Surf'n with My Bro's

July 10-13, 2014

YAY!!! SURFING 2014!  So I've always wanted to learn how to surf....and Jess just so happened to have Fridays off during the summer...what happened?  He was awesome and watch the kids all weekend so me and my brothers could play in the Ocean for the weekend!  So nice. It was SUCH A FUN TRIP!!!  

Scott and I got a cheap flight out of Provo Thursday, flew to Los Angeles where B.J. picked us up from the airport WITH SURF BOARDS ON HIS ROOF and we drove straight to the Santa Monica beach!  He and Kara had even packed a giant cooler with lunch for me and Scott and snacks for the whole day on the ocean!  (BTW, their cooler was amazing--you could pick it up and carry it like a backpack!  So cool)  So so sweet.  And seriously....I love my little brothers so much.  They're so funny and fun and amazing to be with....so that was real nice :).  We just laughed the entire weekend!.

The water temperature was so great, and the waves were perfect the first two days!  Perfect for beginners.  Scott and B.J. had learned to surf in HAWAII years before and had been a handful of times so they were good teachers.  Also Scott had a waterproof case for his phone so that was fun to try and get shots while being bashed by unseen waves :)  

This is what I looked like the majority of the time!  HA! That ocean...I tell you what, it sucks you in and churns you around and spits you out!  BUT IT'S SO WORTH IT!  I tell you what, it's pretty trick to get in the right position to stand up.  I found myself "pearling" A LOT!  (apparently that's what it's called when you sit too far up on your board and the top end of the board goes down first and you end up being sucked/dragged down into the water....)

Also me and B.J. had headaches sporadically.  I thought it was dehydration (but turned out not to be.  The headaches started going away as soon as we left the water, so it might have been the squinting or the tilt of our heads watching the waves from our bellies or...something?  No idea. But every once in awhile I just needed to go in and stop the pounding.

Scott really was the 'Wave Whisperer'.  He caught a lot more then us.  Quite impressive.

After the first couple hours, we had a short little nap, then some beach volleyball!!!  Woo woo!  We walked on the hot sand...like, oh, I don't know, like 50 miles (ha!  not really obviously but the courts looked so much closer so none of us had shoes on and it did get a little spicy on our feet.

One of my favorite memories (which actually just made me laugh out loud because of the visual...but won't be funny to anyone probably besides the three of us) was when we decided to play some beach volleyball.  On tour walk to the courts we saw the bathrooms and decided to detour.  We were coming at the bathrooms from a diagonal angle and had the choice to either continue on our path in the hot sand, or get on a little board walk and do a little "L" shape action to get there.  After no one could decide which would be faster we decided to experiment.  We split up--walking at a normal speed being the rule-- to see which way was faster.

B.J. took the board walk, and me and Scott stayed on the sand.  HA HA--B.J. used the funniest walk I've ever seen!  His top half remained calm and regular but every time we sorta looked away his legs would just book it with his arms straight by his side.  Ah MAN! I really wish I had video or SOMETHING!  Especially since he was walking past random people who just saw this weird-o looking sideways and slightly running to the bathrooms!  HA HA!!!  I laughed so hard the whole weekend picturing his walk.  (B.J.'s was slightly faster in the end when we accounted for the slight run :).

Turns out sand volleyball is a KILLER!  Who knew trying to run and get a ball IN THE SAND could be so hard!  We were all dying but trying to keep the panting to a minimum (I might be projecting here...maybe they weren't laughing and talking, and then quietly so no one could hear gulping in giant amounts of oxygen so I didn't die)  But for reals, those courts are huge area's to cover for only one or two people!  I have a new respect for the sport!

After our first day at the beach, we drove home, met up with Kara--who's a doll and we love her.  She had made the most delicious meal (tomato basil chicken over noodles--mmmmmm) that was hot and ready and amazing when we walked in the door.  She's so so nice.  We took forever to decide on a movie--used the veto method--and eventually whittled it down to Dennis the Menace.  Within 20 minutes the three of us were out! Ha ha!  Good day apparently!

Meanwhile back home: Jess took the boys to the zoo!  This guy hates crowds and I was so impressed with his giddy-up and go getting him to the zoo.  They loved it.  Plus Jess got them lunch THERE--complete with take-home cups and everything!  (that kind of thing never happens when I'm home!)  So they had a good time :)

On Friday we left the house around 10:00, and got to the beach around 11:30.  (We stopped at 7-11 to get free slurpies on account of it was 7-11-14--Woo woo!)  Then we practiced some handstands :)--cause they're always super fun, and got in the water. (Caution--don't do handstands on a surfboard when your hands are still slightly wet and your arms are exhausted....you hands will probably slip, and you will end up doing an awkward neck stand....and then slowly do a sort of crumbally pathetic fall....and you'll think you've died just a little....I mean probably--I'd assume thats what would happen if you did that thing.....)

