Bear Lake 2012

Day 1
We are on our way to our annual trip to Bear Lake. My husbband and kids call it a vacation but I am going to call it a family trip. It is always rough getting packed, the house ready and bags packed. Luckily we have a great friend that is taking care of our place. She is going to think we live in a zoo.
Yesterday we started with the laundry. Mr Washer and Mrs Dryer are going to enjoy the vacation too. Aleena had her last performance of Wizard last night. So we are officially done with that. It was fun but a lot of time. Aleena was ready to be done. Kell and I made a good hair-makeup team.
This morning the kids woke up ready to leave. Savanna kicked butt in helping get things cleaned up and packed. The others helped but did a lot of wining with it. Luckily Nate and KD are taking a trailor and we put some stuff on it or we wouldn't have fit everything. Our goal for next year is to have a newer vehicle and our own trailor. We are just getting too big and need more stuff.
The kids are enjoying their car ride so far. Savanna and Hallie are in the middle and the three littles are in the back. We have about an hour and a half until we get there and then we get to set up camp. We haven't been to this camp site before so I hope it turns out ok. It is Raspberry Days there this week so I think stuff will be busy but it will be ok. I am trying to mentally get ready for all this. I tend to have a few meltdowns during vacation. My goal this year is to just go with the flow and try to not have any meltdowns. We will see. Oh, we also thought they weren't going to let us have a fire but we called yesterday and we can so that was happy yet worry some news. I am afraid I will be the camp fire safety sergeant. I think my kids will be more aware since the incident. I will have fun, I will have fun, I will have fun......
We are almost there. We can see water. The kids are all telling stories of "do you remember when we did .." of all the past times we have been here. It is reminding me of how important these family trips are even if they are hard to get ready for. My kids have a lot of memories here and the tradition really means a lot to them....
We made it here and we are all tucked in bed. The campsite is fine. It is a bit tough reserving a spot online without seeing it first but it is fine. The kids are all loving it. Savanna isn't and has already asked to sleep at Kayla's but we are not swapping this year. Jase layed on his bed and said "this feels so good to be out in the open, away from home for a whole week." They got some beach time for a little bit while we waited for KD to get here with our tent. We survived our first day and hopefully our first night. Good night.

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Pioneer week

We just had our Pioneer Days week.  It was fun.  Paige and Bailey were here with the girls for the week.  Tuesday night was the Car Bump Race.  The girls went but us littles stayed home and got ready for the play.  Thursday was the Gymkhana rodeo.  Paige has a drivers license so I let her drive the kids over.  Jase went with the Mittons.  We stayed home and did play. 
     Friday Livee had a Dr appointment at Burn clinic in Utah.  Kell drove with us and Savanna stayed home and watched kids.  They did really good and the house was actually in great shape when we got home.  Friday night Linden and Michelle came into town.  They went to the play and I watched Livee, Kaicey and Broxton.  They are just too little to sit through it.  Saturday I got up early and got my Playhouse cleaning out of the way.  The GooseCreek run off 10k was going.  They run right past our house.  I stopped to see the winner run in.  Got home int time to make a delicious pancake, fried eggs, orange juice breakfast.  I love to make pancakes.  Then I got a big pot of Sloppy Joes going in the Crock pot so dinner would be all ready later.  The kids had a Matinee performance at 2.  It is always a sold our show.  We got the kids ready and while that was on Kell and I went into town and stopped by the new Western Wear shop and the Museum and then we set out chairs to save us a spot for the parade.  Brad, Livee, Kaicey, Hallie, Bailey and I were in the parade.  We were a family sitting inside a house that was safe from the storm.  They even got the float to rain out the rain clouds.  It was fun.  Livee waved at everybody.  Dennis and Rachel pulled into town right before the parade and Amy and Aaron met up with us.  After the parade we headed home and the kids changed into their suits.  Kaydee's in-laws were having a little reunion at their place next door and they invited our kids to come and slide on a big water jumpy house slide that they had rented.  They were so excited because they saw it over there all day and were dying to go over.  We all headed back to the house and ate. I walked with the kids.  Poor Owyn fell and scraped up his knee and Livee fell and scraped her knee.  Good thing we only had to walk a short way.  Some people went to the rodeo some of us stayed home.  We then went and watched the fireworks.  We just sat in our cars and parked by the 20 ft drop by the canal.  We could see them perfect.  I didn't get to visit much with Amy or even hold Abrahm but for a second.  Sorry guys.  It was just busy.  Livee was so crabby.  I finally got her to lay down and she was out as soon as she layed down. 
     Sunday seemed just as busy.  I cooked a yummy bacon, egg, french toast, fresh raspberry breakfast.  Then got some rolls made and a roast put on for after church.  Linden and Michelle headed out before church.  The Browers stayed Sunday and headed out Monday.  Kell brought her kids back on Sunday night so we could watch them for swimming lessons.  We got us a fun game of volleyball in and just some great visiting, oh and had us some gooey rice crispies.  The Browers headed out Monday morning. Kell called me Monday to see if her kids were being good, and after having a crazy weekend, her 3 seemed like nothing. 
     It is always great to be surrounded by so much family and I love when everyone comes, but it is such a beautiful moment of silence when everyone is gone and I have a few minutes to myself. 
Head count for who was here throughout the weekend:
My family and Grampa=8
Kell, Matt and kids=5
Linden, Michelle and kids=7
Amy, Aaron and kids=5
Dennis, Rachel and kids=7
Kaydee and kids=5
neighbor boys=4
plus we had Boomer, Molly-kell's dog, and some stray that thinks she lives here.  We have named her Wolfie.

