Bear-a Lake

There are few places in the world I love as much as Bear Lake. Our family cabin is nothing fancy, but we sure manage to have a good time there. I loved going to Bear Lake when I was a little girl, and now I look forward every year to celebrating the 4th of July at the cabin with my own little family and my extended family.

Garrett is following in my footsteps and is totally in love with "Bear-a Lake" as he calls it. (And when he says, "Bear-a Lake," he only means the cabin. Whenever we would leave the cabin, he would always ask if we could go back to "Bear-a Lake.") As we were driving home, he said, "That was fun to go to Bear-a Lake. I missed it." ("Missed" means "miss" in case you didn't figure that one out on your own.)

Abby's favorite part of the trip was having "car parties" in Grandma's car and Paula's van. She played with my mom in her car for a good hour on this particular occasion.

Then she discovered Nemo and got soaked...

My mom brought some water toys from home and the kids had a blast just playing on the front lawn. We spent hours every day outside playing in the water. It was simple, but so much fun!

Abby was totally taken with Marijka and even chose her over me a few times. Marijka was a HUGE help and we started calling her "The Surrogate" because she was Abby's 2nd mom while we were there.

Uncle Ric went home for the Cruise-In and came back with a surprise for the kids--a wading pool! They loved it and were so excited.

Garrett and Abby were a walking display of patriotism on the 4th of July...

Not a bad picture for 5 little subjects who all have minds of their own!

My sister saw this little playhouse for sale in the Bear Lake Chevron's parking lot and picked it up for her gals. The kids LOVED playing in it and were so sad when Pops had to take it home in his truck. Their favorite game was the 3 Little Pigs. Garrett was always the wolf while Brooklyn, Gracie, and Abby were the little pigs. It was hysterical!

They needed another pig during this game and I was given the honor. (I'm not sure what that is saying about me...)

I found the next two pictures while I was downloading the pictures off my camera. Awesome shots, huh? I always love picture surprises. :)

What would the 4th of July be without kids and sparklers?

Abbs enjoyed the fireworks show with Marlee.

Grandma set very strict rules for the kids and their water toys, including no spraying each other and no water fights. Uncle Ric broke all the rules and had an awesome water fight with Brooklyn and Garrett.

Brooklyn reenacted her dance recital for us and did a lovely number to "Firework" by Katy Perry. I had that song in my head pretty much the whole trip after that--good thing I like it. :)

Here's part of the crew getting ready to watch the fireworks over the lake.

Abby was quite smitten with Ric's Jeep and would stand by it anytime we were outside and say "Ride" over and over and over. Ric finally took sympathy on her and took her for a spin. Terrible picture, but at least we can prove to her we strapped her carseat in the back and let her go for a little ride.

More water fun! Grandma was crazy and bought water balloons for the kids. Sweet Grace wanted nothing to do with them, but Brooklyn and Garrett fought over the hose and took turns filling them up and then throwing them at the ground, each other, and me. (Grandma's rules had pretty much been thrown out the window by our last day there.)

This is how Abby spent a good share of her trip--stealing drinks from anybody she could charm into sharing with her.

Garrett was determined to fill up his balloons by himself. Sure enough, I handed him the hose and a balloon and he had it figured out in no time.
We had lots of fun swimming in the Ideal Beach pool with our cousins.

Oh, how we love Bear-a Lake! We're heading back next week for a few days with Greg's family and some friends and we can't wait!

Gin's Swimming

We enrolled Garrett in his first round of swimming lessons this summer and he did great! He took from Gin's Swimming and we highly recommend her. She doesn't let the parents stay and doesn't take any crap from the kids. The kids love her and she is awesome with them.


I had some serious momma pride going on when I got there early to pick up Garrett one day and saw him waiting in line for the diving board. I was watching outside the gate and luckily had my camera with me, so I snapped a few shots.



"Put your toes on the edge of the board." Apparently this line really stuck with Garrett, because he pretends our stairs are the diving board and he lines up on them to practice his form while repeating that line to himself.

They had a Parent Performance Day and we loved watching him and everything he had learned. He does his whole swimming routine in the bathtub each night (soldier, Nemo arms, flutter kicks, clown face, blow bubbles in the water and spit out the fish, and much more I haven't figured out yet).

His biggest fan--doesn't she look so thrilled to be there? It was during her naptime and she was a bit of a pill.

This is classic. Garrett had done so well on the diving board earlier, but then he had a meltdown the time we were filming. It's great and will be so fun to share with his girlfriends some day. :)

I'm a Mean Mom

I'm sad. I knew it was inevitable and all kids will say something like it at some point, but Garrett told me today for the very first time that he doesn't like me because I am mean. :( Where did my sweet little boy go?

I'll tell you exactly where he went: to the hall (and he did it on his own and totally unprovoked). He poked his head around the corner and yelled, "Mom, I'm having some alone time because I told you I didn't like you." I love this kid.

