Bear Lake in 1 Day

We ran up to Bear Lake for a day, and we crammed in as much fun as possible!

We started out with the human Cabbage Patch Kid! There's this hilarious little wig up there and Mike put it on Molly. She looks an awful lot like my old Cabbage Patch doll...chubby cheeks, yellow yarn hair...she's got it all! Hmm, with bangs or without?


I hung out on the beach with the kids while Mike went for an hour-long open water swim. Sam dug in the sand almost the whole time.

Will spent a solid 10 minutes trying to hit the golf ball with the tennis racket. The water is really high this year, so there was hardly any beach, but enough to have some fun!

Next we met up with Mike's sister and a bunch of her friends to go on one of our favorite hikes. Bloomington Canyon is probably one of the best kept secrets at Bear Lake. It's kind of a long drive up the canyon, but then it's a short hike to this:

After playing on the rope swing, Mike and Jane went to the other side of the lake to cliff jump. If you look closely at the picture above, you can see Mike diving into the lake. My camera was zoomed in all the way. The picture above that is the same shot not zoomed.

Can you see why we love this place? It's like this perfect little mountain oasis that you can hike to wearing flip flops and holding a sleeping baby.
This was Molly all the way back to the car. We weren't planning on going to Bloomington until an hour before we went, so I didn't have a sun hat for her. I did have my nursing cover though (which is my very favorite thing!), so I used it to keep the sun off her face.

We stopped by Sweetwater on our way home and Molly met some cousins for the first time! She hadn't seen Grandma Tigger since her blessing, so it was fun to show her how big Molly is getting. Kaitlyn instantly loved Molly and just wanted to hold her and love her the whole time we were there. It was the cutest thing, she was such a cute little mom!

I can't wait to get back, we love Bear Lake!

*I know it's called Ideal Beach, but it will always be Sweetwater. I don't actually know anyone that calls it by the right name.

My New Title...

PHASE 10 CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!
As seen here:
We did a quick overnight "camping" trip up at the Lambs Canyon cabin. All the fun of camping, but you get to sleep inside on bed. Plus you can't beat having a bathroom! We took the Fishers up with us and we had a blast! After the kids went upstairs to bed I worked a little Phase 10 magic. Poor Katie...I think she was stuck on phase 1 for about 5 rounds. We'd been playing for a while and something caught my eye. I looked up and saw Sam's feet hanging down over the ladder stairs. He was sleeping right next to it, and he had a hard time settling down and getting to sleep.

Will just makes me laugh. Fish goggles under a hat under a hood. Dan helped out in the style department with the rolled sleeves.

We had cupcakes to celebrate Ryan's birthday! This is still Will, but he's covered in frosting from said cupcakes. Ryan is 11 months younger than Sam, but they'll be in the same grade. They get to go to preschool together soon!

Sam is king of goofy faces for the camera.

Lately Sam comes up to me at random just to give me a hug and kiss. It makes me happy!

Lambs Canyon has a soft spot in my heart, Mike and I had a couple of awesome dates at the cabin while we were dating (that's where I fell in love with grilled cheese and tomato soup), and we also got engaged while snowshoeing in Lambs Canyon (I believe on March 7, 2002). We don't get up there as much as we'd like, but we always have lots of fun when we do!

Classic Will

Explanation: He wore the fish goggles for two days after he found them. Molly's towel was the closest within reach. Every boy needs a squirt gun.

If nothing else, it's pretty entertaining to just watch Will. He is such a funny kid!

Solids!

We finally started Molly on rice cereal. I started both of the boys at 5 months (Sam needed to get used to the spoon (at the pediatrician's recommendation), and Will just needed more calories), but I didn't really think about starting Molly until 6 months because she's such a good nurser and is gaining weight like a champ. My amazing friend Scheryl from WGC made this awesome full-body bib for Molly. Don't you love it? It even has velcro ankle straps!

She loved her first taste of solid food! Well, semi-solid food. More like runny baby cereal. She took the spoon out of Mike's hand and started sucking on it trying to get more. I love this baby!

We love the first feeding, it's always so funny!

What a cute face! I wish I looked that cute while eating!

Sometimes when I change Molly's diapers I squeeze her thighs because they're just so...so squeezable. The boys saw me doing it, and when I got up to get something they each took a thigh and started saying, "Squeezey, squeezey!"

Jumping in the Rain

It rained pretty much all of June (our grass looked awesome!). At the end of one of the storms Will found the nearest shoes (mine) and ran out to the deck to jump in the water. He's such a silly kid.

