Last Day!!

After a morning of packing, good-byes and cleaning, we headed to the arcade for one more round of games and then waved bye to Pismo Coast Village!  It was an intense 4 night/5 day reunion at an RV campground!  I would have never planned a trip like this, but was happy to participate!  The kids loved the cousin time, the beach time, the pool time, the arcade time, the Olympic watching time, the video game time, the cinnamon rolls each morning, the surfing, the sleeping arrangements in the RV and the break from all things work!!  So happy these kids have the best parents ever!!

Fuzzy Version

The true picture has not made its way back to AZ yet for editing, so we will have to stare at this fuzzy phone picture in the mean time!!  There are only 3 people missing from this picture-such a big family!!

Feeling Young!

Ava and Norah pulled off a 6 person pyramid at girls camp this week that inspired this 10 person pyramid!!  There are a few girl cousins missing, but with my help on the base, and Jack’s help with the topper-we pulled it off for a few seconds!!

Being around all this girl energy really gave me a buzz and after I stepped aside, we captured this intimate pyramid with the true stars!  Having 0 girl cousins, this picture makes my heart so happy!!  I hope they can stay friends all their lives!!

Jump!!

Michael’s Family started taking jumping pictures and our kids got excited to show off their hops!  It took many takes, which everyone was “up” for.

I opted to stay grounded, I can only take so many bad pictures!!  Kyle is the my favorite in this picture, with Ben close behind!  Look at the intensity!!

Family!!

We got some sweet family pics before AND after the whole family pictures were taken.

Our kids are old enough now that they actually care how they look in pictures and want to take a quality one, hence the retakes with different arrangements and poses!

 

Boy Parade!

I cannot believe we snapped this picture with all the boy cousins!  We even got Ellis and Cal in the mix!  Ben is the 3rd oldest boy cousin, so crazy!!

 

Besties!!

These girls were together all day every day, and some nights, of the reunion!  So glad we all made the effort to come and RV-it for a few days to soak up some family time before everyone grows up!  I love that Norah and Claire are the tall girls in the back!!

Sisters!!

On the Komenda side I have so many sisters!  This weekend I really felt like I was finally able to connect to a few of them!!

 

Sand Lettering

Norah has been quite the muse lately with all her beach time. Today, while flying kites and digging up more clams, she wrote her name in shadowy block letters. 

Surfs Up!

Kyle booked the 6 of us surf lessons for today and we actually did it!!  The 15 minutes we were late to the class resulted in a far away parking space, grumpy instructors, and Kyle being able to take this picture!!

Ava was by far the best of all of us, including Kyle who has surfed this exact beach in the past.  Norah got up multiple times and I got up and then immediately fell down over and over!  In spite of being able to surf on an indoor wave and behind a boat wave, it was as easy to get a hang of this type of surfing!

We all enjoyed our hour on the water and felt great walking back to the car until we heard how Kyle was helping comfort Ben most of the lesson.  Turns out Ben is having his third round of tightness and ended up needing to visit urgent care for some steroids!

Once him and Kyle were back at camp, all was well and we continued on our day with some Mexican food for lunch, beach time, minute to win it games, and another family devotional!  

Beach Beauty!

We finally arrived at the RV resort!  The 50 minute drive from Slovang gave everyone a chance to rest after a few hours of walking around.  Our RV isn’t here yet, so I headed to the beach with a few of our kids and some cousins. 

We made our way through an ankle deep puddle to get to the water and played on some sand dunes before looking for shells. Norah even grabbed a clam!  It was so neat, and all the kids wanted to break it open, but we ended up snapping this gorgeous picture of Norah and tossing it back in the water!

Solvang!!

Kyle has seen signs for a town called Solvang on the drive to Pismo Beach for years, but this time he planned ahead and we spent a night and half a day here!!

We got in last night and enjoyed 2 hip, updated hotel rooms and showers before a weekend of camping. Pastries for breakfast and some traditional danish meatballs and abelskivers for lunch made for some tasty energy to be used while walking around this cute little Danish themed town!

