Bear Lake

Take me back!

Bear Lake on Tuesday was all right, all right, all right.

We always wake up early, so once we had hotel breakfast, we set off through Logan Canyon for the roughly hour-long drive to Rendevouz Beach. We were the first ones there, though later on it filled up quickly. 

(James with his discovery in the water)

The water level was much higher than two years ago when the boys and I were there with my friend Sarah Allred, but there was still plenty of good sand. I bought sand toys a few weeks ago thankfully.

The boys dug holes, and Millie would climb in.

She was such a beach baby. Loved every thing about the whole experience.

JB had the best idea. He rented a three-seater SeeDo for an hour, and took the boys out in turns. They told me they had a BLAST.  They got to take turns driving it, and they went across to the other side where Max's scout camp was.

Here are Ben and James.

Then Andrew and Max had a turn.

James got cold and tired after his turn.

He even curled up and took a nap in one of the chairs!

Ben, Andrew, and James took turns burying each other in the sand. They tried to surprise the rest of us.

For dinner, upon my friend Sarah's recommendation, we went to Zipz. Very yummy hotdogs and chicken and smothered tots. 

Next door to Zipz is the famous LeBeaus, where we got shakes to share. One Oreo, and one raspberry Oreo. We had a raspberry shake from a shack on the beach that was also yummy. Gosh I could live like that. I guess that's what makes it vacation! 

Staycation

I took a week off work, and we planned something every day the week before school started.

We started by going up to Logan Sunday after church, where we had dinner and spent the night with JB's former mission companion and his really fun, nice, cute family.  Some of our kids met in December 2009 during this epic trip to Temple Square with our two little boys (Darren took the hilarious pictures), and also referenced here during the great mini-van love affair.

On Monday we explored Logan, walking all around USU Campus and getting some Aggie Ice Cream.  Here are JB and Max on the famous hill.

We took a picture by Richards Hall.  Max was on the lookout for wildlife for a Scouts assignment and we snapped this picture of a squirrel on campus but now I notice the sweetness of 6 year old Andrew holding JB's hand.

We ate lunch at Herms by the Logan River after a recommendation from a friend, and that was delicious. The kids were very good at the restaurant.

Then it was play time at Bridger Park. Ben helped me pick it after we googled parks in Logan and looked at images. It was a good one!  JB put up his hammock and I plopped the baby in there so she wouldn't keep dragging her blanket up and down the stairs.

When it was time to check in to the hotel, we went straight to the swimming pool first.  This girl LOVED the water.  Wanted to crawl in it and put her whole face in.

I didn't get any pictures of Max, but I was proud that these three other boys seemed much braver.

Pray for me/James if we start swimming lessons again, but he needs them.

We also saw the Logan Temple and Logan Tabernacle. They are such beautiful buildings.   After a movie in the hotel room and lots of shushing, it was lights out early. We had a trip to Bear Lake the next day!

Bees game

Papa had GREAT seats to a Bees game the weekend of Pioneer Day, and it was Star Wars day at the ballpark! Happy happy fans.

And I spotted a BYU football player at the playground with his kids and secretly sent a picture of him to my fellow fan friends.

And James and Andrew took some batting practice in the kids area, and I realized I should practice with them in the backyard like I used to do with Max and Ben at their age  (like this post). They have improved a lot ever since.

And there were fireworks after the game.

Pioneer Day

So I totally put Millie in a boat at Lagoon and the operator said normally it's a no-no (because babies don't have a ticket, they can only ride the carousel and train) but he would let me this time because LOOK AT THAT FACE.

She was SO happy all the way around and around.

While there, we met up briefly with the Christensens, who used to be in our ward and I miss them so much. Four boys and then a surprise girl (sound familiar?) and then just recently another girl (but that's where the similarities stop for us, Millie's the last-born).

Her kids are sweet and polite and rode rides with my little boys, while my big boys were with JB on the bigger rides.

We were there with the Richards from Texas (via Switzerland) because their oldest boy was going into the MTC that week.  Speaking of sweet and polite kids, those Richards from Texas are just the best-behaved and nicest teenagers around.

Here is JB with Greg (we last saw him in Houston with his brother York before our cruise)

Just the best people.

To round out the day, I snuck in some watching of my favorite movie. James stopped what he was doing and looked up, enthralled, and I snapped this pic.

Joe's house

I am playing catchup.  On a Saturday in July, we drove south to Springville to hang out with my brother Joe, his wife Susan and their cute 4 year old Kaylee. His complex pool was being cleaned (sans notice) so we adjusted quickly and went to the city splash pad. Not bad!

We can always count on fun animals to see at Joe's house. This is Hedwig.

Joe made hot dogs/ sausages and stuff and I talked Gilmore Girls and Harry Potter and the upcoming school year with Susan. We should do it again.

JB's birthday (and the second battle of the bees)

Happy birthday to this guy!

I made from-scratch carrot cake twice the week of JB's birthday. Once on Sunday to take to dinner, and then for his birthday. I am glad he likes it.  

If any of you saw my Instagram story, you saw that I wrote out "John Stockton" on the Sunday cake as a joke. When I first started to try and get fancy with decorating cakes for the boys' birthdays, he called me cake boss and said he wanted John Stockton on his. Done and done.

JB spent his birthday with a quick golf game, and the week before that he went with his dad and friend Sheldon.  I am really glad he has been able to golf more often this summer with friends -- they go pretty early in the morning on Saturdays for example. His game is improving and he has good company.

JB spent his entire birthday week fighting wasps. Which, now that I look at the date, happened the first time almost exactly four years ago during "the battle of the bees." This was bad. They had made two nests ON our house, one by the hose pipe, and another above the back door.  JB sprayed multiple times and sealed them off, but then the wasps started coming INSIDE our house.




They would crawl out of the walls from their sealed-off nests and get into the basement, laundry room, and big boys' room and then die on the floor. Except for one that stung Max's hand as he reached for a Lego piece on the floor.  Ugh.  Sad times.

BUT, now that we are back from our stay-cation (blog post coming eventually), I believe the wasps are finally all gone. There was a time during the week-long battle that JB said if his latest attack didn't work, we would just move.

So, I am very grateful for our protector and man o' the house. We couldn't do much without him!

Cheeser and climber

Behold the following two pictures, taken within seconds. Millie climbed into her toy bin, JB called her name, she turned, and then she saw the camera.

CHEESE!

What a ham! 

I feel like I could write the description like those titles of the clickbait articles you see online. "A baby was playing with toys. Wait til you see what happened next" or "But when she sees the camera...mind blown."

Also, it's more evidence of her climbing. She sticks that leg up and over whatever obstacle and hustles in. Her favorites are toy bins. 

I caught her hoisting herself back over the bathtub edge recently. 

And I have come into the living room to find her perched on the couch.

Before I saw her do it again, I had my doubts about her getting up that far to the couch, because often the boys will pick her up and then abandon her. We can't leave her alone in a room with James for example. He tries to pick her up by her ears, a la Neville Longbottom in Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets.

Though as to the climbing, I wonder where she gets it....