Bear Lake Labor Day

September 2012

Labor Day weekend started out by arriving to Bear Lake on Kevin's birthday.

After we pulled in and quickly set up, we had a little birthday celebration.  

With home made cupcakes brought from home per Kevin's request. :)

I made everything that morning, threw his favorite frosting in a ziploc and swirled it on top of the cupcakes once we were ready to eat them.  Easy and yum!!

Happy Birthday Kevin!

I love my cozy camper at night.

Exploring camp.  

Unfortunately our first day was a wet one.  

But we still managed to have fun!

Frankie loved the outdoors.

And was perfectly content hanging out in the porta crib. 

Thankful that he's not walking yet!

He was entertained by his cousins and siblings.

The back of the boat made a perfect stage.

These two love to explore! 

 The floaties are always a bit hit!

 Boating.  The water is just so blue!

 A turn at driving with Aunt Emily.

A really fun weekend at Bear Lake with cousins! I'm glad the weather turned out to be warm!

This was certainly a busy vacation summer for us!  Not the norm, but it was so fun to use the camper a lot.  I love that thing!!

San Diego 2012

August 2012

We love the beach!  We went with Kevin's family and had a lot of fun!

We are lucky that Grandma Stormy has a time share and treated us all to this fun vacation.

Hours of fun playing in the sand.

My brother lives in California and his family was able to meet up with us for a beach day.

Kevin giving boogie board rides to the kids.

Frankie loved it and begged for more.

He loved his toes getting wet in the waves.

While Scott was reaching for a crab, that big white wave came up over the top of him.  I was so worried that it took him down but he held on tight.  Phew!

The Corvette Diner is a fun family restaurant.  The waitresses put straws in the girls hair.

Train ride at the zoo.

Love these two!

I wish I had a picture of Cole and his friend Kaylee he met at the condos clubhouse.  She's 9 yrs old and he crushed on her big time.  It was so innocent and cute.  I about died when we got a knock on our door and there she was asking for Cole.  HELLO flash forward a few years!  Is he 16?  Not quite.  He's 9. :)  I don't think they even talked all that much.  But he sure wanted to impress her.  He'd comb his hair after swimming and get dressed to go hang out at the clubhouse.  

When it was time to say goodbye she handed him a paper with her phone number on it and they waved to each other.  LOL!!  He must have looked at her number 100 times all the way home and would  analyze his plans with us to call her.  He was so bummed and asked us if we thought he'd ever see her again. Ha!

The summer romance faded a few days after we got home.  He got up the nerve to call her once.  He would not stop asking me if he could.  I was hoping he'd forget about it. ;)  But calling her was actually a good thing.  It was a really short conversation and I think neither of them knew what to say to each other.  From that point on, he never asked to call her again.

Oh Cole, I'm afraid you are going to get girl crazy many times in your life.  

And I am SO not ready for that to happen anytime soon. Enjoy being 9 and save that girl stuff for college. :)

10 years

March 2012

Kevin and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary in Scottsdale, A.Z.  Initially we had big plans like Hawaii, a Cruise or even fun San Fransisco.  But we couldn't resist using Kevin's Hilton points to stay at a fun resort in Scottsdale.  We don't get to go out much here at home so I was really looking forward to a few days of just dating.  Eating out, going to a show, shopping and relaxing by the pool.  

The title of this post should actually be... Buses, Planes and Automobiles. :)

The flight to Scottsdale was dreamy.  It was short and I was grateful we didn't waste our precious free time flying to a far away destination.  Upon arrival, we discovered that the "easy rental car availability" wasn't so available.  It was Baseball's spring training season so, all the cars were rented out.  And to add to that strain, the awesome local bus system was on strike. :)

  I was in a panic that we might not get to do all that "dating" I had hoped for.  We took a taxi to our hotel and were stranded without a vehicle til the next morning before we found one.  Phew.  

We were able to discover some great restaurants.

 Lounge by the pool.

