Bear Lake

I probably should have prefaced my last post with some information. We got to go to Utah for two weeks to be with our families, and it was awesome. MAJOR THANKS go to Capital One for giving Tommy so much paternity leave this year, so that we can actually go to our family reunions in addition to Ecuador in the fall. We went to Aspen Grove for the first week, with the Myres extended family, and then we headed up to Bear Lake to be with the Leiningers in a cabin up there. Despite the stomach bug that slowly traveled around the whole cabin during the week (more on that later), we really had a great time. NOTHING, seriously, nothing, makes me more happy than seeing my kids playing with cousins and having a great time. I love it so much. And they were so. happy. As we drove away from my in-laws' house to fly back to Texas, Dane said, "I don't want to go back to Texas. I want to move to Utah and I want to live at Grandma's house." And Graham has asked maybe 12 times, "Fly Utah. Go Utah." They were totally converted. It's hard to explain that if we did live there, it's not like we'd be spending all day playing with cousins every day. No wonder they want to move there, because it is like heaven on earth for them.

At Bear Lake, we stayed in a very nice cabin with an amazing view of the lake. We spent most of our days just driving to the lake and hanging out on the beach with a few rentals like kayaks, canoes, paddleboards, jet skis, and one day, a boat. But of course, our kids were mostly happy with just playing in the sand and hanging around close by. I was anticipating it not being super relaxing, worrying about their safety the whole time. But we just stuck their floaties on them the whole time and with one brief exception when Graham wandered off and got lost for five minutes, everyone was safe the whole time. (I had a couple of nightmares about Graham drowning before we came, and when he disappeared, my first thought was, "He's wearing his floaties so he can't have drowned." But it took us a few minutes of running around looking for him to find him, wandering down the beach saying, "Find Daddy. Find Daddy.") And everybody had fun and was safe, with the exception of Kurt breaking two ribs on the inner tube behind the boat, which was super sad (sorry, Kurt!). 

All in all, it was such a great week, and probably one of the first trips we've taken with our kids where I didn't feel super drained and exhausted and just trampled on by just dealing with over-tired kids all day. Everyone was so happy and our kids are apparently at just good ages to be missing naps because with the exception of a few meltdowns, they were really good. We lucked out and just had a great time.

Graham enjoying the view one morning.

The three babies. Tyler is only four months older than Lucy--HA! And Paige is three months younger.

Six Leininger siblings late at night playing Nintendo together, reliving old times. So cute.

Dane and Maddie made us pancakes.

Lucy dancing to Chipmunk Adventure--a Leininger family favorite movie.

Some genius brought sidewalk chalk for the kids--it was a major hit.

Such a beautiful view from our cabin!

Everyone together in the cabin. It was so fun.

These two babies are going to be buddies. Love that they are the same age.

Graham loved Maddie this trip. He said today, "Maddie my cousin."

I need a beach with sand in my backyard. Seriously, it's their FAVORITE.

Okay, cute story--Graham LOVED this canoe. He did not want to ride in "the boat" but we made him get in and then he absolutely refused to get out. Tommy paddled the canoe all over and every time he started to head back to the beach Graham would screech and point and say "that way!" He wouldn't get out when they finally did come back. Later, when Tommy took just him out, the canoe got tipped over by a wave, and they both fell out. Tommy grabbed him (wearing his life jacket, so he was good), and he has talked about it ever since. "Fall ocean! Crying!" Hahaha. Soooo cute. It didn't change his mind about the canoe, though. He still loved it and wanted to keep going out in the boat.

Hello, cutest baby in the WORLD.

The baby corner, everyone holding their sleeping babies in the shade during the afternoon. Graham conked out after falling in the lake and slept in my lap all afternoon.

Watching Chipmunk Adventure together.

The kids loved using the paddleboard like a big group kayak or something.

Hahaha--Graham as Captain of the canoe.

Cute boys in their matching hand-me-down swimsuits.

Swimming race!

Cute Graham on the jet ski.

These boys spent like two hours playing on this paddleboard together. So cute and fun.

I need to get more pictures, but we all went out on the boat and rode on the tube. The boys were so big and happy about it.

Finally achieved my dream of riding on these big bikes together! We were the fastest in the family, NBD.

Lucy and Paige--cute cousin friends.

Minute to win it activities.

All the cousins (minus baby Tyler).

Enjoying magical Bear Lake raspberry shakes.

We had a Nacho Libre night where the kids all dressed up in Nacho Libre costumes. So fun.

Super awesome Nacho Libre costume for Dane, hahaha.

It was such a fun week for everyone. I am so happy my kids get to have these memories--and me, of course. I'm so grateful to have such fun and nice in-laws. Can't wait for 2019 to do this again.