the verdict is....GUILTY!

So I feel a little bad about this. A couple of nights ago Lilly was "playing" in the family room and Josey walked in and announced that Lilly had pulled all the pillows off the couch. Okay, this is something that REALLY annoys me! I hate having them all over the floor and I HATE having to put them back because inevitably the girls don't put them back right. I had to walk into the family room myself to see Lilly pulling the last pillow off the couch because I didn't believe that she had actually pulled them off all by herself. But lo and behold she did! So here is why I feel bad. I have gotten mad at the girls more than a couple of times because all the pillows or a portion of the pillows have been pulled off the couch and they have sworn that they didn't do it. I just thought they weren't telling me the truth so they wouldn't get in trouble. Well apparently maybe they didn't do it! What a little rascal. These videos are just to give you a laugh today. I can't watch them and not laugh. Maddy got the Hannah Montana cd for her birthday and this is the girls ROCKIN out to it. Watch both are pick one they are guaranteed to at least make you smile. It cracks me up that they don't know barely any of the lyrics and then at some points Josey looks like she is doing some PBS African dance.

Vacation Continuation......last day.....boo hoo

If you couldn't tell we haven't been on vacation in a while! Obviously if I have three posts devoted to a weekend trip! But it was just so fun I don't want to forget it and I want my girls to have the memories documented. Dustin and I were talking on the way home and it is so wonderful when you can spend time together as a family not worrying about work, school, the house, church callings etc., and just really be present with your family and have a good time. I feel like we reconnected with each other and our children and it only took a weekend! We decided that we definitely need to do it more often. I feel like all my kids are growing up before my eyes practically and I really feel like the more often we are able to get away and be together with them and have these adventures the closer we can keep them as they start into their teenage years. Now I am not delusional and I understand that there will most likely come a day when my daughters DO NOT want to go on the family vacation. But I am hoping that it will be such a tradition ingrained in them that it might be something they look forward to at least a little bit! So with that here are the last million pictures from our trip.......

Who knew Lincoln city was actually named after Abraham Lincoln?

We found the proof....

We took the picture....

There it is.

This could have been it's own post in and of itself and I would have titled it "Nick Knack Hell".

There is this Christmas store in Lincoln city and while at first I was very excited to go inside I was soon put into nick knack shock and wanted to run out screaming as fast as I could. If anyone is looking for that "special"ornament, let me know. I can probably find it for you amongst the fruit ornaments, the pet ornaments and yes even the Star Wars ornaments. You name it they have it.....I guarantee it!

We decided to drive over to the Inn at Otter Crest. When we lived here previously we stayed a night here with Paul and Lesli and Tanner and Maddy and we have been dying to come back ever since. It is one of the most beautiful places ever! The walk over to the tide pools is just breathtaking.

We have a picture of Dustin and Maddy and me big pregnant with Josey in about this same exact spot about 6 years ago. Maddy insisted that I put this picture up here. She was SO proud of herself for picking up this little crab. She was very brave. The funny thing is that when she finally got the nerve up to pick it up we realized why it hadn't crawled away. It was dead!Again I have a picture of Maddy in front of this waterfall when she was two! I didn't want to go find it but I have in an album somewhere. We then headed over to another beach were all the surfers are and were the beach is a little more flat and calm. There is almost no wind on this beach and that will be significant later......Josey made a huge sand castle and tried desperately to dig a moat and make a wall to stop the water from demolishing it. But alas the tide came up and it was drowned. Lilly finally loosened up a bit and got within 500 yards of the waves. I think the calmer waves made the difference. Here she is dancing all over the beach. Try to count how many steps she takes it is really quite funny.Stumpy Dust

Now I will tell you why it was significant that we went to the windless beach......Yes we FINALLY brought the kites out. Which is what Maddy wanted to do all weekend. She figured out how to get it to fly though. She just had to run around and around and around. She literally ran up and down the beach for like half an hour screaming, "It's flying!"The upside and the downside to Oregon beaches. There are about a million stairs leading you down to the beach. Which means you have to walk back up about a million stairs EVERY time you want to go down to almost ANY beach. The upside? If you aren't on the beach you probably will be okay in the event of a tsunami it is so much higher up!

