Speaking of our “little girls,” we got to hang with them over Fall Break.

We went to Newport.

We basked in all the minutes we could get with this girl:

Even though half of our home town was there too, and we had to share her a little 😉

Ha!

There was an oil spill so the ocean swimming was off limits. It was so sad to see all these splotches of tar/oil lining the beach.

So sad for our environment and for all the sea life.

They closed off the bay though:

Which was nice it was protected, and we got a lot of paddle boarding in there!

We got to catch up with lots of other people in Newport. Lucy’s beloved friend and her family were there. She went with them to see the sunset one night and we had her over for games one night too.

Dave’s little sister and her family were there too, so fun to get one-on-one family bonding time, love these guys so much!

Have to watch the sunset every night in Newport:

And have game night as well.

(Of course.)

We hosted these extra girls (plus one more not pictured) for a few days before they headed back…

Had an “ab challenge” every morning:

Claire got so sunburned she matched the Rummikub box…and looked up and tried any sunburn remedy she could!

Ha!

(Homecoming the next weekend was on the line after all:)

We met up with our friend we haven’t seen forever who recently got married, fun to meet his new wife who is awesome.

We went to dinner and to the new James Bond movie (so weird to be in a movie theater again).

(We found the most picturesque spot we could for the picture, as you can see.)

We read together, just me and these girls, wondering that doesn’t seem we have “make-believe” so much any more these days (like in the picture of that page below) with so much technology around. 🙁

Note Claire’s pink eyeshadow, compliments of her sunburn, and she did the reading since I mysteriously lost my voice.

For THREE DAYS!

That never happens and I loved it for about an hour, raspy voices can be fun. But by the third day I was SO annoyed by it though. And I sent up some serious prayers of gratitude for a voice that works when it finally came back!

I got to read more of my own book, so interesting, and got to talk to my other girl who was hiking in Utah (there for Carson’s sister’s wedding):

Side note on the big kids, man oh man they got to bask in some autumn beauty in Utah I tell you!!

Because there were friends around, Lucy actually consented to an afternoon of shopping (on the left below). AMAZING because usually she’d rather stick toothpicks in her eyeballs than do that! The girls were looking for some jewelry for Homecoming coming up and she was happy to be along for the ride. (Claire and I wondered where the “real” Lucy had gone, ha!)

And then we prepped for our traditional tinfoil dinners on the beach (right below):

Loved getting to hang with these friends who live right by us back in the desert, but who we never get to hang out with in the midst of busy lives:

The whole crew. Note Lucy’s awesome windswept hairstyle:

Games and more games:

On Sunday we went to church and then explored the temple grounds.

I love that temple.

Claire and the other girls left to get back for volleyball practice and Dave and I got to bask in our baby girl overnight:

The two of us took a little date for one more bike ride together and hung out on the dock to soak in life and that cooler weather until we had to pack up and leave.

Then we came home.

There we have it: a wrap up of some beauty memories from Claire’s last Fall Break ever. BooHOO! But so very grateful, and grateful again for time and the opportunity to be wrapped up in the moments of it.

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5 Comments

  1. What gorgeous pictures! do you guys have a second home, or timeshare or something there? I feel like you go so often!

    1. Ha! Dave decided to try tater tots this time, which ended in a mushy ball. Wouldn’t recommend! We usually do thinly sliced potatoes, carrots, some sausage and chicken (cooked a little before putting in the foil), and onions with seasonings. More work than you think but the tradition is set now so we can’t get around it:)

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