OBX Vacation

About 5 months ago, a couple friends talked about the idea of spending a week together in Outer Banks, North Carolina. Kristen was the mastermind getting everything organized and the week of August 30th-September 5th, 2009 we had an awesome vacation.
Most people went down on Saturday morning, but Jeff was out of town for a medical conference so we didn’t get there until Sunday night. The beach house was awesome! It was only about 100 yards from the beach and had a great setup. It was 3 stories high with 6 bedrooms that each had their own bathroom & deck. The top floor had a big kitchen and dining/living area, an extra bathroom, and one bedroom. The second floor had 4 bedrooms, and the bottom floor had one bedroom, a big play room/living room, bathroom, and access to the pool. It was a perfect setup for a big group. The kids had a blast playing together throughout the week and it was fun to see what creative games they would come up with together.
Originally we had great visions of spending hours on the beach, and playing in our pool. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate quite as we had planned- it was pretty cloudy and a little rainy most of the time, but we did end up with some sunshine on Tuesday and we had a beautiful sunny day on Friday. Regardless of the weather, we spent some time at the beach everyday and we were able to do a lot of fun things and enjoy spending time with family and friends.
On Monday afternoon, everyone did a little sight-seeing. We decided to head over to the Wright Brothers memorial. It was a really cool place. The boys enjoyed climbing the big hill to the Wright Brothers Monument, and we all enjoyed the little museums where you could read about their early flight experiences and see a replica of their plane.
One thing that was cool about the stormy weather was that it made the waves absolutely huge! The men were pretty adventurous and even on the colder days they took their boogie boards out to catch some big ones. At that point, the waves were big and rough enough that the women were pretty content to watch- there were some pretty entertaining wipe-outs. In fact, a few of the days, the lifeguards put up signs and wouldn’t allow anyone to go out into the water. One those days, the guys got out their skim boards and had fun surfing the waves near the shore. That was also really fun to watch. I’m pretty sure they all ended up with some pretty good war wounds from crashes on the sand. They had a great time though, and they really were pretty good. The kids enjoyed playing on the beach even if they couldn’t get in the water.
One of the things I loved about going with a big group was dividing up some of the basic responsibilities of each day. We each had a day to make breakfast and dinner for the whole group. It was great not to have to cook every day. We loved having all the fabulous food that everyone made, and it was fun to have one day to make some fun meals for everyone else. It’s definitely going to be an adjustment to realize that I have to make all the meals every day again!
On two of the afternoons we did a date afternoon swap. Half of the adults went out Wednesday afternoon for a few hours, and then the rest of us went out on Thursday afternoon. On our date, we first went to play laser tag. That was a blast! I also found out that long hair can be a big advantage…mainly when it covers your targets. I got a lot of flak about that, but I did manage to win the game by about double the scores. I attributed it to pure talent & sharp shooting abilities. After the laser tag we headed over to a miniature golf course. It was fun to go with other couples. And although I have no idea how it really happened, I actually had the lowest score; but that also means that I beat Jeff again and proved once again that I dominate at miniature golf. (At least until next time..)
Somehow the week of the vacation ended up being the same week as many of our kids’ birthdays. We had 4 birthdays during the trip, which meant four birthday cakes and miniature parties. All the kids were in heaven. Caleb turned 4 on September 2nd, and we did an ice cream cake for his birthday. He thought it was pretty cool when everyone sang to him and loved blowing out the candles with his big audience and opening his present. He thought that was a pretty good way to celebrate.
I think one of my favorite parts about the trip was the late-night game playing with all the adults. It was fun to have the kids put to bed and then be able to enjoy the rest of the night. We played many different games, but I still think my favorite was the night we played Cranium until 2am- guys vs. girls. It’s a good thing most of the kids were sleeping downstairs or I know they would have been up from all the laughing.
On Wednesday night, we had kind of an impromptu girl’s night. We all decided to go to the little beach shop after the kids were in bed to get a few things. It ended up being quite the trip with all of us trying on different t-shirts, pants, shorts, and swim dresses. I’m sure we were quite the scene trying to crowd into the dressing rooms together and modeling our great and not-so-great-but-hilarious finds. It was definitely a night of good laughs, and we did manage to find some fun deals like our matching $4 t-shirts. Fortunately the husbands were busy with a good movie, and they didn’t miss us for the 2 hours that we were gone!
On Friday, our group went crabbing together. The kids were so excited, and it ended up being a lot of fun for the adults too. I had never done it before and didn’t realize that you basically stick a big piece of chicken on a hook and wait for the crabs to grab a hold of it. Once they’re up high enough, you slip a net under them and pull them in. The crabs had to be a certain size before you could keep them. I’m pretty sure that’s why all the big ones were wily and would let go of the chicken before you got them too close. We did manage to catch 6 crabs that were keeper size, and we also managed to catch a huge snapping turtle! I won’t lie; it was probably one of the funniest moments when Debbie caught the turtle on her first try. Jacob and Caleb actually caught 3 of the 6 keepers, and thought that it was just about the coolest thing ever.
When we got back late Friday morning, the beautiful sun was coming through the clouds and we went out and spent the rest of the warm, sunny day at the beach. I’m so glad we ended on such a great day.
We spent one last night, finished packing and left on Saturday morning. I’m sure everyone was about vacationed out at that point, but it was a fabulous week and I’m pretty sure we all came away with some great memories.

