Bear Lake Family Reunion

We have all been looking forward to this vacation for a LONG time. It has finally come and gone and it was amazing!  The lake was SO beautiful when we came around the corner, simply breathtaking!  The kids were ready to get out of the car and so we stopped for a famous raspberry shake and then made it to the house where we spend the next 4 days with 40+ Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins.

 

 While the raspberry shakes were good (I tried two different places) I can't say that they are an essential part of Bear Lake.  I could totally make a better one.

 Lots of people and lots of things to do.

Of course there was a frinedyl tennis tournament, which Grandma Pam won hands down.
We hiked Minnetonka caves one morning.  It was a little bit of a wait, but the kids all did great.  Callie walked pretty much the entire way, all 888 stairs and everything in between.

 Grandpa Raymond and Grandma Michele planned a minute to win it game and the cousins all took turns doing silly stunts.

 

 Greg and I escaped one night with Ray and Michele and went to the Pickleville Playhouse.  We LOVED the play, "Who Shot Juanito Bandito" and laughed the whole time.  It was so good!

 We had giant bubble wands one day that worked awesome!

 

 We spend a day at the beach.  Initially we were just going to get a big boat for the day but that boat broke down and so they gave us a smaller boat plus 2 jet skis for the same price.  It turned out to be a much better arrangement.  I took each of my kids out on the jet ski and loved speeding over the water with them.  I went about 15-20 miles an hour less with Annie and Callie, but it was still fun.  Greg had never been on either and was out on the water as often as possible.  I went out with him once but he scared me with how fast he was going.  I definitely liked being the driver better.  I went out on the boat a couple times.  I tried wake-boarding and got up on my second try but then couldn't get up again.  I also rode on the big tube with Bri and Aliya but I didn't like it all that much.  Ryan got a little sunburned under his eyes and he looked so sad the next morning.

 

 

 I helped plan Fear Factor with Jeff and Bri and it was a huge success.  The kids had fun and it was very fun to watch.  Later that night I asked Callie if she wanted some more baby food since she had liked it a lot, she said, "No, but I want more kitty food!"  The "kitty food" was actually corned beef hash wrapped in a kitty food label but she loved it and was willing to try it first out of all them.

 

 

 

 Aunt Bri had fun painting finger and toe nails for the little girls.

We tried to get a shot of all the cousins at the house, but Clara didn't want to be in it.  We were also missing Dan & Courtney's 3 children.  Everyone got a long so well.  There was lots of great food and I loved that I was only in charge of cooking and cleaning twice the whole week.  I loved playing games with adults, and kids.  I loved getting to know all of my nieces and nephews and Greg's siblings and their spouses.  Family is such a wonderful and amazing thing.  I am so lucky to be a part of 2 wonderful families.

Girl Scout Backyard Camping

 Camping was one of my favorite parts of Girl Scouts.  My leaders were amazing campers and always taking us all over Northern California.  While I can't imagine being as enthusiastic about camping as they were, I decided we needed to start somewhere.  In my backyard.  Earlier that week I taught the girls about flags and how to do a ceremony.  I loved watching how it turned out. 

 We worked on the Play Fair badge and had fun with obstacle courses, giant knots and some Mother-May-I.  Mother May I is a game we play all the time for Family Home Evening.  I was shocked that all of my girls had never played it.

 The girls were up late playing night games and chatting in the tents.  So cute.  First camp out was a success.  Maybe we will go again.

No Chore Day!

Wednesday ended up being a pretty fun day.   Friends showed up when we were eating breakfast at 9:30 because their mom got a text from the night before asking the kids to come over and thought it was from that morning.  The kids looked at me with pleading eyes and so I said, "Sure, play with friends.  We will have a no chore day!"  Of course that was met with cheers.  I was able to get so much done because we had friends over all day long.  I went grocery shop[ping for our reunion and figured out lists for packing.  I finished a book and did a lot of baking.  Whenever Greg is out of town or working late Sarah and I try to get together for dinner since her husband works during dinner most nights.  That night we were ambitious and let everyone make their own little pizzas.  It seemed like a full house since the kids are all growing up.  Everyone loved putting their own toppings on their pizzas.

 

 

 Everyone was happy with the end result.  It was a little tough being the moms since our pizzas were last to come out. 

 

 

 And if I didn't do enough baking in one day, I also made over 100 cinnamon rolls for our family reunion next week.  Regular, pumpkin and pumpkin with nuts.  It was so hard not to eat any of them.  I can't wait for Tuesday morning!

Haircuts

 The girls got their haircut this week.  Such cuties and we all love having less hair to comb and wash.

Cardinals

 Ryan's baseball barely made it to the State Tournament.  We didn't even know until 1 week before.  I had to, got to, drive to Spanish Fork 3 times in 2 days.  The weather was the worst part being in the 100s for all three games.  It could have been more trips, but unfortunately Ryan's team didn't move on. 

 The first game just Callie and I went.  She was worried about not having anyone to play with but she found a friend quickly.  And then a good friend, Jillian Heap, ended up being there to watch her brother so Callie was surrounded by friends the whole time.  Grandma Pam works right next to the baseball field so she came over to say hi during her lunch break.
We headed back in the afternoon and not surprisingly Callie was asleep when I went to get her out of the car.  But when Annabelle went to unhook her seat belt Callie smiled and "woke up!"  The little faker.  We ate dinner while we watched the game.  Grandma came again and then Uncle Jan stopped by to say hi.

 After the game we got slushes at Sonic. 

 Someone is feeling LOTS better!

Ryan's last game was right during Girl Scouts.  I had already changed the time and didn't want to postpone it again so a teammate took him and I met him there at the end.  It was a disappointing game, but they all walked away with a trophy and a smile.  Ryan is even excited for baseball next year.