the day it rained and sean called me bossy {day 5}

it rained.

on and off, hard, then less hard.

enough to where the kids wanted to live in the hot tub.

so natalie and i threw on our running shoes, and ran to the pier and back. 

actually we RAN to the pier, and then we walked back:)

the rain felt so good, and the salty ocean air in my lungs, there's just nothing better.

when we got back we slipped into our suits and sat in the rain on the beach until it stopped.

then we used up the very last of all our sunscreen reserves,

soaked up the graces of the afternoon sun one last time,

dove into the ocean one last time,

went in the hot tub one last time,

and showered off all the sand one last time.

except really, it took two weeks for me to get the last bit of sand out of my left ear,

and another week to sweep the last of it out of my laundry room.

boogy boarding and beach living souvenirs.

oh yeah:)

i think it's finally all gone.

after we put the kids to bed,

while i sorted the clean clothes from the dirty 

{tell me, why did i bring anything other than swimsuits and pj's???},

the boys went on a dirty dr depper run.

they gathered everything from the pinterest picture i texted them.

good times:)

then all 10 adults of us drank our dirties 

and talked about everything we loved about our 5 days at the beach.

things we wanted to do different next time,

things we wanted to keep the same,

and then we sang coom-biya, but not around the camp fire,

because we like to sing our favorite 80's songs around that.

with reese's smores.

i forgot to tell you we did that the second night on the beach,

with all the kids and babies.

we did.

it was pretty great.

smores and sand.

nothing more crunchy than that!

so there it is folks,

oceanside 2k14.

we came,

we saw,

we paddle surfed,

we wiped out,

we diritied our dr peppers,

we sunsetted,

and we sat on the patio every night with the loudest ocean waves,

the fullest of moons,

and the most humid salty ocean air.

i never used a hair dryer once,

and when i curled my hair for family pictures, it fell out in half an hour.

made me feel right at home,

and also reminded me why i never used to do my hair.

every day i went in the ocean,

and every day it felt amazing.

the thing i miss the most about the beach is diving into the crisp water 

when you're just a "titch" too hot up on the sandy beach.

i miss boogie boarding with brennan,

and shell searching with max.

i miss running from the waves with chase,

and kissing sean out on the break WITH tongue;)

you know, after he found me THE PERFECT shell for my necklace, 

which i still have not made yet. i can't wait to do this!

this was after the morning where i was mad at him for telling me i was bossy.

i love that man,

and i love that he "gets" me.

even when things aren't perfect.

especially on vacation when things aren't perfect.

i love the beach.

i love watching my babies and my lover on his paddle board on the beach.

until we meet again beach...

{when we opened the door in vegas,

all of chase's shame fell out onto the ground.

when i went to take a picture of it all, he started throwing more stuff out.

he was so proud of his mischief. red heads.}

we stopped about 10 times on the way home.

we stopped once on the way there.

it's like little bodies save up their pee for the car ride home,

and want you to stop every 30 minutes, JUST to see if you will.

even with all of those stops and constant diaper changes,

chase still peed through his diapers at every stop.

strip poker.

that's what we called it.

i blame the 6 oz Hi-C orange burst.

the end.

until we meet again!

take me to bed maverick or loose me forever {day 4 at the beach}

being the northern california bred girl i am,

not only did i grow up thinking that all ocean water on the west coast was cold and wet suit requiring,

but i also thought that warm sunny beaches like hawaii could only be found in hawaii.

now, if you're not from california maybe you don't know that the north and south of california are basically two different states.

everything is completely opposite from the weather, to the culture, and the sports teams you root for.

GO GIGANTES!!!!!! 

so proud of my giants on this fine thursday morning.

so anyway, when we were walking out on the oceanside pier,

i just couldn't get over the fact that the ocean was so big.

and there i was standing in the middle of it.

watching the giant swells come in a out from the middle of it.

and from both directions, the giant ocean just went out forever in all ways!

i spent my life watching them from the shore, in the shelter of the little small bays and coves, standing in the fog, with my sweatshirt, jeans, and flip fops on, freezing my buns, except in the month of may where it's actually warm in half moon bay, and even then i still didn't like getting in the freezing water.

but this day on the oceanside pier,

i saw the ocean in a different way.

a massive, swelling, giant way.

the waves weren't breaking the further out we got,

so it was just the swells coming in,

and it was beautiful, and quiet in a whole new way that i had never in all those years noticed before.

also it was extra warm and sunny IN OCTOBER, so that was pretty great too.

max picked her nose most of the way out,

and the kids rode their scooters around the crowds like crazy people.

chase only wanted to push his little car on the way out,

so i think we bribed another kid to push it all the way back.

