Beach House Pt. 2: The Beach Pictures

A couple of funny things about our time on the beach...

• The water was pretty dang cold and any time I tried to go under the waves, I had a hard time holding my breath because it was so cold my automatic reaction was to suck in air.  
• There were a couple of times where Lyla had to go potty.  We didn't want to go all the way back to the house, clean off all the sand, etc., and then head back to the beach.  Usually I would just have her do it in the ocean but the waves broke pretty close to the shore so it was not happening. So Lyla and I walked up to the shoreline so she could go potty there, but she didn't want to go in her bathing suit.  So instead, we stepped off to the side, stripped her down butt naked and she peed right there out in the open.  I have pics, but I'm pretty sure they are NOT internet appropriate :)
• I am pretty sure Ruby ate so much sand.  There was always sand around her face and mouth.  It was inevitable so I just tried not to think about it.
• I could stay out on beach for hours a day and I did my best to get my fix before we moved to Seattle of all places (which we are loving, but still).  
• The sand here is sooo nice and soft I could just lay in it all day long.

Anyway, here are a bunch of beach pictures...

Ruby chillin' under the umbrella.

Rachel and Lucy

Stacy and baby Reese

Aren't Ruby's curls just awesome?

Love those curls and that little babe in her bathing suit!

A bunch of the kids digging huge holes and sitting in the water that would collect there.  

Annabelle and Lyla

Vhari looking fabulous after having her baby only about 3 WEEKS before!  I seriously love this girl!

Outer Banks waves.  Nothing like California but still fun.

Me and my Ruby girl.

The first couple of days we found so many sand crabs and the kids (especially Lyla) absolutely loved them!

Lyla and I digging for sand crabs.

Me and my mini-me :)

I absolutely love her!

Such a cute pair!

And I absolutely love this happy girl, too!

One day we all decided to have some fun burying the kids...

Rex is just loving life in this pic.

I'm not sure if Carter wanted out or if he was having fun.  I think it was the latter.

My girls wanted in on the action.

 Nate decided that I needed to be buried as well...

Kisses!

Ruby loved rubbing sand on my neck.  Nothing like a good sand scrub, haha!

 Our family on the beach (aka one of my favorite places of all time!!!!)...

Lyla and Ruby loved their little princess chairs...

Nate catching some rays.

She cracks me up!

Ruby's hair grows in one direction and that is forward.  She constantly had sand and food in her hair this trip...

Ruby laughing with her dad.  At least I think she is laughing...

Lyla and her beach treasures.

 Anytime I tried to lay out while the kids were around, Ruby would immediately come over and either 1) kick sand all over me and my towel, 2) come sit right on my stomach or legs, 3) lay right on top of me, or 4) steal my glasses.

This picture is way off but it's one of my favorites!

We honestly had so much fun on this trip.  It was so fun bonding with all these families and getting to know them even more.  It's kind of sad though because just as we REALLY got to know everyone there, all (except for 1 couple) were 2nd years and are spreading out all over the globe (Virginia, Iowa, SOUTH KOREA!) and leaving us 1st years.  We are seriously going to miss these guys!

BIG thanks to Josh and Emily organizing this whole trip... we absolutely loved it!  Thank you, thank you!

Beach Week Pt. 1

At the end of every school year, the LDSSA get together and rent a big big beach house in the Outer Banks and stay for the week.  We heard from the 2nd years that it was a blast last year and let me tell you, we had an awesome time! 

The house was awesome.  It had 8 rooms (each having their own personal bathroom), a media room, a pool table, a huge kitchen and dining table, a living room, a pool, and a jacuzzi.  And the best part?  It was right on the beach :)

Here's our house from the back...

View from the house...

There were dolphin's within view pretty much every day...

I think these little birds were eating the sand crabs because I don't think I found any after that.  It was funny watching them chase and run from the water...

 My super hott husband...

My super cute kiddo's...

 These ladies were the exercise queen's of the weekend... especially Becca!  Here they were doing a video called Insanity (or something like that) and it looked so hard.  Crazy girls...

Lyla and Ollie decided to join Becca one day for her exercises...

Some of the boys playing pool table...

My cute Lyla...

Lyla and her buddy Rex playing an intense game of Guess Who?.

Love this pic...

Does your guy have facial hair?

 One of the days it was a little rainy and the kids were cooped up all day so Josh took the kids out to get some serious energy out.  I think it worked :)

Lyla's turn to run by herself.  She was so excited!

Lyla and her friend Annabelle.

Carl and Becca were the only other 1st year's that were able to come and we're so glad they did!

Blake was pretty patient with all his viewer's...

The kitchen during one of the many fabulous dinner's (or lunch's)....

Beautiful Heidi...

A beach day...

Nate somehow ended up the unofficial kid entertainer and spent hours in the pool keeping the kids happy.  I think many of the parents appreciated it :)

One night Tyler built a bonfire.  Since it was pitch black heading out there we brought flashlight's and found that there were hundreds of these little guys all over the sand... SCARY!

Kathy with a tired Ollie.

Tyler and Alice caught a sand crab and brought it over to show us. When they got to us, the crab ran off their hands and landed right here by the fire...

Nate got a stick and tried prodding it AWAY from the fire and instead it ran straight into the fire and cooked himself.  It was horrifying, awful, terrible, and hilarious all at the same time.

Sorry little man...

One of the days we were driving around the city we found this little gem.  I used to eat at Tropical Smoothie Cafe at least a couple times a week and so when we found it I was SO excited.  Unfortunately though, they got rid of their Sesame Chicken Wrap and the Cool Breeze smoothie (my two favorite's).  Hopefully that is not true for all the TSC's.

On the way home we were stopped on a bridge because a boat needed to get through... it was so cool to watch!  A big section of the bridge just turned 90º to let it through... super cool!

The bridge turning.

The boat about to pass through.

passed through

 Anyway, it was super cool.

On one of the last days, we all decided to do some family pictures.  Here are a few from that day...

Ruby, looking as cute as ever...

Don't you just want to kiss those cheeks?

Nate, Lyla, and Ruby.  Blurry pic but still cute.  Nate looks super red, too, haha!

I'm kind of in love with this photo of me and my girls...

 

 This was the best we got on our camera.  Hopefully Emily's camera had a better one...

Next up is all the beach pics...