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.

British Invasion {That Famous Preston Night Rodeo}

Pre-children and back in the day when Jeff and I were young and in love, we went to "That Famous Preston Night Rodeo" every year. Jeff went every year - sometimes all three nights of the rodeo - growing up. And since it was tradition, it was also on the British Invasion's bucket list. So Jeff and I ditched the kids at Bear Lake with my parents {it also happens to be Raspberry Days this same weekend} and headed over to Preston for the rodeo.

That Famous Preston Night Rodeo got its name because it's recognized as the first night rodeo in the world... 75 years ago this year! How cool is that in little ole' P town! I love seeing the backdrop of the carnival rides, especially as it gets dark and all the lights are sparkling.

Bareback, saddle bronc, calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling, barrel racing, and bull riding. 

My absolute favorite part of the rodeo are the horses. I love watching them and love, love, love the bareback and saddle bronc events. 

The mutton bustin' is hilarious. I still remember one of the rodeos when this sheep literally sailed out of the shoots and the poor kid just hung on for dear life. I had no idea sheep had "hops" like that one!

And of course the cowgirls get their turn to show off with barrel racing.

Back to the cowboys on the saddle bronc. 

I know this picture is blurry, but look at how beautiful that paint is! Gorgeous!

 

The backdrop with the Ferris Wheel is really cool. At least I think it is. 

Oh sure the bull riding is cool too, but not as many cowboys are able to stay on for 8 seconds like they can on the broncs. You really must be totally insane to strap yourself onto the back of a 2,000+ lb. snorting, slobbering, pissed off bull with horns and huge, er, um, manhood whipping around. Like this big, bad boy who decided once his cowboy came flying off his back, he'd take after the rodeo clowns and then just play dead. Strangest thing I've ever seen!

Or this monster who took after the rodeo clown sitting in the barrel, not thinking anything was coming his way when the bull decided he'd had enough fun.

We'd forgotten how much fun the rodeo was! I even busted out a cowboy hat to wear for the occasion. Jeff and the British Invasion were too chicken or embarrassed to be cool like me.

But not too cool for the tradition picture with the rodeo queens! Every year we went to the rodeo, Jeff got a picture with the rodeo Queen and Princesses. He says who doesn't like girls with giant belt buckles? Yeah. I'm sure that's all he likes. Even though our nieces acted horrified that we'd make them wait in line after the rodeo to meet the rodeo royalty, they loved it. They even got some royalty swag signed by all of them. Miss Rodeo Idaho {Hali Stutzman} was on her way to the National Rodeo Finals and expected to place very high in the competition.

We're re-invigorating this family tradition next year!

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.

He's not very good at cooking

The traditional Father's Day ugly tie trade-in for a box of free Krispie Kreme doughnuts.

Dad's favorite!

And the traditional Primary class creations to help the kids tell Dad what they most admire about him. {My personal favorite, Pearl's answer to what he always says, "Oh snap!" Ha! So true! He's also got the four wheeling fun down too.)

And what he needs to work on.

In Jeff's case, cooking.

The kids have no idea the irony behind them both saying he isn't very good at cooking. Because truth be told, of the two of us, Jeff is the better cook. For the first five years of our marriage, I probably cooked three different meals. And they all sucked. But things changed when the kids came along and now I've got them convinced I'm the better cook!

Ha! Who knew Father's Day would turn out to be the best Mother's Day present I've ever had!

Now this is my real family!

Grandma's Peonies

My peonies are in bloom. Well, they were in bloom before the weekend storm came in. Now their fragrant petals are scattered all over the yard.

Peonies always remind me of my Grandma Jewkes. 

My Grandma had a huge mound of peonies in her front yard. Because they lived next to the neighbors' on the corner, the peonies created a sort of barrier between the East side of their front yard and the neighbors' side yard. 

Every spring those peonies would bloom. Big, beautiful, fragrant blooms of deep pink. 

And then the grandkids would find them. 

Growing up it became a tradition that we attempted to be the grandkid who could jump over the mound of peonies - which had to be at least 3 feet tall - without knocking off any of the petals. Sometimes we could talk my Dad into jumping the peonies too. My Grandpa would come out and yell at us to stop jumping over them because it was going to knock all the petals off {and peonies don't last long anyway}, but Grandma always let us. I'm pretty sure Grandpa was just teasing us because he always smiled as we tumbled over them. Except when we really turfed it and kicked more than just the petals off.

It seems fitting that my peonies bloom near Mother's Day each year. They remind me of one of the most selfless, humble, loving, amazing women I have ever had the privilege of knowing. I miss my Grandma. I wish she was here to talk to, to watch her lick her fingers while she cooked a gourmet meal, to sit and stitch with, to go shopping with {while Grandpa sat in the car waiting for us}, or to watch her read Gone With the Wind sitting in her favorite chair in her robe. 

I loved those peonies.