Beautiful Bear Lake

This was our fourth wonderful year vacationing at Bear Lake. I guess it is now a tradition. A tradition I hope we never stop. It is so much fun to spend a few days at the beach, boating, playing games, EATING, and enjoying the relaxed time with family. I couldn't have asked for a better vacation. The boys are already asking me when we can go back to Bear Lake. I try to smile when I say, "Next summer." Even Elijah can't forget the fun we had. "Beach" is now his favorite word. And if you know how many times a day I hear "backhoe" and "Mia", you would really be impressed. Here are a few pictures to share in the fun!

Luke

What can I say about Luke that I haven't already said? He is a great kid. I am one lucky parent to have him. With all the busyness of life, it seems that I have neglected to post so many things that he has been doing. So here are some things that my oldest son has been up to...

Luke got a guitar for his birthday, and has been taking a few lessons from "Bishop Rod". He loves to go up the road to "Bishop Rod's" house for an hour of guitar, singing, and talking. They have such a good relationship and I'll bet Luke is one of the only kids around who has a 70 year-old man for a best friend. One day when I picked him up from guitar lessons, he asked if he could have a sleep-over at "Bishop Rod's". Um, maybe not a sleep-over, but you can go visit anytime you want!

What a special day! Luke got to be baptized by his dad in May. He was so excited for weeks before the big day. We were so lucky to have our families there to support us, even Grandma and Grandpa Gunnerson came all the way from Manilla! He is such a good boy and very thoughtful and honest that when the Bishop asked him if he could "endure to the end" (always try to be good) he answered..."maybe." It was so cute to know that he was actually thinking about it and not just giving an automatic answer.

Now that he is 8, Luke is SO happy to be a Cub Scout. He went to his first pack meeting with Grandpa McNeil while Rick and I were on our cruise. By the very next pack meeting he earned his Bobcat. This is us all decked out in our face paint after the meeting. He loves to do his scout stuff and is always bringing me his book to sign off on something!

At one pack meeting he even got to lead the scouts in the flag ceremony! What an honor.

Luke was a telegram delivery man in the 2nd grade play. He came home all excited about having such a long speaking part. He hurried and memorized it and did a great job during the play. Here he is (as usually) with best friend Brody. They had the BEST school year being in the same class. We will see how they do next year without each other.

The last day of school was an awards assembly (which is painfully long, hot, and boring). Here he is with all this spelling awards. He got second in his class, second in his grade, and fourth in the whole school! He obviously does NOT take after me when it comes to spelling.

Just four more weeks until school starts again. It seems crazy that Luke is going to be in third grade! He is growing up too fast, but it is fun to see him get more mature and interested in more things. He is OBSESSED with sports and seriously thinks he is going to play in the NBA when he grows up. I go along with it, because I remember an 8 year-old girl who prayed to grow up to be Miss Universe!

Too Much of a good thing?

Can you really ever have too much of a good thing?

Yep. Especially if you are talking about marshmallows. At the Fourth of July potato planting party (seriously, we did it), we decided to roast some marshmallows and have smores as a reward for all of our hard work. Both my mom and Billie Jo must've been drawn to the "giant roasters" Food Town had on promotion, because that is what we had. It seemed like a great idea, but the reality of it was not.

Stay away from these if you see them in the store.

Even Grandpa couldn't stay clean!

Just TRY to eat this without getting marshmallow EVERYWHERE!

Shockingly, Noah was the messiest.

The marshmallow was bigger than Elijah's hand.

One of these is definately enough.

My 2 year old baby

I find myself often referring to "my baby". I say it at work when I am talking to co-workers, I say it to Luke and Noah when I am talking about their little brother, I say it almost every time I am talking about Elijah. Well I may just need to come up with a new phrase because "my baby" just turned two and I don't know if that still classifies him as a baby! In any case, he IS my baby, and since he refuses to talk, he can't tell me to stop. Here are a few pictures of "my baby's" birthday.

"Cheese!" How cute is Eli's smile for the camera?!

Elijah loves all things farm related, so his farm cake was a huge hit!

Of course instead of wanting to blow out candles or eat the cake, he just wanted to drive the tractor through the frosting. What a mess.
Hauling the "hay" out of the field.
A farm boy through and through.

Racing Evan on the tractors.

The best present of all! A ride on the four wheeler with cousins and brothers.

Elijah got "Woody" for his birthday from my mom, and the next morning, he decided to take him for a horse ride. It was all his doing and TOTALLY cute!

