Bear Lake Reunion

We went to Bear Lake this past weekend for a reunion with Brad's (Bryson's dad) side of the family. I haven't been to Bear Lake in over a decade so it felt like my first time traveling there. Janeen graciously agreed to come and babysit Hunter while we were gone since the reunion schedule entailed an all-day beach/boating excursion. (Extreme heat and Hunter don't mix well.) So, early Saturday morning, with Rock and Eleyna in tow, we headed up. Heather and Danaan had their Clarke family reunion, same weekend, same location, so they drove with us.

Saturday we spent a beautiful day on the north shore of the lake. Eleyna, of course, had a blast with her cousins and Grandpa Vegas. We visited, swam, went tubing on Tyler and Leigh's boat, and just had a grand ol' time. That evening we went back to the ranch house where everyone was staying and ate dinner and visited some more. We rented a condo for our family to stay in (instead of camping on the lawn of the ranch house) so we drove back down to Garden City after dinner. We were all pretty exhausted and went right to bed.

The next morning we went to church with some of Bryson's aunts and their families. After church we went back to the ranch house for lunch and naps. Later that afternoon we divided all the families into three groups and created and performed skits. Even Leynie participated. After the skits we said our goodbye's. On our way back through town we stopped near Raspberry Square for a quick bite and a raspberry shake. May I just say that the 45 minute wait was so NOT worth it. (Especially since we were in the car driving away when we discovered they didn't include Bry's hamburger in our food!)

We let Eleyna lay down between us in the front seat on the drive home. After she was deeply asleep I picked her up and cuddled her from downtown SLC to our house. She is still small enough to fit on my lap. That was my favorite part of the whole weekend.

Hunter looked so good when we got home. Janeen did a great job watching him! I am so grateful for such a sweet mother-in-law.

My mom called me this morning while I was unpacking and told me that she had received an email from my bro Ryan who's serving a mission in Paraguary and that he was called to be an AP this transfer! My brother is awesome! I miss him like crazy and am so proud of the diligent service he's given thus far.
Leynie and her dad on the jet ski.Skits with the bear. Check out my hubby's acting skills-nice gesticulation babe!

And that's a wrap!

Good life

Bry took me to Cucina Toscana on Wednesday. Wowzers! What a treat! We enjoyed an amazing dinner and of course the coversation and canoodling with the boyfriend was great too. Riki and Sunan are our new favorite babysitters. Thanks for making it possible ladies!

Last night I was finishing up the dishes and listening to that song by OneRepublic called "Good Life". I was watching Bryson working out in the backyard from the kitchen window. During one part of the song the lyrics are:

We're young enough to say,

Oh, this is gonna be a good life,
This is gonna be a good life,
This could really be a good life, good life!

In that moment, my heart swelled with happiness as I looked at my sweet husband. I thought, it isn't that we're young enough-and therefore still naive enough or not jaded yet-it is that we have the gospel. That's what gives me the optimism and hope I feel for the future. The gospel has made it possible for me to be part of an eternal marriage and family and that is what makes me say "This is gonna be a good life!" (Sorry for the cheesiness, but that was really what was in my heart.)

Lastly, I got a new calling today. I'm going to be a teacher in the Young Women's. I am super excited to spend time with the awesome youth in our ward!

Also, me, Leynie and Rock have our plane tickets booked for our first trip to DALLAS. Can't wait! :)

Feeling humbled...

...but in a funny/happy kind of way I guess. Last night we were trying to begin FHE with a prayer. Eleyna was pretty keyed up and she wouldn't kneel down to pray. After a couple of minutes of attempting to persuade her I could feel my patience wearing thin. I was pretty close to just throwing in the towel and sending her down to bed. (Late evening is generally not when I shine as a mother.)

Finally she knelt down and we had our opening prayer. Bry gave a short lesson about Nephi getting tied up by his brothers on the ship to the promised land. He told Eleyna that after Nephi was untied he prayed and the Lord calmed the storm. Bry said that we can ask Heavenly Father for things when we pray. We sang a song and then asked Leynie to say the closing prayer. You better believe it hit me hard when she said during her prayer:
"Thank you that I could have family night with my daddy and mommy," and "Please bless that I can get a treat with my father." (So funny to hear her call Bryson "father"!)

