Our Story...Day by Day: June 2010

Monday, June 28, 2010

Bear Lake 2010

This weekend was a Family Reunion for my Dad's Mom's side of the Family. As the story goes, back in the day my Dad's uncle Jesse would call my Grandpa Lyman and suggest a sojourn up to Bear Lake. All the cousins would play on the beach, and the adults would relax. A few years back, that side of the family decided it would be fun to reinstate that tradition with the newer generation. We've gone up almost every year since then....as much as I'm really not a "beach" type person, it's really a good time, and I enjoy catching up with my Dad's side of the family, as well as hanging out with my cousins I see more frequently.

All packed up and ready to go...

On the road....

My parents decided to get a condo at the place we typically stay, the Blue Water Beach Resort/KOA. We've camped in the past, but my brother got rid of his trailer, and my sister is 7 months pregnant, and my mom dislikes camping. She prefers easy access to a bathroom and shower, and since Talia is still in the early stages of being potty trained, I had to agree that easy bathroom access was a priority. We had no idea what to expect...and were really pleasantly surprised. The condo was really nice.

My niece Gracie, and our "other sister" Summer (Summer is my SIL Brenda's youngest sister. She's with us a lot to help Brenda with the kids, so we have come to consider her our youngest sister, and we love to have her with us!)

Cute pregnant Heidi with Hunter...

Gracie let me play with her hair...

My Dad's cousins maintain a cabin on a hill overlooking Bear Lake. We headed up there Friday night to roast hot dogs and marshmallows..

A Stunning view...

Chris and Brenda

Having Fun (Brenda and Summer)

The kids were all more interested with my brother's Ranger ATV

The Fam...

Talia is all about the flowers!

Imagine my surprise to see our favorite House Supervisor Michelle (in the yellow visor) at my family reunion..it turns out that she is good friends with my dad's cousin Diane. She drove Diane up to the reunion, and decided to stay and golf and eat dinner with us...

Good times...

The first night I don't think anyone got much sleep. The condo was set up with 1 bedroom (my parents and Heidi and Adam slept in there), and 2 pull out beds in the living room. Chris and Brenda and Cole and I took the pull outs, with the intention of having the kids sleep on the floor and Summer on the couch. Well, Talia ended up in bed with Cole and I, and Hunter with Chris and Brenda. Sleeping with a 3 year old and 2 year old is....difficult. Cole gave up and went out to the car to try to sleep around 2:30 am. Brenda took a sleeping bag down the end of the hall, leaving Chris and I with the beds and our restless toddlers. None of us got any good sleep...

Chris and Hunter

(Photoshop enhanced)
Parker and Alec

Kyle and Gracie

(I took all these without a flash, with my long shutter setting on my camera. Considering the no flash and no tripod, they turned out pretty good. I did use photoshop to lighten them up a bit).

We ate breakfast, got ready, and hit the beach to join up with the family.

(Talia kept trying to talk to the seagulls)

Our own family "island"

(I wore a light cardigan most the day...between the breeze and the intermittent clouds, I was cold)
Building a sand castle...

The kids always have a great time!

After a day at the beach, we went back, cleaned up, and headed out to dinner...
Talia was so wiped out she fell asleep on the way into town..and didn't wake when we transferred her from person to person...my mom enjoyed cuddling her (it doesn't happen very often anymore, she's too active)

After dinner, I went out in the ranger with Chris, my Dad, Adam, and a couple of my younger cousins to go look for deer. We saw a few, and I mananged to get some pretty decent shots of this doe...

I was really impressed with my camera. This was using the digital zoom, with the exposure set to -1, and no flash (obviously). I used photoshop to clean up the digital noise a little. I love how you can see her watching our every move...
Beautiful scenery along the way...

After we got back, we played games for a little while, then crashed. Cole and I were able to get Talia to sleep on the floor, so we had a much better night. The sleep was pretty decent, and we woke feeling much better.

We cleaned up and headed out...the drive home was calm and beautiful. I really love driving through Logan canyon. We got home, unpacked, and I started the millions of load of laundry I'm still catching up on.

It was a really fun vacation.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Nostalgia....

...is almost always bittersweet. Have you noticed this along with me?