We made one more stop on our way home and that was to see the Spruce Goose! Apparently it is the plane that Howard Hughes built for not really any purpose. It is held at the aviation museum there and unfortunately by the time we made it there and found it it was closed. But there are lots of helicopters and planes outside that you can walk around. So we decided that we will head back when Grandpa Moyes is here next week because he loves flying and then we can finally see the Spruce Goose! So there will be pictures about that later......I know everyone is just dying for more pictures on this blog. I really don't put up enough.

I actually was totally surprised and impressed by the amount of aviation knowledge Dustin has. I think maybe when you are a guy that is just something you know? Because seriously why does he know all that? He knew what every plane was called and when it flew and what made it unique and how everything worked on it. I swear I would have thought he built half of them! I think he needs to get a weekend job giving tours at the aviation museum he was so excited about it. He was seriously showing the girls every little inch of the plane and helicopters and they were loving it!

And this is how Lilly felt at the end of our trip. I know she had fun but when you are two and sick and being dragged around all weekend to keep up with your big sisters you aren't particularly in a good mood and DEFINITELY don't want you picture taken!We really had so much fun and Dustin has even started talking about trying to buy a condo over there to rent out when we don't want to use it! I don't know if that will happen anytime in the near future but it would be great! And then anyone that wants to come and visit we would have a place to stay! You have to come and experience the Oregon coast. It really is amazing! (That was my shameless plug to try and get people to come and visit us! COME VISIT US!)

Beach Vacation Day 2

Continuation of our vacation.......day 2! We headed down to the beach first thing that mornning again and hit the tide pools, so we could make low tide. The girls had so much fun and so did Dustin and I. We saw TONS of starfish and little crabs and snails (Josey was in heaven) and the girls loved touching all the sea anenames (or as Josey and Lilly called them "sea enemies").They were climbing all over those rocks!Lilly did not want to be put down......EVER. So mostly Dustin held her and climbed around unless I could pry her away from her daddy for a few minutes. She was just not feeling well all weekend.Josey was so proud of herself for picking up this little crab. She reached right into the water and picked it up. We had to convince her that she couldn't keep it because it would die and eventually she decided to let it go back home. As we were sitting on the beach watching the girls play in the sand I started digging with our shovel and there were TONS and TONS of these weird little crabs I guess in the sand. It was honestly a little creepy to me and I didn't particularly want to sit on the sand anymore. Dustin and I called them the cockroaches of the beach because that is what they reminded me of. Maddy had fun collecting them though and then we made a big cockroach sand castle.We decided to head over to Newport to go the aquarium latter in the afternoon. I made a deal with the girls that I wouldn't brush their hair but they HAD to keep it pulled back into a pony tail for the duration of the vacation. Which is why they look so haggard. I tried.....but not that hard, it was a vacation for all of us! These are some of the cool things we saw at the aquarium in order of creepiness....

These are some of the cool things we saw at the aquarium in order of creepiness,

huge schools of fish.......

lots of starfish and things to touch......

very pretty jellyfish......

an AWESOME octopus display. I have never seen one totally swimming around. They are usually tucked back into some hole......
manta rays......

freakishly big sharks swimming right over our heads....

VERY creepy spider crabs! They were SO scary looking!But this was the creepiest of all......Dustin having a conversation with a fish.Everyone helped out with taking care of Lilly. The girls were a big help and definitely Dustin took the brunt of her clinginess. But I think he really enjoyed having her want him to hold her so much! I kept trying to get a cute picture with my girls but I couldn't get Lilly to hold still and even glance at the camera for ANYTHING. Here is me trying to talk her into taking a picture.....obviously it didn't happen.
I had to just sort of follow them around and try to get a snap shot that would turn out okay......while Dustin relaxed on a seal. On our way out of the aquarium we drove by these really weird sort of outdoor, overly themed shopping center and we just had to stop because it was so weird! They had a bunch of huge statues and so I used them to try and get another picture of my girls.
That night we headed back down to the beach to cook smores. I love that there are no California regulations about starting fires on the beach. We just walked down and built a fire anywhere we wanted and cooked our yummy smores while the girls played in the waves.

It was heaven.