Bear Lake.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

As promised...here is the second half of our vacation! After spending about a week in Utah, Mark flew up to join me and we all drove to his family cabin up in Bear Lake. It was gorgeous up there...fresh cool air, a turquoise colored lake, lots of space for the kids to run around, and way too much good food to eat! We went out on the boat every day to take the kids tubing and grown-ups water skiing! The water was pretty cold, but once you got in, it wasn't that bad! Here are some shots of Mark out skiing!



One morning we took some of the kids to this cave and hiked up and down LOTS of stairs to get down inside of it! It was pretty cool (or cold I should say...that cave stayed at a constant 40 degrees).
The kids loved playing down on the beach and collecting sea shells. Although the shells they were collecting were from these itty-bitty snails or something similar that would live in a freshwater lake.





On the Fourth, we headed to Paris, ID which is just one of those little towns for a parade! The kids loved it. They threw out so much candy. The parade went down one side of the street and back up the other...so the girls went with Grandma to stand on the other side of the street in the beginning so they could get even more candy!
We did lots of sparklers and set off some fireworks and then watched an amazing fireworks display that one of the neighbor cabins apparently puts on every year!
There are so many other things I wish I had taken pictures of! Actually, I was way too busy relaxing and having fun to haul the camera everywhere! One of the highlights of Bear Lake was going to Le Beau's for raspberry milkshakes and hamburgers and fries! I really can't believe I didn't get at least one picture of this...since someone went out at least once a day to go get a shake or fries from there. Le Beau's is a place like no other! Another fun part of the cabin was the hammock. The kids spent so much time playing in the hammock and I'll admit I thought the hammock was pretty cool. My last picture is a shot from the beach. That spec in the distance is the boat out towing the kids on the tube! Look at that water!
It was kind of sad to come home. Good bye, Bear Lake...we'll come again another summer to visit!



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A little under the weather...

Monday, July 14, 2008

Today is Monday and it is now early afternoon...and I am still alive...well barely! Last week went pretty much like normal. I was trying to get back into the swing of things after being gone for two weeks. Then Friday came along. Friday morning the relief society president called to ask if I could take over the funeral she was doing on Saturday morning at the church. (FYI, I am the second counselor in the presidency, and the first counselor was out of town.) She apparently had some awful flu virus and was in no shape to leave her house. I immediately agreed and anyway, I was already supposed to be helping out with it...so what's a little bit more work. I had a doctor's appointment on Friday morning and then planned on running all over that afternoon to buy the food for approximately 90 people that were going to be attending. Plus I had to prepare a meal for the same family for 7 people and have it to their house by 5:00. I know, it sounds like a lot but I usually have lots of energy and my kids are great most of the time so I knew I could handle it.

Unfortunately, right after I dropped off the babysitter, I started to feel slightly sick to my tummy. I thought maybe my blood sugar was just low and I needed to eat so I rushed home to make us all lunch before we went back out. I tried to eat the best I could but I just seemed to be feeling worse. I laid down on the couch for about 20 minutes and then exercised all my will power available to get going. Afterall, I did have quite a bit to get done before 5:00. First stop...Costco...to price out the hams. The smells alone were pretty difficult for me to endure (if you know what I mean). I just focused on breathing in and out and leaning mostly on the cart while I pushed the girls. Then we hurried out of Costco to head to Albertson's to price their hams. I barely made it through Albertson's and decided to head back to Costco. Of course on the way back to Costco I called Mark for emergency back-up help. I explained that I felt really sick and all the stuff I had to do...and I had no idea how I was going to be able to function. Well, needless to say, once back inside Costco...I had to turn right around and go back to the car and just go home. I was way too sick to be up and needed to be close to my own bathroom immediately.

I won't go into all the gory sick details...but then the fun began. Mark made it home and turned into a superhero! He cut up all this fruit I had purchased the day before and then headed back to Costco with Sydney to buy a ready made meal of sorts (since I had not been able to make what I had anticipated) and drop it off at the family's home. Then he came back home to take care of the kids and get them dinner. Now this is the odd part. For some reason...I started to feel just a little bit better...at least well enough that I felt like maybe I could attempt going back to Costco to get the food needed for the funeral in the morning. So Mark and I and the kids set back out to attack the grocery list. Somehow, I made it through all this and was mostly just exhausted by the end. I was also supposed to play for this funeral so I started to try and find someone to fill in for me...but couldn't get a hold of anyone on Friday night.

