Bear Lake Family Vacation

We were so lucky to get to spend a week at Bear Lake. We stayed at Ideal Beach and had a fun condo to stay in, grass to play on, play ground, beach, and a really warm pool. The high for the week was 74 so we didn't swim in the lake but had fun with all of the other activities. On the warmest day we paddled the kayaks around the shore. We spend a majority of the time in the really warm pool. It felt so nice we never wanted to get out.

We played in the sand when we weren't in the pool. Lynnlee built this sand castle the night we got there and it was still there in the morning.

This is the view if you walked straight out to the sand from the back of our condo.

There was a big pool, a kiddie pool and a hot tub.

Every morning I went out for a bike ride and sometimes a run. The views were beautiful.

There was a place for everyone to sleep. The girls shared a queen bed in the bedroom. The boys had the family room. James was happy to have the couch.

The hammock was stretchy. It's hard to see in the picture but Kaden is a few inches off the ground.

There is a fish pond two miles away. We went on a family bike ride to see it.

There was a swing set and this for a play ground I guess.

The minis loved the kiddie pool!

The main store/rental office had chess, ping pong, and a toddler play area.

It was a very relaxing week. Eating, sleeping, and swimming.

Another view one morning.

Thursday we changed things up and went to the Minnetonka cave. The cave is 40 degrees so everyone wore pants and a sweatshirt.

It is a really cool cave! It's a half mile in. I was happy with my kids for walking through it and the minis only needed carried a few times.

Then we hiked another trail after in the same canyon. We saw a lot of purple butterflies along the way and Sienna loved them. She said, "I have to have them!"

I took food for all of the meals but ended up going out one night. Luckily we were the only ones in the restaurant because everyone was bouncing off the walls.

Beckie's family stayed Thursday and Friday. It was so fun to hang out and have cousin time.

Marshall gets extra points for packing the trailer with our bikes, kayaks and coolers. It was not an easy job.

Soccer Season

Soccer season wrapped up at the end of May. It was fun watching them each improve and understand the game more. They all play defensive positions better than offensive positions.
James has really improved his long kicks. One game the field was a little shorter and wider. James had some great long kicks and ended up scoring three goals while playing defense. 

Lynnlee played really hard and was great at defending the goal and getting the ball down the field.

Kaden had fun playing on a team with some friends.

Taggart's Stitches

We had an eventful hour Sunday night. Our neighbor brought us a pie and we had just sat down to enjoy it. Taggart was climbing on the stool and it tipped over on him. I got the stool off of him and knew immediately that he needed stitches. Everyone listened really well and got in the car quickly. We went to the instacare in Saratoga Springs. He had calmed down by then and was really brave the rest of the time. They numbed the area and then he got 5 stitches without tears.

Girls' Night

This picture is lumped in this post because it happened the same day. We went to the dance festival and watched James and Lynnlee last Friday. It was cold but thankfully not rainy. We got some fun video of James and Lynnlee but no snap shots. The theme was music through the ages. Each grade Lynnlee danced to Sing, Sing, Sing and wore a dress and scarf to look like the 1930s-1940s. James danced to a mix of Surfin' USA, Locomotion, and Twist & Shout. He wore bright colors.

That night the boys went to fathers and sons and the girls kicked off girls night. Lynnlee chose to eat at McDonalds. They played on the play ground for a little while after eating.

Lynnlee thought Princess Peach was a little weird looking. She decided to copy what she thought it looked like.

She wanted to do makeovers after dinner. We stopped at Walmart to get a few other items and I let them pick out a new dress to go with their makeovers. She and Sienna were pretty excited about getting a new dress. Lynnlee did mine and Sienna's make up. Then I helped her with her own make up. 

Next we painted nails.

We had to document their transformations 😀

Lynnlee loves sleeping in my bed when Marshall is gone. We let Sienna join now that she is older.

My kids know that I need my daily dose of exercise. I told them I could do the treadmill Saturday morning or they could go in the bike trailer. They chose the bike trailer. We found a new trailer that was just completed. It connects the park by my house with the Jordan River trail. It was beautiful. There were views of the lake.

Kaden's Preschool Graduation

Kaden's preschool graduation was short, sweet and to the point. This year preschool was super hero themed so it was only appropriate for the preschoolers to all have a cape and mask. Miss Penny is so great for making them for all her students.

Miss Penny made a telephone booth and each graduate came out of it.

I can't believe Kaden is going to be in kindergarten. He is definitely ready and all year he has been asking me when he can go to school with the big kids.

Lynnlee took a picture for us :)

Birthday Weekend

These days I'm biking and swimming a lot since I'm still trying to figure out how to get my foot better. Ali and I did our own sprint triathlon. We swam 300 meters which is 6 laps.

Instead of doing the biking and running from the rec center, we drove a few minutes to a paved trail. All of this was done as quickly as possible with minimal breaks. Then we biked 12 miles and ran 3.1 miles. It was so fun and felt so good. Now we are ready for an official sprint triathlon.

Since it was my birthday weekend we took the kids to a matinee. Then Ali offered to babysit for the night. Thanks Ali! We went to Pita Pit which has been a favorite since I was in college. We did some shopping after. It was a fun night!

The minis were asleep when we got home. Best gift ever! We are going through a hard stage with the minis right now because they won't stay in their beds. Once they are asleep they sleep the whole night but if we could only get them to fall asleep! The cousins all had so much fun while we were gone.

Sunday we went to my parent's house for May birthdays and Mother's Day celebration.

The birthday desserts at the family parties are so yummy! A family favorite on the right is called a ninja turtle cake. It is a gluten free ice cream cake. It got the name from the green mint chocolate chip ice cream. The gluten full cake on the left was homemade kit kat bars with club crackers, caramel, peanut butter and chocolate. It doesn't get any better than that.
My kids wished me happy birthday all weekend and it was the cutest, especially when the minis said it.

Random Mini Pics

I'm trying to get the minis to ride their bikes more. Kaden started riding his at this age and got really fast. It made it so nice for Sunday walks. They are starting to take them around more but they are very slow.

The other day we dropped Kaden off  at preschool and then I took them in the bike trailer on a long bike ride. When we got home they said they were so tired and they made little beds for themselves.

Marshall found a new place to set up the hammock.....under the monkey bars! He and Taggart enjoyed some snuggle time.

Our library has educational backpacks you can check out. They usually have one or two books and then toys to go along with the book themes. Last week we checked out five backpacks which was the first problem. It is very hard to keep track of that many items. So of course we lost a little finger puppet bug out of one of the back packs. We looked everywhere but couldn't find it so I took the back packs back to the library and paid for it. The next day I was mowing the lawn and found this in the grass clippings. It was completely unharmed! The library took it back and gave me a credit. Yay for answered prayers.

Our neighbor gave us a huge container of mayo as you can see in the picture. The container was half full. The container was taking up so much space in the fridge so I transferred the mayo into smaller containers. Taggart licked the spoon after and loved it. 😁😜😝

Lynnlee helping Taggart at family night.

James helping Sienna at family night.

Burritos

My seasonal job is finished for now and so it has been nice to have more time to play. One Saturday morning we made burritos. 😀