Pickleville Playhouse

One of our most favorite things to do in the summer when we go to Bear Lake is to go to a play at Pickleville Playhouse. A truly unique, fun family experience that you don't want to miss.

Especially if your name is Pearl.

That girl LOVES Pickleville Playhouse! I took her and my niece Ruby to Beauty and the Beast this summer. {I am not above bribery to win favorite parent/Aunt status} Kurtis and his date tagged along too... well, we tagged along with him, 'cause he drove.

And then the highlight of Pearl's summer, our family went to "Who Shot Juanito Bandito." Oh my heck {as Fern says}! I was in tears - tears people! Even Jeff giggles during Juanito. Of course I find it super awesome because I know Juanito personally... he was our Student Body President at Sky View. Every year, Juanito Bandito gets rewritten for a new adventure and there's even Christmas shows. My kids leave telling Juanito jokes and saying, "I'm gonna choot you!" to everyone.

Epic hilariousness! Epic.

So if you're ever in Bear Lake, you have to go to Pickleville.

Swimming lessons

I sure hope this little monster learns to float on his back for 10 seconds by himself soon or we'll be stuck in the red swim class forever!

Pearl's Art Camp

We sent Pearl to art camp this summer.

For two whole weeks!

The camp was sponsored by the Cache Valley Center for the Arts. The theme was earth and sky and it just happened to coincide with the British Invasion coming across the pond. So we decided to just leave her at Grandma's house to play with her "new" cousins for the entire two weeks. It was the longest she'd ever been away from home and when the weekend rolled around and we told her we weren't taking her home {it was our anniversary so we'd planned to leave her and Cole in Logan with my parents and then back to Jeff's parents for art camp week}, things got a little teary. I felt bad but more so that I felt bad that I just wanted an entire weekend with my husband and no kids. It was pretty heartbreaking though and I know Jeff felt really bad about leaving her.

But she survived.

My niece Ruby and Pearl's friend Gabby also went to art camp with her I work with Gabby's mom and Gabby's grandparents live in North Logan. That's how we found out about art camp in the first place, because Gabby goes every year.

Pearl wanted Jeff - and only Jeff - to come to their parent showcase on the last day. That's when I felt really bad but decided that if she was so adamant about it, that I better respect her wishes and stay home. She brought home several pottery works she's made and some paintings. I think she had a fun time and leaned some new techniques. They sang and did theater performances for the parents too.

Pearl has always been really creative and artsy - which might explain why her room is a complete mess all the time! We wanted to find something to help her improve on her talents and I'm guessing we'll be sending her back next summer.

Bear Lake

We went up to Bear Lake for the 4th of July. I'm getting really lazy with taking pictures up there because we do the same things every time {but my kids get bigger so yes, I know I should take pictures}...

Get sunburned. Oh wait, that's just me. But as my cousin, Missy, says, "tan fat is better than white fat!" Right?

Play on the beach.

Go on 4 wheeler rides.

Take an epic family picture fail to document said weekend of fun. Blasted. This time it was my fault! My eyes were closed. 

And drive home totally exhausted, covered in sand, and hoping we have some milk for cereal the next morning.

Fishes

And they passed their swimming levels!!!

Summer nights

Who likes going to bed in the summer anyway?

I mean, given the choice between going to bed or staying up three hours past your bedtime eating popcorn and watching Wreck It Ralph at the park, I'd pick the popcorn and movie too!

Ride up to the "B"

We went on a short 4 wheeler ride tonight up to the "B" above the temple. It was the first ride of the season.

And I almost killed Pearl.

Neither one of the kids ever want to ride with me because in their word's, "Dad's the crazy driver, not you!" It's getting really irritating and worse now that we have "Skulls" {aka, the side-side-side as Fern calls it}. Looking back now, I'm really glad Pearl was the one stuck with me, even if at the time, I could have grounded her for life with her whining and crying about having to ride on the back of the ATV with me. If Cole had been with me instead, I'm not sure what would have happened.

Pearl and I usually drive behind Jeff and the "side-side-side" so we see when the boys decide to drive fast or go off the jumps. There's a few pullouts on the road that you can catch some air on and Pearl begged me to take her on the jumps. Trying to show her that I'm not a complete fuddy-duddy, I took her on the jumps. We were both having a great time - and trust me, I wasn't going very fast - so I gave in to Pearl's pleadings and decided to go one last time.

I don't know what happened, but when we turned to start the jump, I gave it some gas and just hit the turn funny. I doubt we were going faster than 10 miles per hour, if even that. It jarred us both enough that my hands jerked off the handlebars and then I felt Pearl's legs move from right next to my hips up into the air. I heard Pearl scream and instinctively grabbed her as I felt her fly next to the left of me. I grabbed her jacket and was terrified as I watched her dangling on the side of the 4 wheeler, with her hands dragging on the ground right in front of the rear tire. I can still see the image in my mind and it makes me sick to my stomach. She was screaming and I was so afraid I'd tip the machine trying to stop it {it was still moving because I grabbed her with my left hand which is the side where the hand brakes are and I was too panicked to remember to hit the foot brake}. I knew if I dropped her or rolled the four wheeler that the machine would crush her, even with a helmet on.

It was really scary... but I think the adrenline was so intense that I didn't really feel sick about what almost happened until after the ride was over. Sure we puttered along at about 10 miles per hour the rest of the ride and after listening to Pearl tell her Dad that I almost killed her a hundred zillion times - and have to go emergency potty in a bush... that was probably more horrifying to her than a near death experience - that's when it really hit me.

