honeymoon - beach!

By the way - this is the end (i always forget to publish the pictures backwards, so you might want to go to the beginning)

This is what we spent our last 3 days in St. Lucia doing! Reading, talking, eating and Trent did some snorkeling! We snorkeled when we were at Ladera as well, and i usually only need to do it once per trip to get my quota filled! - So Trent would go exploring on his own for 20 minutes at a time, then he would come back and read some more! I finished the first book of the Twilight series! (i think that was the first book/novel i have read since high school!

Anyways, this was awesome, we were under a huge grass/tiki hut, that came equiped with 2 padded lawn chairs, towells (and the coolest thing, the towells hooked around the top of the lawn chairs so they wouldn't fall - great idea!!) and my favorite - a yellow flag! The flag was to stick in the sand anytime we wanted something - drinks, ice, food, etc.) talk about lazy days! No wonder why Trent teases me about going into shock when we got home- my nerves were still on vacation! Really though it was so great! i have never just sat for 3 days straight just relaxing and watching the sun set. Then after the sun was down, we would go get ready for dinner. It was truly a perfect honeymoon! Trent eating under our tiki hut (you can see one in the back ground)

Our last day, as we are getting ready to leave. We were both very sad, but very excited to come back and see the girls. And of course to see our wonderful family!! Thank you to everyone who helped make our honeymoon possible. We are so blessed to have family that i can leave my girls with and without a doubt in my mind, know that they will be loved, hugged, kissed and cared for! Love you all!
Oh ya - i can't forget Bobby! This was our taxi driver, we would have them always call him - he was so cool - so different from our mentality! I remember him saying to me. "tomorrow is a special day for me, it is my girlfriends birthday" - i thought it was so sweet that he thought that way and that he would say that out loud. I thought to myself, you would never hear another guy talking like that back home!

As lucky as we were to experience such a beautiful honeymoon in such an amazing place - it was still hard to see the poverity that goes on in places that are usually out of our sight.

honeymoon

Me at Jade Mountain. We are on our way to catch a taxi to head back to Ladera to eat. - even though its a very bumpy windy road to get there! - the only thing we didn't care for at Jade Mountain was dinner! (unless we ordered room service - which was a club sandwhich!) - can't complain though!! I was so excited to wear this dress! I have had it for i think 5 years, and never worn it!! (yipee!!) - too bad i didn't bring shoes to match :)Dinner!
YUM YUM! For someone who doesn't care for fish, this was sure good! I finally figured that it is not fish i don't like - i just only like FRESH fish!

Honeymoon

Trent and I dolphin and whale watching! There were 3 pods of dolphins that the boat round up for us and then they were swimming all together! Right at the front of the boat, where our feet were hanging! They were jumping and what seemed to be them racing the boat - it was so neat! We didn't see a whale until we were returning to the dock, then when i looked back out "away from the dock" i saw one - I grabbed Trent and had him look - we were pretty far away by then, I think it was the whale giving me the gratification of seeing him - since i kept wishing we would just see one - well i saw one ( i guess i should be more specific on how close i want to see one next time :) - heheDinner at Dasheene - yum yum!
Trent talking on the mosquito (read more)
Me swimming at our pool at Jade Mountain - enjoying the view!
Even without my heat yoga, i was perfectly at ease and content - how could you not be?

Honeymoon - Jade Mountain

So here is Jade Mountain, at least some of it! The architecture is so incredible! I think there was a total of 22 rooms at this resort. Upon arrival they greeted us with mint most towells and drinks, then after we checked in they gave us what i call a mosquito (but i think they called it a firefly). This was a radio to call our personal butler for any and all of our needs. So anytime we needed a taxi, a ride to the beach, or just had a question - it was right at our disposal - no matter where we were). Oh yeah - both hotels were tv and radio FREE! my kind of hotels!! This hotel room was i think apprx 1500 squ. feet with a pool that was about 300 or 400 squ feet. This was a hotel that we had no problem just hanging out in. I will explain a little. The view was amazing with a perfect breeze and a wonderful climate. The bathroom was on the 2nd level which was wide open to the views as well - so while showering (though no one could see in, you could look out on the ocean and feel the breeze) - the shower had no walls, it backed to the bath tub that you also had to climb a few stairs to get to so while bathing you could also stair at the magnificent view! i can't say enough about the views at both of the resorts - if i get to choose what heaven looks like - that was it!

