Weekend in Bear Lake...(Day 1)

We had SO much fun at Bear Lake this weekend! We've had this trip planned since January I think and we had really been looking forward to going over there for longer than a day like we usually do. Lars got on the internet and found this little motel that is part of Ideal Beach on the West side of the Lake. We didn't really know what to expect, but it turned out to be a great place to stay. It's mostly condos, but they also have the little motel with just 6 rooms. They were small, but fine for us and we could walk right out our door and down to the beach. We left Friday morning in the pouring rain and got there about noon. We were in the truck, so we were worried our stuff was going to get even more wet than it already was, so we went straight to Ideal Beach to see if there was any way they would let us check in early (we weren't supposed to check in till 4:00). So Lars just asked the girl if there was anywhere we could put our stuff until we checked in and luckily our room was already clean so they let us check in right then! That turned out to be really nice, since Gunnar needed a nap. Well right after we checked in the weather cleared out and it turned into a really nice day. After we put most of our stuff in our room we went to find someplace to eat lunch. We didn't know that there is a Cafe Sabor over there now...

I guess they opened up about a month ago and it was really good!

This place was right next door and the boys liked the cow...After lunch Gunnar and I went back to the room and had a nap while Lars and Ashton went to the beach to play for awhile. After we woke up we all went to a different beach and let the boys play for a couple hours. I can't believe how high the water is this year...I haven't seen it like this for years! The boys had a blast playing on...and...And I had so much fun watching them!I stripped Gunnar down when we got back to the truck and put him in some dry clothes. Couldn't resist his cute naked bum! That night for dinner we ate our Sabor leftovers and got the boys some Raviolis from the little store on the resort. I was glad we brought this little chair for Gunnar...it worked great to get him to sit and eat in the room!After dinner we went to the big park in the middle of the resort and let the boys play for awhile...pictures of Gunnar swinging never get old to me...he loves it every time!And of course Ashton could have played there for hours...After that we took them swimming at the pool there. That didn't last long since it was getting late and a little chilly, Gunnar didn't like it much, but Ashton still had fun.

Then it was time for bed...we set up the pak'n'play for Gunnar and put him to bed first then the rest of us snuck out so that he could fall asleep. We sat outside our room for about 10 minutes and then snuck back in and went to bed. I was really proud of both of them...they slept really good. They woke up early since our room was so light in the mornings, but for the most part they did great! Especially considering our neighbors were up being loud till about 3:00 am~! So annoying! Then I didn't feel too bad when Gunnar cried a little at 6:00 am :)!

Anyway this was going to be one post for the whole weekend, but it's getting too late and too long...I took SO many pictures that it's hard to decide which ones to post! I'll post stuff from the rest of the weekend tomorrow...

Summer is finally here~!

We have had a long rainy spring this year, but now finally (maybe since it was just officially the first day of summer) it has warmed up and the rain has stopped...at least for the last few days! Here are some of the signs of summer at our house:

Gunnar following in Ashton's footsteps of loving mowing the lawn...Stroller rides in shorts and tank tops without the plastic rain cover on!Filling up this tub for water balloons and water guns......and spending all afternoon doing those things.Lots of kids swinging on the swingset...
Lots of popcicles being eaten by Ashton and his friends...But these next ones are my favorite...
We were outside last night...Lars was working on leveling out the spot in back, so Ashton turned on the hose and was kind of playing around trying to squirt Gunnar. I was going to tell him to knock it off, but Gunnar absolutely loved it. Even when he was sopping wet with cold water from head to toe he never quit coming back for more...laughing the whole time! It entertained them both for a good 45 minutes! It was the warmest day this year until today, so I guess it must have felt pretty good!

Happy Father's Day...Late!

I'm getting a little behind on my blogging this week...it's been busy! So I just wanted to quick say Happy Father's Day to my Dad, my Step-Dad and Lars' Dad. Hope you all had a great day on Sunday!
Also to Lars...Happy Father's Day Hunnie!

Thanks for all you do for us and for being such a great Dad to our boys...We love you :)

Rather than a gift (especially clothing) Lars specified that he'd like to go fishing, so I asked my Mom to come down for the day and watch the boys so that we could both go. Originally she was going to come on Saturday, but after seeing that there was an 80% chance of rain, we all decided Sunday would be better. We took the pontoon boats to Daniels reservoir in Idaho. I'd actually never been there before but Lars has been many times. We fished from about 11:00 till 4:30. Well I guess I shouldn't really say WE, since I spent half of the time napping and reading in the truck. I fished for about an hour when we got there, but I was soooo tired (from my girls' night out the night before) that all I could think about was going and laying down and sleeping. So Lars towed me back to the shore ( I still haven't quite figured out how to row my own self!) and I took a little nap while the fishing got really good and he claims he caught 4 fish while I was gone (of course). So then I managed to get myself back out to where he was fishing (by kicking my little flipper feet) and caught my one fish for the day... ...and he caught a couple more as we were getting rained and hailed on, then we finally decided to call it a day. I'm glad we got to get out and that he caught some fish!Thanks again Mom for coming to watch the boys. They had fun with you like they always do!

We finally got a swingset!!!

Ever since Ashton was really little he has LOVED swinging. So to have his very own swings in his yard is heaven to him!

