Church in Honolulu!

 

Garth Brooks Concert!

 We lucked out and managed to find tickets to the Garth Brooks concert at the Eccles Stadium! Utah sold out of tickets the fastest of any other state on this tour! Justin was trying to get tickets for us but kept getting kicked out of the system, but we found a friend of a friend who had 3 extra tickets for us. We were hoping our husbands could go too, but maybe next time! It was so great to be around a crowd again, and not in masks! Breathing freely is something I'll likely never take for granted again! Garth Brooks is such a genuine performer, and every song he sang was a familiar favorite from growing up with Paul listening to him!

Before the concert, we got dinner and ice cream. Kazie tried a concoction called 24 K Gold, which was made of charcoal coconut flavored ice cream...pure black! We sat down on some couches at the Gateway to eat, and I was leaning back for a few minutes and couldn't see Kazie. When I sat up and saw her, I just lost it! Her mouth and teeth were sooo black from the charcoal, and she didn't have any idea! What was so funny too is that Becky had been sitting there talking to her face and held it together without saying anything at all! We all laughed and laughed, and Kazie got a wet wipe to scrub her mouth and teeth vigorously and it finally all came off! There needs to be a warning included with that ice cream! 

Jackson's 17th birthday!!

It's a good thing we took Jackson out for a birthday breakfast, because that's all we saw of him that day! He asked if Paul could come out for Penny Anne's also...I love that they are such good friends for each other! As soon as we got home, Jackson was off with a group of friends for bowling, lunch out, dinner out, pool, and ping pong! One of his friends came over on that little moped, and I thought it was hilarious! Partially because Kazie wants one of those so badly! The next night, he finally had time to celebrate with us and eat some ice cream cake!

I can't believe we only have one more year left with Jackson before he leaves for his mission! I'm starting to think of all of the changes to the dynamics of our family and life in general, and it kinda stinks! He and Paul won't be together for 4 years, and I think that will be really tough for them! They have registered for a bunch of classes together this year, so they are making the most of their time together. Jackson has been working two jobs this summer, so some days he works 10+ hours and loves it! He was already working at Iceberg, and then he got a job at the snack shack at Cowabunga Bay! He is carefully driving himself to and from work again. During his free time, he and his friends are loving to play pool and Ping Pong in the basement. I'm thankful that he is making good choices and has good friends to have fun with! 

 

Alanna's 13th Birthday!)

I was in CA up until an hour before Alanna's birthday party, so James did the inviting and planning! I did have a cake in the freezer to frost and decorate for the party when I got home! James planned to get the girl's Cafe Rio, play a Scooby Doo escape room game, and watching a new super hero movie, Black Widow that just came out. There was lots of giggling, screaming, and squealing coming from the basement all night, and we loved that they were all having so much fun together! Poppy and Grandma Ce Ce came over the next day to deliver Alanna' s presents...some led lights for her bedroom like Paul has, and a fancy jewelry making kit! 

 

Girl's Trip to Santa Monica!!

First stop was to Flower Child for lunch! I loved my salmon and kale salad, and James wasn't around to complain about it! 

LA beaches are always too cold for me to get in, but I still love to watch the waves!

Tongva Park is beautiful with many plants and trees I've never seen before!

Santa Monica Beach park has some gymnastics equipment on it, and Heidi learned how to do a new kind of head stand from a guy there! It was her birthday too...so she definitely isn't too old to learn new tricks!

At Venice beach, next door, there are walls where it's legal, and encouraged, to display your creative talents. We watched this 20 something kid spray paint a self portrait in celebration of his birthday! I think it's just incredible how he captured his likeness with spray paint! He said it would probably be painted over the next day, but we checked and it was still there!

We did a lot of shopping around Santa Monica and had so much fun with outlet stores or high end stores we don't have close to home!

We went on a bus tour of LA, and it was so nice not to drive in traffic ourselves and just be let out to look at things! These are the Venice canals that you see in movies sometimes!

Rodeo drive! Very fancy! We stepped into an art gallery, and I asked how much my favorite painiting there was. $60K! And that was not the cheapest! A lady working there said her DR. was interested in a paining for $150k, but decided to get a Maserati instead! 

We went to an international Farmer's Market, and I had to try their shave ice, called Malaysian Ice Kachang! It's said to be the most popular dessert over there, and I tried it and it seemed to have red beans, mint gummies, coconut shavings. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good. I was super hot and it cooled me off, and I didn't regret trying something new either. So what the ingredients really are: red beans, grass jelly, cubes of agar agar, and the "coconut shavings" were some kind of flavorless gelatin.

Masked up for the plane ride. Just stifling! 

We stopped at Free People to try on some of the reinvented 70's clothing they are selling for lots of money! It was pretty entertaining! 

Of course, we were up by 7am for our morning workouts, led by Heidi! It's really nice to travel with your favorite fitness instructor to keep you motivated! 

Pull ups at the outdoor gym!

We rented bikes to go around the Marvin Braude trail. It was so fun, but we couldn't believe all of the homeless people on the beach! We found out later that the police were actually relocating homeless to hotels etc, and what we saw were the ones who didn't want to leave. Crazy! 

Heidi's birthday dinner at a really unique Mexican restaurant. One of her tacos was made with a chocolate tortilla! 

Taken at the Griffith Observatory

One of the coolest things we saw/did, was at Venice Beach. There was a man with a 14 ft yellow bellied anaconda offering to let you hold his pet for $10! Heidi and Kazie HATE snakes, but Heidi said let's go hold it. I said ok, so we had to! She is actually a beautiful, strong, gently creature, when fed!