Pirates: On Stranger Tides, Black Carpet

We hit the Black Carpet for the world premiere of Pirates: On Stranger Tides a couple weeks ago.

Before the carpet started we went Celeb hunting with a good friend of ours who is well trained in the sport. : )

We found Jerry Bruckheimer and someone we didn't really know, but looked like one of the producers or directors.

After that we met Adam Sandler! He couldn't have been nicer but was with his family and didn't really want to be doing photos. So this is all I got. But our friend pushed a bit and got an OK photo with him. It was fun to meet him, and we saw him around the park more, on all the kiddy rides with his family. : )

A look at Main Street all set up for the Black Carpet

Part of the carpet where we were stationed, back by Frontier land

My Pirate face with my new Pirates Mickey ears that they were handing out to everyone free!!

They were great quality too!

"Pictures of people, taking pictures of people, taking pictures...." Jack Johnson

SO many celebs went by, and a lot went by pretty fast. Some we couldn't get good photos of, or at all, and I didn't want to post too many. So here are a few.

Eric....something. The guy from Will and Grace

(I'm not going to be very good with names. haha)

Martin Short

Jennifer Gray

(Dirty Dancing & Dancing with the Stars)

Us with our Pirates ears!

The cutest guy on the Black Carpet!! : )

Andy Garcia

The side of Steven Tyler ; )

Dancing with the Stars people.

Bruno??

Eva Longoria

Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp

Main Street all lite up for the press photo op's

Our epic shot of the night!!

We snuck out on to the Black Carpet (while a couple stars were still on the carpet a little further down) and asked some guy to take this photo for us!! WE LOVE IT!! Could not have been better! : )

It was such a fun night, and we are so happy we could see another Pirates "red carpet" at Disneyland. They are a lot of fun!! : )

#THTH...The after party

After we won one of the Treasure boxes we headed down to the Bird House (Tony Hawks company) headquarters, in San Diego for an "after party". It was so fun! They had free food, more giveaways and a demo with Tony and friends!

The hat the was in the prize pack.

It's from The Eddie in HI. It says "Sample only"

This pizza truck was SO good! I wish it would come around Orange County, but it looks like it stays in SD.

The demo was awesome!

It was so neat to see these guys up close in action!

Tony

Tony and this 13 or 14 year old boy. He was SO good!

Three of them doing some kind of criss-cross stunt!

Tony's Mom watching him skate. She was so cute, and you could tell she was very proud of him! She was all chatty with the young skater boys around her. : )

Signing Brodys poster!

The money shot! :) He just couldn't have been nicer.

It was great to meet him and the other skaters!

There was a stand with these yummy ice cream bars---and you could pick what you wanted on it!

They were called 'Beach Bars'....not to be confused with 'Balboa Bars' ; )

A photo of our loot from that day!

Such a fun day!! : ) We had such a blast!!

I know...

...it's been a long time since I have updated the blog...again!

But, I think that's a good thing---it just means we are busy and having fun! : )

The good news? I have just uploaded photos for FOUR new posts. All I have to do is add the text.

Check back soon (hopefully by tomorrow night) for some new posts, hot off the presses!

Thank you for stopping by! We love you all! : )

#THTH...The Hunt

Some of you may remember this from last Easter, when we played Tony Hawks Treasure Hunt on Twitter. This year we were excited to follow it again! It is such a blast to be a part of this world wide "Easter egg hunt".

It all started Sat morning after Brody left for his ride. I woke up, remembered the hunt and checked Twitter first thing. At the top of my feed (just 10mins old) was the tweet you see below for Costa Mesa. I was determined to win another one for Brody, so I leapt out of bed, threw on my jeans and a sweatshirt and raced out the door.

It was a video clue from the skater Neal Hendrix.

It said, "Next to the Volcom Skate park, look for the swimming Zebra"

I raced over there {abiding by all road laws of course ; ) }, and made it to the Skate Park (over by the OC Fairgrounds). I searched the Skate park for a min, and then listened to the clue again, "NEXT to the Volcom skate park, look for the SWIMMING Zebra", that's when it hit me. of course! Tewinkle park!! At this time there were others searching the park and even leaving because they figured someone had already found it. That's when I slowly walked across the street to the park, saw the lake, the floating Zebra with the prize and Neal sitting there at waters edge, holding onto the floating Zebra that held the prize. When I got close, and made verbal contact with him, he pushed the Zebra into the lake. I had to laugh! This guy was so set on the prize winner jumping into what has to be the grossest lake ever to get this prize.

