Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Beachy keen

Siblings. Jerusha, me, Elijah, and Lydia. Can you feel the love?

A mere two-and-a-half weeks ago (I know, bad blogger!) we were so blessed to go down south towards Los Angeles with my side of the family. The occasion was my "little" brother Elijah's Air Force commissioning-- but it ended up being an amazing excuse for some wonderful family time at the beach... and really, anywhere we were, all weekend long! You already know about some of our fun and adventures thanks to Miss Emma and her book, but I shall give you mt point of view too. I don't know that it will be half as entertaining and cute, but I'll do my best. :)

Friday was spent at the beach all day. Oh, it was so relaxing. The kids played, we all played, we got wet, we ran, we spun, we were silly, we soaked up the sun and the sand and the waves, we made sand castles, we buried Annabelle. I simply love the beach, and I love it even more when it is filled with people I love.

Saturday was the big event. It was held at Loyola Marymount University, which is positively a beautiful campus. The sun was out in full force that day and since we were sitting in the open air, it did get a little hot-- and some sunburns were acquired... including a few sunburned knees from us girls wearing dresses. Never have I been more inspired to sing "Down by the Bay". But I digress. The ceremony was, although long, quite interesting with all its formal military style. There was even a fighter jet "fly-by" right as the National Anthem was sung. Quite a moment! My favorite part, however, was when Elijah's turn came to stand on-stage and get sworn in. My mom, dad, and brother Josiah were able to go on stage and pin his bars on, he received his first salute from another officer, and then it was official-- Elijah is now a 2nd lieutenant in the US Air Force. My sisterly pride was full that day as I watched him in his blue uniform.

All in all, it was such a lovely time. I can't even tell you how much fun we had with these people we love. In all honesty, it was very very hard when they moved from California-- the distance felt so huge after living no more than 15 minutes apart from them my whole life. It was not an easy transition going from that to seeing them maybe once or twice a year. But, it is times like this particular weekend when I am grateful. Grateful that God has used this distance between us to bring us closer, because we know to soak up every minute we have together. Our time with each other is appreciated and precious in a different way now. And we get to be together for days on ends, with late nights and lots of fun in between. Oh yes, there are still times when the the miles between us is a great big ache in my heart, and I miss them terribly-- but it only serves to bring me even more joy when we see them again. And, as I lay there on our hotel bed sandwiched between my two sisters singing Colbie Caillat songs with all our hearts and lungs, I couldn't help but know that no matter what, our family will always be close... so very close.

Without further ado: pictures!
Elijah, Emma, and Valerie-- we couldn't help but see a vision of the future in this one ;)

Grandma is a great wave-chasing buddy to the girls!

Lydia and I with our beach hair. Ooh-la-la
Seester Jerusha and I. Yes, she's very small, and very cute.

Uncle 'Lijah with one of his favorite girls.
What a foot-poppin' fun time we had!
The photog twins, hard at work. There was quite a LOT of this going on. And yes, in case you are wondering, the sight of my dear dad in shorts is a rare one. I'm afraid we teased him mercilessly. Love you, Dad! :)
Mammacita and me
Hi, Dad!

The new couple. They're quite cute together. I definitely approve! There was lots of digging and sand-castle making. The girls loved it!

This is what little Annabelle would do whenever we tried to set her down and put her feet anywhere near the water: she scrunched herself up into a tiny little ball and just hung there. It was so funny.
Eventually though, she got over her fear and got just as wet, if not more, than the rest of us. These next few showcase my silly siblings quite well. Of course, I am never silly. No indeed.
Not quite sure what we are doing here... WOOHOO!
Josiah was the only one brave enough to go in all the way!
Elijah and Lydia would rather not deal with the two of us on the end right now.
Workin' it. Can you believe that hottie is my sister?
Elijah's "bro" pose. That's my hat he's wearing. The scary thing is he almost looks as good as me in it...
So fierce. (my hat again; I never wore it, but it sure did make for some good pictures, yes?)
Here we are at the commissioning. And here is 2nd Lt. Elijah Horner.
That's his girlfriend right by him. Isn't she beautiful?
He might not admit it, but I KNOW he loves me. :)
All the ladies. Funnily enough, we each bought black and white dresses to wear for this occasion-- totally unplanned, but so fun for some stylin' pictures!
(this is my afore-mentioned summery dress that I did not get to wear to the graduation)

I love these girls. I love all of these people. Thanks for a great time, family!


