California Trip Days 5, 6, 7 and 8

July 28: Heather and I wore our matching tie dye shirts to take a picture and then we changed into different shirts. I really don't remember why we did this, maybe we were wearing them from the night before and then changed.. I really don't know

It was quite comical watching Kefford and Avynlea try to figure out how to put her bed back into a table in the morning. Once they figured it out the first time it was super easy for us to do it on our own and faster the rest of the week.

A bunch of us wanted to go to the camp store and it wasn't too far so most of us walked down, Kefford rode down with Mom and Heather, he would have walked down to the store but he was worried about his ankle going that distance and only walked back with us. Atticus came with me and my girls and he did really good walking until about halfway there and then he was done and wanted to be carried. I carried him the rest of the way which was really nice of me and really tiring. He tried the same trick for on the way back but I bribed him with candy if he was able to walk the entire way back and he managed to persevere.

The camp store had recently been remodeled and it wasn't as interesting as it used to be. There were these fun tall chairs outside of it that we could sit in and watch the view so that was awesome.

Kefford, Fred and Atticus

Elizabeth and Heather 

Avynlea and Atticus

Amos, Elizabeth and Atticus

Someone took this picture of Kefford and I walking back with Atticus, he did a good job walking.

After our walk to the camp store we came back to our campsites, packed lunches and then headed back down to the beach.

Avynlea looked so beautiful and like a model in her black swimsuit so I had her pose for me so I could take some pictures. 

Thursday July 29:

After our fun in the sun down at the beach we had dinner at Jeremy and Erins campsite.

 The little boys like the way the trees formed a little nook at this campsite and called it their clubhouse, I think the words "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" were used as well as hearing them form the poo poo club which cracked us up and we are still trying to figure out the meaning of and how to become a member of that club.

Rylee and Avynlea put their dancing skills to the test and took turns dancing with Amos. 

Avynlea next because a hairdresser and styled Amos, Fred and Atticus which led to...

Those three wanting to take their turn brushing hair. Avynlea and Rylee both were super sweet to let them brush their hair.

Friday July 30

By this day everyone who was coming to the beach were at the beach. Jeremy and Anita along with Jaylynn and little Jeremy came on Wednesday as well as Erin and Stephanie and Anthony came just for the day on Friday. With all of the family that were going to be there here for the day we gathered for our traditional Lutes Family Beach Pictures. 

Sitting l-r: Jeremy, Heather, Avynlea, Bonnie, Atticus, Rylee, Ashleigh, Fred and Andrew Brown

standing l-r: Anita, Jeremy, Jaylynn, Erin, Amos, Joshua, Mallory, Leona, Matt, Emily, Ben, Isabelle, Andrew, Stephanie, Anthony, Kefford and Elizabeth 

Atticus looked adorable in his t-shirt that was too big and Rylee had to have a picture with him. Kefford wanted one also but only from his waist down.

This was the first time in many years that all of us siblings were together and that was a lot of fun even if it was for one day. I loved being able to be with everyone and we had a lot of fun!

Mom with her Kids

Stephanie, Erin, Jeremy, Elizabeth, Heather, Emily, Joshua, Ashleigh and Andrew plus Mom :)

Grandma with her Grandkids

top picture back row: Rylee, Ben, Jeremy, Isabelle, Avynlea and Jaylynn

bottom row: Atticus, Amos, Grandma Bonnie, Leona and Fred

just the girls

Emily, Erin, Stephanie, Elizabeth, Ashleigh and Heather

just the boys

Joshua, Andrew and Jeremy

Avynlea, Rylee, Emily and Isabelle

Avynlea and Rylee

Ben, Emily, Matt and Isabelle, Stephanie and Anthony

Andrew Brown, Atticus and Ashleigh, Jeremy, Anita, Jeremy and Jaylynn

Jaylynn, Avynlea and Rylee

Avynlea, Elizabeth, Kefford and Rylee

Our campsite was the gathering in the mornings and at night because we had Mom and the RV. I liked having everyone come to us and enjoyed the time we spent together playing games and talking in the RV.

Avynlea was not always thrilled with the early morning wake up call but put up with it the best she could and went along with the fun in her own early morning, just woken up way.

Mallory took this picture of me with Amos and Fred. They are so cute and so fun and I cherish any time I get to spend with my nephews cause I love them all so much!

I had Avynlea take some pictures of Kefford and I and we do be looking so cute!

Hahaha this picture cracked me up when I saw it!

Then Avynlea and I took some selfies together, I sure love this girl!

After dinner Heather and I walked down to the lookout to get some last pictures together. I wish she could have spent more time down at the beach with us but I am glad she at least came so I could spend time with her.

The sky was stunning and the sunset actually looked better in my camera, I love the colors of the sky!

Andrew and Erin came into the RV and played Uno with Mom and I. What made this game special was we played four rounds and we each won one round and we won it in clockwise order starting with Erin, then Mom, the next winner was Andrew and then I won the last round. I saw a pattern emerging but didn't say anything until I won the last round just in case I lost, hahaha. 

MaryBeth came to the beach today and stayed the night in the RV with us, it was fun to have her around.

