Horses on the Beach

On Tuesday, we drove back up to Long Beach to go horse back riding on the beach.  I have always wanted to do it and it was totally worth it!  We even got a group discount because we had such a large group.  Aurora was even able to come; children 5 and younger can ride with their parent for free.  I was worried she would be nervous but she wasn't AT ALL.  She LOVED it!  We all did!



Acadia rode Romy, Ryan and Aurora rode Mandingo (he was half Clydesdale), and I rode 3 horses.  Well, I sat in three horses' saddles, I only rode two of them.  lol  First they sat me on Pearl, but my legs were too short for the stirrups they had on her.  Then they put me on Sisco (who happened to be the father of Pearl) and he and I actually went about 20 feet before they decided that I was too short for him, too.  lol  Finally, they had me get on Sophie.  She and I were a pretty good match.  In fact, I soon found out that Miss Sophie is Sassy!  At that point, Ryan told me that Sassy Sophie and I were a REALLY good match!  ;)



Once we were all saddled up, we started on a trail down towards the beach.



And finally we were on the beach!  Acadia had fun trotting her horse in the waves.  Sophie kicked Mandingo twice, which I found very humorous.  And Uncle Matthew's horse, Mack decided to sit down in the sand while Matthew was still in his saddle.  lol  It was only funny because Mattnew didn't get hurt... We were able to ride out on the beach for almost an hour.  It was beautiful!





Before leaving Long Beach, we definitely revisited Scoopers.  You just can't go there too many times in one vacation. ;)  When we got back to Seaside, we did some shopping along the boardwalk.  Ryan and the girls went to a kite shop to buy Cadi a kite, and while they did that, I hung out with Sami and Joy'el. 

After we finished shopping and while we were waiting for Ryan and the girls, we found ourselves bored with nothing to do.  We happened by a tattoo place... and it started out hypothetical at first... "If you were going to get a tattoo, what would it be?"  Well, that turned into a whole lot of peer pressure... and long story short... I GOT A TATTOO!!!  (It washed off 3 days later. lol)  ;)  I chose to get a blue frog, to show Ryan (my Big Blue Frog) how much I love him.  But I didn't tell him I got it, I just waited to see how long it would take for him to notice.  It wasn't very long, I was impressed!  And he loved it!  He thought it was very sweet. :)

Back to the Beach...

On Sunday, my cousin Chelsie, her husband, and their two girls came to the beach house.  They had been camping in the area and came to spend Sunday and Monday with us!  And on Monday, Chad showed up to play with us for the day!  We all had a lot of fun.  The cousins all had a great time playing together... including during breakfast!



It was another beautiful day and we thoroughly enjoyed it!  We stayed down on the beach pretty much the entire day.  We flew kites, dug in the sand, played in the water... Lathan even caught a crab in the waves with his bare hands!



Apparently Chad is the sand master!  He and spencer made this Aztec Temple and then he turned Cadi, Sami, and Joy'el into mermaids!





We had fun playing, but it was also just nice to sit and enjoy the beach and ocean.  In the afternoon, we watched some whales hang out just past the breaking waves.  I think they were grey whales.  I tried to get a picture, but that just didn't happen. :(



That evening we hung out, the guys BBQed dinner, and Ryan made a blackberry cobbler in the dutch oven.  It was his first time using it and he overcooked the cobbler part a little bit, but it still tasted great... besides, we had ice cream to go with it and that makes everything taste better. ;)



And of course, we were blessed with another beautiful sunset!

FHE by the Sea

When we realized that we were probably not going to be going to church on Sunday, Mary Jane said she would do a devotional in the morning and I said we would do the Family Home Evening in the evening.  I chose to discuss when Jesus and Peter walked on water.  Here is a copy of the notes I used:

We started by reading about it in Matthew 14:22-33.

Peter and the other disciples began their journey in response to their master’s request. We, too, began our journey through mortality in willing response to divine will. And, like the disciples on the ship, who were aware of the dangers of traveling on the Sea of Galilee, with its sudden storms, we began our journey with an understanding that there would be perils along the way.
Sometimes in the face of life’s tempests, the temporal things we depend on for support crumble – or sink. 
~What are some of the temporal things that we rely on for support?
We find that there are forces capable of upsetting our most careful plans. But we, like Peter, can discover that our Savior stands nearby, though perhaps dimly seen, ready to help us if we will but reach out to him and accept his divine assistance. We do not need to struggle alone.
Imagine Peter leaving the boat alone and walking by faith on the water. He is successful in this “impossible” endeavor because his eyes are fixed steadfastly upon Christ. If we want to come to Jesus, we need to be willing to let go of our worldly supports. We need to decide whether our best opportunity lies in the storm-tossed—though still floating—ship or whether it lies out on the waves with the Savior.
~Why do you think Peter chose to walk to the Savior?
Each step Peter took away from the ship was a trial of his faith; each step toward Jesus took him a step farther from his accustomed means of survival.
At one point Peter’s attention was drawn away from Jesus, the object of his faith, to the boisterous wind and waves around him. In a moment of confusion, fear overpowered his faith, and Peter started to fall.
~Can we relate to Peter?  How can this relate to our lives?
Now I want you to put yourself in Peter’s place…  As we learn more about the gospel and develop our faith, we reach the point where we feel strong enough to leave the boat; we choose to stand free from worldly supports and voluntarily walk by faith through the tempest toward our Savior. Each step for us may be a trial. The waves around us are as real in their way as Peter’s waves were to him. And, like Peter, we may slip! We may feel the awful descent toward destruction and, in confused desperation, consider going back to the safety of the ship.
But wait! The steps we’ve taken this far - our footsteps over life’s treacherous waters—have somehow redirected us, and we reach out for safety, not to the boat, as we would have done in earlier times, but to the outstretched hand of the Savior.  He grasps our hand, and we are pulled to the Master of wind and water. Now we are home; now the trial is over.
And Jesus calms the storm.
~What helps you turn to the Savior instead of worldly things?
"One of the wisest of the ancient Romans once spoke a great gospel truth and probably never realized he had done so. Speaking of Roman naval power and the absolute imperative to control the oceans, Cicero said to a military aide, 'He who commands the sea has command of everything.' (See W. Gurney Benham, Putnam’s Complete Book of Quotations, New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1926, p. 505.) Of that I so testify." ~ Howard W. Hunter

