Tony and Cindy's visit

Living across the country from all our relatives,

it's such a treat when they come to see us!

Tony was asked to speak at the annual Education Conference at SVU,

a quick two hour drive away. Yippee!

The theme of the conference was "A House Unto His Name,"

and was all about temples.

We heard LOTS of great things about Tony's talk...

unfortunately we missed it. 

By about five minutes!

It was the same day as B's graduation and we

drove up as fast as we could, but it wasn't

quite fast enough. Darn.

We had a great time hanging out with Tony and Cindy, though.

And listening to the rest of the speakers.

And watching a play together.

And we got second row seats to a Jenny Oaks Baker performance.

Whoa! Blown away. Love her.

On Sat evening, we drove back home and picked up the kids

from Don and Ramona, who watched them for the weekend.

Grateful for wonderful friends like that!

On Sunday, Tony did two firesides for youth and adults in

the surrounding stakes.

Cindy snapped this shot during the youth fireside.

Tony speaking.

Andrew on the stand.

B-train listening with rapt attention.

Tony is an amazing speaker and we loved hearing him!

On Monday morning, we loaded up the van

and headed to THE BEACH! Yes!

Tony and Cindy had never been to Carolina beaches,

so we were thrilled that we could take them for a quick trip.

Running to check the view.

Paradise!

We spent two sunshine-filled days at the beach.

It was perfect.

  

I love Cindy's artistic shot of these brothers lounging on the beach together.

B was in heaven, trying his crazy

tricks in the water and on the sand. 

It was all that we could have asked for in a beach getaway.

Except for the sunburns.

Apparently, reapplying twice in six hours is not enough!

Our shoulders all peeled when we got home. Ewww...

This summer has been crazy with shark attacks along the Carolina coast.

There were three attacks just 15 miles down the coast in the two previous days.

We didn't let that stop us from getting in the water and having fun.

But now there have been a 7 attacks in the last 3 weeks!

That's more than our average for the whole year!

I'd be more paranoid if we went to the beach today.

We didn't see any sharks, but we did get to see dolphins.

My favorite!

B took a video, but it's really shaky and hard to see the fins breaking the surface.

You'll have to take my word for it.

It was awesome.

We got dinner at the Deck House one night.

Delicious!

And took family photos on the beach just as the sun was setting.

We couldn't take pics on the beach without

throwing in some fun jumping ones.

Fun, fun, fun.

After our two days in the water,

it was time to drop T and C off at the airport.

We had a few hours to spare, so got donuts.

 Yum!!

And stopped at Ft. Fisher civil war battle site. 

It was a bit hot for exploring outside.

And we had to get Squiggled before we left.

You know it's a great vacation when you get Britt's donuts

for breakfast and ice cream for lunch.

Thanks to Tony and Cindy for coming to visit

and giving us a good excuse for a beach getaway.

Please come back soon!

(And bring the kids next time.) :)