Family dinner before heading back across the pond

I mentioned in my last post that we had dinner with Jeff's sister before she headed back to England. My mother-in-law has probably given up on me getting any of these posted. She wanted me to take some random pictures of the family gathering. You know, food,

people pulling funny faces, 

Roy being, well, Roy (he says I can take as many pictures of his face as I want when he's dead), 

kids fascinated with Aunt Vickie's iPad, 

 

 

spilled Kool-aid, and

my in-law's gorgeous garden and flowers... oh wait, that was just me. I'm jealous that they don't have a rabid, plant-eating lab puppy in their yard and more time to care for ginormous Zinnias, vegetables, and fruits. 

Vickie really, really, really wanted to make this rice krispie Christmas train she found at Sam's Club. I thought it was kind of funny myself, but the grandkids loved it! Here's the before and after photos. 

We did attempt a family shot together. I still have no idea how I finally got my timer to work on my camera, but by the time I did, this was the last picture everyone was going to cooperate for.

(L-R Front Row: Cassie, Jacob, Pearl, Kylee, Gwen, Jeff, Cole. L-R Back Row: Cindy, Roy, Vickie, Deloy, Mataya, Susie, Wally, me)

Sometimes I'm still shocked that Jeff is related to these people! And other times, I'm shocked that I am! What a goofy (great cooks) bunch!!!

Milkshakes and mooses {Again}

I thought Labor Day was our last weekend at Bear Lake.

But we decided to head up one last time the end of September. It worked out perfectly that Aunt Vickie was still here from England and my in-laws had planned a get together on Sunday. And it was the dedication of the Brigham City Temple, so technically we didn't miss church :)

The weather was amazing. The fall leaves SPECTACULAR! I'll spare you another post of reds, oranges, greens, and yellows. But trust me, it was gorgeous.

Since it was a bit chilly at night, Jeff decided to do a smores roast. There was a moment when I could picture a future scout throwing hairspray into the fire or having his Dad show him how funny a blue dart is. Frightening. 

Of course we went on the ATVs. The kids are going to have major four wheeling withdrawals come winter. Cole feels it's his duty to go every single time someone takes one for a ride... like he's in charge of making sure they find all the turkeys, deer, and moose.

Yes, moose. Again! Every single trip to Bear Lake this summer has been a moose hunting success! This time though, it was Grandma and the kids (and me) who hit the mother of all jackpots. I knew there had to be a moose somewhere because there was a trio in a golf cart driving up and down the cabin roads. We tried the regular bull moose hangout but nothing so I decided to head back home. Then we turned the corner and bingo! A mamma moose and her two calves. It was awesome. A little nerve racking considering how close she was to the road (sitting right in someone's front yard) and the fact that one of her calves was stuck behind a fence and freaking out! Moose are so awesome.

 

Jeff wouldn't believe me, but the water was wonderful! I scored this $10 winter snow tube at Walmart, which is the PERFECT Bear Lake water toy! 'Cause your bum doesn't get wet or cold. I'm still kicking myself for not buying the other one. Dang! The only problem with this monster tube, was getting it blown up. Grandpa to the rescue!

Why is Blu so well-behaved at Bear Lake and such a naughty turd at home?

I knew he liked her deep down.

I've told my Mom and Dad to take their out of control doggies on a four wheeler ride to wear them out. Well, I convinced my Dad to give it a try with Rex, the naughtiest of the two. Ironically, he also belongs to my sister... hmmm... just sayin' :) He did great! I hope Blu will run alongside them next year. Until he got tired and had to sit on my Dad's lap. It was pretty funny. My plan sort of worked. When we got back, Rexy was panting and tired, but not tired enough to stay out of the lake. Dumb dog.

Sigh. It was just as hard, if not harder, to leave this time as it was over Labor Day. 

The fabulousness of Fall

Is anyone as obsessed about the magnificent fall colors as I am?

I seriously CANNOT get enough of it!!!

