One of the things we learned on our Mexico mission trip was the value of togetherness. It was a shock to our systems, even this introvert who heavily values down time, to go from constant companionship to nothing overnight. We missed each other so much! We really wanted to try to incorporate that into our individualistic culture when we returned from the trip. So Terry and Mike scheduled a get together a mere six days after returning on June 22.
Never again could we all be together like we were on that trip. Someone would always have something else going on. Life would just go back to normal unfortunately. We're all too busy.
Mike is always happy!
Noah chillin.
Evie confusedly singing? Ha ha ha.
Singing our favorite song together again, My Lighthouse.
The next thing we had planned was a report to the church, scheduled two weeks after our return, on the evening of June 30. Sarah came over sometime before to give Terry the video that she had made. Terry made another two and Suzanne made one.
Evie and Hailey all smiles.
More smiles from Savannah and Emily. My mom came and stayed for the entire three hours.
I didn't know Hannah, Tori, and Emily had all bought matching dresses. So pretty.
The entire team stayed on the stage for three hours while we shared about our trip. I knew we'd go long, but that was pretty crazy.
It was a pretty good turnout too! We did have a built in coffee and dessert break halfway through and some people left at that point.
We sang our favorite songs.
And every single person shared at least one time (except Sarah N. I believe because she's so shy).
Even though I was cold I couldn't resist the waves. Thankful someone took my picture too!
Noah jumping up in the waves.
There goes Evie.
So much fun.
After a bit we sang a few songs altogether.
My vantage point.
Finally got a shot of all four of us.
Selfie smelfie.
Terry went in and found some kelp to play with.
The kelp was attacking him. He was cracking me up.
I got video of it too! Hahahaha!
Evie riding another wave.
Later that afternoon the sun finally came out!
Terry had to make his traditional huge sand castle. Most of the group joined in to help him. It was at this point that most of us got severely sunburned. Well, that might have probably started as soon as we got there. In all the excitement of being at the beach, no one put any sunscreen on. That, and it was cloudy so we didn't think of it. A bunch of whities from South Dakota should've known better.
He loves to make sand castles. He even made one all by himself on our honeymoon. 😂
Evie was in the water most of the time, despite how cold it was. My hands and feet turned white so I only went in once.
Noah helping the boys with the castle.
It was a pretty big castle.
They called that tall part TAST tower, Tall As Sitting Tori, since she help make it.
Terry put a PJ Max character on top of the tower and timed how long it took the ocean to take the whole thing completely down; about an hour!
Evie liked the warm water.
The littler houses were taken out; there had been one for everyone in our group.
Evie and Noah covered themselves in sand while they waited for the surf to take down the sand castle.
Caught the killing wave that took out the sand castle town.
Evie always went back to the waves.
From there we all walked up the beach to the Santa Monica Pier for dinner.
The other side of the pier.
We made reservations at Maria Sol at the very end of the pier.
Hey there's me this time!
So. Many. Freckles.
Behind the restaurant the kids spent some of their money on these custom made signs painted out of oceanic images.
Beautiful sunset as we left.
That night we went back to Azusa and went to bed early (after slathering up with aloe) since we had to get up at 3am once again to leave by 4am. We wanted to beat the heat of the desert since it was supposed to be over 100 degrees. We definitely didn't want our bus to die again! The sun was just beginning to rise when we got to Barstow, where we had got stuck 12 days before.
Beautiful desert sunrise. We did beat the worst of the heat. 👍
Everyone was fried so badly by the sun and very uncomfortable on the bus. Cade was probably the worst since he had several large blisters on his back. My feet and legs were SO burned. They were super swollen, which had never happened to me before. Usually my Birkenstocks were loose on my feet, but they were too tight because of the sunburn.
We drove all the way to Provo, Utah and after dinner at Chuck-O-Rama (delicious), we sat around the pool and gave out the remaining necklace charms. There were a lot of us left so it took a long time.
Evie floated in the pool for like an hour while we all talked and shared.
I finally got my charm. It really was a good idea. It felt so nice to be encouraged by the group.
Sandra, Dan, Terry, and I. We've known them since 2008ish in Gothenburg when Sandra and I were both pregnant at the same time (with Evie and Julia)
Evie and Julia.
We all slept so great that night after getting so little the night before. The following day was a huge one on the road. We ate in Rawlins, WY again, where we had been 14 days before, but this time at McDonalds. We had to say goodbye to Dan and his family since they were separating from us and going to Laramie.
Bus time. Check out Terry's red raccoon face.
And the final picture of the trip is Noah and Evie together on the bus. 💕
After moving away from home in 2007, I became weary of emailing recent photos of our kids to the grandparents. So I started a blog. And even though we moved back home in 2012, I still really enjoy keeping track of our lives!