Monkey

Will had unsupervised access to Molly for about 5 seconds. He really loves his sister, but sometimes the challenge is keeping her safe from his love. That's his very favorite hat that he wears everywhere, and he's obsessed with balls, so it makes me happy that he would share his favorite things. It will be fun when she's big enough to play with her brothers!

Dinosaur Museum!

I thought I took a lot more pictures than I actually did. We went down to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum with some of our friends (and it's half price if you're a guest of a member!). We had three Sams in our group, but there was very little confusion because my Sam went by Monster Man, another went by Sam, and the other by Samuel. Easy! It was so fun, there was so much for the kids to do!
Will made a mask (there were extra activities that day because they were celebrating the museum's birthday). He refused to take it off, and Mike and I think it's pretty creepy. I love it though. We were in this room for at least 30 minutes and I still had to drag him out kicking and screaming. The boy loves dirt...of any kind.

I hope I never need a scale this big to weigh myself.

I think we spent at least 45 minutes at this one. Once again, I dragged him out kicking and crying. I love that he has a great attention span, but sometimes it creates other challenges!

I really want to go back again, there was just a ton of fun stuff for kids of all ages. I'm a fan.

4th of July

Our community does a 4th of July carnival every year, and we finally went. We had a blast! We didn't go for the parade, and we were sad when we found out Uncle Nels was in it and we missed it. He was honored as a WWII veteran. We love Uncle Nels!! We waited forever so Sam could get Bumblebee painted on his face. He loved it.

Just chillin', Will style.

There were lots of games, Sam and Will won a bunch of little prizes.

I love the visor! It was so sunny we just left her in the car seat. She napped through most of it anyway.

Gotta love the classic Plinko!

Will was mostly content to watch from the stroller, but he got really excited about fishing.

We finished off the day with fireworks at Doug & Jami's. The guys lit them all in about 5 rounds. It's always more fun to have 4 grand finales!

HB!

We spent a week and half in perfect-weather Huntington Beach! I'm ready to go back. Right now I should be working on my lesson for tomorrow, but I needed a little break. I ran errands with the kids this morning (and we got Sam signed up for swim lessons!).
We had such a great time in California. We were there during the surfing US Open, so there was tons of cool stuff over the weekend. I either forgot my camera or memory card every time we went out to watch stuff (there was also awesome BMX biking and some lame skateboarding). It was probably one of my favorite trips so far (as all parents know, vacationing with kids is hard work!), we relaxed, had fun, and we were sad to come back to reality.
The pictures are in no particular order.

The car trip was actually really good. Except for the hour long battle I had with Will to get his foot off Molly's face. Next time he's sitting in the back. The car DVD player is like magic. How did our parents do it?

We went to Ruby's on the pier and had some disappointing fries and onion rings.

I turned around to check on the kids and Will was totally passed out. Sweetheart Molly was holding his hand. Is that not the sweetest thing you've ever seen?

We got to hang out with Mike's sisters and parents for a day and a half. The kids were in heaven! Sam loved the pajama movie party while we packed. Jane got home from her mission on the 24th, but since we were already in HB this was the first time we'd seen her in a year and a half. It's so fun to have her home!!

We bought some old beach cruisers. Makes me wish I didn't live at the foot of a mountain (mega hills). We loved riding them on the beach!

Taking a break. Will insisted on swimming in his sandals. His favorite part was the hot tub!

Molly and Jane! Two of my favorite girls!

This is Will cooperating.

We went to Newport for a few hours to hang out with our neighbors (who happened to be on vacation while we were). Sam found a cute little friend at the beach and they played in the waves. I don't know how old he was, but he appeared to have Down Syndrome, and he seemed like such a sweet kid! Sam loves making friends wherever he goes.

Finished skimboarding with Doug.

I wish these wouldn't upload sideways. Look how cute she is, even the wrong direction!!

I love her swimsuit, and I just happened to have a matching flower headband. Cutest ever. I love it!

Sam was sad he didn't get to hold Molly. Will had a great time holding Molly. Molly was scared for her life.

If you don't get the perfect picture on the first try, Sam will close his eyes for all other pictures because he hates the flash. I love that little face!

Mike taking a little break after digging in the sand with the boys.

I love Will's shorts.

Lots of sandcastle fun. Cleaning sand off a toddler body is...challenging. At least nobody ate any.

Can I go back now?