Make a Memory with Sandy Toes and Salty Kisses

Every year my parents do what is called "Make a Memory." They either take each of my siblings and their families on a trip of their choosing or we have a big trip with all of us together. This year it was the big trip, all 20 of us. They rented a beach house in Surfside, California which is a private community with a private beach. It was fabulous! The house had 3 floors, 8 bedrooms, 3 full baths, 2 half baths and 2 kitchens. It had a pool and hot tub on the roof and was located directly on the beach. This place pretty much had everything. It was loaded! With all of us in the house, it got pretty crazy but was so fun. It was quite spacious!

The sunsets views were breathtaking!

The theme for this trip was Surf's Up! It stood for: Spirit Unity Reverence Faith Service United in Purpose We were there for a week and each day was a different word and each family got assigned a different word. They had to do a devotional in the morning and prepare a thought/lesson at night. It definitely helped bring us closer and have the spirit with us throughout the week. Sometimes we even had assignments that were associated with the words. For example, for service we had to do secret service throughtout the day. For Spirit, we visited the Newport Beach Temple.

Ellie was only 2 weeks old. She did wonderful and was an outstanding sleeper which helped me out so I could spend as much time with my family as possible. She felt sand between her toes for the first time.

The week was full of lots of fun activities. We went to the tide pools. We saw star fish, an octapus, crabs and many other sea life.

Yes, my dad is crazy and picked up the crabs and star fish. He tried to pick up the octapus but it stuck to his rock really well and then would shoot this poision out to try to scare us away. A defense mechanism that they have, it was neat to see.

We did crafts.

We collected shells.

We got stung by sting ray. Okay well not 'we' more like my brother, Landon and my niece, Emily. They happened within like 30 minutes of eachother but by different sting rays. My brother was boogie boarding and went to step down and it stung him. Emily was at the tide pools when she got stung. They said it hurt really bad and they had to sit for like 2 or 3 hours and put their feet in hot water.

We rode a beach cruiser bike on the beach.

We flew a kite

We played beach volleyball

and of course, we played in the sand and water. What a memorable week it was!

My parents even got us all matching shirts. It says Surf's Up on the front with a picture of the sun and waves and then everyones name on the back.

So with Sandy Toes and Salty Kisses, we say farewell and thank you to the fun times, the beach, the amazing week we had with my family, and to my parents who made a wonderful memory that all of us will cherish forever.

Sigh, Oh how I love the beach! Until next time...