Reunions

Every summer for the last few years, I have made the trek to Utah with every intention of using my time there to connect with old friends.  And every summer, I leave Utah wishing I'd gotten together with more people.

Well, this year I finally got my act together.  Thanks largely to Facebook, I was able to connect with some friends from high school and college that I haven't seen in a while.  It was truly delightful! 

These are some of my great friends from high school: Paula, Michelle, and Julie.  We had a lovely dinner together at PF Changs in Orem and could have stayed there all night talking and catching up.  I love these girls!

I wasn't smart enough to get pictures, but I also had some lunches with friends from my Ballroom days at BYU.  Anna, Marci, and Roxanne all were kind enough to meet me and let me catch up with them.  Being around friends from my younger days is so good for my self-esteem - it makes me feel young to be around them, and yet I still feel wise when we talk about how much we've learned since then.  I have been blessed to have some amazingly talented, warm, funny, and delightful friends!

This August was also Brad's 20 year high school reunion.  While I didn't go to high school with Brad, I've had the chance to know many of his friends from Layton High.  So, it was fun to tag along on Brad's trip down memory lane.

Brad, Chad, Kyle, and Darren

With the wives: Me, Brad, Chad, Molly, Kyle, Darren, Jessica, Andy, and Rachel

This was the first time we've seen many of these people in a few years.  It always surprises me how The Same everyone is, even after all that time.  And even though we may have a few more pounds and wrinkles, I think everyone actually looks better now that we've grown into ourselves.

Boating at East Canyon

Because the weather at Bear Lake didn't exactly cooperate while we were there, Brad promised the kids he'd take them boating the next week so they could try wakeboarding.  So, on Thursday, we packed up some snacks, rented a kids' wakeboard, and spent the day up at East Canyon.  Haley came with her kids, and John, Brigham, and Becky joined us later after work.

Adam and Isaac

Gabers

Lukie

(is it me, or are there a million pictures of Luke playing in the water with a boat on this blog?)

Pepper

Livvy

Mud Monsters!

Well, I guess smooth water was just not in the cards for us this year.  Even though we watched the weather and planned to go on the warmest day of the week, we still had wind and choppy water nearly all day at East Canyon.  Here is Pepper going on a tube ride.

Even though it wasn't great wakeboarding water, the kids still all had fun playing on the beach and riding in the boat. 

When evening rolled around, the water did smooth out a little, and all the kids that wanted to gave wakeboarding a try.  When I say,"All the kids that wanted to", of course I mean, "All the kids that Brad could force to give it a try".   So, that meant Jessica, Pepper, and Adam all joined Brad in the lake for a wakeboarding lesson.  Adam especially DID NOT want to get in the water.  Here is how our conversation went:

Adam:  I don't WANT to jump in the water!

Me:  You can either do it happy or sad.

Adam:  What is sad?

Me:  Me pushing you in the water.

(You can cast your votes for Mother of the Year here...)

There may have been some tears going in, but they were all proud of themselves when they finished.  I am pleased to announce that all three of them did get up, although staying up was a different story.  Oh well. 

Happy Place, Book 2

On August 2, Brad arrrived from Germany and we headed up to Bear Lake the next day to spend the week with my family.  When we go with the Larsons, we always stay at Grandpa and Grandma Darrington's cabin.  They built it back when I was about 10 years old, and it has served the family well since then.  What it lacks in modern style, it more than makes up for in nostalgia and good memories.

Everyone came this year except for Josh, who is busy with medical school in Texas.  With all of my siblings and their families, we were pretty crowded in the cabin this year.  Jeff and his family brought up a camper/trailer to stay in ("That there's an RV"), and Jason and Whitney converted their cargo trailer into a bedroom, too.  Poor Jenny and Mike ended up in a tent on the lower porch.  The rest of us were crammed into any available space in the cabin.

All the older kids had beds in the Ping Pong room.  You can see Jenny and Mike's tent out on the porch.

Despite the close quarters, we had another great year at Bear Lake.  We were able to get some time in at the beach, between wind, rain, and hail (yes, I said HAIL!) storms.  Too bad I didn't get pictures of all of us huddled under a dripping canopy before we decided the storm won and we gave in and packed up.  Nothing says "fun" like packing up a canopy, kids, and beach toys with hail pelting on your swimsuit bared skin!

These pictures are of another, less exciting day:

We love the beach!

Lukie with another boat.

Harrison and Ellie

Pepper looking tough and refusing to smile.

Austin in the sand.

Ryan and Dillon getting dirty.

We also had some fun back at the cabin.  As has become a tradition, Jami brought up fabric paints and all the kids made their annual Bear Lake Shirt.

Here are all the kids modeling their shirts.  You may not see the details on the shirts, but you can see that we had a cabin-full of kids this year!

We all brought activities for the kids to do up at the cabin, and this was my clever mother's idea.  She had my dad make Rubber Band Guns out of wood, then she organized the kids downstairs on the porch for some shooting games.