have you ever taken 10 kids and 9 adults to lunch before?

god bless our server at ruby's.

also, god bless my dr pepper cookies and cream ice cream float 

that i stole chase's whipped cream and put in mine.

amazing. 

when we got back from the pier, the boys snorkeled for sea shells 

and found these fancy ones that all the women wanted to take home for necklaces,

so the next two days was all about finding one for everyone.

by the end of the trip, everyone, including some of the little girls, 

had their prized necklace-to-be possessions,

wrapped in paper towels, and protected safely in plastic cups for the car rides home.

right at the end of the day, the water calmed down and sean headed out for his daily run on the paddle board. when he came back to shore, he road the wave in like some born and raised Polynesian.

at which point i yelled out to him,

"take me to bed maverick 

or loose me forever!!!!!" 

i mean really, there's nothing more fiiiiiine than your man coming in surfing on his paddle board.

it STILL has me all hot and worked up.

mmmmm mmmmm mmmmm.

yeah.

but my favorite time of the entire day was when i caught sean and brennan on the back porch at sunset. just staring at each other and laughing.

and it reminded me of when brennan was a newborn baby,

and sean would hold him out on his arm.

mostly brennan would just scream 'cause that's basically all he did as a baby,

but every once and awhile he would coo and smile at sean.

oh baby brennan!

i wish he hadn't screamed so much.

this night i think they were talking about farts,

or butts or something, 

but it didn't even matter because those two boys smiling at each other just made me happy happy happy!

also, the sunset was pretty great too.

oh beach, i miss you and your salty air.

the day we saw dolphins {day 3}

this was the day we saw dolphins.

a whole pod.

there's something magical about dolphins being so close to you off the shore.

the surfers stop surfing, and just sit with their feet dangling off the sides of their boards, 

and they all flag each other down to watch the dolphins

as they come within feet of them going by.

time just sorta stops as the mystical creatures slowly glide in and out of the water,

and we all sat on the sand wishing we were the surfers sitting out there on boards touching the dolphins as the swam by.

every time their fins would come up my heart would skip.

it never gets old.

also, i tried to snorkel for shells like my brother in law kenny because he was finding some AWESOME necklace making ones, but about three wipe outs later i called it quits and went back to boogie boarding, as there is nothing more fun 

than getting a really good wave right in front of your kids.

i just remember it had me all excited? {day 2}

every single morning at the beach, 

except the last morning, 

maxine gave us the wonderful pleasure of seeing the ocean at 5am.

do you want to know what the ocean looks like at 5am?

dark.

it looks really dark:)

in fact, you can't really see anything until about 6:15am,

and then things start to get really beautiful around 6:45am.

this is what i learned about mornings on the beach.

also, paddle boarding time on the ocean is anytime between 6am and 7am.

by 7am, it's surfing time.

it reminded me a lot of high school and watching the surfers get out there 

before school in the morning.

BEHOLD,

I GIVE YOU....

the birthday boy!

birthday festivities 

went as follows:

birthday boy slept in, you're welcome sean

conference scones and raspberry butter were prepared and served for 19. have you ever tried to watch conference with 10 kids? yeah, we gave up halfway into the first talk. 

{sean and i listened to the saturday session in the car all the way home to utah. holey moley, i haven't gotten that much out of conference since before brennan was born, i kid you not.}

surprise paddle board rented for the birthday boy

getting out past three breaks and some massive waves was achieved

big hats and 4 bottles of spray sunscreen were worn

sand was firmly established in all crevasses of all gibsons 

{i am even still finding it in my left ear, and we've been home for almost a week--it's awesome.}

candles blown out and cake was had 

{i was SO PROUD that i got a picture with ALL of the kids in it. that is until my brother in law told me i was missing chase. mmm hmmm. dang.}

{above: i took about 93 shots of this with his pail just like this standing here. 

i wanted to EAT him he was so cute.}

i can't even tell you the kind of waves he had to fight to get out there this day because obviously this picture looks like a walk in the park, also, it's zoomed in so it doesn't show how far out he had to get, BUT i will say that he had a beach full of strangers and family, with their mouths and jaws dropped to the ground when he finally succeeded at getting himself, the board, and a paddle out into the ocean blue. it was pretty freaking fantastic to watch, let me tell you. he told me later he could hear me screaming and cheering for him. cheerleader voice, oh yeah.

{above: my super fine ocean paddle boarder returns from his sea adventures. someone pointed out something SUPER funny about the picture on the right...i just can't remember what is was...i just remember it had me all excited? hahahahahahaha.....sorry dad.} 

happy happy sean sean.

i'm so glad you were born:)