Then I showed this video that I made:

We gave everyone a sand dollar to keep as a reminder of our beach trip and also of the Savior, and I read this poem:

The Legend of the Sand Dollar
There’s a lovely little legend
that I would like to tell,
of the birth and death of Jesus,
found in this lowly shell.

If you examine closely,
you’ll see that you find here,
four nail holes and a fifth one,
made by a Roman’s spear.

On one side the Easter lily,
its center is the star,
that appeared unto the shepherds
and led them from afar.

The Christmas Poinsettia
etched on the other side,
reminds us of His birthday,
our happy Christmastide.

Now break the center open,
and here you will release,
the five white doves awaiting,
to spread Good Will and Peace.

This simple little symbol,
Christ left for you and me,
to help us spread His Gospel,
through all Eternity.

Finally, we ate Sand Dollar Cookies for refreshments.

Sunday in Seaside

Before we went on our trip, I was watching the weather forecast and wasn't terribly surprised that it said we would be in the 60s and party to mostly cloudy the entire time we were going to be at the beach.  So I was very pleasantly surprised to find that to be completely and totally wrong!  It was gorgeous!  Everyday was bright, sunny, clear, and in the 80s!  It was perfect; warm enough to want to play in the waves but not too warm to make doing anything else uncomfortable. :)



We started Sunday with a devotional given by my aunt, Mary Jane.  After breakfast, I dressed my family and we took some family photos on the beach.  I was hoping to get a good one that we could put on our wall and forego the studio pics this year, but with the sun in our eyes, there was too much squinting and wiggling.  I am still glad we have the pics though!  And maybe I will still pick one to put on our wall. :)



While we did that, Alex went back to check on his crab traps and brought back more to cook up.  I steered clear of the house during that, as it filled with the smells of seafood, but everyone else really enjoyed it! lol



Most of the day was spent out enjoying the sun, sand, and surf!







(The following cool pics were taken with Alex's camera...)



That evening was another beautiful sunset!  Many of the group opted to eat dinner out on the deck to enjoy the gorgeous view.  The rest watched the sunset from inside... until the outside group decided to block the window!  Not nice guys... but it was kind of funny. ;)



After dinner, we gathered for a Family Home Evening (more on that later) and ended the night down at another bonfire on the beach.  This time, to liven things up a bit, Alex, Dustin, and Lily decided to entertain us by jumping over the fire!   (Again, these pics are coming from Alex's camera.)

First Night at the Riptides

After enjoying the afternoon in Long Beach, we drove down to Seaside where we rented a beach house called, The Riptides.  The house was great!  It was right on the beach and we had the most beautiful and uninterrupted view of the beach and some amazing sunsets!



When we arrived at the house, we met up with my aunt's sister, Debbie; Debbie's son, Alex; and Alex's girlfriend, Lily.  (Later, their friend, Dustin joined us, too.)  They let down some traps at the bridge and caught some crabs!



After dinner, some of the group went down to the beach to play during the sunset.  (I cannot take credit for these amazing pictures; they come from Alex's camera.)



And finally, we ended the night with a bonfire, complete with roasting marshmallows and making s'mores.  It was a very fun and full first day!

Astoria and the Long Beach Kite Festival

Last Saturday, we left for a vacation at the beach.  We rented a beach house in Seaside, OR with my aunt, uncle, and cousins but couldn't get into it until 4pm, so we decided to go to Long Beach, WA to see the annual Kite Festival first.  On our way there, we stopped in Astoria, OR to visit the Astoria Column which overlooks Astoria and the mouth of the Columbia River.  The weather was great and the view was beautiful!



(The above photo is a picture of the main group who came.  There were others who joined us for parts of the trip, but this is the original group who stayed the whole time.  From left to right: Acadia, Ryan, Me, Rori, Joy'el (Sami's friend), Lathan (Victoria's boyfriend), Victoria, Spencer, MaryJane, Matthew, Sami, Sarah, and Trey)

There are 165 stairs leading to the top of the column and we climbed every one!  (And we felt it later, too! lol)



The first thing we did in Long Beach, was visit Scoopers.  They serve HUGE ice cream cones... YUM!  Then we made our way down towards the beach to check out the kite festival.  The kites were bright and beautiful!

August

I cannot believe how fast the summer has gone by!  It is already the end of August.  Wow.

I've been working on getting my beach pics up on-line.  And while doing that, I noticed I have several miscellaneous pics on my camera from this month.  So, I thought that in the meantime, I'd share these random snapshots of our August.

Being a toddler is really hard work.  Sometimes you just need crash on your daddy's lap for a comfy afternoon nap.



Another way it's hard to be a toddler: you just can't keep clean!

 

We had some seriously hot days this summer!  At the beginning of the month, we broke all kinds of weather records.  One of the most fun ways of staying cool, was playing in the neighbor's kiddie pool.



Aurora loves books!  On this particular night, she insisted on bringing all of these books into bed with her.  lol