Last Thursday afternoon, I was at work. I got a phone call from my sweetheart. I don't remember the exact words, but it was something along the lines of "Can you get away from work for a little while?"
"No, we're already a little short staffed. WHY?"
"Oh, I'm on the side of the road, smoke is pouring out from my car's engine." (stated very calmly, as if it was not a big deal).

Oh, crap.
Of course this would happen on a day that I can't possibly leave work. The day before we are scheduled to go on vacation for the weekend.

On the bright side, I was heading into a long stretch of days off, and we didn't need Cole's car for our trip. So, my wonderful Mother in Law picked up Talia at daycare, and Cole had his car towed to our house. By, as he put it, "the Coolest Tow Truck Driver ever". During the loading process, he noticed a HUGE puddle of oil under the car, along with a huge hole underneath the car.

The long and short of it is, the car is dead. It would take more $ to fix it than we are willing to put into it at this point. We've just been trying to get it through until my car is paid off at the end of the year. We knew we were on borrowed time with it...

On the bright side, I had not yet paid to register the car yet (it was due this month).

Our dead car...

This was the first car we bought together, about 1 1/2 years into our marriage. At the time it was practically brand new, and we were so very proud to purchase it. We've put it through hell...I drove it working homecare for a year, 3 times a week up Brigham City in the morning, and 3 times a week up to Logan in the afternoon. We brought our sons home from the hospital in it. The transmission failed in the middle of the road between Michaels and Bed, Bath, and Beyond in Riverdale. That was a fun day....we replaced the transmission, and numerous other parts along the way. It's been in a bunch of crashes...luckily none that were too serious. (I've always told Cole that if there are stupid people on the road, they will be magnetically drawn to hit his car).

This is actually 2 dents...one from a malfunctioning gate, and the other from a cyclist who couldn't stop and ran into the car while it was stopped.
I guess it's time to let it go....(Ok, I will tell the truth. I've wanted to get Cole a new car for awhile, after all, we both work full time and opposite shifts, and I need to know he has something reliable).

Another lucky thing, my Dad is in the car business, and has been for most my life. He was able to locate and get us a killer deal on this new car in about 30 minutes.

It's a 2010 Corolla, which is exactly what I wanted for my family. Good gas mileage, good reliablity, and great customer service.

My dad had it driven down from the Idaho store yesterday, and we went and picked it up this afternoon after we got back from our trip. We left the kids with Grandma (thanks Toni!), and when we picked them up, we asked them (like always) who they wanted to ride with, Mom or Dad?

No surprise there, they all wanted a ride in the new wheels.

Don't they look happy?

I'll be posting on our weekend adventure sometime tomorrow....

Monday, June 21, 2010

About Fathers....

I have been blessed to have been the daughter, daughter in law, and granddaughter of the greatest Father's in the world....I'm also the wife to the most amazing father to our children....

I love you Dad, Van, Grandpa Roy, and all my grandfather's that have passed to the next existence. Your guidance and experience has been invaluable in my life.

I love you Cole...you are an amazing father to our children, and I'm so blessed to have you as my partner in everything!

I hope everyone else had a great day honoring their Fathers' like we did!

(notice the shirt Cole is wearing...Talia made it for him at daycare, and I was completely touched that he was more than willing to wear it!)

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Summer is for Playing....

So, I have/had 3 days off in a row this week. The weather is finally good. I must confess, my housework has been abandoned so that we can finally have some outdoor playtime...it's been a fun few days.

(I did buckle down and do my housework this morning...)

More swimming...

(doesn't Dora just look ready to jump in and join the action?)

More Lagoon....

We enjoyed locking our children up in the old Lagoon holding cells...we debated leaving them there, but reluctantly decided against it ;)

My boys were impressed I went on the Log Flume with them...I'm not a huge fan of water rides, I don't enjoy walking around Lagoon all wet.

Usually Cole is the one who gets soaked on Rattlesnake Rapids, but this time the boys got DRENCHED!

I love this pic of Kyle...

I love that my kids are thrill seekers like me!

Tidal Wave (notice how tightly Talia is plastered to my side!)

Talia made a little friend in line, and they enjoyed riding the planes together...

Riding the "Baby Dragon"

Then, yesterday...More Swimming!

Lessons...

Making her "arrow"

One month and this boy will be eight...

Where does the time go?

If the weather holds, we will be swimming again this afternoon. It's also Cole's birthday, and although I let him have his present a few weeks ago (he got his new camera), we will do some celebrating too....

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