Vacation - Part 2

We headed to the cabin on Friday and the kids were so excited to arrive- as was I since my toe hurt :(. Saturday was spent on the lake taking turns on the boat and playing on the shore. Sunday we went to church and the Miller family was church! Granddad, Nana and Spencer spoke in Sacrament Meeting with the cousins singing the musical number. Afterward, I taught all of Primary and Marilee and Julie taught the youth. Janet lead the music in Relief Society and the majority of the kids in YM/YW and Primary were related to us.

Later that day some of the Fraser cousins came out to visit and say hi. We played with the cute babies- Penny and Jenny's little guy- and had fun catching up. Harris and Amber realized they both love Harry Potter and spend hours carving wands for everyone out of sticks the younger kids found on the ground. In the evening, Uncle Adam, Dad and Justin finally arrived having flown into Calgary and then driven out to the cabin. Uncle Adam's flight was late and then they had to change his flight...it went on and on, but he finally arrived and after waiting for him and his luggage the 3 drove out together.

The big girls slept in the motor home since there are too many of us to fit in all the beds in the cabin anymore. The big boys had the downstairs room with the tv and washer and dryers. Josh, Brady and Logan got their own bunk bed room and the rest of us had our youngest one in with us in our own rooms. The girls made a sign and rules and everything for the motor home. They had fun out there together.

While we were there Reece turned 4. She got lots of fun new toys and was really good about sharing them with Grace. These two played together almost every minute of the trip. Avery had a birthday too and turned 2- double the cake for us!

We were on the lake again on Monday. The kids had tons of fun on the boat and on the shore. They loved balancing on the floating docks, swimming, playing on the playground and playing volleyball. Uncle TJ, Uncle Steve and I were the shore parents and kept an eye on the kids not on the boat. Granddad would just drive up to shore when it was time to change kids for the next boat ride and Uncle Steve would wade out into the water and help unload and load the next group. The water was cold- as always- but the kids didn't seem to mind at all.

Who's the whitest?

Fun on the boat!

Ryan and some of his beautiful nieces.

The winning volleyball team doing Marin's made up pose/cheer. Ben was surprisingly good at volleyball. He had never played before, but played well. Maybe another sport to add to his repertoire.

Each night we had story time- adults took turns telling stories from their lives or from our family history. We heard funny stories, and stories about miracles and blessings. It was a fun way to spend each night. We would finish with family prayer and send the kids off to bed. The oldest grandkids and the adults who weren't wiped out would stay up and play Nertz, Rummikub and other fun games until we couldn't see straight anymore.

We had kind of crappy weather later in the week, so there was not as much boat time as we usually have. The kids ended up going golfing, fishing (no one caught anything), rifle shooting and Ryan even had Justin, Ben, Spencer and Amber do some workouts. The dads golfed most everyday. We had a few trips into town and had fun exploring the bookstore, the candy store and buying fudge and Canadian treats at the Pharmacy. I was rather limited in activities because of my foot, but the kids had a great time playing with their cousins and just being together.

We drove all the way to Utah in one day on our way home. Natalie came with us - Justin and Ben went in other cars. Our car stopped for dinner at Applebees in Pocatello and had a fun time being out of the car and giggling. Marin and Natalie are "bestest" friends and had so much fun together. Marin actually stayed in Utah for one more week with the Brinkerhoffs to play with Natalie. Nana and Granddad had a car to drive down to their house here so Marin came home with them.

This is a picture in the car of Amber listening to Nick Jonas sing and daydreaming out the window of the two of them together. I love it!

We spent Saturday in Utah and made sure to go spend some time at Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Paul's house in Draper. Grandpa was so weak and sick when I had been there in April I was worried I might not see him again. One this day he was his old self telling jokes and stories. I am sure he had to take a nap after we left, but it was so fun to see him and listen to his stories- some that I had never before heard.

I should record at least one- he told us of a trip he had taken on business to Brazil. He and his associates and translator were supposed to meet with the Minister of Agriculture. They began their meeting with his deputy or assistant and things were not going well. When they offered coffee, Grandpa declined. He had been told that to decline their drink or food would be a HUGE offense to these people, but he declined anyway since it is against the Word of Wisdom to drink coffee. He said a silent prayer that things would be ok and asked how to get this meeting going on a better note. He then told the man in charge that he loved the products of Brazil and asked if there was something else he could try. In short time a tray of bananas appeared before him. He took one and passed the platter around. He made a big deal of how wonderful it tasted and the tone of the meeting suddenly changed. The Brazilians were now interested in doing business and all went well. As they left the associate who had told him he had better drink the coffee was stunned. He wanted to know how in the world Grandpa had turned the meeting around like that. Grandpa replied that he had prayed. He told him to keep it up!

Anyway, We had a great visit with Grandpa and ma. Then we went at saw a movie called "17 Miracles" about the Willie and Martin handcart companies. It was very moving and made me always want to be a better and more faithful person. I took my kids to ice cream at Thanksgiving Point afterwards. Ryan and Justin missed the movie so that they could climb up the mountain to the "Y" . We all met up at Nana's later for a BBQ with Uncle TJ's family as they were in town because TJ was being put into the bishopric in their ward the next day. We headed home on Sunday and made it in good time. The next day football practice started and Amber and I had run-thrus for "Hello Dolly", so we jumped right back into being busy. Great memories!