A week of sand, sun & fun!

Newport Beach for 1 whole week --- Heaven! We just got back from the most enjoyable summer vacation... our complete family: 8 adults and 7 grandkids -- packed up and headed down to beautiful, sunny California. We rented a 4-bedroom beach house just 1 house away from the sand and waves. So from Sat to Sat we have been making some serious family memories! Heidi's family has been going to the beach with Eric's family for 8 or 9 years but the rest of us hadn't been to the beach in many, many years so this was new and exciting. The kids got a long so well and had so much fun being together 24 - 7. We spent most of our time hanging out on the sand and in the waves. All the guys totally got into surfing and boogie boarding and skim boarding and they are all experts! None of the sand crabs were safe as long as Colton, Cory, Quincy and Collin were out exploring and capturing; they even found mussels and star fish! Capri and Aspen were quick learners from the older cousins and in no time they were experts in digging in the sand and running through the waves. I'm not sure if my sandbox here at home is going to be sufficient any more!

Besides the beach and waves we had lots of things going on! Heidi had to leave on Monday afternoon and fly to Philidelphia to be on QVC but she was back by Weds afternoon. Funny story: we were visiting with the family that was in the lower unit of our beach house Thurs evening. They were from Reno, NV. Earlier in the week one of the mom's had told us that they didn't have cable TV in their unit and wondered if we did. Thankfully we did (hello, Disney Channel!). So now she was saying that she realized they did have cable TV but her teenage son had disconnected it so he could connect his game box. She was so disappointed that she had missed "Scrapbooking day" on QVC! We burst out laughing and asked if she recognized Heidi. She said she thought Heidi looked familiar but wasn't sure why. Then we told her that Heidi had been at QVC for scrapbooking day and had just gotten back... it was a funny coincidence.

Tuesday Paul and I needed a break from all the chaos, I mean, partying... so we headed into Laguana Beach for the afternoon. We went to the Sawdust Festival which is a wonderful annual arts festival held there for 5 or 6 weeks each summer. About 20 years ago, Paul and I went there and be bought 2 prints from an artist named Fred Bonn. We have enjoyed these prints in our home over the years. While we were wandering around the festival this time we came upon a booth with art by a man named Bob Bonn -- turns out he is Fred's son. It was so much fun visiting with him and talking about his dad and his artwork. We ended up buying another "Bonn" family piece of artwork. We had to laugh when Bob gave us a discount since we are "Bonn art collectors".
Later that evening we went to a spectacular outdoor art show called "Pagent of the Masters". Maybe you have heard of it. This year was it's 75th anniversary. Each year they recreate classical, famous works of art -- paintings, sculptures, figurines -- and make them life size and use real people as the subjects of the artwork. It is breathtaking. If you ever get the chance to go, be sure to go. We bought out tickets back in January when they first went on sale so you do have to plan ahead.

Wednesday we got to go to Disneyland with Cam, LaRane & Collin. LaRane and Collin had never been and Cam hadn't been for probably 15 years so it was lots of excitement for everyone. So cool to be able to see Disneyland through the eyes of those who are experiencing it for the first time. Collin was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY into the pirate stuff. We figured out the "fast pass" deal and that was slick!

We only had one "bummer" event but it was kind of a big one... on Friday Cam, Clark and Eric had been out surfing and as they were coming into shore, Eric board got caught in a nasty wave and shot up and hit Cam straight in the mouth and it almost knocked out his 3 front teeth. It broke a big chunk out of one of his front teeth and knocked the other two way back in his mouth but they were still in place. After lots of calls to every oral and dental specialist any of us knew, he was told to soak a cloth in milk and push his two teeth back in place --- which he did --- sooooooo brave (I was no where near this procedure!). Then our orthodontist said he'd see him at 9:30 am on Sat back in SLC so Cam, LaRane and Collin loaded up and headed off. Dr Maxfield was able to bind those teeth in place by installing 6 brace brackets and hopefully that will keep the loose ones stable while they heal and mend. Our regular dentist will have to repair the broken tooth at some point. So that left us a little shaken up. If you want to see any photos you can check out Cam's blog by clicking on his name on the sidebar.

But we did get to end the week with a party Friday night by singing and dancing and enjoying "High School Musical 2"!!! Saturday morning we reluctantly got up, packed up and had to give hugs and kisses good bye. Hopefully this can just be the beginning of a new family tradition!!!