Sunshine State of Mind

Sometimes you really, really anticipate a vacation and it ends up being a flop.  And sometimes an amazing vacation sneaks right up on you.  Our past trip was the latter.  We drove down to Florida the day after Christmas (16 looooooooong hours) and spent three days at my mom's cousin's beautiful home on Anna Maria Island.  I was not expecting the beach to be so warm and beautiful but it was absolutely perfect.  Our beach babes were in heaven; since coming home Jilly has asked me daily when we're going back to the beach.

^ Bryan dug these seats in the sand and Mattie didn't want to ever leave

^ our official seashell collector, and she'd recruit any helpers she could find

^ Jilly said her favorite part of the beach was riding in the "fast car" aka golf cart 

^ But my favorite part was watching Neal give Katie a ride the whole way (about 6 blocks) home from the beach.  She screamed the entire time.

Back at the house we had the gulf right in our backyard.  We enjoyed boating, paddle boarding, jet-skiing, kayaking, and lots of time in the hot tub.

^ Mattie made it a point to have a bag of cheetos in her hand at all times

^ The guys went on a very successful fishing expedition.  We grilled up their catch and it was so so so so so so delicious

^ This picture is super blurry but on my birthday we went to a Mexican restaurant and Mattie met and fell in love with queso dip. 

Because we were on the gulf side, we got to see spectacular sunsets every night

These pictures make me want to go back so badly- not just for the perfect weather but also for the excellent company.  Often vacations with kids aren't really "vacations" but my family is so, so thoughtful and helpful; they made this trip so awesome.

Sandbridge 2014

On our way home from the beach I told Bryan it was a pretty much perfect week.  He laughed and told me I always said that, but I insisted this time I really meant it.  (He could have reminded me of the night I declared"I need a vacation from my vacation!" and he sent me off to get a Dr. Pepper with my sister but he's smarter than that.)  It was a big year- my grandparents, my immediate family, and three of my aunts and their families all stayed in one house.  Crowded, yes, but so fun.  I laughed until I cried on many occasions

Yet again, our girls were in heaven at the beach.  Jilly could build sand castles all the livelong day and was pretty good at convincing people to help her.

Mattie is a little water baby.  She loved the ocean and would fearlessly sprint out into the water so we had to always be on guard.  She also was a huge fan of beach chairs.

Jilly and Mattie don't quite get the concept that vacation = sleeping in.  For most of the week one or both girls was up by 5:55 which, conveniently, was sunrise.  I didn't love getting up so early every day but I did enjoy a few morning runs on the beach with my dad, and it was fun to get some early beach time before anyone else was up.

I am the oldest of all the cousins so my youngest cousins are just a little bit older than my girls.  Jilly and Mattie love all these cute girls and were in heaven having so many friends around all the time.

My girls are the only grandkids/great-grandkids so I was very spoiled with help and the girls were totally spoiled with attention

I have gone to the beach with my grandparents nearly every summer of my life and I think it's so fun that my girls will also have these memories with Grandma and Grandpa Rice

Everyone takes a night to feed the masses and my mom's night was by far the best

You didn't think we'd leave the beach without a jumping picture

Beach Vacation

Earlier this month we headed down south for a long weekend at Huntington Beach with Bryan's family.  The beach brings out the very best in us- girls are messy and happy, I am super relaxed, and Bryan turns into a kid again.  It was a wonderful, happy weekend.

We've been telling Jilly that we'll be moving to a new house so when we got to our (not the nicest) hotel she figured it was our new house. Umm, no. 

Uncles are so much fun-

I love how much these girls love each other - 

Annnnd, this is my 30 year old husband riding a blow-up whale in the ocean (he also surfed and rode a body board.)

Newport Beach Temple-

the cousin lineup- Jilly, Knox, Kirra, & Mattie

til next time...

(all pictures, except for the obvious iphone pictures, were taken by my fabulous sis-in-law Kristen; I am the lucky benificiary of her talents.)