Bear Lake

Our ward does a campout every summer in Bear Lake.  We have heard that it is so much fun, and have been looking forward to it for a while.  Everything we heard about it was true.  We had a blast!  It was so nice to get away and not worry about computers, phones, and every day worries.  We had fun getting to know people in our ward better, and just hanging out.  Sydney and Cooper absolutely loved every second of it.  They had so much fun playing with the other kids who were there.  I loved watching them be so intrigued by nature.  They loved the dirt, sand, sticks, and water, and even loved it when they found a snake!  They loved running around at night with their flashlights.  And they really were never bored.  It is so fun to see what they come up with when there are no toys around.  We also got raspberry shakes a couple of times, which were so yummy!  Hopefully we will be in the ward next year, and will be able to go again!

Matt won this "vacation lodge" tent at work, and it was our first time using it.  It was so nice to have a ton of space.  We were even able to set up the pack-n-play in there for Cooper and still have a lot of extra room.

Cooper loved playing in the sand.  He was so content.  He also loved finding whoever had some candy or food and getting some from them.

Sydney had so much fun going back and forth from the water to the sand.  She was not scared of the water at all and loved swimming.

Ella and Sydney

Some families from the ward brought their jet ski's and let everyone take turns on them.  Matt took a few turns on them... two with Sydney, one with Cooper, one with me, and one by himself.  It was my first time on one, and I was a little nervous, but it was really fun!

Sydney loved it!  Matt even let her steer by herself a little bit, which she was excited about.

Cooper cried at the beginning and the end of his ride, but liked the middle.  He was happy to not go again.

Another family brought these boat things.  We all went on one together, and I held Cooper in my lap.  It was so relaxing (having Matt row us around... ha ha) that Cooper fell asleep.

The kids all played games while the adults packed up to go home.  They did 3-legged races, played with a parachute, colored pictures, and loved it!

We had such a great time.  It was our first time camping together, and hopefully won't be our last!

Family Reunions

One of the things I admire most about Matt's extended family, is how close they are.  I remember I used to be so perplexed that Matt could talk about his first-cousin-once-removed, or his 2nd cousin, or his grandpa's sister like he knew them and what was going on in their lives.  I have a hard time just keeping up with my first cousins.  (Granted I currently have about 65 first cousins, some of whom are just weeks old.  I actually am somewhat proud that I even know all of their names!)  Anyway, I love that Matt's extended family has reunions, and I attribute their closeness to getting together often. The Page side of the family usually gets together twice a year, and the Watkins family once a year.  I'm talking Matt's grandparents, their siblings, and all of their posterity.  I have enjoyed getting to know Matt's extended family through these reunions.  The Watkins family held their reunion a couple of weeks ago.  It was fun, as always.

                           

 I think the highlight was the pie eating contest!

A week later, we had a Page Family Reunion, that was not quite as extended- the Ron and Sandy Page family.  (Matt's grandparents, their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren)  We all gathered together for a week long reunion in Park City.  We had a blast hanging out with everyone, especially family we don't get to see as often.  Nana and Papa found a perfect balance of having things planned to do, and letting everyone relax and chill with no schedule. 

We did lots of hanging out...

Fort Building...

Basketball games, Mountain Biking, Ping Pong Tournaments and card games-"Nickel, Nickel"

Plus a fun competition of Minute-to-Win-it Games...

And Swimming...

We also sewed and serged holiday placemats for our families (and yes I did mine all by myself!), waxed our hands, enjoyed family dinners each night, and listened to in-law family histories.  Sydney and Cooper had a blast with so much family around.  They loved learning everyone's names who aren't familiar to them, and by the end they could pretty much name everyone.  The rooms were so nice, and it was great to have our own space, which made naps much easier.  The kids' favorite part of the rooms was the huge bathtub!  They took several baths in it, since it was pretty much another swimming pool for them.