Boise Trip

Last Sunday we headed out to Boise.  Savanna had spent a week with Paige and went to girls camp with her and Analise spent the week with us while her mom went to girls camp.  So the trip served multiple purposes.#1 pick up Savanna
#2 take Analise home
#3 Hallie has Dr. Tom appointment
#4 Sing Happy Birthday to Broxton at Settlers Park
#5 visit with family
#6 visit with friends

We got to town around 2 pm.  The drive was regular.  Jase actually sat up front by me.  That was nce to get to visit with him for a bit.  I couldn't believe how much was burned from the fire that was by Mountain Home.  We got to town in time to go to Settlers Park and play.  I forgot how fun that park is with the water spouting and giant playgrounds.  Livee told me at one time "This is the best park, EVER!"  I could have hung out for longer but we then headed back to Linden and Michelle's.  We slept there.  The next morning we headed out and spent the day at the Browers.  Hallie's appointment wasn't until 4 pm, so it gave us a great part of the day to see them.  We ended up bringing Bailey and Paige home with us.  I left Aleena home with Aunt Kell so she could get to the play on Monday night so we had a few empty spots.
     Hallie's appointment was hard, yet good.  When we saw Dr. Showalter about x-rays a few months ago, he mentioned Hallie getting a break when she out grows her brace.  She had it in her head that she was getting a break.  I kind of did too.  We were both kind of looking forward to that, but Dr. Tom brought us back to reality.  He is the guy that works with the brace and the wearing of it and the mental part of it.  He doesn't sugar coat things and gives it straight.  When taking a break for 4 or 6 months you are taking a big risk of coming back and having a bigger curve than when we started and all of Hallie's hard work of wearing her brace would be gone and then there would be even more aggressive wearing with a bigger curve.  So Hallie left pretty sad and mad.  Which I was a bit sad for her but seeing it laid out like that made me realize that a break may not be a great thing.  She has come so far.  Good side of the appointment, he put some new velcro on her brace and she got 6 new undershirt things.  She hadn't had any in a few years.  They look so clean and good. 
     We both really love Dr. Tom.  He is very upfront and honest about how things are and what we can expect.  We are so grateful to be under his care.

