Carpinteria 2009

Well Carpinteria has come and gone...hopefully it will stay open for years to come. (It is a California State park). This year was Tyson's first in three years!!! He has been so excited as he has missed out due to school. For those of you who don't know, Carp is one week in July that the Collings family gets together. So it all started with John Collings (first Stake Pres of the Whittier Stake and Tyson's great grandfather) and his posterity. We usually have at least 100 people there.

So we camped and did our jobs (I actually was assigned a breakfast-first time ever) and I swept our tent out at least 4-5 times per day!!! (Lots of dirt and sand). Tyson, David, Adam and Jerry went deep sea fishing out of Santa Barbara. Ty won the jackpot with a 2.2 pound fish!!!! They had an okay time. The fish they brought home tasted yummy cooked on the campfire that night. I spent 4 of the 5 days at the beach with the kids!!! That is a beach record for me...I am very white and since moving away from California, my skin gets rather irritated in the sun. We played in the sand and B and I went in the water every day (it was much warmer than usual).

Aubry is CRAZY and has NO fear of the water. She got taken out by a wave on Friday. It got her good, she was under the water and tumbled around a bit. She then gets up (caked in sand) and screams at the water and runs right back in! Can we say stubborn?

Tyson and Riley donned wet suits this year and were in the water body boarding A LOT! Ry also has no fear and just ran in, whether with cousins, dad, uncle or NOT!! My children's craziness explains the lack of pictures, I was too busy chasing them and watching them CLOSELY!!

My mom, Justin, Amber and Jasper visited us on Monday and my mom came again on Wednesday, that was awesome! It was fun to see Jasper and Brie play in the sand (and eat a lot of it) and it is always fun to spend some time with my mama!!!!

Birthday celebration for the kids 12 and under. Ry and B were super excited!
For the adults, we have the ZERO birthdays (yes, the ones you would rather not mention!!) This year I will be the big 30! The Bell girls were in charge and they did a really awesome job. They had an "Access Carpinteria" show and the birthday folk were receiving our stars on the Hollywood walk of fame for our role in remakes of the classics! They started with me and that I hailed from LA. But no, LA wasn't big enough for this girl...so she moved to the wide open spaces of Idaho. Some may same the LA of Idaho, as in maLAd, ID. They said something about how I was gonna put in on the map and bring glamour to it!!! It was funny. I then was given my star, and wand and a crown and then walked down the walk of fame to the tune of Green Acres while the girls did and funny, hokey dance behind me! Good times!!!!!

Playing in the sand...remember the days when sand in every crevice was not a big deal...those days are so long gone, (for me anyway)! I had fun with the kiddos and they seemed happy.

Crazy B in the water, I felt like we were constantly applying sunblock on her...thankfully NO sunburns!!! YAY!

B and Koriann took over a whole that someone dug!

Those Cluffs, always playing baseball. Ry hit this one good...they are all watching it!!

The joys of kids and road trips! In the middle of nowhere, Ry needs to pee!! Yep, that was a fun one!!

At the hotel (we split the drive down in half so as to be happy) in Mesquite, NV. B wanted to sleep with Ry and not in her playpen! They so love each other.

Day two of our trip to Cali, we were at McDonald's for breakfast. I thought that they looked super cute!!

Riley and the Cadester! (Cade Cluff) They are about 4 months apart in age and most of the time are best buddies! They were excited to see each other.