Newport Trip: Days 7, 8 & 9

Friday morning Scott's oldest brother Carter came home from running to report extremely high waves down at the beach (some 15+ feet). We all decided to go down and check out the surfers before coming back for to the villa for lunch and going to the pool.

{lovin' the red scruff}

Most spots on the beach weren't safe for the kiddos because the water was coming up so high. We ended up walking down the beach a little ways to find a better place to stand and watch. The surfers who actually caught the waves were awesome. There were a lot who 'chickened' out last minute but I think I would have too with waves that big.

{Scott with two of his four siblings}

{papa & jack}

{I think almost every picture I have of henry on this trip he is playin' in the sand}

{it is hard to get some perspective on how big these waves were...the last three pictures were a sequence of photos I took of the same guy....I actually have several more pics of him on this same wave... So cool to watch!}

I took LOTS of pictures at the beach this day...I think I was realizing that I had only taken a 'few' (and by few, I mean over a hundred) pictures on our trip up to this point.

{building quick before the wave comes and washes it away!}

After going back to have lunch we went over to the pool where I took a little snooze and FINALLY finished my book. Scott was off playing ping pong with Dave and eventually I took Henry in for a dip so he could play with Cole. We all had a heck of a time turning on and off the hot tub bubbles, blowing the ends of pool noodles and doing cannon balls. Pool time ended with Scott beating me 2 games to 1 in ping pong....sigh...more practice needed I guess.


Dinner on Friday was co-prepared by the Ashley/Cinco team and ourselves. We took the easy route and put together some pepperoni pizzas. Ashley & Cinco made yummy salad and prepared fruit along with rootbeer floats for dessert! Thanks Ash & Cinco for tag-teaming with us! :)

When the kids went to bed that evening a few of the adults stuck it out and played the 'train game' (AKA Ticket to Ride). Even though Scott was the ultimate winner (I came in last, of course), we were proud of Ashley for trying SO HARD to get the longest train and Tyler for making everyone else's routes a little more difficult. :)


Saturday morning families started to leave. First it was Megan/Dave family who left around 8 (sorry we missed saying goodbye to you!) and then Carter & kids left around 10:30. It turns out that we had a metal spike in one of our tires which Scott and his dad went to go get fixed before taking Ash/Cinco to the airport around 1:00. We were so sad to see everyone start to go but were glad we had an entire week to spend with them!

{ella was ready to go home...}

That afternoon we went with Scott's parents to see the new Harry Potter movie and then met up with the Tyler & Chelsea crew (who had been to the beach all afternoon) for dinner at Sharkies. After filling up the car with gas we went back to the villa, had dessert and enjoyed the last couple hours of our vacation watching "World Trade Center" together.

{miss ava leigh and nana having one last snuggle}

Sunday we woke up early to head home. Scott was starting to feel sick and we were both exhausted from a week of fun. We left Newport around 5:00 a.m. and made it back to our house a little after 4:00 p.m. but not without a little drama. While we were in the St. George area, we saw something going on along the side of the road. Scott didn't notice that the driver in front of us was totally rubbernecking and put on her breaks (probably because he was rubbernecking too?). In order to avoid a crash Scott had to swerve around her going about 70 mph. Luckily there was nobody in the other lane or Scott would be doing his first blog post announcing my death. We are grateful to have made it home safely!

When we got home we had to go and pick up Aspen from my parents house. We were so excited to see her but my mom had prepared dinner for us so we didn't want her to see us until we were all finished with that. When the YUMMY dinner my mom prepared was over we went out and my parents let her out of her kennel. Scott and I were sitting on the front porch so we weren't directly in her line of sight. When she finally saw us she ran toward us and slid across the entire cement porch while trying to backpedal so she didn't run into anything. I think she was a little excited to see us. :)


We were so grateful that mom and dad were willing to take her for a week! She loves spending time with her friend Champ and her granny & gramps!

{Right before we left Aspen went over, sat next to Champ and put her paw up on his shoulder like she was giving him a side hug...haha...they are best friends}

All in all it was an awesome week with family and we look forward to doing it again in another 2 years!