2 more good Garrett lines from today:
--My mom got him a bug collecting kit and he is totally in love with it. We've been on "Bug Hunts" the past few days and he wants to take his beloved bugs with him everywhere we go. He was getting ready to get in the tub tonight and asked me if he could take his bugs in the bath. I told him no because it would ruin the bugs. He got the most disturbed look on his face and said, "Why would you poo in the bugs?" (He was standing by the door and I was sitting on the edge of the tub by the running water and the bathroom fan was on. I think the combination of the water and fan must have muffled my words, but it was pretty funny.)

--He was being silly tonight and climbing all over me. I asked him if he was a monkey's uncle and he said, "No, I come in peace." Okay, buddy...

P.S. Just so she doesn't feel neglected when she's reading this in 20 years, Abby is also doing great. She is currently obsessed with tractors and her daddy. I'm really sorry if she becomes a tomboy. I think we need to invest in some pink and seriously girlish toys before she is ruined forever. She is totally content to play with Garrett's toys and read his books, so we haven't really bought her very many girly ones. It is awfully cute to hear her say "twacto" though, so maybe I'll hold off for awhile.

She cries for daddy all day long and throws herself at the door when he leaves. When I won't give her something she wants or let her do something she wants to do, she starts whining for daddy to help her. (He usually gives in.) No wonder she wants him all day and Garrett thinks I'm mean.

PHEW!

The past month has been a whirlwind and we have been too busy having fun to even document our adventures. Isn't summertime just the best? I've posted a few things below, but still have lots to catch up on--Bear Lake, the 4th of July, Garrett's first attempt at swimming lessons, the Relay for Life--it's been wild around here, but lots of fun!

A Bittersweet Weekend

Greg's "Uncle Ernie" passed away a few weeks ago. (He is actually Willy's cousin, but the kids in Greg's family always just called him "Uncle Ernie," so that's what I know him by.) I believe that 102 is a good age to die and anytime before that is just too young, so losing him at 63 was a bummer. He had a stroke after a fairly routine heart surgery and never woke back up.

After waiting in the 2 hour viewing line (Ernie was a popular guy), we headed to La Casita for dinner. Ernie LOVED La Casita, so Greg figured it was the least we could do for him. :) Greg used to love to eat there when we lived in Mapleton. Garrett was also a fan and ate an entire bowl of salsa with a spoon. He also learned the phrases, "You guys are a bunch of idiots," and "Oh F," during this dinner. Thank you, Uncle Eric and Dad.

After dinner, we drove by Ernie's shop. He was a mechanic and ran a shop in Springville. We visited him often when we lived in Utah County and he was always full of jokes. Greg would always bring up the fact that I had been a BYU co-ed and he would quickly launch into his routine of BYU jokes. Something about his enthusiasm and grin would make me laugh every time.

On the way home from the funeral, we took a trip down memory lane and drove by our first two apartments.

Here is our first apartment in Spanish Fork. We loved this little place! The bottom left apartment was ours.

Here is the back view of our Mapleton apartment. We lived in the basement of this house and we also loved it there. (Our kids were at my cousin's house and we needed to hurry and pick them up, so we quickly drove through the cul-de-sac, but didn't stop for pictures of the front because we didn't have time to visit if we saw anybody we knew.) The back shot really doesn't do this place justice, but oh well.

We also made a quick stop at the Spanish Fork Cemetery and visited Greg's grandparents' graves. (Terrible picture, I know.)
We headed back to Salt Lake and attended the Taylorsville Dayzz Celebration that evening with the Phillips fam.

We took the kids to ride a few rides and kill some time before the fireworks started. Garrett saw this little piece of machinery and just had to sit on it. It took us a good 5 minutes to convince him that it wasn't a ride and wasn't going to do anything if we put money in it.

Garrett was so excited when he saw the Carousel and just had to ride it. He kept saying, "I'm just like Mary Poppins!"

Time for the fireworks!!!

We spent the night at Grandpa and Grandma's house and Garrett was spoiled with a nice breakfast of "Woreos and Melk."

Abby-Cakes was so cute in her little dress. I just love getting her dressed up on Sundays!

Willy's sister, Sandy, invited the whole family over that evening for a BBQ. She is the sweetest person ever and has the most amazing yard you could possibly imagine. Like I'm talking they could film a chick-flick in her backyard--it's that good!

The batteries died in my camera and I only got a few pictures of the night, so you'll just have to trust me when I say it was awesome.

Coolest scarecrow ever!Meg and Sandy

And here's where the batteries died and I missed getting pictures of the rest of the family. Sad. :( We had so much fun and I am already looking forward to our Girls' Night when we watch "Father of the Bride" on the big screen in the backyard. I'll bring the tissues.

Books and Buddies

We went to Books and Buddies at the USU Fire Station. Garrett thought the fire truck was so cool and Abby loved running around and playing in the water. The kids got free books, made an art project, learned fire safety, and played water games. It was a super fun day and absolutely free to attend--a winning combo! :)