{ annual beach trip }

every summer my husband's family takes a trip to the OR coast.  All the relatives from CA come up for some good family fun.  This year was probably my favorite trip so far.  We made smores by the campfire, played beach volleyball for hours (we were blessed with lots of sunshine), did family devotions every night, and this year we started a new tradition - an Iron Chef cook off.  My aunt-in-law had a great idea to put together a random bag of ingredients, separate all of us cousins into two teams, and give us 30 minutes to cook some delicious appetizers.  The judge was my uncle-in-law since it was his birthday.  The food turned out delicious and we had a blast.  This year also fell on the 4th of July weekend, so we had a big barbecue and watched an awesome fireworks show.  I love family trips and this one was especially fun...

Right before our trip I finally got a pair of TOMS...I really love them...

Here's the two huge houses we stay at every year with beach access:

not sure if you can tell, but towards the bottom right are the stairs to the beach !

I LOVED spending time with the family from CA that we don't get to see as often...

beach volleyball was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

the view & sunset from the houses is breaktaking..
[this pic with my phone doesn't do it justice]

We also had a ping pong tournament going all weekend...

My cute husband bbq'ing

 praying..

My brother in law playing guitar and leading us in songs

[all the presents on the table were gifts from our white elephant gift exchange...so fun!]

One of my husband's younger cousins leading devotions

I didn't have much time to plan out outfits before the trip but here's 3 I tried on quickly while packing:

[excuse the messy room again...]

Even though it was really beautiful, we pretty much lived in sweats all weekend - I should've known : ]  good thing I overpacked as usual and took plenty of comfy clothes.  And even though I didn't wear all these, I can save them for another trip or just another day when I have no idea what to wear! 

I've been so busy [back to work] which is why this is so late getting posted. 

Hope you're all having a great summer!

[ps. I promise to be better about posting more often!]