Monday, August 25, 2014

Bear Lake!

So one of my favorite places in the world is Bear Lake. We go there a lot for the Maughan family reunion because we have connections :) When we go to Bear Lake we play at the beach ALL DAY. 

Here is a typical day of what happens: We wake up, some people go skiing while everyone else gets ready and heads to the beach. We eat treats all day long, sometimes go back to the cabin for lunch, more beach, more boating, dinner at the cabin then we stay up really late playing games. It is heaven on earth. This year was no exception. 

My kids are at great ages for playing on the beach. They absolutely love playing in the sand and water, tubing, and Rachel's even brave enough now she wants to learn to wakeboard (unfortunately she broke her ankle a few weeks ago so she was in "the boot" for the last month of summer...so no wakeboarding for her. But I bet she'll try next year!)
 When I said she was "In a boot for the last month of summer..." This is actually what I meant.....


 Trav showed us his totally awesome wakeboarding skills....

 Em's ready to go on the "Barbie board"

 If you can't tell...I'm lovin' it! I haven't boarded for 3 years. I know! That's so sad! That's what happens when I seem to always be pregnant, just had a baby, or not get invited to ski by people with boats. We need to be nicer to our boat friends apparently.
 William didn't love the life jacket but he got "in the zone" when he was on the boat.
 Trav tried some skid boarding.

 William had a blast!
 Here's Kate's boating face....




 This was the first time we've been to Bear Lake without grandpa Maughan. This was actually really good timing for this trip because the funeral was over and I think loneliness was about to set it. It was very therapeutic for all of us to be together and to be with Grandma too. She still found time to spoil the kids :)

 Tyrel (my nephew) was leaving the MTC to fly to Guam and got to call one more time before taking off. You should have seen how fast LaNa ran to the phone! We did miss having him there.
 Will found a little puddle just the right size for a little bum.
 Perfect fit!
 The buried Marcus in the sand too.
 Josh said he really wanted to try wake boarding for the first time! I was very surprised but he was so ready to go. Trav got him strapped in, but as soon as he was in the water he totally panicked. Maybe in a couple years....I do have to admit it can be scary being out in the water all by yourself. I'm still so proud of him for trying!
One of the days was totally rainy so we went to Minetonka cave (which is very cool by the way) We had a couple hours to kill before we could get in so we went to this little pond, then the boys played ultimate frisbee in the road. Good time killer.

 The water was actually really cool looking in the pond.


 The kids LOVE this swing that's in the front yard of the cabin.
 Grandma wanted to come out on the boat to see some skiers so this is how we got her out there.
 The last day was predicted to be rainy but when we got up it was gorgeous so we knew we needed one more run on the wake board.
 This is Trav's "Jump over Gary's head" shot.
 And a wipeout!
 I was on the best water I have ever been on in my life. You hear of glass water. This was it. This was the poster for glass water. Put it on top of Bear Lake blue...Oh man! It was amazing!!! I think I got the best water out of everyone the whole trip. Look at that stuff!
 Smooth as butter!
 Okay, this picture I had to throw in because you can see my reflection perfectly! Look at that! Water is never this good! Oh, I'm drooling just looking at this. I need to go back!

 Unfortunately, like everything...all good things must come to an end. Not too much longer after this picture was taken I had the worst crash I've ever had in my life. Fell backwards, smacking my head on that glass. I honestly thought I was going to pass out  while I was waiting for the boat to come get me. Thankfully I didn't, but I was completely "out of it" for the next couple days with a killer headache. Pretty sure I got a concussion. It was totally worth it though. Man that was good water!

Gary is multitasking. Swimming with chips and salsa.
 Then we pulled out the tube. This is what the kids liked the best. I was recovering on the beach after that fall,so I didn't get to see the tubing. But lucky for me, Trav took like 400 pictures so it was like I was right there! (That is not an exaggeration)






Oh Bear Lake how I love you so! I'll be back again next year!

Friday, August 22, 2014

Schick Family Reunion

We were able to squeak a couple family reunions in before the end of summer this year. Trav and I were in charge of the Schick one so we planned it in one of our favorite places...Eden. We found a cabin right by Pine View to stay in and it was great (if you don't mind glass doors in between bedrooms....
seriously, who would ever think this is a good idea?)

They did have the biggest hot tub I've ever seen in my life so of course it was used as a swimming pool most of the time.
 Here's a picture of the back of the cabin. So pretty and loved that big old deck!
 There was a bear to welcome us there...
 And the view was gorgeous!! (I mean, handsome...very very handsome)
 Here's the picture of the whole crew.
 My mom was very insistent on us getting a picture of everyone wearing hats. I think there's a Christmas card in the making or something like that. So here's the "hat shot."


 Here's Trav and I in our hats....
 We did make it to the beach and spent the whole day at Pine View. I love the beach! William liked playing with his cousin, Nate.
 Everyone but the kids knew what was about to happen next.....Just leave it to Trav......
 Yep. Told ya so.

 We rented a paddle board for a few hours. It was actually really fun.

 Someone likes to be the center of attention...what a cheese ball. But the cutest cheese ball I've ever seen!
 Rach working on her tan.....



 Trav loved the monster grill that was at the cabin. Look how many burgers you can cook at once...Plus a ton of zucchini too.
 Here's another shot of that giant hot tub. You could seriously fit like 15 people in there and not feel crowded.
 Me and Will played on the swings for a while.
 Man that boy melts my heart! Could he get any cuter? No. No he could not.


 I like this one. The blur....

 Rachel has a giant bubble nose!
 One of the days we went up to Snow Basin and did a hike.


 We hiked up to a little lake and got some family shots.
Here's the Hardy's. Aww cute!
 The Roberts.
 The Shelton's.....with teeny tiny Todd in the background.
 The Maughans.
 Me with my dad and sisters.
 Then we went to the lodge to have lunch. Trav wanted to look at the mountains when we ate. Who cares about watching the kids and talking with family,right?
 
We played one mean game of frolf (frisbee golf)

 

The boys found a pretty awesome car back at the cabin. They pushed Will around for the longest time because the batteries were dead.
.
 Oh, I keep having pictures of the hot tub. It's huge, huh?
 But it wasn't all fun and games the whole time. Eventually we did have to go home. It was a really fun trip though!