Quiet and Real Life

We returned home from the beach a couple of weeks ago and I must admit that it put me into somewhat of a bad mood.  A week of happiness and ease made the reality of life hit hard upon returning home.  My life is wonderful, there are so many good things happening but it's filled with a lot of work and responsibility.  When we crossed the line into Virginia, I felt my blood pressure rise a notch. 

There's something about the beach that just makes me completely relax.  Perhaps it's watching the beautiful view or spending happy time all together.  I always like to go to the beach alone and just watch the waves and listen to my own voice (which sometimes gets lost in all the responsibilities).  It's a time that I can step back from the chaos in my life and see more clearly what needs to happen. 

This trip Amy awoke at 6 and instead of trying to wrestle her back to sleep, we went to the beach and sat and watched.  I wanted to keep that feeling with me, one of contentment and calmness. 

So, it was back to real life and it was hard.  I decided that perhaps being out in nature together might bring back some of that feeling for me.  

I love sitting around a camp fire.  Life is just better there watching the flames, talking, eating good food.  It's more of a challenge here to find fire pits so we haven't, in all the years we've lived here, had a fire.  We went out to Prince William Forest and got ourselves a camp site.  We invited our friends, the Baird's, to join us and we had the more relaxing, lovely afternoon.  The kids frolicked (and I truly mean that word) in the forest and I thought of many afternoons past at my grandparent's cabin in Ophir.  How I miss those days.  Oh, and the delicious dutch oven chicken. 

 

 

We liked it so much that we went back the next Saturday to "hike."  I can't really call it a hike because we weren't going up a mountain, it was really just a walk through trees.  It's the Utah girl in me, I guess.  

We felt relaxed and happy and I thought that maybe these feelings exist outside the beach.  I'm going to keep trying to see. 

Wishes and Lighthouses

I have harbored a secret wish for a while, I have always wanted to see a lighthouse lit up at night.  I love lighthouses with all their history and mystery.

Heb's parents offered to watch the kids for the evening (the best!) and so we went to a movie.  On our ride home down the Dare Trail, we realized that we had overshot the beach house and were just ten minutes away from the lighthouse.  This was our moment, we seized it and went on a little adventure.

There in the distance, we saw the light blinking, dim and distant at first.  In the darkness, we pulled up close to the base and could see it's faint outline before the light came on in its designated pattern.  You know that each lighthouse blinks a different light pattern so boats can differentiate them.

We stood there together and just watched it brightly blink and then return to the darkness, ever consistent and faithful.  It was the most incredible thing I've seen in a long time.

It took me back to back when Heb and I were first dating, we went on a date on Valentines Day.  We drove up to Bear Lake together and ate pizza, something we've done for many subsequent Valentines Days.  We talked and held hands and for the first time felt like there was some real potential for our relationship.  We drove over to Bear Lake and stood on the bank.  In the quiet darkness, we watched to snow fall on the water.   It was a really special night for us. 
  

While we were out watching the lighthouse blink on and off in the darkness, Heb turned to me and said that it felt like Valentines from so long ago.  In our busy, kid filled life, it's hard to find those special moments in our relationship.

This moment almost didn't happen.  I'm not always the best at asking for things but one of the lessons I learned from the beach this year is to make things happen.  I want those special moments in my life.  I walked away knowing that I need to ask more, seek more.  
  

Family Lore

There are memories that become part of family lore.  They're stories that are told over and over again at dinner tables for years to come.  We had a collection of these as I grew up, stories about Grandpa Dave or when my parents were in high school.  Then there were stories about our family like the time that as little girls we had put every bow that we owned in my dad's hair only to have the missionaries knock on the door.  They're stories that are part of your family culture and experiences like these don't come around every day.  Do you have a collection of epic family stories too? 

When we were down in Outer Banks last week, we had one of those experiences.  I think we're all still laughing about it all this time later.

 Heber had wanted to go crabbing.  There is usually never enough time to fit in all the things we want to do so I didn't really worry about crabbing.  During one of the few quiet moments of the day, he went to a small local tackle store and got himself outfitted and asked around for a good place to go.  Later that afternoon, we followed a dirt trail over to the spot. 

