Ahh, Newport Beach

Ahhh, Newport Beach. Can I move there? We had the greatest time this year, it might have been my favorite year yet. Andrew and Ashley were both at great ages to enjoy the beach and other than the normal tantrums we experience everyday (no matter where we are) we had a fabulous time and it was hard to come home. Get ready for picture overload!

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We were brave this year and drove. On the trip down we broke the drive up by staying in Mesquite and having fun in the pool before going on towards Disneyland. On the drive home we just pushed through and went the whole way. It was much less painful than I expected except that our lightweight Ashley weighs a whopping 17.0 lbs (1st percentile) and will be in her rear facing car seat for some time longer, and Andrew threw up (without warning) on the drive home 3 times between Newport and St. George, leaving a slight smell in the car that I just can't seem to get rid of. Compared to what we expected it was actually a breeze.

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The Price Family posed in front of our Yellow Beach House after Church.

Andrew spent most his time having fun, fun, fun. The beach is paradise for kids (and adults too). I'd list his favorite things but, I don't think there was anything about the beach that he didn't like...except sharing beach toys :)

Andrew sure loves his cousins! He wants to be just like them.

Joe is in the picture above and I had to include a picture of cute Callie below. Callie wasn't even born the first time I went on the Price Newport trip. How time flies!

Cute little Ashley was near perfect. She was a mess for sure but, she was usually happy and easy. Right now it's all about climbing for her. She loves to climb on everything. She is climbing on a chair, couch, stairs or something in almost every picture. Her other love continues to be eating, and sand was a favorite choice to try, which is why she looks like the bearded lady most the time.

Look at Ashley's hands. She is holding a giant sandcrab that all the big kids were afraid of. We had to stop her from eating it!

She spent a good portion of her inside time in the tubby!

This picture cracks me up. It was getting dark so the camera flash was going off and she kept pulling this goofy face in anticipation.

When Ashley is on hard ground, or wet sand, she crawls like Mogley. She likes water a lot and did pretty well in the ocean too unless it got too deep and cold.

Sleepy girl! She was exhausted by the end of the week! Vacation means unpredictable bedtimes and a couple times she went to bed without nursing...I'm not complaining because on the day we got home she decided she was done with it. So, at 13 months, once again I'm all done nursing only this time I'm not pregnant. This is the first time I haven't been pregnant or nursing since November 2005! TMI, I know, but it's momentous to me.

We took lots of nighttime walks and I liked to take the kids early on my rollerblades when it's calm and beautiful. Our family had a horseshoe tournament and the winner took home an incredible trophy that my brother-in-law Russ had made. The trophy has room to engrave the winner's name for the next 12 years so, we all wanted to win!

I lost in the first round to Dave but, by strange luck I won the wild-card spot (which was the spot for one of the three people who'd lost in first round), then I got matched against Dave again and won thanks to a very unlikely ringer at the end, which put me in the final game! I was up against Pat; who is actually really good at horseshoes, and I lost. But, I was pretty excited to be second!

Is it too soon to start counting down to next year?