Juggling Work and Play in June

June is where our fun started to begin.  We found ourselves in the home stretch of the completion of our store.  At this point it was just a waiting game.  Everything was ordered but it was taking it's sweet time getting to us, so we found distractions elsewhere.  We pushed hard during the work week and once the weekend came we were in relax mode.  By this time Summer was in full swing and the temperature just continued to climb.

June weekends were spent at the beach for the most part. I accompanied a group of girls from church for a beach bum day. And it was then, with the help of these body boarder girls, that they assisted uncoordinated me into catching my very first big wave with the body board.  It was thrilling.  Then the weekend after that we had our ward's Annual Beach Day.  Jellyfish were aplenty this day.  Their little tentacles were everywhere in the water and those things don't have to be attached to the body to sting you.  But, it didn't matter......  The sting was just a mild irritation, unless you happened to get stung by a jellyfish and not just a tentacle, then it was a little more painful.  I found out that vinegar helps take the sting away.  So as I would look around at other members of the ward you would see people with mustard and even toothpaste all over their legs, arms, and faces.  It was pretty comical to see.  A jellyfish got Chris around his calf and I stepped on one on the ocean floor.  It was so painful.  It's tentacles wrapped around my ankle and in between my toes.  I still have a small scar on my ankle from it.   Thankfully we were close to a life guard station and he had a spray bottle full of vinegar that he cleaned by foot off with.  Needless to say, I didn't get back in the water that day.

When we weren't at the beach with the members of our ward, we were there with family and friends.  Playing in the waves,  soaking up the sun's rays, playing Frisbee, and simply just appreciating the freedom and relaxation that the beach helps provide.   

Just relaxing while watching some of the men play Frisbee.

Cute.

    Mya building sand castles while her Dad takes a dip.

June also brought with it not one but two great visits.  I knew my sister was coming out to visit and I was so excited and grateful for that.  She works so hard for her money and to know that she was willing to spend some of her savings to pay us a visit meant so much.  But when we went to pick her up at the airport I wasn't only blessed to see her smiling face but also the face of my Mom smiling back at me.  I had no idea and was in complete shock.  It was such a great and much needed surprise.  The visit was short but so very sweet.  We celebrated Ms. Mya's 3rd birthday, went shopping, ate yummy food, went to the beach, saw some alligators, took a trip into New Orleans, played games, and simply just enjoyed being together.  

My Mom trying crawfish for the first time. 

The birthday princess telling us how old she is.

Mya couldn't take her eyes off of the new Tangled doll her parents got her.  It was her only birthday wish.  And of course Twinkee just had to check it out too.  She's such a helper ;).

Playing in the waves.  Vince is bobbing around in the background.

This time in New Orleans we decided to tour a cemetery.  

It seemed like the wrong place to take a smiling picture hence, the sad face picture.