This year the Larson Family Game Sensation was brought to us by Jason and Whitney's family.  They had a game of "Werewolf" that we played every night, waaaay too late.  We also played a Pictionary card game that is much better for the artistically-challenged (me).  And don't believe any rumors you may hear of Jami and me cheating - it was totally justified!

My personal favorite event at Larson Bear Lake this year was our trip to Pickleville Playhouse.  In years past, this has been our Girls' Night Out, and we've left the men home to put kids to bed while all us ladies went to the play.  This year, we have kids old enough to babysit, so we invited all the grown-ups to come with us to the play.  It was Bandito Rides Again, another installment of the favorite Juanito Bandito franchise. 

Here is the cast of the Bandito Rides Again.  Yes, it is as cheesy as it looks, but the guy playing Juanito Bandito is so uncannily funny, we couldn't help but just belly laugh.

Who'd guess that some Idaho boy could be so good at capturing a vain, cheezball, Hispanic villian?  The best parts were when he'd say something unscripted and crack up the cast.  It was impossible not to laugh at some poor actor trying to stay in character when they clearly wanted to bust up.  It was like watching Harvey Korman trying to keep it together on the old Carol Burnett Show.  So funny!

After another great week at Bear Lake, we packed up on Sunday and headed back to Layton to stay with Brad's family for the rest of our Utah stay.  Some may say that two weeks a year at Bear Lake is too much, but not me. 

Have I mentioned that it is my Happy Place?

Happy Place

This last week, we went up to Bear Lake to spend a few days with Brad's family.  Jessica and her friend Braedyn were at EFY at BYU, so it was just me and my boys. 

Brad's family are real fitness buffs, especially his sister Haley.  This is what I woke up to every morning in the condo:

It's a little bit sick, don't you think?

Don't worry though.  There were plenty of trips to La Beau's to counter all this healthy activity.

In addition to eating our weight in french fries (it's that stupid fry sauce - so addicting!), we spent a lot of time playing at the beach and just enjoying each other's company.

Pep and Zach on the jet ski.

Adam and Becky take a turn.

William, Luke, and Hannah "water" the jet ski.

Baby Lauren isn't sure she can get dirty.

One of Brad's aunts brought this big floaty raft, and it was a real favorite with the kids. Adam loved frolicking with cousins on this all day.

There were all these shallow puddles on the beach this year that were perfect for Lukie to play in.  He spent most of his days sitting in the warm puddly water pushing boats around.  I think his buns were pretty pickled by the time we were done.

I love that Brad's family has a Bear Lake tradition.  It is just fun to go up there and have nothing else to do except play with your kids and eat delicious La Beau's shakes.  This year, I was also introduced to Quirkle, the current Bitner Family Game Sensation. 

Bear Lake is truly my Happy Place.

A Day at Hogle Zoo

Earlier this summer, I was driving and chatting with my kids in the car.  Adam (who is nine) mentioned that he's never been to the zoo.  I immediately felt like the Slacker Mom that I am.  What nine-year-old has never been to a zoo?

To clarify, Adam actually HAS been to a zoo. When he was 2-ish, we went to the zoo with Pepper's pre-K class.  Unfortunately, Adam was too young for that trip to have made any impression on his memory, so it doesn't really count (even though I have a photo to prove that he was actually on zoo grounds).

So, to nullify my guilt, we planned a trip to Hogle Zoo this summer.  I think the fact that Adam had no memory of a zoo should tell you how much I "love" zoos.  But, in the interest of being a Good Mom, I sucked it up, packed lots of snacks, and met my sisters and their kids at Hogle Zoo.

We went as soon as it opened, so we were able to beat the heat of the day.  This is a key factor in enjoying the zoo.  We also left the zoo by lunchtime, so we didn't have to drag around tired, hungry kids.  This is also a key factor in enjoying the zoo.

All things considered, I think we had a successful zoo experience.  And, I took lots of pictures to prove that we did go and I am providing my children with all the required childhood experiences (documentation to present to my kids' future therapists).

All the kids by the giant elephant statue.  Yes, that is an elephant.

Baby Suri with her mommy.  She is the big attraction at Hogle Zoo this year.  A question:  isn't Suri also the name of Tom Cruise's little girl?  Sad.

Pep and Adam by the ostriches.

Erik, Luke, and Austin by the Chuck Wagon.  That is where we carried all the snacks.

Jayce, Makell, Monica, Shelbi, Erik, Jodi, and Ryan by the giraffes.

Jessica's friend Braedyn was visiting from MI, so she got to join us on our zoo trip.  Lucky her.

I told Adam I wanted to take his picture by his favorite animal.  This is it.

This totally awesome drinking fountain has been around since I was a little girl.  I remember being slightly scared to take a drink from the lion's mouth.

At the tiger cages, we couldn't see any tigers.  While the rest of us were craning our necks trying to see tigers in an empty cage, Pep was smart enough to look up and find the tiger calmly watching us from atop this bridge.

No trip to the zoo is complete without the requisite bird show.

We also happened to catch a little meerkat porn.  *ahem*

Well, do you?

Before we left, Grandma treated us all to a ride on the train.  It was the perfect way to finish off the day.

All things considered, I think we all had a fun day.  And now I can check it off my list...