I couldn't believe she picked up on what Bry said about asking the Lord for things. It was a tender reward to hear her gratitude for family night. Before bed, Bry and I were talking about it and we agreed that it was a pretty profound teaching moment for both of us.

In other news, see the picture below for Rockwell's new favorite teething item.

So glad I discovered this!!! Rock has been Mr. Grumpypants lately. However, pop a watermelon rind in his mouth and he's happy for at least a little while. I LOVE this precious boy!
On Sunday afternoon we went up the canyon for a get-together with the White family from Bry's ward growing up. It was great to catch up with friends from Vegas that we don't see that often.(Me & my man, Aaron & Lindsey Futrell, Nikki & Jason Robinson, Preston & Taylor White)

Recap

We spent the rest of the holiday at Dave and Jesseann's house. They have a hot tub and we rented a big slip n' slide so of course the kids were occupied all day. (Which meant lots of chatting and mingling for the adults!) It was really fun to spend the day hanging out with the Minks, my cousin April and her husband Benjamin and their four boys (up from Mesa, AZ), Ken and Babata and their four girls, and our cute friends the Camerons who just moved up from California. We didn't squeeze any fireworks in this year. I think those may be on hold until we have at least one kid who can stay up past 7:30.
April, Babata (Shyannah), Jesse (Landon), Me
Last night me and Bry got to go out on a date because our awesome friends Sunan and Riki Laws came over to babysit. Riki is Eleyna's dance teacher for the summer and has become one of Leynie's favorite peeps. They braided Eleyna's hair like Rapunzel's from the movie Tangled. This morning she told me she needed to watch Tangled with her "Tangled" hair.

Happy 4th!

I ran the Freedom Run 5k this morning. I came in at just under 32 minutes. It was super fun. I thought about my dad the whole time and about all of the years we went down to cheer him on. Love ya Papa!

Lazy Sunday

Today was nice. We all went to church together. Hunter did really well and was in his wheelchair the whole time. When we got home everybody took naps-even me and Bry. We had pork tenderloin for dinner tonight and boy, oh boy, was it ever delish! Bry and I are a deadly combo on the ol' grill. I marinate, he grills, the whole family enjoys. (Eleyna ate a whole piece so you know it was yummy.)

A cute story from today: I was sitting on Bryson's lap in the La-Z-Boy rocker and Eleyna crawled up, snuggled her way between us and then said, "Make room for my head."
Family walk. Eleyna is able to ride the bike she got for her birthday really good now.
My big helper girl. Do you have a "helper" at your house?

Lets try this again, shall we?

My parents left Wednesday morning for Texas so my dad can serve as the mission president in Dallas for the next three years.

This has precipitated the need for me to start updating the ol' blog again.

I guess since my baby is nine months old I can't use the "I'm adjusting to having three kids" excuse anymore anyway.

So here goes. My new strategy is to keep it short. Sweet.

Highlights from today were Eleyna riding around on the bike she got for her birthday, bare-bottomed, exclaiming, "I'm riding so good cause I have super powers!" (She was missing pants because we're potty training and she'd just had an accident outside while I was working in the garden.)

She's been full of hilarity lately saying things like:
"It's not your life Mommy, it's my life"
"You look amazing Mommy"
"You are working on me" (while I'm getting her dressed or changing her diaper)
"Just relax and let the pee come out"
"I am a cute child"

I think Rock is in the middle of a "nursing strike". (I'm not making this up, lots of babies around 10 months do it according to my lactation specialist nurse friend in the ward.) If he doesn't start behaving he may get weaned early. He's still not crawling but he has figured out how to roll around and can roll from one end of the living room to the other. He's so dang chubby and cute! He cut his first tooth last week and I think the one next to it is about ready to come through.

Hunter had a good day today. Seizures were more controlled than they have been in weeks. The whole family went to the ward swim party tonight.

So tired. Peace. Out.