The Motley Family Beach Vacation

Look at my cute huge fam on our fabulous beach vacation! I know many of you probably have bigger families than this but I'm just getting a kick of how big we're getting! 8 grandson's and 2 fetuses on the way! Hooray! That's right - Amy had the fun announcement that she's expecting her 2nd child.

So, the Motley parents rented this great beach house in Pajaro Dunes, CA and all my siblings and their families converged en masse for the Fourth of July. It was a great set-up with 6 bedrooms so everyone got their own - so comfortable and just steps away from the beach! We had lots of great food and fun together time. Us Arizonians were just dying at the gorgeous weather. I don't think it cracked 75 degrees the entire time and I think we were the only ones who didn't care about the overcast, foggy mornings that are the norm in the Santa Cruz area. Can I just tell you how much fun we had?! I just love my family - they are seriously so fun and I love hanging out with them! We had a couple of relaxing days on the beach, some tennis playing and such. We even got a little bit of firework action - cool illegal ones that our neighbors set off! Hey, it was better than nothing - we were too far from everything else and weren't in the mood to shlepp everyone to go see them. Perfect set-up! Then we had the first Motley Family Olympics! I was skeptical at first - worried that it would be too competitive for my taste :) - but it was a blast! These pics are from when we went down the night before for our torch relay and opening ceremonies.

Me and my littlest sis Erica with her cute baby bump that you can't even see! I know, right?


The Watson Family!
Cousins!
Sean, Jake, Dylan, Ryan, Carter (missing Owen, baby Hudson, baby Kyle)
Notice the fun sand pit that Grandpa dug for his grandson's every day. Quite the project but worth it. I don't think Owen ever left it!

This is a family shot before we started the Olympics. I didn't include the team shots but they're pretty fun too. If you're curious - Amy, Erica and Carrie all have them on their blogs, I think. The day before Grandpa assigned teams - which were quite fair if I do say so myself. No spouses played together and we mixed up the kids too. The kids chose the countries - we ended up with China, Greece and Japan. Then we decorated shirts according to our country and team. Very creative shirts - not mine though. Patrick wouldn't do mine for me, rude! We had some cool events like a bubblegum bubble blowing contest, Mormon Bridge (card game), home run derby, long jump, frisbee throw, golf putting contest, a relay race and tug-o-war, which had to be thrown out when we broke the hose we were using as our rope. All in all, an absolute blast! China was the winner (Dad, Chris, Amy, Carrie, Ryan M. and Carter); Greece came in second (Mike, Ryan S., Lindsay, Nikki, Dylan and Owen); and Japan was third (Patrick, Scott, Mom, Erica, Jake, Sean).

Here's some other great shots from the week.


I love this picture of Carter having a great time in the sand!



Jake is getting ready to catch a frisbee.

Owen and Dylan sharing a laugh. Dylan adores his little cousin Owen!

Thanks Mom and Dad for an awesome vacation! I'm so happy everyone got to come and I love you guys tons.