Bear Lake

Over the weekend we went up to Bear Lake. Eric's cousin has a cabin there and they let us use it. Almost my entire family was able to come. We had a lot of fun, even if the weather didn't fully cooperate with us.

On Saturday we went down to the lake and had it to ourselves. Well, there was a good reason for that. The sun was sort of shining, but spending a lot of time behind clouds, and the wind was blowing. It made it rather chilly. The kids played on the beach a little and had fun playing in the sand with Uncle Brad while building temples (not castles, but temples according to them).
They all took turns going out in a canoe my brother brought up. They all had fun out on the water, and were very well behaved.

While some of us were near shivering, the only one seemingly unaffected by the coldness of the day and the water was Hannah. She wanted to get in the water (and did) and then didn't want to get back out again. I guess the youngest in our group was also the strongest. =)

Back at the cabin we watched movies and played games. My family are all big time gamers, so we loved having the time to play. (Sorry for the poor quality picture, but you get the idea.)
Even though the weather didn't allow for a fire outside, Eric was determined to have smores anyways. I didn't mind because they were yummy! After some delicious omelets courtesy of my cute hubby, we all headed for home on Sunday morning. Thanks to Sam and Jamie for providing their cabin so we could have such a fun weekend!

Listening Skills

Okay, so I've been having issues lately with Emma and her listening skills. I know my mom will laugh at this post, because she always claimed I had selective hearing. Whenever she'd want me to do something I conveniently wouldn't be able to hear her. I don't remember anything like that though. All I remember was being the perfect child. =) Okay, so now you're all laughing. But Emma is so wierd sometimes. I'll ask her to pick something up off the floor and give it to me, and she'll look around for it and sometimes never get it. It's almost as if she doesn't see it, but that's not it. According to doctors so far she has perfect vision like her Mama, but she'll practically trip over the object before "seeing" it to get it. And it's not as though I'm asking her to get something she's not familiar with... it's always something she knows like her sippy cup! What the???!! But then she'll have a moment like she did yesterday when she picked a cheerio off the floor (I hadn't swept up her breakfast yet) and put it in her mouth and made a yummy sound. I told her not to put food in her mouth that had been on the floor, and she promptly spit it back out. She baffles me. For someone with perfect vision and perfect hearing she sure has a funny way of showing it. Are all kids like this or is it just mine? You know, if it's just mine maybe don't tell me so I can still live in the dillusional world I've created where my daughter is perfectly normal... just like her Mom. =)

Family Cook-Out

Over the weekend my family went up the canyon to have dinner. We love dutch oven cooking, and try to go as often as we can. This time we were celebrating my brother's birthday. I was pretending it was a get together for Emma and me since we just got back from California. The kids all seemed to love being outside. Emma kept getting scraped up, crying, and then moving on to more fun. I'm always amazed at how resiliant kids are. The temperature was perfect, and so was the food. I just love being outside. I can't wait to go camping this summer. It's our favorite activity. We probably know of at least 5 or 6 times that we want to go, and that doesn't include the spontaneous camping that will occur. If you ever can't get ahold of us on the weekend, you know we're off in a tent somewhere or up on a trail. I love it. In the video the kids were running around the fire pit with trains. The background noise is John trying to get Hannah 's attention for a picture. The kids kept running around like this. They loved it, and amazingly enough, no one got dizzy.

I Scream, You Scream...

Icecream. It's a dangerous word. If we say it within earshot of Emma we better make good on it. She remembers without fail that we said icecream, and will not hesitate to remind us 20 or 30 times. We went out for Icecream the day after we got back from California. Emma said she wanted pink icecream. We got her strawberry, but she ended up wanting Eric's chocolate raspberry more. She is so funny when she eats icecream. She concentrates and totally focuses on the cone. Sometimes she almost looks angry she is so focused. Maybe it's such a big deal because she doesn't get it that often, so when she does she has to enjoy every second of it. I don't think I've ever met a child who didn't like icecream, so it's not a surprise that she loves it so much. Our weakness is how much we love watching her eat it... she's so funny.