When I was in Orem last month, Amanda let me borrow this picture of her as the "Mom" holding Isabel at the beach--remember that pose of Joy and Amanda? The comment Amanda made was "the baby doesn't look as happy and the Mom doesn't look as thin." I am so grateful to see that Amanda still has that happy "beach" face now that she is all grown up. We will have to keep taking Isabel to the beach with the hope that she will learn to love it too!

As the years passed you can see they are still enjoying the beach--this time they had increased in number as you can see Abigail in the background behind the amazing sand castle.

This is one of my favorite "beach" pictures of Joy and Amanda, because they look like they are loving the beach as much as I do! When I think of fun beach trips, I remember the one with Joy and Todd and Sarah and Matthew and Amanda and Sam when we spent a week in a beach house in northern California. Don't they all look happy?

The end of the trail and the setting of the sun on our perfect beach trip. Thank you Mike and Jeff and Linda and Joy for making my dream come true. I don't want to sound ungrateful or greedy, but when can we go again???

These next shots are of Jeff and Mike on the skimboards at El Matador. We saw some very fancy footwork and a few sudden stops from these past fifty good sports!

This amazing photo taken by Linda from up above, shows Joy and Mike and I on our great adventure clamboring over rocks along the surf from El Piscador to La Pietra and ending up at El Matador. Jeff and Linda were up at the top of the cliff recording our progress and Jeff was moving the car from El Piscador to El Matador for us. What a fun experience.

This shot of Mike and Jeff is looking toward the other pocket beach of La Pietra and then further south beyond that beach is our much loved El Matador.

Mike found this frisbee along the beach which provided some exciting "rescues" in the surf.

A very long pause between day one and day two as I was away for a month, but on day two we were joined by Mike (shown walking along El Piscador Beach). There were lots of rocks as you can see in the other pictures. Another beautiful day of perfect beach weather and a perfect day spent with my wonderful grownup children.

We think the name "El Matador" may come from this rock that looks like a bull--what do you think? The middle photo is of Joy and Jeff at Point Dume where we watched six surfers out by the rocks--which made us think perhaps it should be renamed "Point Doom." The seastars, which I mistakenly called starfish were amazingly plump and prevalent as were the mussels.

There will be a delay in viewing the day two photos as I will be away, but please check back later to see the other two beaches we visited.

Our first day at El Matador beach--an amazing mixture of sand, water, caves and sealife. Thanks to Linda we have the proof that El Matador exists and it is a beautiful place. More photos to come.

A birthday beach photo from 1952. Just wanted you to see the "ridiculous" so you can enjoy the "sublime" beach photos from 2007. On Thursday, Jeff, Linda, Joy and I drove to see the much talked about El Matador Beach (remember my first picture on this blog). Then on Friday Mike drove down to join us--what a wonderful day for me. Hopefully I can post the "proof" of this beautiful beach soon. Thanks to all who made my day!

Many years ago while attending a class on "relaxation techniques" we were asked to close our eyes and picture ourselves in a place (real or imaginary) where we felt perfectly safe and happy and peaceful. Then when we experienced major stress (concerns, hurts, sadness, etc.) we could relax, close our eyes and go to this "perfect place." No surprise that my place was "the beach." You may not recognize it, but over the years whenever anyone in the family has been concerned or sad or hurt, I have gathered you up and taken you all here. We have had some great times being together, holding hands in the water, exploring the old ship on the beach, whatever made you happy.

p.s. This is a real place. The magazine caption read "A Greek Isle." (Amy can relate)

Another fun boating experience -- the paddleboats at the Young Family Herb Farm.

Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Jeffrey. Happy birthday to you--and many more! I tried to time this post at the exact time you were born, but I'm a bit early instead because my blog expert, Allyson, isn't here to coach me. I love you.

Along with loving beaches, I love riding in boats. That looks like "Captain Jack" (Amy) in the stern and Maddie in the bow, wisely wearing a life jacket in case those two "swabbies" in the middle capsize this boat while madly rowing around the lake at Wali World--what a fun memorable trip that was!

A significant Sunday at the beach for me was June 4, 1950. The occasion was my baptism in the Pacific Ocean into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Some of the members of the small Branch in Newport, Oregon.

Lake Mead has miles of shoreline and several "beaches" that have provided much joy when living in another land-locked state. I'm sure Nathan doesn't remember this fun day, but it was a great one for me.

Thanks to Jeff and his kayak, this is another great memory of a day at Lake Mead.

It worked--here is Matthew with beautiful wife, Kelly, and their "beach lover" daughter, Rachel!!

Surf's up!! When you live in a land-locked state like Utah, you have to "create" your own beach sometimes. Like turning up the heat, playing the Beach Boys, wearing your swimsuits and blowing up an inflatable canoe in your living room. Trying to create "beach lovers" among my grandchildren, David, Sarah, Allyson, Matthew, Amanda, Brian, and Sam--what good sports you all were.

Look what 50 years will do! Here are Mike's girls and wife Sandy with me on my first trip to Florida beaches. The sand was so white and soft, the water was warm and the shells were amazing.

Did I imagine it or did someone actually say "life is a beach?" Much of my life has included happy days spent at the beach with family members, walking barefoot through the sand or searching for rocks and shells. When we lived in Newport, Oregon we could see the ocean every day so why would Mike (age one year) need a sandbox when there was an entire beach to play on.

p.s. Behind Mike in the photo is my mother, if you look closely you can see her hands!

(to be continued) more beach photos and memories

new beginnings

This is my first attempt at a blog! Thanks to Allyson's computer expertise, I am "online."