faith in action

austin got baptized sunday and we are so happy!

he has been saved for a long time but for some reason never wanted to take the next step and be baptized.

keith has been talking to him and he finally decided that it was time.

i am so proud of his decision to put his faith into action.

i love you bud!!

 

final day

after some antique shopping in the morning and a coffee run for lunch we decided to take a walk to this beach across the street from us.

i had NO IDEA that this was here.

i had heard that there was a beach across the street but it sits below a private inn, that clearly states that it's private property, so i never bothered to venture over.

stupid, stupid, stupid.

it was a beautiful day but, as is the oregon coast way, it was windy. 

we climbed down the sketchy stairs/ladder and were transported to a dreamy place.

look at this water!!

clear blue!

see how happy this makes me?!

i planned to park my fanny here for a long time.

the tide was low so we were able to explore pretty far out around the cliffs.

just making sure you know how happy i am here.

we searched for anything cool we could find.

i pulled this starfish out of a tide pool and discovered it was eating a mussel.

cole thought it was super cool!

so did steph.

another view of our little piece of heaven.

when the tide came in taylor decided this rock would be perfect to jump off of.

after some coaxing from tay, rykon agreed.

these little things were stuck all along the cove walls.

i was looking for some shells to take home so i was sifting through the sand when something caught my eye.

i had picked up a perfectly formed shell but it was super tiny.

upon further inspection they were everywhere.

are these not crazy?!

made me wonder what else i miss when i don't take the time to really look around me.

the boys wanted to be buried and thought it was hilarious.

still happy!

boys...

when the tide came in and finally pushed us home it was time to pack up. 

as much as i didn't want to, it was time to go home.

but not before one more stop.

multnomah falls!

no matter how many times i go it never gets old.

austin couldn't be bothered to exit the car again so it was just the four of us.

and, just like that, we were on our way home feeling very thankful to be able to spend time away with family, creating memories that will last forever.

the beach

today was an official beach day. 

since we weren't at a house that was right by the water we had to plan to go there.

never again.

it worked out fine but all the spontaneity of being at the ocean was lost.

anyhoo...

it would, of course, be super windy today.

i think it usually is here but it was super windy.

perfect kite flying weather so emily got hers out immediately.

we were out shopping one day and i saw skim boards for $20.

i thought it was a steal so we picked up two for us and one for rich.

this super windy day was the day to try them out.

the youtube videos made it look easy enough.

throw the board across the teeniest amount of water, run, jump on your board and skim across the receding waves.

ha ha!

if only.

bless their hearts, they tried for a good hour in the freezing cold water to figure it out.

occasionally they sort of made it happen and i could get pictures like this.

but mostly they looked like this...

meanwhile, the kids were playing in the sand.

my beach lover...

and my other beach lover.

my fabulous in laws

i spent the afternoon walking the coast line in search of rocks and shells to bring home.

it's so relaxing, to me, to stroll along the sand and listen to the waves.

at this point it was decided that the afternoon would be spent crabbing.

we were hoping to bring enough in to feed us that night.

licenses were bought, crab pots rented and away they went.

rob's first cast.

it's a slow process.

throw the basket out, wait a few minutes and haul it up.

nothing?

throw it back out and do it over again.

it didn't take too long til rodger pulled one up.

we could only keep males that were a certain size.

male? yes!

right size? no.

bummer but at least we were doing something right.

rob brought up a couple small ones that had to be thrown back and then...

he caught this monster!

it was huge!

after four hours we had lots of throw backs but only three keepers.

certainly not enough to feed 12 people so the boys decided to come back tomorrow.

not me!

it was out last day and i was going to make the most of it.

antiquing and more beach time!