Random Thoughts

This is a weekend I would love to be home. Of course, with Jeff being gone for work from Thursday-Sunday morning I've had a lot of quiet time to think about it.

• My brother Houston just got home from his mission to Chile on Friday afternoon. While I'm so excited to be able to go back for his mission report, there's something fun about seeing them walk off the plane so fresh of the mission. I would have loved to have been able to give him a big hug. We did enjoy talking to him on the phone though!
• Dad is also being put into the new Stake Presidency this weekend. President McCauley, who was in during the time I was in high school, was being released and a new presidency is being sustained today. President Marty Stafford, Kelley Shaw, and my dad. What a group of amazing men.
• Lacey will be leaving for college this next weekend, I still can't believe my littlest sister will be gone. I'm going to miss not seeing her as much when we're home.
• Finally, Cole starts his sophomore year of high school this week too. Once again, it doesn't seem like that much time could have possibly passed!

I am grateful that we'll be home soon, because I don't like missing out on everything!

Couple other random thoughts:

• Something about the month of August makes me want to listen to Christmas music. Strange, but I love it!
• Neiman Marcus has so many cute dresses for women. If I had $400 just laying around with nothing to do, I would buy one!
• Do you know what happens when your husband forgets about and leaves a fish-oil vitamin in the shirt of his pocket and it goes through the washer/dryer with a load of laundry? Lets just say don't let it happen unless you really love your clothes smelling like fish...
• One night while Jeff was out of town, I let the boys pick out a TV dinner for fun. I'm not as motivated to cook big meals when Jeff is gone, and I thought the boys mgiht like it. Well, I dont' even know if they've ever had one. At dinnertime, Jacob told me, "This is the BEST dinner I've ever had!" Makes me wonder why I bother with fancy, healthy meals... :)

A Happy Birthday

I know I’m late on this one, but better late than never. Last Sunday was a monumental day for me, I am now officially 25.

To be completely honest, I hadn’t been looking forward to this birthday. There’s just something about the big 2-5. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s the ‘quarter of a century’ birthday or that 25 rounds up to 30. All I know is that I was secretly dreading it, and trying not to think about it much.

With that, I woke up Sunday morning feeling surprisingly cheerful. I’m sure part of it was due to the fact that it was a beautiful sunny day, and best of all Jeff was able to spend the morning at home with us. He kept up a tradition of making a fantastic crepe breakfast, complete with fresh fruit, yogurt and homemade granola. There’s something nice about being able to wander into the kitchen and have someone dote on you- I admit I enjoy it! It was fun to spend the morning with the family. After breakfast everyone insisted upon me opening my presents. The boys were so excited because they had helped pick out everything. I was spoiled with new hair care products, make-up, jewelry, and of course some treats. I love opening the presents just to get a good reaction out of the kids! We would have lounged around for a while longer, but we had to hurry and get ready for church- so I put some food in the crockpot and we headed off.

One of the most exciting things was that Kristie and Tom were flying here on their way to spend some time with Tom’s family. They had arranged it that they would be able to stop and spend a few hours with us before his parents picked them up. I was thrilled! I haven’t celebrated a birthday with my family since I was in high school! It’s difficult when your family is an 8-hour plane ride away. After church I was able to go and pick them up from the airport and we enjoyed a wonderful evening together. The boys were so excited to see them and were quick to show off all their tricks. I love how even though they haven’t spent much time with Uncle Tom and Aunt Kristie, they just love them and feel so close to them. Kristie and Tom even brought me a cute birthday card, and a gift that Kristie and Mom picked out together- I loved the shirt! We’re also planning a little girls ‘birthday’ shopping trip for when we make it back home in a couple weeks. Can’t wait!

Mom & Dad Stevens also sent me a fun package with some awesome new running gear, including a new outfit, lots of sports drink mixes, and energy treats, and my favorite- a PINK Nathan hydration belt. I absolutely loved it and love that it is pink! Thanks so much Mom and Dad!