Every day I mention at least a ga-zillion times "oooh look how pretty the mountains are!" or "Wow! Can you believe how bright the leaves are this year?" It is S.P.E.C.T.A.C.U.L.A.R. I could drive around all day looking at the leaves. And were it not for the fact that I'm supposed to be contributing to my family's budget and doing lame-o things like feeding my children or laundry or keeping the dog from eating the backyard, I'd do nothing but drive up the canyons and take a fa-fillion (that's way bigger than a ga-zillion I mentioned earlier) pictures.

Two weeks ago Logan Canyon was arguably the most beautiful place on the earth. Really. I wanted soooo, soooo, soooo bad to get away just myself on the ATVs and spend hours waiting for the perfect light to snap a picture of the mountainside covered in reds, yellows, bright greens, and oranges.

Even with all the smoke from the massive fires in Idaho, the scenery was just unbelievable. It made me wonder what us rebellious, sometimes naughty children of earth had done to deserve such a special gift from our loving Heavenly Father.

Can you even imagine waking up to this sight every morning? It would be heavenly. Oh wait, I do! Just not right in my own backyard like this cabin.

I so wish I had been the annoying wife and made Jeff stop all along Logan Canyon on our drive home. The smoke had cleared from the days before and the views were unbelievable. But with everyone else in Cache Valley driving up the canyon to take pictures, it was a tad too dangerous to be yelling at him, "Stop. Right. Now! I need a picture!" every few seconds. 

I am already missing the vibrancy of colors we saw a couple of weeks ago as the leaves fall to the ground. Freezing cold, snow, and ice just aren't nearly as pretty....

I ran out of storage space, now what?

Alright the few bloggers as fanatical as myself who are left out there...

When you finally hit the dreaded message "Oops! You've ran out of storage space and now the whole world won't know what your day was like" or something like that from Google, what did you do? With two current blogs and three old blogs on my account it was bound to happen sometime.

Did you just suck it up and pay the monthly $2.49 fee to increase your storage space so you could keep blogging and documenting your history for generations to come? 

Delete old posts/pictures from your account? 

Take the time to now resize everything... kudos to you if you have the patience (and know-how) for that option? 

Or let your future posterity wonder if you did in fact ever survive toddlerhood and just quit blogging all together?

I need to know. I'm already having blogging withdrawals.

HELP!!!

Childhood favorite

When my nephew, Jacob, starting scaling my in-law's trees, I wanted to scream at him. Of course I wanted to scream at my brother-in-law more when he hoisted my precious children up into said tree.

How dare he influence my children to do such a rebellious thing? And risk them breaking their arms or knocking their heads when they fell out?

Then I saw the sparkle his eyes and remembered being a kid myself. And how much fun it was to climb a tree and feel like you were totally free. Had that tree not shuddered at the thought of my big ole fat butt climbing it's branches, I'd have joined them.

Hula

Wow. This happened FOREVER ago. But Pearl would be crushed if I never posted pictures from the Stake Luau, where she got to join the rest of the Primary kids in a hula dance. 

She came running out of Primary one week with a flier for the Stake Luau and jabbering about how she HAD to go to the hula practice so she could do the real hula at the luau. It was a big deal to her. And the only reason we went... beside the fact that I didn't have to cook dinner.

She was so pumped to get a costume for the hula dance. Even Fern got one. He thought he was pretty studly in a grass skirt 'cause it was "boo" (translation: blue).

But he wasn't interested in dancing. Apparently waiting patiently for 15 minutes with your sister and friend was enough hula-ing for him.

Pearl had so much fun. It's all she talked about for weeks! I really need to get her back in dancing again. It's just so dang expensive!

The kids were having loads of luau fun, except for the part when they had a REAL Hawaiian fire dancer perform. Both kids screamed and totally freaked out. I don't get it. The fire dance was awesome.

Jeff and I aren't usually at church gatherings like this, but it was alright. We didn't talk to many people (I still feel like an outsider or new person in the ward/stake, even after eight years) but the food and entertainment were good. And it was the most well organized church event I have ever seen! And if a simple hula dance made Pearl that happy, then it was well worth going.