Family @Dewey Beach

Roxie was ecstatic to get these...
So she could play here! Crowded day, but we had perfect traffic on the way down. The van's air conditioning conked out, and the wheel needed air by the time we got down to the Ocean and noticed. But we made it there and back, with no fire!



All the kids went to the midnight showing of Harry. Today Suzu was avidly reading it all again.
Sam is wearing the UV protection shirt and swim trunks Max wore last summer. Little loose, but not by much.

While we were there we watched an extended family: obvious grandma (the adult daughters were calling her "Mom" and the little kids, "Grandma!") four sisters, two brothers, a sister in-law, brothers in-law. It took us awhile of watching to figure out how the couples were linked together (kisses give it away!) Lots of little kids. One of sisters very pregnant. MODEST swimsuits. No tattoos. No beach beer. No swearing. Clean-cut haircuts (one weekend bearded young daddy). Happy. Kind to each other. Full of light. Cousins playing together. Accidentally calling an aunt mom, because she looked like their mom.

I love seeing big families, the physical resemblances, the way sisters/mom will stand next to each other and you can see they obviously belong to each other--leg shape, posture, coloring.

But our big question, "Do you think they are Mormons?" Do we stand out like that? This is with a crowded beach full of bikini beach bunnies, wild groups of people having fun...

What would you have thought?

Right before we left, I went and asked the grandma. I complimented her on her beautiful family, said we had enjoyed watching her grandchildren play kindly together, and figuring out how the families were related. Paige was flattered, explained why her husband wasn't there (I was glad Grandpa was still alive!), and quizzed me on which were her children, which were "out-laws" and married in. And then I asked it, "Are you Mormons?" "No, just irresistible!" She said they have been asked that before, but this was the first time another Mormon had asked her. I listed the things I had noticed, the reasons I knew they were a good Christian family. While growing up they lived next door to a Mormon family that had moved away, and they really missed them.

Good talk. Her pregnant daughter came and talked with us for awhile. I told her how beautiful she looks and one of my favorite quotes from my mom: "The best gift you can give your children is siblings!"

Paige asked about my children. I told her about Elder Landbeck serving, where we are from, why Church is important to our family and why living a Christian life matters.

She said I had made her day. She made mine!