We Love Bear Lake!

Our awesome friends (more like family), Kevin and Laura invited us to their amazing cabin at Bear Lake. The lake is on the Utah-Idaho border and the cabin is on the Idaho side. This is the view from the wrap-around porch of their cabin. Our family loves Bear Lake--it is so beautiful! There is no lake like it anywhere. The water is so clear and blue that it looks like a swimming pool.

Kevin has an awesome boat and the kids love to ride on it!

So do I!

It goes very fast (check out that hair!)

The beach is full of tiny shells which the kids love to examine and save.

It also has great sand for sinking your toes and feeling it seep around your feet.

The water's also great for swimming and wading.

Caitlin even found a walking stick on the shore.

Don't you love Jovian's oreo glasses? We had a delicious lunch at the beach, thanks to Kevin and Laura.

Cute girls! Rachel enjoyed spending time with Jovian, her adopted cousin.

She also loved riding in the boat although the water was too choppy for them to waterski, a great disappointment to her. There's always next year, right?

Favorite pals--Jovian and Rachel

Check out Rachel's shoulder muscles--must be from swim team.

Jovian and Rachel also enjoyed lounging in the water on the spider.

Courtney and Caitlin loved dancing in the waves on the shore. They are full of joy!

They also lounged happily on the boat.

Cute Caitlin loves the blue water and the blue, blue sky.

Spencer holds the flag and keeps Miles' sunglasses safe while he's on the knee board.

Courtney's one happy girl!

I love this shot of Caitlin.

Her hair is so beautiful, curly and blonde!

After Miles and Shayla demonstrated how easy it was to knee board, Spencer agreed to try. On his first attempt, he could never get up on his knees.

So Miles, the hero, got into the water and helped Spencer get on his knees.

And it worked! Look at Miles's smiling face. Spencer's not so sure he likes it yet

but he's doing it!

By George, I think he's got it!!!

Swimming back to the boat after a great ride!

He's one proud boy! Good job, Spencer!

Courtney enjoys sitting at the front of the boat

So do Caitlin and Shayla. What a beautiful day! We loved our trip to Bear Lake!

A Missionary Moment

I have been feverishly trying to get the blog caught up to date because there are so many events during our three week vacation to Utah that I want to preserve. I'm nearly done--just a few more days are left. Despite that, I wanted to write about something cool that's happening here with Paul. While we were gone, Paul's best friend growing up, Jeff Glover, contacted him after being out of touch for awhile. He lives in Las Vegas and we haven't seen him for years. Jeff's wife, Margaret, is Polish. She defected to the United States and joined the church after meeting some BYU folk dancers who were performing in Poland during the communist years. Paul was thrilled to re-connect with Jeff.


Also, while I was gone, Paul took the missionaries out to dinner. He was telling them they should get members to go with them to teaching appointments so that when they join the church, they are connected to people in the ward. Sure enough, the next day, the missionaries called and asked him to go with them to an appointment. They were teaching a Polish couple. During the course of the lesson, Paul was teaching them about the Holy Ghost and somehow likened the Holy Ghost to a pigeon (Paul used to raise pigeons when he was a kid.) The man they were teaching got excited because, lo and behold, he raises pigeons as well and could relate perfectly to Paul's analogy. The wife only speaks Polish but her husband translates and Paul suddenly thought he should connect Jeff's wife with this woman. I don't think either of these things are coincidence. The Lord wants this family to join the church and inspired Paul to say what he did about the pigeons and also prompted Jeff to contact Paul again after they drifted apart. Clearly, the Lord is providing the way for them to move forward. By the way, they committed to baptism that night. Last night, Paul went to another teaching appointment and feels very humbled at the opportunity he has had to help teach this couple. This entire experience has reminded us that Heavenly Father loves us so much and will lead us if we will only listen to the still, small voice and follow his promptings.

South Fork with Susie and the Yorgason Clan

Susan Felt Yorgason and I met in 9th grade. I transferred into a chorus class midyear and was lucky enough to sit next to Susan. We began talking and soon became fast friends. Pretty soon, we were inseparable. We have many happy memories of all the silly things we did together. Susan always tries to get me to move back to Utah but I think she needs to move to Pennsylvania! We took our kids to South Fork, hoping that they would become friends like us and sure enough, they did! It didn't take long for Rachel and Aubrey to connect and after just a short time, Jack, Spencer and Christian were busy playing and exploring together. Susan brought the makings for homemade ice cream and the kids each made their own bag by shaking the vanilla, cream, sugar and rock salt in their own baggies. The ice cream set up nicely but some of the kids had a little rock salt flavor to theirs (they got a little hole in their baggy and the rock salt flavor crept inside) but it was a really fun activity.

Spencer and Susan's niece, Anastasia trying to catch a leaf on fire with a magnifying glass
Courtney enjoys the cold water on a hot day

Caitlin loves wading and getting soaked.

Courtney's just as cute as ever!

Susie's niece, Anastasia, her daughter, Aubrey and Rachel play Racko together

Jack, Susan and Brooke get their feet wet.

Courtney

Caitlin

The boys, being boys, made guns out of sticks and plastic cups. Jack, Christian and Spencer show off their scary faces.

Spencer discovers the big leaves make excellent Peter Pan-like hats so all the kids enjoy wearing them!

Courtney's leaf hat looks like interesting green hair extensions.

Gotta love Caitlin's sporty hat look while they boys are busy exploring the woods around the creek.

The Annual Tradition Continues: Exploring South Fork

One fun afternoon, I took the kids to my favorite park in Provo Canyon, South Fork. I admit I got a little carried away taking pictures but I love watching and documenting them exploring nature and this is one of my favorite nature spots. We visit the park every summer and the children love wading and wandering through the clear, crystal stream.

Sweet sisters
Spencer gets acclimated to the very cold water in the stream

Caitlin loved her wading adventure!

Look how clear the water is! I love the golden hue of the rocks with the sun-dappled water dancing around them.

It's the perfect depth for cooling off on a hot summer day!

If I asked her, Rachel would pose for me for hours. I was trying out my new camera and she obliged by letting me take lots of pictures of her.

What natural beauty Rachel has!

She looks very model-like here, don't you think?

I took about six pictures of all four kids and none of them was any good. Sadly, this one was the best of the bunch.

Too bad I waited to take pictures until after Caitlin got a drink from the spigot.

Courtney's expression couldn't be cuter!

A kissy from sissy

I love this shot of Courtney

Rachel's a beautiful daughter, inside and out!

Check out Caitlin's backside--it's a little dirty. By the end of the afternoon, it was filthy.

Spencer is busy examining the flora, fauna, rocks and water around him.He picked some enormous leaves and had all the kids race them down the river. I wish I would have taken a picture of it but I was too busy trying to keep up with the kids as they chased their leaves to the waterfall.

The views from the park are stunning in every direction.

The kids love to find interesting rocks in the crystal clear water

I can't help it! I enjoy taking pictures of my kids. They are so adorable!

Spencer and Rachel love every minute of their adventure.

Wading is the best!

Look who came to have an afternoon drink just as we were leaving!

Look at those views! This is why I love Utah so much.