Party in the OBX y'all

I am very fortunate to have some wonderful connections ... and with those connections, I create vacations. It's become somewhat of a hobby. 

It's pretty simple really. My dad has a consultant out in DC (Steve Wilson) who just happens to have a beach house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in Nags Head. Since my family couldn't make it out there, I thought I would take one for the team and use the beach house this past weekend. The Curran's of Lorton, the Oliver's of Greeneville, and Miss LaMay of Alexandria joined me. 

The Outer Banks are basically a string of barrier islands that hug the coast of North Carolina. They're also known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic", because so many shipwrecks occurred there (see sweet map below). Now it has obviously become a tourist destination ... which is fine with me. Party in the OBX y'all.

Kickin' it on the beach. Livi LOVES the beach. By the time we were done she was literally shaking from being soaked head to toe.

Woodstock 6112! Awesome place with 7 rooms and 7 1/2 bathrooms ...? Riddle me that one.

The water was surprisingly warm.

Our place was about a block from the beach.

Shot from Jockey's Ridge sand dune.

Rich and Eileen with the Roanoke Sound in the background.

Liv was able to let out all her pent up energy at the dunes. 

She stopped only for photos and kisses.

Livi "Beach Girl" Curran

Random fox running across the dunes ... check.

Next time we go back there, we're doing THIS!

Such a nice LEAP! Haha.

Rich was worried he was going to hit me ... but of course, I was the one who flinched. Rookie.

I couldn't pass up this photo opportunity :)

All those little heads on the pier are fishermen. Cool!

The whole weekend it was in the mid-60s ... which is pretty decent for the end of October.

Devon, how did your butt get wet .... since you obviously DIDN'T get in the water when we did Baywatch...?

Livi, LOOK AT THE CAMERA!

Having fun with the waves.

The Curran's without their children ... something you don't see too often.

This is the only pic I have of the Olivers ... sans Molly. This is Chris and his daughter Bella. They're awesome. 

The ever so photogenic Devon LaMay :)

Livi rockin' the Giants sweater after getting soaked. That's her "get me the heck outta here" face.

This is what happens when you put a dancer on the beach. She can't help it.

This is Devon clarifying that the 1st flight ended right here...

Shot of the hill at the Wright Brothers Memorial. For those of you who don't know, the Wright brothers moved out to the Outer Banks (Kitty Hawk) to test their flying machines on the dunes. This grassy area used to be a huge sand dune. The first 4 high-powered flights took place right here by Wilbur and Orville Wright. 

We just happened to come on the day that the Outer Banks Chorus performed! Say whaaat! They were great ... I want to be in a group like that when I'm old.

LOVE this FACE!

Lil' L gettin his smile on

Here are some shipwreck maps of the Outer Banks. This is mostly for Capn' Morgan.

All those little ships are shipwrecks! Crazy cool.

Homeward Bound

I seriously have the coolest family. 

This is what we love to do ... we love to play tennis. So something we do each year to commemorate that love is our annual family tennis tournament: Lymbledon. We all suit up in our best outfits to compete for ultimate tennis glory ... and a year's worth of bragging rights. The 2011 winner: Gare the California Bear.

We also had the opportunity to go down and celebrate my mom's 50th birthday down in Manti, Utah. Mom's birthday wish was to have all her kids in the temple, so we made it happen. After doing a session, Hal and G did baptisms ... So wonderful! Such an amazing trip home. 

First round madness. I love the mountains in this picture.

We were quite lucky that the camera didn't fall. From the looks of it, it was about to.

Mawa celebrating the big 5-0. Isn't she beautiful?

Mom scored us free tickets to the Owlz game. Good times.

But really, the burgers didn't hold a candle to ours. Sorry, Owlzzzzzz.

Outside the Manti Temple

The MEN outside of the hotel

The pictures started out normal ....

And then they got crazy.

Then they each wanted a turn.

The Asian was obviously the lightest of the bunch.

You're able to ride around like this in Mt. Pleasant :)

Lunch at Rodgers! (And most importantly, Rodger is spelled correctly) And WHAT!!! The special is the Bishop Shake? I still think we should have gotten our food half off since we brought Bishop Rodger ;)

You KNOW that the locals probably thought we were nuts.

Halbal's turn

Cutest player on the team. Grant got to play some games at the Owlz ballpark while I was there. 

I taught him everything he knows.

Grant "Cute Butt" Lyman up to bat