Savanna, Kayla

I shoved Savanna's arm in frosting so Samson licked it off

Aubrey, Kaicey, Livee

Jase

Bailey, Hallie

Broxton

Tyler B, Zane, Tyler, Jase

Hallie, Broxton, Bailey

Aubrey, Livee

Tyler, Jase

Livee lovin Daisy

Livee playing with Aubrey and neighborhood girls

Closer

We survived another trip to U of U burn clinic today. Livee was not excited about going. I tried to tell her it was going to be easy but she informed me that "I am not going". Luckily she was asleep still when I dressed her and I scooped her up and put her in the car this morning so she couldn't put up a fight. As we got close she said "we can go home now".
She survived the appointment. She was even cooperative and happy. He said it looks pretty good. I need keep more lotion on it. It looked pretty chapped this morning. She had a blister about the size of my thumbprint show up the other day. He told us how to care for them. He called them friction blisters. Very common to such new skin. That when they pop to get the roof of the blister off and treat with some ointment to prevent infection. That roof skin just traps the moisture and causes a breeding ground for infection. Her new skin doesn't have any pigment in it and that it is clear. That is why it looks so pink and purple. Over exposing it to the sun can cause a dark color that will that way forever, so no sun exposure.
He wants to see us back in a month just to have a peek since she has that one spot that is still dry and having blisters. Just to make sure she doesn't end up with scars that can be prevented.
We didn't have a ton of time to play today since the Munchkins had a performance today. We did manage a lunch from Zupas and a quick trip into Gordman's. Kell came along today. It is nice to have someone to talk to for the drives.
She was quite antsy to get home this trip. I got a shot of her trying to entertain herself with goggles. She is such a nut.
The kids at home did awesome. The house was tidied and I didn't get very many phone alls of fighting. Thanks guys.

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The Wizard of Oz

Tonight is opening night for The Wizard of Oz. Last night was family night. Aleena is such a cute Munchkin. She has really had fun practicing. Especially since her cousins Macey and Alexey have been in it with her. I didn't realize we could take pictures on family night so my phone pictures will have to do. Livee didn't last the whole show. She loves the first half but after intermission she bonked her toe and tore it open and it was bleeding. We got that under control and then she was hot and thirsty and she was very concerned when the Winkies were coming out. She is quite scared of them. She saw them at a practice. So we went upstairs where it seemed safer to her but she still had the 100 questions of when they were coming? Are they scary? Will they hurt us? Then the monkeys came out. Is toto scared of them? Are they mean? Who are they? Anyways, we survived the show. As many shows as I have been to there I am not sure why I never thought of it before but we brought in Livee's booster chair from the car and fit in her seat perfect without folding her in and giving some height.
Aleena is in purple flower dress, Macey is in red and Lexey purple.

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Baseball champions

We had a night of baseball. Jase's team had to play the Mud Cats. If they won then they were #1. If they lost it would be there first loss and they would play the Mud Cats again for 1st place. We lost our first game by 1 point. It was a hot game. We started at 5:30. Some of the boys took it pretty rough. They haven't lost any league games. They pulled it together and won the second game. They got 1st place. It was pretty exciting. Way to go PS- there was the cutest dog at the game. She was loving' on Jase.

Miguel, Jace, Riley, Chandler, Corbin, Robert
Jase, Kaison, Austin, Dase, Payton, Caleb
Coach Nick (not in picture), and Coach Miguel

Foot

Here is Livee's foot from today.  She keeps getting blood blisters on her little toes.  She has had 3 total.  Today I had the thought of maybe her shoe is doing it?  Not sure.  They don't hurt her.  The skin around her toenails is slowly peeling off.  I don't think she will lose any nails.  The bottom of her foot skin seems to peel off a little farther everyday.  Not sure if she will actually lose her whole bottom or not. 


The strip of scabby part is where the white areas were that the Dr was concerned about in the beginning.  It is taking the longest to heal.  She has one little rough spot on the inside.  The rest of the foot is super soft.  It is a bit more purple than the picture shows. 