The guilt and nightmares didn't go away for weeks. And on the next ride we took at Bear Lake up our favorite trail, I was in tears when I just freaked out trying to get the machine over some big ruts... ruts that normally I wouldn't even bat an eye at. Jeff yelled at me to stop being a whimp but he just didn't understand the terror going through my brain that I'd kill one of our kids {that time Fern boy}. I couldn't live with that guilt.

I'm really glad we had helmets on. And I'm really glad I got back on and have driven both machines since then. But I won't ever forget the terror I felt. Or Pearl's screams.

{The broskies. I have a feeling we will be getting a 2nd "side-side-side" soon to accommodate both kids who now have a perfectly valid reason for not wanting to ride on the ATV with mom.}

{Go ahead. Laugh. I know what you're thinking these dandelions look like. But seriously, I've never seen dandelions so big before!}

Safety Night at the Bee's Game

My colleagues at the Utah Safety Council had a Safety Night at the Bee's game. So I drug my family along to support my fellow safety nuts {or as Jeff calls us, kill joys} and enjoy America's favorite past time. {Oh, and that super cool 1,738 display is made out of seat belts.}

Oh.... and spend all of my money on some horrible sno-cones. And not watch the game because the kids were too buys begging us to let them ride the train.

Snail killer

I don't even know where to start with this one... we were out weeding tonight and the kids were squealing over all of the snails. Now, they know their Dad hates snails in his yard and those slimy buggers are typically thrown at the fence at break neck speed. Well, in an attempt to stop Pearl from freaking out, I told her to look at their cute little eyes and to watch how cool they were climbing on what I dubbed "snail rock." Epic fail. She started naming them (and asking why they were wrestling with each other) and got quite attached to one she named "Bubba." Jeff didn't like the idea of saving any of the slimy guys and walked over and stomped poor Bubba to death, not knowing it would incite two hours of tears and "why did you kill them?" I didn't know if I should laugh, lecture Jeff, or comfort my now scarred for life child.

Water fight

I have little confidence that my one rule to not squirt mom will be followed... especially by my biggest child in the grey shirt.

Mom, it's OK!

"It's OK Mom. Me just drinking Gato-ade and me spill on the dog." Yeah, those are exactly the words I want to hear considering it looks like he also spilled red Gatorade all over his hands, chin, and shirt.

What have I done now?

What on earth have I agreed to now? {And yes, it has skulls, cemeteries, and the grim reaper on it.}

Heaven help me because both of my boys have THAT look in their eyes. And because now Jeff is going to say he needs a new trailer and a new truck to pull it with.

Labor Day @ Bear Lake: Beach Bums

It seems like more and more of our beach adventures end with scenes like this.

 

Wait. Not like that. Like this. 

Cole - in his all to stubborn I don't need to listen to my mom three-year-old self - refuses to put his swimming suit on to go to the beach. Instead he opts for clothing and tells me he doesn't want to actually get wet or play in the sand, just "come wiff you, Mom."

And then we, well, end up in our undies.

But man is that little super hero bum cute!

Labor Day @ Bear Lake: Moose Hunting

Jeff always teases the kids that we aren't going to Bear Lake, but Moose Lake. He does have a point. We've never seen a bear there before {thank heavens!}.

And after this last time, I think he's right. It really should be called Moose Lake.

We should have known we'd be in for a moose hunting treat when we woke up to fresh poop all over our lawn and beach. 

Our moose hunting typically involves the 4 wheelers and winding up and down the roads where all the nice cabins are. Sigh. To dream. 

We usually find the moose like this. Look really close. There's a momma moose and her baby. They've run right in front of our ATVs before this year. It was super cool! And despite how far away they look, they were close enough that I was a bit nervous thinking about how I was going to get Ruby and Cole to sit back down while I raced away if she got mad and started charging toward us. 

It's not just mommas that we find either. Jeff is an expert moose hunter. For the last two years, he's found at least one moose every time we've gone to Bear Lake. This time, on a ATV ride with Cole, they found two bull moose.

And then one of those bull moose decided to hunt us!!!! This has to be the CRAZIEST thing I have ever seen at Bear Lake before! Everyone was sitting around waiting for dinner to cook, including all the neighbors, dogs were out, and then all of the sudden I look down at the willows at the end of our property and there is this huge, dark thing walking up to our lawn!

{This guy in the blue shirt with the mohawk. My brother. Who encouraged his precious daughter to come down closer to the moose so she could see it better.}

I was more than shocked and slightly panicked. All the kids were running around down there, the neighbors were on their lawn, I was totally paranoid Blu would start barking and make that thing charge us. It was surreal! And yet totally mesmerizing, breathtaking, and incredible to watch. He just waltzed right up to the lawn and headed over to the neighbor's willow tree for a pre-dinner snack. With all of us staring at him.

 

And then there was one of the idiot neighbors, strapping on his GoPro and walking right up to him. I really thought I was going to witness a man dying by moose attack. He was only about 5-8 feet away from that bull moose! Idiot. 

Because I was still in freak-out that my children/husband/brothers/idiot neighbor guy was going to die mood, I handed my brother, Kurtis, my camera and told him to go down and take some pictures. I figured Kurt was faster than most of them and wouldn't get trampled to death if Mr. Moose decided to charge.

Best moose hunting yet!!!