Coastal therapy.

Oh my lanta.

    I feel as if I could not even begin to catch up if I tried.  We have been busy with a capital "B" these days, skipping and jumping from one trip to the next, this vacation to that one, family in town and then friends were here and back to being with family again, and I can hardly sit still enough in one place to blog about it all. And we're leaving TOMORROW for two weeks in Canada with the youth group from church!  Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.  No siree.  This is the life for me!

   I'm sure right now most of you are thinking, "This is precisely why I don't have a blog! It's impossible at times to keep up and then the pictures and posts would start to pile up and  I couldn't take the pressure!"  Well I guess I'm a sucker for the madness at times.  Not all times, sometimes it just drives me crazy.   Other times I kind of thrive on it. 

   So, here's my attempt to catch up on at least a bit of it, starting with a couple trips to the coast, at two different times with different groups of people.  When my family was out here we spent a day out there, and it was as rugged and breathtaking and beautiful as ever. 

We spent some time at the tide pools, taking in the starfish and little crabs and trying not to slip and fall every two seconds.  It was overcast and a bit chilly but still beautiful. Truly, it's hard to go wrong with the coast, no matter what the weather.

  As you can probably see, it was quite the experience trying to get a shot of this group.  My Dad and Mom and youngest brother Shaylon came out, and we missed all of the others!  Of course Shelby was here because he is living out here right now, and the rest pictured are my sister Shannon's family, who also live out here. 

 

  Here they are with their littlest "Hawkeye". 

   Then it was off to the beautiful coast again the next weekend with my dear friends Nate & Janene King, and Mark & Sharon Raber.   We were SO blessed and uplifted and encouraged by their time out here, it truly deserves a post (or several) of its own, but like I said, if I don't play catch up soon, I'll never get caught up!

    We stayed in this beautiful house that had a killer view of the ocean from the deck.  It was perfect for our group with just the right amount of rooms and laundry, and fully equipped kitchen.  It was hard to leave!

 The weather was typical, overcast and a little chilly.  But like I said, you just can't hardly go wrong with the raw beauty of the coast.  It looks worse that it really was with Jocelyn in her winter parka here, but hey I like to overdress when it comes to being cold!

   Unfortunately for blogging's sake, I didn't get my camera out much.  We were too busy having such a great time!  Sounds cliche, but it's true.  We enjoyed shopping, walking on the beach, walking across the beautiful bridge in Newport, sampling delicious seafood, and of course hanging out at the house and grilling.  The weekend was better than I could have even hoped, and the menfolk all got along so well. :)  How lucky am I that my friends married such great guys?  And, just as I HAD hoped, the weekend was full of lots of wonderful conversations and good coffee.  It was perfect.

   Perhaps one of my favorite parts of the entire time was watching my friends get to know my littles.  They seemed to form this instant bond of sorts and I just loved watching Nate and Mark "play daddy" to my girls!  They are going to be great dads one day.  Sharon and Janene, you were so wonderful with my kids, and I left that weekend feeling SO encouraged in motherhood. You were just a shot in the arm of fresh air, and I needed that!  I sosososososo loved our time together and I do HOPE it can happen again one day!  Our time together is never quite long enough.  Love you all! I hate goodbyes.