This is one of the cute things that we were welcome back to our hotel with! you can't see it very well in the picture but there are rose petals perfectly placed with some greenery and ofcourse the swans in the shape of a heart! Our personal butler also ran a hot bath scattered with fresh "tropical" flowers for us one night! They threw in a bottle of champaign as well, but we both noticed the day we had to leave that we had not even opened it. I guess with all the other relaxing going on - who needs alcohol!!!

honeymoon - st lucia

This is Trent sitting at the first hotel we stayed at "Ladera Resort". It was amazing! It reminds me of an old world hotel set high up inbetween two of the most beautiful mountains ever! The mountains are called the Pitons, and they rise up straight from the ocean. Trent is sitting on what i can best describe as our balcony! The hotel (as much of you already know) only had 3 walls, the fourth wall would be where Trent is sitting. You can't see it very well but there is a hot tub sized pool to the left of him, and further back there is a waterfall. This hotel was so nice just because of the old world feel! The first few nights here were very hard to sleep because of the frogs, YES frogs! They were about an inch or two big, but were so loud - i actually accidentally stepped on one one night, in the dark - i jumped about 3 feet ( i wasn't sure what it was until the next night when we actually saw one sitting on our "balcony"- all i knew was that it was slimy and squishy). Anyways - such a beautiful hotel - with the most amazing tropical flowers surrounding the entire hotel!

by the way - i am hoping to figure out how to upload clips from our video camera that can show the entire rooms (i thought it would be better just to video them - but i should have taken some pictures - oops again!)

This is me trying to get ahold of the girls! I tried and tried and tried during our 9 days being gone, and only reached them maybe 3 times. Which after the fact is probably good, since i think we ended up spending about $200.00 dollars just on the phone calls we made - oops!
(our phones didn't work at all - dang verizon!!)Ok - so talk about the best food ever!!! WOW!! Ladera has a restaurant called Basheene - and there are not words to explain how delicous the food is. It is a wide open restaurant, with a perfect view of the ocean and the Pitons, with great service and to die for food! We ate here 4 nights while we were in St. Lucia (we even drove back after we moved to the 2nd hotel). Trent is eating pineapple and pumkpin tempura! i have never tasted anything so YUMMY!!
Here is the Piti Piton (the smaller one)

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY KELSEY!!~

Kelsey's 13th birthday party at the park! She really wanted a princess cake, but decided on "Enchanted". She is truly a kid at heart! She had lots of fun, and especially loved her "special" present. (when she got soaked with freezing cold water, by Hudson, Kamree, Shawn and ME!

Kelsey is truly - 13 GOING ON 30! We love her!

Kelsey, Kamree and Hudson getting ready to blow out those TRICKY candles :)
Hey sis, i have a secret!
The cake got a little messy, but whats a birthday without cake in your face?
You can't help but just love Kelsey! She has always been the sweetest girl anyone could ask for! Love you lots Kels! Happy Birthday!

4th of July breakfast!

Gotta love her!!Grandpa and Kamree! love you grandpa!
Kamree and Hudson playing, say say oh play mate, come out and play with me ----
CHEESE!

Fourth of July! I can't believe its already July! WOW!

Time for SMORES!

Having fun making smores!! I have the best family ever and could never ask for anything more! thanks to everyone for making the weekend turn out so great! It was fun finally taking that "family" vacation!the boys!
the kids! Kamree doesn't like to smile so much (on cue at least) :)
Kerrian and cute Brooklyn!

San Diego

Thanks to everyone to coming to the rehearsal dinner! Not much of a rehearsal, but dinner was fun! Here is our cute Kelsey, modeling her new sun glasses!! Kamree and Hudson kept us intertained by dancing for us on the stage! Good thing they didn't fall into the water (with the HUGE sharks!)
Kamree and Hudson at the beach (taking a cheetoh break!) Hudson loved to dig and Kamree couldn't get enough of jumping over the waves! Kelsey is a true teen and just wanted to "lay out" (which left her really BURNT!) and Jordan helped Grandpa Larry learn to body board!
THE KIDS GETTING GRANDPA LARRY!!

Disneyland - June 2008

Hey everyone!! this is me and the girls, and grandma on our trip to Disneyland, before the wedding! We had lots of fun, and were pooped out by the end of each day! This is the 2nd time Kelsey was in Disneyland in one week since she had just gotten back from being on tour so she was extra tired, but Kamree got new thrills each time we went on a new ride. She couldn't figure out whether she LOVED or HATED Space Mountain! She was really scared, but wanted to go on it again after a few minutes :). You can see Kamree's pins that she started collecting (around her neck) - she thought that was really cool, since you can trade pins with who ever has them.Kamree playing at the water park in BUGS LIFE - always a fun time!! Kelsey even got a little wet!
We went to Goofy's Kitchen, so Kelsey and Kamree got to meet all the characters, along with getting their signatures. Kamree loves it more each time we go :)
Kamree in her cool new sun glasses (which she picked out and had to have!!) not many pictures of Kelsey so far, she wasn't really in the mood (imagine that - she must have been tired!! hehe) We were waiting for Trent to pick us up to take us to San Diego, to get MARRIED :)