Memorial Day at the beach

We were so busy in May that we were more than ready for a day off. Thank goodness for Memorial Day! We needed a relaxing day at the beach.

We chose Morro Strand beach, which is between Morro Bay and Cayucos, because it has good waves for boogie boarding. Plus it doesn't get too busy. 

Brennan approved! 

We met up with my sister's family as well as some friends from church. 

It was windy, but we didn't have much luck getting the trick kite up. 

Cute picture of Kate!

The kids made sand castles. 

And then they had a huge sand war! They used the boogie boards as shields and threw buckets of sand, water and seaweed. They went a little crazy!

Remember when the kids were little and cried when they got a little sand in their eyes? Apparently it doesn't bother them anymore! 

After the war died down, they turned my friend's daughter Jeneva into a mermaid. 

Warming up in the sand. 

Then we all started craving hamburgers and were too hungry to go all the way home. So we stopped at Mainstreet Grill in Cambria for burgers and fries. We ran into more friends there! The food was delicious! When we came home we had FHE around a campfire and roasted marshmallows. It was a great day.

Art Festival, Boy Scout Fundraiser

The Saturday before Memorial Day is always our town's annual art festival. It's our favorite downtown event of the year. They had a stage set up for concerts and dances all day, and the high school jazz band was the first performance of the day. Spencer is playing the piano, but you can't see him because he's in the back.

We were glad we got there early for the concert, because it was already starting to get hot. Half the park is hands-on arts and crafts for kids.

We always like the Native American instruments.

Then Spencer and Dallin walked around all the art displays while the youngest three did more crafts. Tyler was at a track meet. He was bummed he missed it this year.

This was my favorite part. We got a huge bag of kettle corn, and I sat in the shade eating it while the kids played with these big foam building things. It was lovely.

 Then we all walked around the rest of the park. It was all decked out with colorful decorations.

We ended with the Sand Guys, which is always fun. Actually, I hated it last year because all the kids were "helping" them and ruining the castle. They had bouncers this year to keep the kids off. It was great!

I would have liked to stay longer, but it was hot and we had things we needed to do. 

Later that day was the Scout fundraiser for camp. They had a big BBQ dinner at church. I liked how they had more expensive as well as less expensive options. 

The cotton candy machine was a huge hint! 

This was Dallin's first year going to scout camp, so he helped with the fundraiser too. The money also went towards the high adventure trip for the older boys. They're doing 40+ mile backpacking trip in the High Sierras.

Alec set up his slackline, which the little kids enjoyed. 

Dave ran the cotton candy machine. It was so fast! 

 I couldn't decide which Chloe-eating-cotton-candy picture to use in this blog, so I used all three!

Just Serve

Last month we participated in Just Serve, previously known as Mormon Helping Hands. We did landscaping at a local elementary school.  

These boys were hard workers! There was plenty for everyone to do.

We hauled lots of dirt and wood chips, planted gardens, pulled weeds, painted and put in a new drip system.

We had people from 3 wards there as well as a bunch of Cal Poly students. There was a great turnout.

Chloe got bored after a couple of hours, so we climbed trees and played on the playground. 

Love those expressions! 

It was a fun morning!