Happy Huntings: Officially Old

Thanks to my young women's class at church for clarifying this, but it is now official: I am old. Yes, that is right. I am now 30-years-old and have passed the point where I can be considered young. Technically, I am leaving young adulthood behind and officially entering adulthood. Who could have imagined?

Anyway, I had an absolutely marvelous birthday, with the exception of missing so many loved ones. Steve took Friday and Monday off so we could have a weekend full of fun and productivity. It ended up being the best weekend of the summer!

You've gotta love the birthday morning shots...I was heading out to Home Depot to grab some supplies to paint our bedroom and didn't feel like getting showered yet. Thus, the hat and glasses made the ensemble very appealing. I'm pretty sure some young twenty-something checked me out, but I can't be sure...we were looking at fertilizer at the same time. I wouldn't be surprised, though 'cause I was smokin'.
Anyway, after getting things together, we were off for York beach (Short Sands is my favorite!) and we stayed there all day long. The waves from hurricane Bill really made the time fun. We finally had to convince the kids that it was time to head for the taffy at Goldenrod Kisses and then home just in time for bed. Lauren and Dallin fell asleep in the car on the way home and went to bed, sand and all. Heavenly.

The reason I have a lot more pictures of Dallin on here is that he and I were inseparable buddies that day. Steve and the girls hardly stood still and Steve wouldn't let me post any svelte photos of his greased and tanned body. He doesn't like to brag.

Ahh, she did stop for a photo-op. Such a performer!

Lauren goes to the beach for the spa-like experience. She gave me a nice seaweed wrap.

I didn't get any photos of the taffy, but we watched the taffy pulling for a long time before watching the machine stretch, cut, and wrap each piece. The man inside saw the kids and retrieved a special sign, walked sneakily over to the window, and held up the sign reading "Eat more candy." Emma laughed and he mouthed the words, "Don't tell your mom." I laughed and mouthed back, "Too late." Sensing that I was in need of a compliment (given my old age), he replied with raised eyebrows, "You're her mom?!" Yeah, he must have thought I was the teenage babysitter. I get that a lot.

Okay, moving on. Saturday was also a magnificent day. After prepping and loading the van, we headed off to Lake Onway in Raymond, NH. This is the location of Zion's Camp, the girl's camp purchased by our church for young women camps for several surrounding states (10 stakes). We have some great friends that run the camp so I had emailed them to find out if we could go kayaking. Fortunately, nobody else had reserved the camp for that day--the only weekend of the summer! So, we began our travel to Raymond...only an hour away. But then it began---sprinkling then pouring rain. But, we trekked on, which turned out to be a wonderful opportunity to view nature from the safety of a cabin before the weather became absolutely gorgeous!

Okay, can it get any more beautiful than this? Wow!

When the sun finally came out, it was swimming time and Dallin scared us to death with his bravery. He had to keep his lifejacket on the whole entire time because he was just randomly jumping into the lake!

Finally, Dallin and I headed out in the kayak, though not far because his bravery was enough to keep me within 1-2 minutes of shore. I was constantly afraid he was going to stand up and jump! Crazy kid....

Luckily, Uncle Michael was there to take him out for a second ride. Michael was pretty much attached to this kayak....well, for most of the time...you'll see what I mean....