Girls' Trip to Laguna Beach

 (May 16-19)

Jesse's sisters, mother, & in-laws took a girls' trip a few weeks ago. Of the 10 of us, 7 were able to go, which was way more than I thought would be able to! We missed you, Natalie, Becca, & Peggy!!!

Amazingly, all the husbands were on board and willing to watch the children. Even Jesse. Tons of people have asked how he did... he did great! He seemed a little tired when I returned, but totally put together (and he even took all the boys to church!!! Probably more than I would have done!) THANK YOU. It was a much needed break (for ALL of us!) and a wonderful Mother's Day gift.

We left Thursday after lunch from St. George and didn't stop until we wanted dinner, which was 20 minutes away at P.F. Chang's.

We went to bed, and first thing in the morning we went for a jog on the beach. Wonderful. After getting dressed, we left Laguna to drive to Newport Beach down the road for some shopping. We got to the mall at 9am... an hour before it opened! Time change threw us a little...

We saw these ridiculous books in one of the shops...

An interesting Koi pond in front of some stores

A few hours later... and I was finished. So I relaxed on a bench while the rest of the girls shopped until 5pm. Yes, we spent a full working day shopping. 9-5!

Ashley was down to a few meager outfits... so she broke the bank and got a new wardrobe!

After returning to our hotel, we got in our swimsuits and headed straight for the beach.

Mimi in white walking along the beach

After a couple hours, it got too chilly so we got dressed and went walking around the streets of Laguna - stopping for the sunset.

The next morning, we had a journal meeting where we shared a lot of personal experiences from the last couple months. It was very uplifting and one of the best parts of the trip. There are some things said there that I will never forget. Thanks to all that shared.

And of course, we went straight back to the beach. This time we started with a little yoga:

Lovely ladies...

Sarah, Mindy, Janet, Audrey, Jana, & Sabrina - Ashley in back

And how could we not get in the water for some swimming?? It was a hot afternoon with a nice cool ocean breeze. Perfect storm for a bad sunburn...

...and some sweet boogey boarding...

After I had spent a couple hours in the water swimming and trying the boogey boarding, I thought I'd give body surfing a try. The waves were getting big (according to a land-locked Utahn)... maybe 3 feet tall? I hit a particularly big wave, I thought perfectly, and basically the ocean picked me up and slammed my face/chin & chest into the sandbar on the ocean floor. I heard my teeth grind pretty hard, my chin stung, and the wind was knocked out of me. I'm a strong swimmer, so I didn't panic at all, but after standing up and still struggling to breathe, I tried waving Ashley & Audrey down. Ashley knocked me over with her boogey board (ha ha.. on accident - she was using it to try to help me). My chin was bleeding a little, my upper chest was bruised, and I chipped my front tooth!! Thank goodness it was only the back side of the tooth, hardly noticeable from the front, but painful! And a little annoying... I had just gone to the dentist.

After the beach, everyone wanted to go shopping again... except me. I was finished. Audrey stayed back with me and we sat on the beach some more. So nice to sit and do nothing. That was the perfect vacation for a mom. I would recommend it to anyone.

Thanks girls for a wonderful weekend. Next year again, right?!!!!