the sixth week of summer

It felt so good to be reunited with our oldest boys on that saturday night after their week at efy. They had an absolutely amazing experience and grew so much from the week. But it's always so good to be back all together. We picked them up from the airport in Las Vegas and then spent one night at a hotel (note: this was the first hotel stay that we have ever gotten two rooms--usually we just make two of the kids sleep on a camping pad on the floor. for some reason, we decided to splurge and everyone got a bed. exciting stuff, worthy of a hallway dance party, haha).

Sunday morning we met up with my brother in law, Tyson at the air force base in Vegas. He had just arrived the night before to start weapons school (think Top Gun). Since they've been in Japan for the last few years, it had been a long time since we've seen him. He met Brinna for the first time! She loved him, of course.

We got a quick tour of the base before he had to get to his orientation and we had to get on the road.

We drove through lots of traffic to get to california. We spent sunday evening through Tuesday jumping between Huntington and Newport beaches. It was exactly what our family needed--sun, salt water, sand, no schedule, and time together.

Sunset at huntington beach was spectacular--the most golden of hours.





























Kacin gets the credit for all the fun of this deep hole.


























He was trapped so he couldn't stop Layla and I from giving him great big kisses on his cheeks.



The Brinns wanted in on that action.



He was more receptive to two year old kisses.





The moon, the sunset--such a feeling to breathe it all in.





Dad got us some yummy donuts.





Kyler came home with this gnarly sand bruise/scrape (this picture was a few days into healing and it looked much worse in person). The waves at Newport were HUGE and knocked everyone who got in down a few times. Kyler's face ended up on the sand when a wave pulled him and held him under. He saw stars and ended up with an awful headache. Possible concussion? Who knows?? Because, of course, he didn't bother to tell me about his dangerous experience until long after the fact. (That is sometimes a problem with tough boys who just get up and keep going).



We got home on Tuesday just in time to dress like cows for a free meal at chick-fil-a.

We spent the rest of the week at various doctors appointments and preparing for Layla's baptism. Then that wonderful, full day of baptism, lunch with friends and family, and swimming arrived.

And I got to show the video I put together with all these cute pictures of this sweet girl who we were celebrating.

That left us with just one more week of summer....