Baseball

Jase has had a tournament going on.  This have won each game so far.  They played Thursday, Friday and will play Tuesday maybe Wednesday.  I got a couple of him pitching.  He is getting much better at pitching.  These boys look so big and tough when they are out there playing ball and then I see them at the pool swimming and being silly and I realize just how small and young they are.  They really are tough out there on the field.

This is why the Littles like baseball.  They are building a "bolcano" as Livee calls it.

Swimming again...

Saturday we had lots of kids at our house.  I was watching Kaydee's kids, Kell was here with kids and Amylee was here kids.  It was a hot day out and everyone wanted to go swimming.  Livee was really wanting to go so we gave it a try.  I had her leave her compression sock on and her water shoe in the pool.  I was worried that the water would make her skin soft and the pool bottom would tear her foot apart if she went in with it naked.  She did great.  She didn't complain about it.  She loved it.  She even kicked around just like it was nothing.  I was hoping she wouldn't last too long because I wasn't sure what the long exposure would do to her skin with a wet sock.  She lasted about an hour.  I wanted to take her sock off and dry her foot off a bit.  She was not very happy about that.  She didn't want anything to hurt it.  That sock is her comfort zone.  I was just afraid the wet sock would make her have a soggy foot.  It was a great afternoon at the pool.

Amylee and Kell playing with Livee

Cooper and Tate

Quincey, Sage and Faith

Kell, Livee, Jase

We had a great full weekend with lots of kids, food, and fun.

Treasure Hunting

Sometimes when we are in town we will stop at the local DI and go "treasure hunting". Some finds are definitely better than others. We happened to score a good one the other day. It was a bag of Polly Pockets and clothes for $2. It was kind of hard to tell exactly what was in the bag but when we got home we were pleasantly surprised. Livee loves them and has played with them a lot. We got a cute little purple bucket also to keep them in foe $.75. Her favorite ones are the matching Ariel mermaid ones.

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Spoiled

Livee was already spoiled but since her accident she has become super spoiled. We have got to work on getting back to the kind of spoiled stage. Yesterday we went to Jase's baseball game. I had packed some treats for her for the game. She threw a fit for at least half of the game because I would not give her money to buy a treat there. She fell asleep in the car and woke up on the wrong side. Wowza. Speaking of baseball, Jase hit his first home run last night at his game. That was fun. Miguel had one too. It was so fun. They won so we have another game tonight. They are in the end of season tournament.
We had quite a chilled day yesterday. I think all the kids ended up taking naps. They needed it. Savanna is still in Twin at volleyball camp. Kaydee has been super awesome and has helped get her there and back. I am going to take her kids when I go get Savanna today and let them play at our house til tomorrow.
I also forgot to mention before that when Livee got hurt and coukdn't walk, Brad promised Livee a new bike when she started walking on her foot. On the day she took a few steps, she reminded dad. But now that she is really walking she got to pick it out. I wish we had a bit more space to ride bikes without the rocky road. Oh well.