Love These Kids!

Hugging a giant voodoo doll donut after shopping at universal studios city walk, who ask for a better start to our trip!

Posers!

Norah and I looked so exhausted and skewed in the last picture, we sat at a table nearby and snapped these perfectly posed pictures!!  Voodoo!!

 

Voodoo!!

Hollywood Creme, Dirt, Memphis Mafia, Voodoo Doll and Coconut Mango Donuts were a great start to our CA trip!  We left the airport and immediately drove to Universal Cit Walk and bought some donuts. Apparently the trip was too hard on Norah and I, because we looked too wasted in the picture and had to cut ourselves out!!

Girls Camp or Bust!

After correcting a mishap when booking our travel to/from the family reunion, the girls were able to attend another day of girls camp!  Norah has never been and is excited to see what Ava has been talking about all these years!  After packing themselves on Sunday, I dropped them off at the church for a quick service project before they all caravanned up to Lava Hot Springs in Idaho. So glad these guys are friends!!

More Calligraphy!

The girls and I were asked to hand letter some more wedding invitations. This batch is completely different, than the last, but still fun to do!

 

Finally Surfed!

We have taken Matt and the boys out on the lake a couple times this summer and this time, Cal actually let Matt surf with him!  It was so fun to see how excited Cal was to be up on the board cruising on top of the water behind the boat!! 

Sightings

Four separate sunset trips to Northfork Park resulted in 2 Moose sightings, one with a giant rack, and 2 fox sightings!!  What an amazing place to live across the street from!  Hopefully, in spite of the roof blowing off the side by side and breaking, we will continue our nightly runs!!

Getaway!

It took some major planning and sneaking around, but somehow I was able to whisk Kyle away for an overnighter in SLC for our anniversary!  We got back yesterday and today was a very busy day for Kyle at work, making him very distracted!

I had convinced him to book a dinner reservation at Valter Osteria for tonight in hopes of booking a hotel room nearby.  I was able to make it work and even booked a fun car to drive for the night.

The car was delivered while Kyle was in the shower, so I was able to pack him for the night and his impromptu weekend in AZ with his brothers AND get his suitcase into the trunk with mine!

Trickier than getting Kyle’s clothes and toiletries packed was getting his laptop packed!  I convinced Kyle that I could help him with a work project in the car on the way to dinner, and even got him to tell me which cord was the power one and packed it in my purse!

Kyle didn’t notice the Tesla in the driveway at first, but when he finally did he kept saying, “that’s so funny!”  

The ride and dinner were perfect, then we got back in the Tesla and tried to figure out what to do with the rest of our evening. Kyle was trying to go to the movies or dessert when I said, “Or we could go to the hotel room I booked us for the night!”  I fumbled my words and after repeating myself once, Kyle said, “that’s so funny!”  

I could tell he was impressed and almost speechless, glad I could make his night after all these years!!

These Girls!

I never had a crew growing up, but these girls definitely have each other’s backs!  I love their friendship and how it deepens each time they are together! L

Oh Yeah!!

 

Bear Lake with friends for a birthday and an anniversary!  I was hesitant at first, but both days turned out to be both entertaining and delicious!  Thank you Joe for sneaking this cake and all 42 candles into our lives!

Zips 4-Eva!

 We’ve been on team Zips when it came to raspberry shakes in Bear Lake until now!  We have switched team and now are loving LeBeau’s!  Everything is more friends, right!!

Bear Lake Buddies!!

We squeezed all 16 of these cute TX kids into a house along with all the parents for 3 days and nights of summer food and fun!  Kyle had an idea that hatched while working in MI with Joe that resulted in a last minute booking of a place in Bear Lake that not only fit all 24 of us, but was amazing and had room for the boat!

Lemonade Stand ‘21

Norah and her buddy got super excited about hosting a lemonade stand this week. We squeezed in all the time needed for signage, food prep, and packaging, then hauled everything down to our favorite shaded corned in the valley and after all the costs of running a business, each girl made $88!!  Score!!