We all had such a great time visiting together, it was sad when it was time to say goodbye, but we were just glad we were able to spend any time together. We’ll see each other again in a couple weeks when we go home for Houston’s mission report, we can hardly wait.

I told Jeff later on that night that this really was probably one of the best birthday’s I had. The day turned out so perfectly wonderful that I’ve decided that being 25 isn’t that bad after all. In fact, if my birthday was any indicator of how it is being 25, I’m ready to bring on the year! I’m especially grateful for a thoughtful, loving husband who tries so hard to make everything wonderful and for kids who make birthdays exciting.

Highlights of the Day

- Being able to sleep in!

- Caleb telling us that he didn’t want to eat crepes because they make him “jigger”. What is ‘jigger’ you wonder? Well, we didn’t know either so we told him to eat them anyway, and soon learned what ‘jigger’ meant as Caleb gagged & threw up the bite Jeff made him eat. Needless to say, we didn’t make him eat any more crepes- he opted for cold cereal instead.

- Having friends & family send e-mails, cards, make phone calls, and wish me a happy birthday. I didn’t get all the phone calls as I turned off the phone while Tom & Kristie were here, sorry if I missed your call, but it sure meant a lot!

- Seeing the boys smile and watch their faces light up when I told them how much I loved all the presents they picked out.

- Spending my birthday with people I love- it doesn’t get much better than that!

Duty Calls

I love the Harry Potter movies. I haven't read the books, ...I know, but I absolutely love the movies. We usually don't go to movies at the theater, but I told Jeff this is one that I would love to see on the big screen. For some reason, we've had a hard time actually getting to this movie.

Take 1: Jeff buys the discount tickets, we drop the kids off at the babysitting group and head to the theatre. When we get there, we find out that our discount tickets aren't the 'right' ones. The movie has to be out for longer. So we scrap the movie and go miniature golfing instead.

Take 2: We know the movie has been out long enough, so once again we drop off the kids, and head to the theatre. Jeff had checked the movie times on Thursday night but when we get to the theatre we find out that the time has been changed and it starts too late, so once again we miss the movie.

Take 3: Last night we double checked the times and after dropping off the kids we made it to the theater and got our admittance tickets. We actually made it in! We make it through about 20 minutes of the movie when Jeff gets a call from the hospital. A guy ended up having a bad accident that cut up his face/eye pretty bad(I won't go into the details...) and Jeff had to go in to do an emergency surgery. I dropped him off to get his car, and then spent the rest of our date night shopping for Jacob's school uniform at the store & then picking up/putting kids to bed. Jeff didn't end up getting home until almost 3am.

I almost started laughing when Jeff told me that he had to go in to the hospital, I was bummed & I sure felt bad for the guy who needed surgery, but at this point it's been almost comical how difficult it has been to get to a silly movie! Maybe it won't happen, but hopefully the 4th time's a charm!

More Beach Fun

We took another little trip to the shore, and this time Daddy was able to go with us. The day was a little cooler, but still warm enough to enjoy the sand and water with some friends. In fact, it was hard to keep Jacob and Caleb out of the water. They've definitely turned into little beach bums and especially love boogie boarding and body surfing. Somehow I didn't get any pictures of Jacob in action, but I do have some good ones of Caleb. Everyone around them was totally impressed with the two little boys who were total die hards. Even when they'd wipe out, they'd just want to get right back up and go again. It was pretty fun to watch them go!

We also spent a good amount of time chasing after our little speed racer. At first he had fun playing in the sand and water, and then he decided it would be fun to run around all over the beach. If anything, it sure tired him out for the drive home.

Hunting Butterflies

Nothing like spending an afternoon hunting butterflies. It was fun to catch them, watch them, and then let them fly away. I think summer is flying away with them though...I wish it would stay around a little longer.

Celebrating 7 Years

Jeff and I had a fun anniversary this year. We were able to go out on Friday night together and enjoyed spending the evening just the two of us.

On Saturday, we spent the morning at soccer, and then did things around the house. Saturday night, we thought we might go out again, but it didn’t end up working out so we picked up some pizza and ice cream and went swimming together. It was a fun night together as a family. We also picked up a movie to watch after the kids were in bed. It wasn’t a hugely fancy celebration, but between the two days we had a lot of fun together and I think it was the perfect way to celebrate our 7-year anniversary!

(Don't you just love pictures taken by 5-year olds? They have a way of taking them when you're not ready. :)

7 Years Ago Today

Jeff and I were here, being married for time and eternity. I never could have imagined how wonderful the next seven years would be! I'm grateful to be able to celebrate this special occasion with my best friend (and our kids too :)
I've also realized that I really need to get copies of all our wedding pictures, since I only have this one that my uncle e-mailed me.
More to come...