Kyle's Mission

We left the beach on Sunday and went to Kyle's mission farewell. He will be serving in the Birmingham Alabama mission, spanish speaking. He gave a great talk about the restoration of the gospel and about how any questions we have in life can be answered by going back to the basics, the restoration of Christ's gospel.

He flew in to Utah on Wednesday and Grandma took him to the MTC. We met him and my mom and Al at Cafe Rio before he went into the MTC. 

I'm glad we were able to see him one more time. He's a very impressive kid and he's going to be a great missionary!

The Pool

Otter Crest has a pool that overlooks the ocean. We swam every afternoon, and the kids LOVED it. 

How many Hams can fit in the "warm tub?" :)

Rockwell and Tessa improved their swimming skills tremendously while we were there. They both would freak out if their face went under water at all before this trip. And by the end of it, they were both jumping in fearlessly and could make their way around the pool by themselves. I was very impressed with their improvement.

  

They both loved it when Kyle and EJ would put them in jail in the warm tub. They love the teasing from their big cousins.

Everyone was super helpful with the kids. Tessa loved getting a piggy back ride from Keith.

I thought it was too cold for swimming, even in a heated pool. But the kids didn't mind the cold air one bit.

Family Dinners

We ate a couple dinners with everyone. Gary and Julie treated everyone to Chalet in Newport. That was yummy!

Tess was a little tired!

And grumpy when she woke up. :)

We also did a fire on the beach with hot dogs and s'mores. 

   

Jenna happened to be in Oregon that day and drove out to the coast for the evening. It's always fun to see Jenna.

The kids had a blast throwing rocks, climbing the cliffs and sliding down them, and simply getting as dirty as they could. :)

And Damon of course enjoyed a good game of peek-a-boo.
  

Grandkid Pictures

Lori had shirts made for all the grandkids. Their birth order is on the back, and the front says Cousins Make the Best Friends. 

This was a once in a lifetime picture opportunity. Everyone is finished having kids, and Kyle hasn't entered the adult world quite yet. This is all of them. 

Love these boys!

And these girls!

These four never seemed to mind a flexing picture. ;)

Beverly Beach

The next beach over from Otter Crest is a beautiful white sand beach. We spent two days playing at Beverly beach.


The water was painfully cold, but a lot of the kids played in the ocean still.



Tessa had so much fun making ice cream with Caitlyn.


All the boys played a few games of rugby.

Rockwell and Ammon did a few races on the beach.

Gary helped Rockwell and Jacob catch a few creatures in the ocean. I don't know what they were, but Rockwell sure loved that!

And Grandpa did what Grandpa does best. :)

Matt, Gary, Kyle, EJ and I went surfing one day. That was so much fun!! I just loved spending that time with them! And trying something new and hard and super fun. We had some good laughs getting our wetsuits on. I think at one point each of us truly didn't believe we would ever actually get it on. :) Gary and Kyle have been surfing once before, so they helped us all get the hang of it. My nephews are such good kids. Kyle went out of his way to help me. After a while the waves got pretty big and I was having trouble getting out far enough to get any good ones before they broke. EJ gave me his board that was a little bigger, and Kyle towed me out far enough that I could get the waves at the right time. They're very thoughtful teenage boys!

And don't even get me started on Caleb in this picture! I laugh every time I see it. :)