Cooper is a little less social than Sydney, took longer to warm up to others, and could often be found asking Cadie or me to "hold you?" He has a special bond and love with Cadie.  But I think he slowly warmed up to everyone.  Still, when I show him pictures he likes to point out everyone and say their names.  He was so cute to watch at the ping pong tournament, because he kept finding puddles and splashing in them.  I have been amazed at how much he likes getting into things like that, and dirt!

Sydney couldn't get enough of bouncing from one person to another.  She absolutely loved having so many people around, and learned that they would give her anything she wanted- candy, chocolate milk, you name it.   She absolutely adores Mason and playing with him.  It has been fun that they have been able to interact more as he's gotten older.

 

Our last night there, we had time scheduled to take family pictures.  Our photographer and Corie were both stuck in Parley's Canyon, because the road was closed from a car that caught on fire.  Needless to say, our photo session was delayed (a lot) so we took pictures with our own cameras.  These are those pictures, which actually turned out really nice.  It was funny to watch us amateurs taking pictures with sunny/shady spots all over.  At one point Chris put a t-shirt on our umbrella stroller and held it up to block some sun that was on someone's face.  Too funny!  It's fun to have pictures of us all dressed up nice though.

One thing I have realized in my "old age" is that it is hard to get a big group of people together, who all have different schedules, live in different states, and have differing interests.    But just because something is hard, doesn't mean it's not worth doing.  Just the opposite can be true.  Usually hard things are the most rewarding.  I think this is the case with family reunions.  After all, families are forever, so we should keep working on our relationships even while our families grow and change.  

With that being said, thank you so much to Nana and Papa for always putting so much effort into getting the family together.  I can tell you that coming from what I thought was a close family, it is amazing to see your family interact with one another.  Even though they all have different interests, they still care about each other and enjoy being together.  You have an amazing ability to treat everyone special, to love everyone, and to take anyone into your family, and I have been lucky enough to be a recipient of it.  I have the same goal for my family as it grows. 

Friends

Seriously.  Love these girls!

One of the best things this summer has been being able to see them more.  Thanks for a fun summer filled with multiple play dates, dinners, and fun... missed you Stabie!

One of Kelli's amazing dinners... right before Lena had her beautiful baby.
If I had money, I would make Kelli quit her job and come live with us to cook all our dinners...
Really, I still have so much to learn!

Our first annual (hopefully) girls night in Midway!
Included dinner, late night chatting, 1:00 am pictures with no makeup,
delicious breakfast, chick flicks, swimming, lunch in Park City, and no kids....
perfect for catching up and a nice break.

Taking pictures at 1:00 am in the princess tent?  Why not?

It will lead to hysterical laughing and delirious things

Lunch when Chelsey was in town!

So. Much. Fun.  I really wish we all lived closer. Let's plan something around Christmas!

Our Tomatoes!

Remember how we planted a garden back in May?

Well it has grown like crazy and we picked our first big tomato this week! Quite the exciting event!

Those of you who know me well, know that I do NOT like tomatoes.  But I have loved having our own tomatoes growing in our back yard.  We've been getting our little "sun-sugar" tomatoes for a couple months now, and picked our first big tomato this week, so we are really starting to see the fruits of our work.

It's been so fun to see something that you have put work and love into, grow into something beautiful.  And even though I don't really like to eat them, Sydney and Cooper LOVE to eat them.  They eat the sun-sugar ones like they are grapes.  So they've been having tomatoes cut up with lunches every day.  It has also been so fun to go out to the backyard and pick our own food, rather than getting them at the grocery store.  If we ever have our own yard, I would love to do a bigger garden with more veggies in it! (maybe even some that I do like!)

May 16th

August 13th
Sydney with one in her cheek- picked right off the vine

They have gotten so tall (taller than Matt) and heavy... they've fallen over twice and are being held up by rope tied all over the place.  Tyler, the greenhouse guru, told us that they have done extremely well, some of the best he's seen outside of the greenhouse... so we must have some green thumbs!

It has been fun to watch the kids get so excited about watering and picking the tomatoes.  Such a fun experience!