Kefford spent some of his time introducing Atticus to Batman and he caught the Batman fever pretty quick. On Saturday we were packing up to leave and Atticus came over to ask Kefford if he would show him more Batman videos. Kefford didn't have time right at that moment but he told him he would as soon as he was done. He never was able to and he felt pretty bad about that and he felt Atticus needed his first Batman toy and it needed to come from Kefford so after we got back to Idaho he found a cool Batman toy on Amazon and sent it to Atticus who loved it. What a great Uncle Kefford is!

Rylee wanted me to take a picture of her and Atticus as we were on our way out. I love his dirt covered face!

We had such a great time at the Beach with my family, this might be the last year we get to do this with Mom because she just can't do the stairs anymore. But maybe if she is able to get her hip replacement she will be able to and we can come back again. Fingers crossed we haven't seen the last of this beach.

 

California Beach Trip Days 1, 2, 3 and 4

On Saturday July 24 Kefford, Avynlea, Rylee and I packed up the Traverse and headed down to California. Traveling with two kids in our 7 seater was so much easier then traveling with 4 kids in our 8 seater. Everyone had more room and we also had more room for our camping stuff. We missed having Ryker and Kenedy with us once we got to California but not having the extra two bodies for the drive was kind of nice. Joshua and his family were already there when we arrived and it was a treat to be able to spend more time with his family as well as Andrew who rode down with them. Leona even let Kefford hold her for a little bit before she realized what was going on and needed to be put down.

July 25: Leona was more content to be on her own crawling around and was not too happy about being picked up by anyone other than her parents. Rylee got lucky and was able to hold her because she had Leona's bottle and who isn't going to let someone hold them if they are willing to feed you.

Our family was able to watch our Ward sacrament meeting via zoom. We went into our bedroom to watch it and were joined by Amos and Frederick. During the sacrament portion our Ward mutes the zoom and so Kefford took that time to talk to the kids about the importance of the sacrament. It was fun to have Amos and Fred in the room with us, they were pretty reverent and almost made it through the entire meeting.

After church and while Heather and Mom were watching their meeting via zoom, the four of us and Joshua's family as well as Andrew, Erin and Jaylynn walked down the street to the park. We all had fun exploring but I especially loved watching Rylee and Avynlea on the mommy and me swing.

Kenedy had her last Sunday in Texas and she sent me this picture she got of her and some of her church buddies with the missionaries.

On Monday July 26th Kefford and I went to pick up the RV we rented for us and Mom and Heather to use while camping at the beach. As soon as we got back to Mom's house we loaded it up with all of our stuff and Rylee headed out in it with Kefford and I to go to the beach. Mom, Heather and Avynlea rode down in Mom's car. The three of us in the RV stopped at Wal-Mart to get groceries for the week, I took a picture of the tub I packed with some food from home so I could remember what we had and not buy extra. Once we got the groceries we then spent some time trying to find a gas station that had an RV propane fill up. That took much longer then you would think and it was pretty hard to find one. We finally found one that was close to the beach site we were going to and once we got the propane filled up we finally arrived at our beach destination.

It was nice to have an RV to relax in and we spent a lot of time at the table playing card games and having fun. Mom and Heather shared the couch bed, Avynlea slept on the bed that turns into a table and Kefford and I had the bed in the back. Rylee wanted to share a tent with Jaylynn and she set it up and had it to herself for a couple of nights until Jaylynn arrived with her family on Wednesday. Rylee quite enjoyed the space to herself and was living her best life those few days.

Every night a different family does dinner for everyone and we asked if we could have that first night, I wanted to get our turn over with and not have to worry about it for the rest of the week. We did a baked potato bar with the potatoes cooked over the campfire and they were delicious. For our dessert we bought ice cream sandwiches which was a yummy treat and enjoyed by everyone.

Rylee and Fred

Amos, Atticus and Fred

Ryker was pretty bummed to be missing our beach trip and being with everyone so he had me FaceTime him after dinner on our first night so he could see everyone. He and Avynlea had fun playing with the filters on the FaceTime app and then Rylee and Atticus had to get involved in all the fun.

After dinner Rylee took Fred and Atticus on a walk to the lookout, she is such a good big cousin and loves her little cousins so much.

July 27: Tuesday was the first day we got to actually go down to the beach. We arrived early afternoon on Monday but I told my girls they couldn't go down. They had to stay up with us and get our campsite set up as well as help prepare dinner. This was another reason I wanted to do dinner on the day we arrived. We didn't have to worry about coming up from the beach early and miss out on any fun we were having. We just stayed up at our site and got things ready and then everyone came to us to eat and hangout. 

Rylee went Boogie Boarding

Avynlea and Kefford 

Kefford took it upon himself to bury the littles in sand. They all liked it and all were patient and let him do his thing.

Atticus

Fred

Amos

I enjoyed time with my sisters while down at the beach. Mom stayed up at the campsite the entire week because she couldn't manage the stairs with her bad hip and Heather had surgery on her face and wanted to stay out of the sun as much as she could so she only came down one day. I missed them but am glad that I have so many other sisters to be able to hang out with and have fun with.

Elizabeth, Emily, Ashleigh and Mallory

Kefford and Elizabeth 

That evening we had dinner at the other campsite, the one that Joshua, Andrew, Emily and Ashleighs families were staying at. Heather read a book to the kids while Kefford and Avynlea did their own entertaining.

Fred is just too cute and so easy to love.

Later that evening Avynlea and Ben took Amos and went to the lookout to watch the sunset.

I just love the close bonds that my kids have with their cousins big and little.