South Lake Tahoe

Last week my side of the family went to South Lake Tahoe for a week. We left early Saturday morning and drove pretty much all day long and got to our hotel at about dinner time. The kids did great on the drive! We came back this past Saturday night.

Sunday we went to church and checked out the different things at our hotel. We also walked out on the beach and took a couple of pics.

We went to Emerald Bay on Tuesday for a day at the beach. It was a beautiful and perfect day. We parked at the parking lot at the top and walked a mile down to the beach (our only choice). We got to try stand up paddle boarding. Lots of fun! We rented a couple of kayaks as well. There was a little island you could go out to and hike to the top.

We did lots of swimming at the pool! The kids had a great time.

The pools were a bit on the cool side, so we always jumped in the hot tubs as well :)

Justin and Preston (our bil) went golfing at Edgewood Golf Course on Monday night. They were lucky to go before a celebrity tournament started the next day and lasted for the rest of the week.

We walked around in downtown South Lake Tahoe and looked at the shops. Jackson liked these tractors, surprise!

Jackson loved just playing in the sand with toys and tractors.

Justin trying out the stand up paddle board. It was pretty simple, really.

All the kids at Emerald Bay.

Emerald Bay. Isn't it beautiful?!

Kayaking to the island at Emerald Bay.

We went on a big family hike one morning just by our hotel. We probably made it about half a mile with all of the kids before turning around.

All the cute kids!

The whole group! There were 20 of us. (My dad is taking the picture)

Jackson loved playing with Mitt and Major, his cousins! They were good at helping him and playing with him.

We found a place to fish one day. Ryan brought his fishing poles, so our kids got to take turns. After about an hour, Molly actually caught a fish! Then Lexie caught one.

Justin took Molly one day to see the golf tournament. She got to give a high five to Annika Sorenstam (pro golfer) and Annika's husband (who was her caddy) gave her a bag of chips. She was pretty excited about it!

On Friday we went to another beach a bit closer to us called Round Hill Pines. The kids had fun burying each other.

It was a fun, much needed vacation for our family. Justin was happy to be out of the office for a week and it was fun to be someplace new! The hotel was really nice and we had two 2 bedroom rooms, next to each other. The hotel had a mini golf course, playgrounds, tennis courts, pools, hot tubs, walleyball, a movie theatre and a putting green. We signed our kids up several times for the kids club activities-painting, jewelry making, clay building, and making souvenirs. Non stop fun! We mainly ate in our rooms and each couple was in charge of a night for dinner. Thanks to my parents for getting the hotel (timeshare) for us! We had a blast!

Boating at Pineview

We got to go boating a couple of weeks ago with my Uncle Randy (my dad's brother). We met him at the yacht club at Pineview where he keeps his boat. My brother Ryan, and sisters Natalie and Emily also came with their kids. We rotated who went out on the boat while the others hung out at the clubhouse and watched tv, or played on the swing set.

It was a lot of fun! It was a beautiful day, perfect for boating! Molly and Ali both tried the water ski and had a good time. (The pic of Molly isn't very close, and it was on my phone so it's all grainy)

We also went for some rides on the tube!

Here are the silly kids. The adults even got to go out and I had a chance to slalom. It was a lot of fun. Randy is a good sport for taking us! We had a yummy lunch at the clubhouse when we were all finished on the water.

4th of July, 2014

The 4th of July was a blast! Emily and Ryan (my brother and sister) were both in town with their families (minus Zack-school)!! We had a great time with all of our cousins since we were reunited! We got together in the afternoon and had a fun bbq that night and shot off some fun fireworks.

There was lots of fun on the trampoline. My parents got the grandkids all 4th of July t-shirts.

Jackson found someone's little bird animal and was pretty happy playing with it.

I've done this hairdo before on Molly, but I tried it out on Ali this year.

In the morning we went to the parade in Layton with Justin's brother and his family. The kids had fun grabbing candy with their cousins, Laney and Reese (and baby Crew too).

We love America! So grateful we live here.

Father's Day

Daddy got some lovely grilling tools as well as a coupon to purchase a grill, seeing as we don't have one :) We also gave him a coupon for a lawn mower. All things you need when you become a first time homeowner. Yay! We did in fact get a lawn mower, the next day. No grill yet, but we are looking.

These little questionnaires were done with a babysitter. We have used the cutest babysitter who does scavenger hunts and all kinds of fun things with our kiddos. A few of my favorites from these lists were from Ali. She wrote that Justin is 54 years old and as big as an elephant. Cute.

Justin didn't want me taking pics, but come on! We also made this handprint tree for him. We made one a year or two ago and so now he can replace it with this recent one. He keeps it in a frame in his office.

Justin is the best father to our children. He loves to spend time with them and plays with them. They look up to and admire him so much. I have never had a mommy's girl or boy because their dad is so great that they would never cling to me and not him! We love him so much! And we also love our fathers and grandfathers. So grateful for fathers!