I kinda laughed out loud at this point, and knew I wasn't about to jump in for it. Then this boy who looked about 12, followed by his little brothers and Dad came up....this boy was pumped and ready to jump in! He did, and got the prize all for himself! It was really fun to watch, and they were SO happy! : )

After he jumped in the lake after it

Coming out of the lake

Opening the box

Photo of the happy group with Neal.

Official Tweet that Costa Mesa,CA had been found...

At this point I called Brody and told him the story of what happened. : ) While we were talking, and I was leaving the park....the Tweet below came in, and I was off on another hunt!

This time to the fun zone across from Balboa Island!

(The little yellow arrow is pointing to the prize.)

We saw this RIGHT when it was tweeted, and I was just coming from the Fairgrounds, I was so close. So I hopped on the freeway, parked in a lot right next to this and ran over....by the time I got there.....

It looked like this....another prize gone!

The guy who won it, had just dropped his wife off to see a friends baby at Hoag, so he was just a bit ahead of me. The hunt was pretty fun, the close calls, hearing and seeing to stories of the people who won. It's a fun thing to be a part of.

Below is the Tweet that Newport was found.

At this point, it was almost 11am. So I headed home to shower and get ready to grab some lunch before more clues came in. : )

While I was getting ready we saw this clue, for Gilbert AZ, where Brody's parents live. The park happened to be right by their house, so they went to check it out. They really got into the spirit of things, and said it felt like the Amazing race (and it really does). They were there with several others searching for it, and had just missed it! They even told us that if anything else came up in the area to let them know and they would go check it out. Such good sports! : )

I had this gut feeling that there would be a clue in South County, near or around the Lake Forest area. The year before there had been a prize there, and up until this point, there hadn't been a clue in that area yet. My plan was to have lunch at Cafe Rio, take our time, and wait for the clue to come in. To our amazement, that is JUST how it happened!

As we were leaving the Cafe Rio parking lot, we saw the Tweet below, and we were on the prowl!

We were about 20-25 mins away from the location according to our GPS, but we had to give it a go! The prize was hiding in the residential area way up in the hills of Laguna. Up this one lane road that wound up and up and around one way and then another. About half way into this drive up the hill, with no one behind us or coming down from the hill, we started to feel like we had it!

We found the spot, jumped out, searched around....

(The arrow is pointing at the prize. We didn't notice till later that it was shown in the photo) : )

And FOUND IT!!

It was pretty exciting to find it...and always more fun to find it with Brody!

The hunt and chase is really most of the fun, but there were some fun things inside. : )

Here is the Tweet I had to send in with the photo, so they knew it was found.

...and then it was re-tweeted so others knew it was found! : )

Here's a little peak into the box. That hat is a sample hat, from The Eddie in HI.

Among other things we liked was this Otter Box for Brody's iPad! : )

It's a case that super protects it!

After we found the box a clue came in for a After Party and Skate Demo. With more free stuff and food. We thought it would be a fun way to end our day of hunting and plus, we were too curious to not check out what was going on in San Diego.

And hey, we might even get to meet Tony himself we thought....

For more stories from finders, photos and video's from the day, go {here}

Coming up next.....the After Party....

{Did you know: Toward the top of the right hand sidebar on our blog, are listed some of our favorite past posts...in case you missed one. Check it out! } : )

Argentine Food Truck

We have really gotten into these gourmet food trucks. We now have a good handful of favorites that we follow on Twitter. It's a lot of fun when we see that one of our favorites are in the area, and go hunt down some really good food. We have found that the food on these trucks are much different than you would find anywhere; it's very creative.

This past week we went to check out the food trucks that come to the OC Fairgrounds, since its fast and close to work. When we got there, there happened to be a truck that is all about Argentine food! Brody was SO stoked!! It was the first time he has had this sausage sandwich that he loved from his mission, since his mission. The food was SO good! And there are so many more menu items we are excited to try. Best part, it spends a lot of time in Irvine too. : )

Brody's sandwich and my empanadas. It was all so flavorful!