Friday I could tell it was easier--maybe sleeping helped cement some of the stuff I'd learned the day before?  But I got up a lot more and the waves were super frequent!

Now a little story about Au-bed (he reminded us of Au-bed off of community...).  So there was this funny man before lunch that was just sorta watching us and swimming out into the surf zone (dangerous--I can't control this board! :) and talking to himself the whole time... we all noticed him.  Now fast forward a couple of hours.  We are getting back to the ocean and see something floating in the water a distance out....Conversation goes like this:

Cari: "What's that floating out there?"

B.J.: chuckling, "like a body."

Cari: "No, I think it is a body..."

all have the same realization:  Both brothers quickly hand me their stuff, about to run and dive in Baywatch style--when Au-bed stands up from doing a long face down float thing.......silly Au-bed :).

We stopped mid-day to grab a bite to eat.  We found the most delicious pizza place after a little walk around the block called Joe's Pizza.

Mmmmmmm...I got a basil/mozzarella/tomato slice.  Mmmmmm.....soooooo good!

Ahh  right?  That night we drove home, and after showering went to such a delicious Mexican Food place called Lunas.  BJ and Kara go there all the time so they know what's good there.  The Burritos did not disappoint!  

We got home and had such a good conversation long into the night!  We didn't even fall asleep immediately like every other night!  We talked into the night about the reality of angels and experiences with the Holy Ghost and it was just so nice.

The next day was such a funny one.  It was Kara's day off so we got to have her with us this time. We went to a different beach this time.  It took a little longer to get there (we may have fallen asleep on the way there...ha!  Kara took a picture of us on the car ride there) and parking was ridiculous, but we got on the beach, set up our giant umbrella, and took the boards out and waited....and waited....and waited... There were no waves AT ALL.  HA!  But there was other interesting things.  While we were out there we saw flocks of birds....(don't know what kind) but tons of them swooping down into the water to grab fish! It was amazing.  Another disappointed surfer close-by said something about boats in the area that were dropping fish bait into the water for some reason......  

Anyway, after awhile the thought came to me that maybe that fish bait would attract sharks.  Funny how the mind does that...when you're in the middle of the ocean....and your little brother is paddling away from you out farther into the ocean...and all you can think is! Ahh--what if he get's attacked by a shark and I'm too far away to grab him out of the sharks mouth! And why is he going farther out?  Ahhhh!  

But no worries.  That didn't happen.  Also surfing didn't happen.  So we just went back to the beach and practiced our handstands some more.  See me and Scott had talked about handstands awhile back and wanted to figure out how some people get up and just stay up forever.  While looking-up the how-to's online we saw this awesome picture of someone doing a one-handed handstand on the beach at sunset.  We decided to work on them all the time so by the time our trip happened we could have that picture!  :)  In this picture both Scott and B.J. are working on getting their hand-up...that's why they look special :)

Anyway--we spent the day eating our snacks, watching the waves, and just talking with the four of us! We did some shopping so I could bring something back for the kids, then when we noticed the sun was setting and booked it to the beach again to get our handstand picture!!!  We parked, and RAN down the steps and to the water to get "The" picture before it was too late! (add quiet panting here)

Ahhh! Got it! At least as close as we were gonna get!  (Consequently I fell down immediately after I put that hand up but YAY! B.J. got the shot!

From there we saw dolphins!  We saw cute little fisherman, and the coolest wind-surfing thing ever.  (where people attach themselves to a giant kite thing, and their surfboard, and just go.  It looked pretty intense.)  

That night, on the way home we went to such a funny little place to get food called Mr. Bills Donuts Sandwiches Hamburger Croissants Ice Cream'  Ha!  It was owned by an Asian man and lets just say his glare from the start was very impressive!  HA!  Customer service was not their strong point and we all had a good chuckle about their apparent hate of people.

We didn't even try a movie that night. I remember the conversation starting and feeling my giant eyelids hammering down over my eyes---so we all went to bed.

  I loved every single second and am soooo glad it happened!

Getting home to the family is always such a happy thing!  Look how cute Luke was!  He was feeling kind of gross the day before and Jess had him stay home from church.  BUT--he did feel well enough to make us a "Welcome Home" cake while he was home alone.  He's so funny and I love him.