street. Or maybe I just think that would make for a better story and my memory is thus.

James and Melissa are also responsible for introducing us to Settlers of Catan and Apples to Apples. We once spent a whole weekend in Park City playing "Settlers" as we nerdily call it, and consequently haven't played together since. There was a lot of talk of playing it during this vacation, but it never came to pass. We did however watch a pretty bad movie, Because I Said So. But sometimes the bad movies make for memorable memories, aww, girrrll! Am I right guys? We also rented Fletch, because to everyone's surprise I had never seen it. Add this to the list of movies that I haven't seen and thus am shocking to others, like Saturday's Warrior. Well you can continue to be shocked because I fell asleep and still haven't seen it.

Besides hanging out, watching movies, making cookies and reminiscing about random topics, such as Small Wonder, we spent Memorial Day on Coronado Island, staying with James' grandparents who live down there and just happen to be the nicest people on the planet (I want to move in with them). We went to Sea World and Disneyland as well, which I'll post about later.

Here we are at the park with the coolest bubble machine. We were the most popular kids there.
Natalie LOVES Minnie, hence the dress.





Memorial Day on Coronado Islandand it was perfect. No crowds and not too hot. The girls lead us down to the beach.


A true girl, Natalie loves shoes.



We had a lot of fun with the Whites and look forward to our vacation with them next year! Well at least I had fun, but I'm just one person.

on the road

I don't know what it is, but I love roadtrips. Admitedly more fun without kids, but we managed anyway. Eating, singing, reading, watching DVDs, playing road games, eating both good snacks and junk food (by the way, I've lost two of the five pounds that I had gained!). The music we listened to varied from Weezer to the Beach Boys and Ben Folds to Justin Timberlake (a guilty pleasure of mine). And my car is still in desperate need of a good cleaning, inside and out. Here are a few snippets from I-15 (and two from the 57).


The mandatory stop at In-n-Out Burger.


Gwen with her fast little hands is learning quickly that there is much out there that tastes better than baby food.


I have to say that there are some really dumb people out there. This actually looked worse if you were driving right behind this person, but once we moved over into the other lane we were a bit nervous to be behind this loaded truck again.


These are for you James! I saw a flyer at church for Mormon Night at Angel Stadium. I totally miss that.

unexepected goodies

We came home to a few good surprises...
A wonderful welcome home sign (a Kewish family tradition) by Mom, Dad, Jon and Ashley. Replete with an illustration of the Matterhorn and "Harold" the monster because that was the first roller coaster that Nezzie conquered—albeit with covered eyes and head ducked down the whole time. By the way, I like that Dave and I are an afterthought.
A fully bloomed Amaryllis, which is a bit of a late bloomer as they usually bloom in the winter! I think I need to use the word "bloom" once more in that sentence.
A beautiful newly painted room, where Gwenie is currently residing.
And my beloved measuring cups by Nigella from Brooke.

She took my wish list seriously (hint, hint everyone). Brooke, YTB. Seriously. And they are so beautiful, I almost don't want to use them.

Especially because the first time I use them it will be for my yummy chocolate chip cookies. And the problem is that I just can't make them right now because I gained FIVE pounds over the last week & a half!

Vacations are fun, but it's great when you have wonderful things and people to come home to!