We can't wait to try more from them.

Dulce de leche Churros. So rich and good, but we couldn't finish most of them.

{ A couple more new post below. Just keep scrolling! : ) }

1 freebie and 2 home runs

Several weeks ago we went to the first game of our season tickets (from this post {here})! Actually it was the night after we went to the game with David and the boys.

Who wouldn't want to go to two games in a row, right?? : )

It was SO cold that night.

Thank goodness they handed us free fleece blankets!! : )

It was such a fun game to watch. So full of energy!

We had two home runs, and the whole stadium was cheering, chanting, doing the wave. Everyone was having the best time! : )

The 50th Anniversary fleece blankets.

Oh how I love them! : )

Light up the Halo!!

It was such a fun night!

We can't wait till our next game. There's just nothing like a night at the ballpark in the summertime .

Personal Trials

I have been thinking about writing this for a while now, I'm not sure why, but it's really been nagging at me to write about my recent experience with personal trials. I have started this post so many times over the past year and a half or so. All I know is, I am going to follow the feeling to do so. As some of my readers may know, we have had a hard time starting our family so far. Over the past couple years I have had 2 miscarriages.

My first miscarriage I ended up having a D&C. When they did the ultrasound, the sac was there, but no fetus. The sac was much larger than it should have been and my doctor said that I could ether have the D&C or wait for it to happen naturally and then head to the ER to pass it. Since it was too large, she said it would be similar to giving birth, with contractions and pain, and in her experience it would be best to be at the hospital with pain killers and such, for the size and so forth. I went ahead and chose the D&C, and while there aren't any great options in cases like these, I felt that I would follow my doctors recommendation. The D&C went great, and the next day I was up and about helping my Mom shoot a wedding, moving along with life as normal. The D&C was a little weird for me. It took something so personal and made it feel kind of cold, sterile and impersonal. But, I still think it was the right thing to do for me. This miscarriage was an interesting one for me, I think because there wasn't a baby, this one was easier to move on from than if there would have been something living that had died. It was as if I wasn't really pregnant at all. There was still disappointment, but for me, no real loss.

My 2nd, was a bit more intense for me. We went in on a Monday to get our ultrasound and see how things were doing. The ultra sound looked good, she thought, and we excitedly went on our way. Wednesday morning I woke up spotting and didn't feel right. I called the doctor to see what she thought---I ended up going in for blood work, which showed my levels had dropped off. We did another ultrasound, and sure enough, the baby we were introduced to just a couple days before this had died (After this appointment, I took a drive alone and cried. I have never cried so hard for so long before in my life. And as you can imagine, I had several hard days after that as well). It was devastating news for us, and again I was faced with choices on how I wanted to carry this out. I had the choice of D&C again, a pill that would speed things up, or just waiting it out. At this point having done the D&C, and the fact that there was no reason this time to take that option, I ended up just waiting it out.

It wasn't until almost 5 weeks later that I finally started spotting at about 6pm Sept 2nd. I didn't start heavily bleeding until later that night, just before midnight. The bleeding was so steady and heavy that I ended up just staying in the bathroom. Then I was throwing up (I couldn't even keep water down for more than a min or so) about every 10 mins and going into very intense cold sweats and then I started blacking out more frequently and for longer periods of time. At this point I had been through almost 7 hours of that, and it was about 7am the next morning. I was spent, I could barely stand and was simply looking for some relief. I called my doctor and she said we could meet at her office and take a look at things. On the drive over I blacked out again, and woke up to Brody calling my name and I was covered in blood up to my elbows (still don't now how that happened). I remember Brody pealing out of the parking lot he had stopped in for a bit to try to regain my concision's, I remember telling him to calm down that it was going to be ok we just needed to get to my doctors. But, if I was in his position I would be a little freaked too, haha. I did my nervousness AFTER it was all over. : )

We got to my doctors office, she took a look at things and saw that I wasn't even half way done passing this miscarriage. In a follow up appointment my Doctor called me "fragile" (we laugh about this, because she immediately felt bad for calling me that). She went on to explain that, she said that because we found out that my body doesn't handle a miscarriage at 14 weeks very well, that everyones body handles these things differently, and each miscarriage can be different. Looking back at what I went though I know for a fact that I am anything BUT fragile, and I did the exact right thing for me. In fact, if I had known, I would have gone into her earlier. 