Playing Hooky

Shh, I don't want this to get around, but today I am playing hooky.

Elijah has been sick with some sort of stomach bug this weekend, so I decided that I would be a responsible parent and NOT take him to the baby sitter's house today. Yeah, a day home from work! Even though it came at the expense of my sick baby, I get to spend the day home with my boys. I even let Luke in on the action. He has had a cough for a few days now and this morning when I said I was staying home he convinced me that he shouldn't go to school in case he coughed on someone and got them sick. Normally I would tell him to get ready for the bus, but not today. The fact that it has been SNOWING all morning has just made me feel like turning on the fireplace, staying in my sweats, and lounging around. So, that is what we have done.

Lounging on the couch reading books

Drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows.

(Yes, I know it is May 24th, but hot chocolate seems fitting for today!)

Having fun in the snow.
(Yep, snow deep enough to play in.)

Making the most of our CRAPPY Utah weather!

Bon Voyage

Before we ever started building our house, Rick and I made a plan to use our American Express as much as we could during constuction to rack up the points to use on a vacation as a reward for FINISHING the house. That plan finally came to fruition last week. We left out of San Diego on the 17th for a week-long cruise to the Mexican Riveria. I was SO worried about going on a cruise because if you know me, you know I get motion sickness riding in an elevator. Thankfully, the seas were pretty smooth and I didn't even get sick...until the last day. Even though I spent most of that day sleeping off my motion sickness drugs, we still loved the cruise and would do it again in a heartbeat. The food was AMAZING. The entertainment was FUN. The ship was BEAUTIFUL. The beaches were FANTASTIC. And the time that we were able to spend together relaxing was PRICELESS. We managed to take 114 pictures, but I did narrow it down to these ten. Today it is snowing in Woodland. BOO! I want to be on the beach.

In port in San Diego with our ship: the ms Oosterdam.

Our first stop: Mazatlan. Walking throuh Old Town.


I love how you can buy meat and fake sunglasses in the same market!


Rick showing me how to bodyboard.


Me not quite getting the timing of the waves.

Our second stop: Puerto Vallarta

We rented a jeep and went into the jungle. It was beautiful.

Our third stop: Cabo San Lucas

This is the marina where the rich and famous park their yachts. Seriously, there was one that was too big to park in the marina and had to be in the bay with the cruise ships. It even had a helipad and helicopter. Ah, that would be the life.

Lover's Beach at Cabo San Lucas.

The very tip of the Baja Pennisula.

Rick was one of the brave people to play in the waves. They were HUGE! Here he managed to get away, but he was not so fortunate a couple of times and was literally smashed into the sand. I kept myself busy laying out.

Formal night in the dining room.

We met up with a fun couple from Arizona and spent a lot of time with them, including the formal dinner where Rick talked us all into eating the escargo. It didn't taste to bad at the time, but was terrible later that evening when I threw it back up.

Easter, Conference, Luke's 8th Birthday...

Although it has been a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to post some pictures of the boys on Easter/Conference/Birthday weekend. Luke was born on conference weekend 8 years ago, and I love that every April conference we get to celebrate his birthday. The best years are those (like this year) where Easter is also on that same weekend. It makes the for the best celebrations. We had a good time decorating the eggs, with only one major spill...and it was ME who spilled the RED die on the table! I let the boys do whatever they wanted to their eggs (a difficult thing for me who wants them all to be "beautiful") and they totally loved it. If they liked to eat hard boiled eggs I would do dozens and dozens of eggs, but I am the only one who eats them and I can only eat so many in the weeks following Easter. Easter morning Rick and I woke up to the sound of cracking eggs and Elijah found the eggs the Easter Bunny left on the stairs and did his best to open them. Noah totally cracked me up with his candy. He is a VERY picky eater, and apparently that applies to candy as well. He found his basket and immediately started giving away the candy he didn't want. In the end he hardly had any. I guess the Easter Bunny needs to stick to plain M&Ms for him.

Luke had some friends over the weekend of his birthday for a pizza, How to Train Your Dragon, and sleepover party. I was aghast that the conversation in the car was about passing gas, but Rick just laughed and said, "Wait until they are Boy Scout age, they will be really obnoxious." Boys. I just don't get them. He had a great 8th birthday, and is SO excited to be baptized in a couple of weeks. I just can't believe that he is at that point in his life already!

Spring has finally stated to come to Woodland and the we have already started loving being outside more. Just one more month until summer break. We all can't wait.