Following instructions, Heber tied raw chicken to a string and flung it into the sound.  I have never seen anything quite like this but we all got in on the action, even his parents Randy and Penny.  One person would fling the chicken and slowly reel it in while the second leans over the dock with a net to capture the crabs.  This by itself is not usually what we're doing on a Saturday afternoon. 

We had a few near misses and then we started reeling them in two at a time.  Everybody caught one.
 

 His dad had one on the line that he knew was big.  "I think there must be three or four on there" he said.  Heber, the most successful netter, was leaning into the sound and eased his net around the bait and started pulling up.  He pulled and strained and lifted out a huge snapping turtle.  All the other people on the dock came running and we were laughing so hard.  The turtle, obviously, did not want to be caught and was putting up a big fight.  The two foot long turtle was angry so we eased him back into the water. 

 

 Each of us reeled something in.  All in all we caught 7 crabs and one snapping turtle, not too bad for an afternoon of fun.  So you see, one package of raw chicken, some string and a net led to freaking snapping turtle.  This is one for ages.  

The Beach

When you become a parent, there are these moments that surprise you.  Moments where you feel like you are going to burst with joy.  (Ok, so there are the not so awesome moments too like cleaning up barf and wrestling a little guy who has escaped his diaper change.)

When those moments come, I want to record them, to remember them.  When we were at the beach, I had one of those moments.  As you know, Leo has mastered crawling.  He crawls everywhere and pretty much over any obstacle (even opening our back screen door last night, the stinker).

Kira and her girls (the friends we went with) and I were at the beach.  I must admit that I've never been much of a sand person.  I wasn't one of those warm beach people that lounge in the sand.  My loyalties always lied with the "cool, walk on the beach" kind of beaches.  I half expected Leo to be the same.

Oh boy.  He practically dived into the sand.  He would crawl, stop and examine something, crawl more, let sand drizzle from his hand and then wave his arms in a "this is the coolest thing ever" kind of way.  He didn't even eat that much.

Watching him so happy was the highlight for me.  He was just so curious and thoughtful.  Makes me think that's how I need to live.  Stop and see the seashell, celebrate new discoveries (who knew sand could be so much fun!).  Sit and bask in your surroundings.  And, of course, take a few moments to wave my arms and think "this is so awesome".

I may have crawled in the sand with him, which is saying something for this sand averse mama.  

Outer Banks

When I was a young women, I went to girls camp every year.  My favorite was the year that I was a stake leader.  It was the best.  When we're together, ask me about dressing up as a dummy or the chipmunk on my pillow.  It was one of those experiences that changed the way that I looked at the world.  I distinctly remember walking into my Grantsville home and looking at it with new eyes, almost like I didn't remember what it looked like.   

This is how I felt this past week.   Heb, Leo and I were on vacation in the Outer Banks in North Carolina.  We had the best time.  We rented a beach house with some friends and were literally 5 minutes from the beach.  We didn't worry about anything.  Heb didn't think about work (which is pretty significant) and we just enjoyed ourselves. I almost forgot about our house, about anything not at the beach.

We loaded our car right up.  Man there's a lot of things to pack with a kiddo.

 We sat on the beach. We played in the water.

We laughed at Leo joyously exploring the beach.  I think we have a real beach bum on our hands.

We visited lighthouses.

 

We saw the place where the Wright Brother's took their first flight.  A true Air and Space moment (you know that Heber loves air and space stuff.  The first time he came out to visit me in DC when we were dating, he spent three full days at the Air and Space Museum.  That's love.)

We were just together...even while trying to keep our little guy happy during the long drive.

We would wake up in the morning and walk along the beach in the waves. There are few things I love more than walking along the water (I really do like long walks on the beach).

One of the highlights of the trip was hanging out with the Barker's.  When traveling with friends, you either really like them afterward or never want to see them again.  Luckily, we had a great time.  The kids all played together and we had so much fun playing games and taking it all in.  We even want to do it again.

The other highlight was seeing my old friend Janette and her husband Sasha. They recently moved to North Carolina.  It felt so good to talk to an old friend. 

So now, it's over and we are getting back to our life.  Hopefully we'll visit Outer Banks again.