If you want to see even MORE pictures, Jeremy posted quite a few GREAT ones over at his blog. He had a blast with his new camera, and I think he did a wonderful job. Mosey on over and take a peek, why don't you.

10 comments:

Kerri W. said...

I wanted to say thank you for the sweet comment over at my blog!

I tell you, some days I feel like this whole "blogosphere" has been my saving grace. I don't have many (okay, any) close friends that live near me who are married...it's so wonderful to get to know other young married gals out there, and make such a connection with them!

I'm so glad that you discovered my blog, and I've added you to my blogroll, as well! You have the most adorable family ever and I've enjoyed reading your posts. I try to stay away, though, because your daughters are entirely too adorable and it only makes me want some of my own. I kid, I kid... :)

Thanks again, and I look forward to getting to know you better! Have a great week!

Megan said...

What a fun, fun post! All those gorgeous pictures! Wow, the resemblance of you and your siblings is CRAZY! How fun to have a picture into your sweet family and how close you are. And what a fun, fun Mommy to let her girls play at the beach all day!

Anonymous said...

The best pic is the one of your Dad and Jeremy! I bet your Dad is glad to have company standing in the back taking everyone's picture :-)

Unknown said...

I love all these pictures! The one of Annabelle all curled up in a ball! that is so adorable. And all you lovely ladies in your black and white, so chic. I'm so glad you had a wonderful weekend with your family, and I totally understand how much you miss them (well only a little bit because we are not THAT far away) and how you just soak up every minute that you can. It's hard but I definitely think it prevents you from taking your family for granted.

Say hello to your beautiful sisters for me! (or if they're reading this.. Hi beautiful sisters!)

sarah marie p said...

It looks like you had such a wonderful time at the beach! All of your pictures really make me want to go to the sea shore! Like other people have said, you and your siblings look so alike! It's so cute, I love it. And how fun that you all wore black&white! I'm glad you got a chance to wear your new dress-- it looks lovely on you! Hee... I Love all of the silly pics of you guys and the one of Annabelle scrunched up into a ball! Too funny.

Sunny said...

Oh my, your mom's hair isn't blonde anymore! She looks really cute. Well, your whole family is! I can really relate to how hard it is having family so far away but it makes the time you have together much more precious. I hope the next time you're together isn't too far in the future!

Barbie said...

Lovin' your photo shoot. There's nothing better than family :)

bandofbrothers said...

you and your siblings are absolutely darling together. and i totally understand how hard it is to have them so far away--my older sister is in the midwest, so we ring up quite the phone bill! and congrats to your brother(my sister's hubby is ariforce too!)

Anonymous said...

yay!! i totally loved this post! =)
it was SUCH a wonderful time with you all at the beach and commissioning. everything about it. and i so loved lying on the bed and singing colbie caillat with you. :) she's coming to the colorado state fair, you should totally come for it! haha
i agree though, i think that since we dont get to see each other too often, as much i hate that, it does make our times together just that much sweeter. plus we get the late night times and such too! which are always such fun.
you're very lovely in all these pictures, my dear sister.
so, i love you! and i miss you terribly too...

oh and Hi Steph back!! and thank you. :)

.jimaie.marie. said...

my brother had a friend named Jerusha when he went to college in Santa Cruz, i LOVE the name!
these pics make me want to take a trip to the beach, so fun!