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4th of July

We started our holiday a little early.  On Tuesday night, we headed to Rupert to where Uncle Matt works, an elderly care facility.  They were lighting off some fireworks.  Kell was taking her family so we went with too.  Luckily we had packed blankets and sweatshirts for our sleep over at Kell's because it was chilly out.  We snuggled up on the grass and watched the show.  They were big fireworks and we were pretty close which led to really loud.  Livee wasn't so sure she liked that.  She did pretty good after she got comfy and kept her ears plugged.  Aleena and Jase were super wound up and were being quite crazy.  We then headed to Kell's after a quick stop at Walmart for a few groceries.  Aleena had to be in Rupert on the morning of the 4th for a parade to advertise for the upcoming Wizard of Oz so we stayed the night at Kell's.  She is a bit closer plus my kids have been dying to have a sleepover with them. 
     Kell's neighbor has a man made pond on his property.  It has boats, zip line, swings, a picnic area, a slide, diving board and a bridge to jump off.  They call it Harris Pond, Jeff Harris is the man who owns it.  Kell's ward has a standing tradition of breakfast and then the neighborhood-ward-whoever wants to come- spends the day there just playing.   We started the day off by going to breakfast.  Kaydee came and stayed the night but she didn't make it to breakfast.  Neither did Savanna.  They served up pancakes, hashbrowns, sausage and yummy fruit with juice or milk.  Yum, Yum.
     We rounded up everyone and headed out for the parade.  We had Aleena, Macey and Alexey to their float around 9:30 and went and got us a spot in front of the Minidoka Hostpital.  We got a pretty good spot.  Our shade moved by the time the parade hit us, so we were sweaty little monsters by the end.  The girls float was one of the last ones.  I was starting to get worried that they were super hot, but they were troopers and it didn't seem to bother them.  They had fun.  Livee was cute to watch.  She waved at every float or car like they were parading just for her.  Savanna informed us a few times that she was bored.  The other kids just played and toughed it out.  I will admit.  It was hard for me to sit there and watch.  I don't think it was the parade.  I just needed a bit of shade and then it would have been better.  Note to self.  Bring an umbrella for back up.  Sitting with family and a pile of ants made it more exciting. 
     It was 12:30 ish when the parade ended.  We headed back to Kell's to fix Nachos.  Awesome idea from Kaydee.  They tasted delicious.  The adults seem to overeat at family functions and the kids don't eat because they are to busy playing.  The kids got dressed and we headed out for the pond.  Brad had to work for the morning but met up with us at the pond.  This year I made sure to have life jackets for all my kids so then I didn't have to worry.  Livee can't swim with her foot yet, especially in dirty pond water.  She was a super good sport at just hanging out and watching the kids.  She loved to stand on the bridge and watch the kids.  After a few times of me going with her because I didn't want her falling in, she put her life jacket on and could by herself.  I found myself being a bit paranoid about her falling in and my 2 other young ones being by the water with out life jackets. 
     Everyone brought food to share and meat to bbq for dinner.  After dinner Mr. Harris brought out the train for rides for the littles.  Livee was so excited to get to participate.  She went on almost every single round.  And ended the evening with the Candy Cannon.

BREAKFAST

PARADE

Hallie is teaching the kids how to play belly tag.

listening to the rules of the game.

My no face daughter Savanna

Quincey hiding.

Can you guess which one has the short parents and the tall parents? 

Livee lovin' on her Auntie

Faith and No-Face

Tate, Cooper and Livee making themselves comfortable by the snacks.

The float we have been waiting for.

Faith, Tate, Quincey, Hallie, Livee, Gracie, Jase, Cooper

THE POND

No-Face, Livee and Aunt Kell hanging out on the bridge.

Quincey, Tate, Lex, Brigam (Lex's friend) Hallie

Me showing the kids how to hook up their Zip line.

Macey, Gracie, Jase.  Once they knew how to do it they did it for a long time. 

No-Face

Aunt Kaydee brought her toe stuff and gave Kell and No-Face new pretty toes.

I told Livee "Do not show me your kisser!"

Cooper and Livee lovin' the train ride.

Quincey, Lexey, Hallie, Brigham, and Tate on the end.  They jump off the bridge.

Hallie swinging and the crew behind them.

The boys giving the girls a final boat ride.

Blowing bubbles with bubble gum and chilling.

Paddle faster, paddle faster

The four baywatch girls.
Gracie, Brigham, Hallie, Quincey

Aleena



Waiting for the candy out of the Candy Cannon.

   

 We rounded our stuff up and headed back to Kell's. Brad headed home and Savanna headed out with Aunt Kaydee so she could go to Volleyball camp.  After showering off fishy water and cleaning up messes we headed to the back yard to watch a few fireworks.  Livee was suddenly deathly afraid of them.  Matt's brother in law had bought some fun ones and so we watched for a bit but decided we would head out.  My kids were exhausted and Livee was going to have a heart attack.  My kids were all asleep before getting home.  It was an awesomely fun filled day.  Thanks for day my wonderful family.