Friday night, I pretty much kept Mark up the whole night being sick and all. Then at 7:00 am I dragged into the shower only to get sick right afterwards. The reality was I couldn't really leave the house. Again I frantically called someone to play the piano for me. Finally, a sister in our ward was able to rearrange her schedule so she could do it. And all that food and prep work that needed to be done...well you guessed it...Mark left with Sydney to take care of everything. See he must have been channeling super hero powers that day! He was there from about 8:00 in the morning until 3:00 with two other women working on getting everything ready and then cleaning up afterward. I don't know what I would have done without him. Certainly I was in no shape to go anywhere. I guess Mark is sort of unofficially part of the compassionate service committee! But Mark didn't stop there. He came home, very tired I might add and took care of the kids and cleaned up the house. (Did I mention, I had Sophie at home with me...she pretty much ran all over and made messes and got into thing all day long!) Sunday, Mark continued to be Mr. Mom all day because I was still very sick. I hate flu bugs like that. I always want them to hurry and be over with.

Sunday night I was finally able to start drinking a tiny bit of Powerade and it has helped out marginally. I am still alive today...although pretty weak. I lost 4-5 pounds over the course of 2 days so I am just trying to slowly get my strength back. I am so lucky to have a husband like Mark to step in and help out last minute, even when it is sort of relief society work! I also appreciate those sisters in our ward who helped out with the music and the funeral for me so I could stay home from church and skip out on the funeral. And hopefully no one else in our family gets this stuff. It is absolutely awful!

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First half of Vacation!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

We just returned home from a whirlwind vacation in Utah and Bear Lake...believe me it is tough to come back to reality and the Phoenix heat. I drove up to Provo/SLC area almost two weeks ago with the girls for some exciting adventures and then towards the end of the first week, Mark flew in to join us before we headed to Bear Lake for a week at his family cabin! I decided to do two posts of all our fun since there were so many pictures I needed to explain.

When I arrived in Provo, I stayed with one of my best friends and old roommates from college, Nancy! It was so much fun to hang out with her...and drag her all over Provo for the typical tourist sites that visitors always want to see. One of our favorite places was Bridal Veil Falls. Sydney LOVED it up there and insisted we go back the day Mark came down to Provo with us. (So we went twice!) It was so nice and cool up at the falls, and of course the water was freezing...something we are not used to. Some people put ice in their pools (in Phoenix) as the summer progresses just to cool the water down a bit!
See, it was so cold, I had to wrap Sophie up in her "kiki" because she was freezing! But we enjoyed every second of the cool breeze and weather up in the canyon.

While we were in Provo, we went to BYU campus a few times (once with Nancy and once with Mark) to walk around and see all the changes. I loved the new alumni building and enjoyed the familiar "chirping" of the cross-walk alert! It wouldn't be a visit to BYU without stopping at the Creamery. We managed to go no less than 3 times (and I got a scoop of Earnestly Chocolate ice-cream, every single visit). Sydney has decided she would love to go to BYU someday...just so she can eat at the Creamery. Hey whatever works! Here's a picture of our future Cougars! They have lots of blue blood...Mark and I obviously both graduated from there and both my parents graduated from the Y, as well as Mark's Dad! (Mark's mom went to that red school...but we don't like to mention that too much!)
So I did mention that while I was in Provo, I stayed with Nancy! We just talked, and talked, and talked some more. (Can't blame us...we haven't seen each other for at least a year...and then it was only for a few hours.) It was super fun to crash at her house and also see her tummy...which is full of two babies! Congratulations Nancy! Then Nancy and I went to visit another good friend, Catherine and her cute little girl Ellie. I know this isn't the greatest picture of us, but I thought is was pretty good, considering all the kids seriously needed naps and didn't care who their moms' friends were!

After Provo, I headed up to another best friend and roommates house in West Jordan, Robyn! She has two adorable kids and it was so fun to finally meet them, even though I felt like I knew them so well from all her blogs! We also had a mini-reuion of sorts with another friend from freshmen year, Gretchen, and of course Nancy came! So here is the four of us. It was so fun for all our kids to play together. Sydney was instantly friends with Gretchen's little girl Ava, and then after Ava had to go home, Sydney played with Parker (Robyn's little boy) for the entire stay. We even went to church with Robyn and Joe...and Sydney and Parker sat by each other the entire time. I can't believe how much we have all matured, well sort of! We had lots of fun laughing about some of the silly freshmen memories we have and of course playing the "what happened to so and so" game. I only wish I could live closer to all my old friends! They are so much fun to hang out with! And are kids play great together!
After church on Sunday, before we headed up north to the cabin, we stopped at Temple Square to show the girls around. The visitors center was pretty cool and they have added a lot of new displays downstairs in one of the main visitor centers.


We had a wonderful week in Utah, before heading up to the cabin. There was so much to do and so many people to see...with so little time. I only wished we could have stayed a few days longer! Stay tuned for the rest of our adventures. A huge thank you to Nancy and Robyn for letting us stay at their homes. I guess you guys will have to come to Phoenix sometime...just not in the summer!

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