 Kevin got to go on a cool hike while I enjoyed the shade with a little sewing project I'd brought.

(My recovering feet were not up for a hike quite yet)

And I got to see a chick flick in these awesome reclining seats.  

This was a Dine In Theater, only we had already dined at the yummy La Grande Orange :).

 We even test drove an SUV for a free $30 gift card from American Express.  

It only took 5 minutes too. 

Easy money and I got a new shirt. :)

And finally after we returned our car in town on our last day, the bus strike had ended and we rode the bus back to our resort.  Awesome!  Kevin teased me plenty that I hadn't been on a public bus since my early childhood.  

Planes, Taxi's, Rental Car and a Bus.

It made for some fun adventure.  We really enjoyed Scottsdale and can't wait to return!  The weather was HEAVENLY in the spring.  We loved the shopping, food, resort and each others company.

Happy 10 years!   

Fall Happenings 2011

My awesome sister sent these darling dresses and leggings to my girls.

We all love to receive a package from aunt Jill!  

Thanks Aunt Jill!!  You rock!

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Fall Break

For UEA Kevin had to work out of town in Wyoming so we decided to tag along instead of staying at home.  We stayed close to a great castle park.  The kids thought they died and went to heaven!  We spent lots of time playing there and swimming at the hotel.  My kids idea of a perfect vacation.

Staying at a hotel was excitement enough.  It was just good to all be together!

We took a few photos with the great light in the hotel room.

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Cole's first BYU football game with grandpa and daddy.

They had a great time.

Beach Trip 2011

I better get this post up before it Christmas!  I can't believe that we are 10 days into October already!  I just love this time of year!

For the last four years we have gone to San Diego in the summer with Kevin's family.  It is always so great to look forward to a beach trip!  

This year we had a mix-up with the time share dates leaving us homeless for the first three nights of our vacation.  So my brother-in-law found us this awesome Castle house to rent from Vrbo.com (for a great price) just 45 minutes inland.  We really enjoyed all staying under the same roof just hanging out.

The kids thought they died and gone to heaven!  The girls felt like princesses.

This 8,000 sqft home had 6 Master bedrooms and bathrooms.  Making a total 7 bathrooms.  Two Staircases and an elevator.  Plenty of room for all of us.

It was on 5 acres perched on top of this hill with a beautiful view.

This is Frankie first pool experience which he loved!

The kids were in and out of the pool all day everyday and us adults stayed up late talking and playing games.  

Lucy and MaryJane writing letters to Beth, Sadie and Jaidia who lived in Paris (on the other side of the pool).  That game kept them busy for a while.  One I used to play at my grandmas pool with my cousin when I was a little girl.  

I really feel like we had the best of both worlds.  Private home and pool for 4 days 3 nights and the beach for 4 days and 4 nights.

It's always great to see, hear and smell the ocean.

The gang.  Just missing two brothers and a sister. 

Grandma, MaryJane and our view of the beach from our condo.

My brother and his cute family came down from Costa Mesa to hang out with us for a day.  

They brought us yummy donuts from my favorite shop by their house.

It was so great to see them!  Makes me wish we lived closer!

Cole and Scotty LOVED digging for crabs!  Sand crabs and little black crabs that lived under the pier.  Yuck!  They grossed me out to the max!  But they sure had fun.  It kept them busy for hours!

Grandma brought a kite for the kids to fly.

Frankie loved the sand!  

His poor eyes seem to be irritated here from either sunscreen or sand. 

MaryJane and Olivia

I think this was my favorite beach trip of all time!  No long lines at Disneyland or crowds at other big parks.  We just relaxed, swam and played at the beach the whole time.    

My kids got really brown.  Sadie loved it when I would joke with her after she took her suit off.  

Her tan line was so dark that it looked like she was wearing a white baiting suit.  I keep telling her to take it off but she just giggled telling me it was her skin.  Her suit was already off.

Thanks to my Mother-In-Law for another great vacation!