Summer Vacation part 5: Roommate Reunion

It had been way too long since Denise and I had gotten together with Linda and Heather as a group. They were our first off campus roommates. We had known Heather since our moms were pregnant with us. It was such a plus that when we got to BYU, she had such an amazing cousin, Linda that who meshed with the three of us so well. Heather lives just blocks away from the Santa Monica Pier, so once again, we headed to the beach!

Heather's house is a vacation! It was dreamy.

It was so awesome to get our kids together. I had been dying to meet her little Ella. What a DOLL! She was such a seasoned beach goer. :) Gotta love those Shirley Temple curls.

This guy was an absolute terror when we got to the beach. Everything made him cry. He was really mad at the sand, and the boogie board, and the towel, and momma...

...Then this happened:

and it was all good. I guess traveling and staying up late all the time takes it's toll. Poor little guy. He slept for three hours on the beach! (Don't worry, I built a little tent for him right after this picture).

It was so fun to build these beach memories with the kids. They got to see a slice of our childhood

and they loved it! Jack fell asleep in my arms for half the time. What an angel!! I miss all of these guys to pieces. So fun to see everyone's personalities and interestes.

I couldn't believe how interested in reptiles and sea creatures Joel was. He had so much focus with his sand crab searches.

Denise's daughter Anora was so confident in water. She was an excellent swimmer and took to the ocean like a fish! The waves were thrilling to her. She body surfed and boogie boarded like a natural. So cute! Here is a video of here and Denise. I wanted to catch Denise riding a wave, but Anora caught one first, then we got moved by the life gaurd because of surfers.

Watch Anora on the right.

These guys were so cute together:

So hard to say goodbye to such a wonderful place.

That night, we had dinner and Heather's incredibly generous husband offered to watch all of our kids for us while we went out on the town and got dessert. How sweet is that? He had one baby under two, one three year old, his own two year old, a four year old, a pair of six year olds and an eight year old. YIKES! Love ya Chris!!

We shopped around and talked and talked. 

 we also indulged! Mmmm.

 Cute Linda. I really need to do a family portrait session at night in the city. Any takers?? I love those city lights and store windows!

In 1999 the four of us as roommates made a time capsule! How funny is that? We had this vintage suitcase that we filled with magazines, photos, momentos, letters, notes to each other, etc. It was the most hilarious thing going through all that stuff. Heather was laughing uncontrollably! Chris got a million pictures. --Send some my way, will ya?? We were so sweet together as roommates though. We'd write little notes to cheer each other up. We'd help each other out as much as we could. We were there for each other. I think a lot of people must go through this period of adjustment when they get married and suddenly they aren't surrounded by their girlfriends.

The other event of hilariousness was when Noah, Joel, and Anora were sound asleep on an air mattress near where we were up talking. Anora made a little coughing sound in her sleep then rolled over. We went to check on her to find a huge amount of throw up all over Joel's left side! Anora puked on her brother in her sleep and never woke up! since none of the kids were awake and crying, we gave it the green light to pretty much DIE LAUGHING at that one! WE were the ones in tears as we all pitched in to carefully clean up the mess. Not waking a single little soul. It was unforgettable! Chris got plenty of photos of that one too. Ah hem. I'll be waiting for that email mister! 

Thank you for such an incredible trip you guys!!