She ended up taking the remainder of tissue out and I rested at the office for a bit sipping water and apple juice until they were sure everything looked fine. The kinda funny thing about that morning was that Brody had to take his car over to the car wash to get the blood out of the passenger seat. He was there right when the place opened that morning, alone, and asking them to take extra care to the passenger seat because it was really bloody. haha. To this day, I laugh wondering what the employees must have thought that was a little suspicious. Pretty sure they took down his info and date/time. ; )

I'm so thankful for my doctor and the relief she was able to provide me at that time. And so grateful for the love and support Brody has been for me through all of this! This miscarriage was much different than the first, and only because this time we had a real loss and it truly broke our hearts.

Since my last one in September of 2009, I haven't fully felt normal. We came to find out that my hormones were pretty out of whack, most likely because of my miscarriages. We weren't conceiving, I was gaining weight abnormally, my skin and hair changed, fatigue, anxiety, increasingly frequent panic attacks and more. I never knew a hormone imbalance could be the cause of so much. I am now fortunate enough to be able to work with a wonderful doctor who specializes in hormone therapy as well as the panic and anxiety. I have been working with her since this past fall, and things are going great! My levels are back where they should be, and I think we are making such great progress with the panic. Our next step will be to work with a fertility specialist. There might be more challenges ahead in regards to this. But, I know whatever else we have to go through, will be more than worth it!

I know for a fact that having children is in our future. I feel strongly that each every choice I made along the way was the right one for me personally, and I would do it again. I know that these have not so much been physical trials for me, but more emotional and spiritual ones. This isn't as much about my mortal body, as it has been about facing my personal fears head on, my eternal progression, growth of my testimony, being pushed to see that I am stronger than I thought, and ultimately, growing closer to my Heavenly Father. It has strengthened even more my testimony of Priesthood blessings, personal prayer, personal inspiration and so many other things.

And, it's still going...as I continue to overcome these personal struggles. Having gone through this, I have never been more sure that these trials are not given to us by mistake and are very much tailored for us personally. Others may look upon them and find them easy, maybe even silly and weak, but I guess that's why they are mine and not theirs---and they have trials of their own, that others may not think of as a burden ether. Everyone is different, everyone has these weakness and trials, big or small, that is why we are here on this earth, and no one should never feel bad or ashamed about them. If we were all perfect, there would be no need for us to be here. Heavenly Father knows my heart, and knows what is best for me and when. I am so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel. I am grateful that my Heavenly Father sees fit that I go through these trails and is preparing me for something greater than I can see now and for the blessings that are in store for us. I am sure they will taste that much sweeter now. These things keep us moving and progressing in the gospel, instead of sitting idol gathering moss.

I could have another long post on this past General Conference (and maybe at some point I will). There were so many wonderful talks and quotes about trials in this life. One example that stuck out was a doctor speaking with a cancer patient about how he would be after a surgery. He said that so many people ask if they will be back to normal or the same after the surgery, and he would respond, "No, you will be so much stronger." I thought this was so lovely, how he related it to any trials that arise in our life. That we should not be looking and longing for life as it was before---we should be learning and growing from it, and seeking from these trials a better life becoming with each one a stronger and better person. I believe that is the hope of our Heavenly Father for each of us when he gives us these tests, to try us and move us forward. It's a wonderful thing!

There is so much more I could write, and if I read it again, there will probably be much more I wish I would have said, but I will leave it at this for now. I hope most of it made sense. I was simply writing from my heart as it came. It has been a period of growth for me and I am grateful it. I am starting to see that all of this is helping me in more ways than I had ever thought. I know that if you do these things right and with the help of the Lord, there is always hope and always an end to the trials we are given. I am so very optimistic and excited for our future and all the wonderful things we have ahead of us!!

Life is good! : )