Pioneer Day Festivities

Summer is sure keeping us busy!  One of our busiest days this summer was Pioneer Day.  We had so much going on that day, that we even had to say no to a few activities.  Nevertheless, it was an exhausting, busy, fun, festive day!  To start out the day, our ward had a neighborhood breakfast.  The Relief Society Committee was in charge of this activity, which I am on, so it made it extra busy for us.  As part of the activity, the neighborhood puts on a bike parade, and a fun run.  We decorated bikes the night before so we could be ready bright and early.  The kids loved decorating their bikes.  It was so fun to watch them be so excited over some crepe paper and ribbon.  Sydney was especially proud of her bike and kept the decorations on it for a few weeks.  After we were done decorating bikes, we put the kids to bed, and Matt and I went to Harry Potter with Corie and Cadie, while Jana came over to stay with our kids.  Sydney woke up when they came over, and was so excited to show Jana her bike.  Matt and I enjoyed going to a midnight movie, and felt like teenagers again.  Going to a late movie sure made our busy day the next day even more tiring... but it was totally worth it!

Early Saturday morning, I headed over to the church to set up for the breakfast, and Matt took the kids over to the beginning of the bike parade.  The kids were so excited to ride their decorated bikes.  Cooper rode his from the clubhouse all the way to our house, where Matt dropped off the bike and switched for a stroller.  Sydney rode hers all the way to the church- about a mile.  I loved seeing her ride in to the church parking lot... so proud and happy.  Someone in our ward arranged for a fire truck, ambulance, and police car to be in the parade with the kids.  Sydney loved it.  She was riding in front of the ambulance and said she kept having to pedal faster so it wouldn't catch up to her.  The activity turned out to be a success.  Everyone had a good time eating pancakes and socializing.  Can I just say... we love our ward!

Decorated bikes... ready to go!

the home stretch

decorated and ready 

love

After the neighborhood breakfast, we hopped around to a few different activities- one of which was Draper Days.  Draper Days holds a special place in my heart.  I remember being so excited for it as a kid.  I loved the parade.  I loved walking down to the park and seeing so many friends there.  Then I loved when they started doing the rodeo.  And of course, my favorite was always the fireworks.  I have to admit...  I was really disappointed in Draper Days this year.  It was kind of like going to an overpriced dollar store.  There wasn't really much to do... just a ton of little booths with crappy things to buy.  We did find some ponies to ride- and Sydney LOVED it.  Cooper got to pet some, and loved that as well.  And we found a train to ride.  But really it wasn't very impressive.  Kind of makes me sad.  The fireworks, however, were great.  We watched them at Nana and Papa's house again.  It is so nice to watch them there, and not have to worry about crowds.  But, it might be one of the last years we are able to see much.  The trees are getting so big and are starting to block our view.

On the Sunday the 24th, actual Pioneer Day, we had some great lessons and talks in church.  It really is remarkable what the pioneers did.  We would not have the church we have today without them.  I am so grateful for all the sacrifices they made for us.  It truly is so humbling to think about the pioneers and all they did, and I pray that we are making them proud.  

After church, we headed over to my cousins' house- the Schones.  We had a fun BBQ and a little home fireworks show.  Arial fireworks were made legal this year (which on a side note has been fun and crazy... it's been fun to see fireworks all across the valley lighting up the sky, but they are typically going off so late, and are so loud... it was hard for the kids to sleep).  So we had a couple arials in our home show.  When we came to the last one, it actually fell over and started shooting horizontally instead of vertically.  We were literally running and ducking as they bounced off of cars and into yards, and really were so blessed that no one was hurt.  It was quite an adrenalin rush and finale.  Besides that, it was a fun night.  Our kids always have fun playing with other kids, and Sydney especially loves playing with Jocelyn Blythe.  It's always fun to see my cousins!

Cooper, Jocelyn, Sydney

Summer is flying by so quickly.  We are trying to soak up the last of our carefree, schedule-less days, and nice weather before fall sneaks in!