Rather than complain about our backyard any longer, we decided we'd finally do something about it to make it fun. We've always said the one thing we'd change about our house is the yard. The back faces west so in the heat of the summer with no shade, we can't really go back there. So a couple years ago we planted a few trees (that are finally actually giving us some shade on our patio this year!). Then the other issue is that our back yard is a hill. Fun in the winter when it turns into the neighborhood sledding hill, but in the summer it's always been impossible to put anything back there (unless we wanted it to roll into our neighbors' yard!) Really it hasn't mattered too much until this year when Ashton wants to be outside playing constantly. So our plan has been to level out a spot in the back corner... ...where our original plan was to put a big playset or something. Well after thinking about it and realizing that we had room to put a small swingset to the side of our patio and still have that leveled out spot to put something else, we went ahead and got the swingset and are still deciding what we'll put in the other spot when it gets finished. We still have to build a little retaining wall and either put grass back in or woodchips (stay tuned for that finished project). For now Ashton and Gunnar are LOVING the new swingset. Lars stayed up late Friday night setting it up... ...and Ashton woke up early Saturday and was out swinging on it even in the rain by 8:00 am and he hardly got off of it all day. He had just learned to pump himself the day before, so he was loving practicing his new skill! On Sunday after church we went and got Gunnar a baby swing for it and he loves it too. Hopefully the newness won't wear off too soon...it's great entertainment for now!

And I love that I can see Ashton and his friends playing right outside my kitchen windows...

Who doesn't love FREE??

If you have been in my house in the last few years at all you know that the condition of my hardwood floor has always driven me crazy! After we had lived here only a couple years the polyurethane started to wear off in spots and since then after walking on it those spots that were essentially bare wood have turned black. As well as that, it was just really scratched up and pretty much looked horrible. It got so bad that last winter I let Ashton ride his big wheel around the island as much as he wanted because I figured it was already ruined, so why not!? So then you could see his tracks all over the floor. So this spring I had finally decided that we would get it refinished and that could be our house project for the year. I had gotten a bid last year for $1600, then I got another one this year from a guy and he was going to do it for $1350. I was just about ready to hire him, when my great friend and neighbor Tallie told me to talk to her about something first. That happened to be the day that Ashton fell and got his stitches, so I called and asked her what she was talking about the next day. It turned out that while she was at her little girl's soccer game, a Dad of another little girl was asking around to see if there was anyone who needed hardwood floors refinished, so she said yeah I do...why? (She had the same builder as we did and her floors were in similar condition). So the next day the guy came to her house and looked at her floors and told her he could refinish them for FREE! So after she found out that he and his friend seemed legit, she sent them over to my house and they said they'd do mine for FREE too! I was a little skeptical at first until they explained to me what they do and why we were getting it for free. They train people from all over the country that are starting their own franchise of their hardwood floor/cabinet products. So they fly people in and need floors that are in need of refinishing to train people on and in turn they do them for FREE! I was so excited to tell Lars. Of course he was twice as skeptical as me, but really what did we have to lose? If they didn't turn out, then we could just turn around and hire the other guy that we'd planned on in the first place. He hesitantly agreed and we got them done 3 weeks ago. I packed up the kids and took them to my Mom's (my 2nd trip out of the 4 times I would end up going in the past 3 weeks!) We only needed to be out of the house for about 48 hours, so Lars stayed here and worked, but just ate his meals at our nice neighbor's house. It worked out great and guess what? They look awesome! About 100 times better than they looked before.

Thanks again Tallie! Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

Nothing like getting something for FREE! The guys were asking me if I knew anyone else that had any that needed to be done...so email me if you're interested and I'll get you their info :)

Slideshow of Pictures from Grandpa's Memorial Weekend...

Saying Goodbye to Grandpa Swede

One week ago yesterday, Saturday May 30th, my Grandpa "Swede" passed away at the hospital in Evanston. What a sad day in my life. I will miss him so much. I have so many great memories of him and of going over to his house all of my life growing up. He was my Dad's Dad...and was the only Grandpa I ever knew. He turned 90 in January and was definitely showing his 90 years, but also still lived on his own in the house he'd lived in almost all of his life with the help of my Mom taking him shopping and to doctors appointments, and helping him with his medications etc...I think I speak for all of us when I say how thankful we are for everything she did for him as he got older and I also think it was fitting that she was the one there in his hospital room when he took his last breath. I guess we all knew that it would happen sometime, but I guess I just thought he still had awhile to live. When my sister called me that Saturday morning to tell me he wasn't doing very well and had been taken to the hospital in an ambulance, I planned to head to Evanston that evening to be there to go see him Sunday morning. As I was sitting at dinner with Lars, my sister called me again and told me that he had died. I couldn't believe it, the last I had heard was he was being moved out of the ICU into his own room and was getting hydrated again and his oxygen levels were coming back up. My Dad and my uncles were making plans to come as soon as they could too. I don't think any of us thought he would go that fast. For me I was so sad that I had been in town just the day before and hadn't taken the time to go see him before leaving to come home. I had been in town 2 weeks before and spent some time with him and had also met him and my uncles for lunch in Morgan one week before but I still regret not going to see him that last time. All that kept going through my mind is that I couldn't believe he was gone and I would never see him again. I headed to Evanston that night by myself and I think I cried the whole drive home recalling so many memories of my Grandpa. As I pulled into town around 10:30, I really was just going to head out to my Mom's house, but couldn't stop myself from driving over to my Grandpa's house. I knew my Uncle Sam was getting to town around the same time and I saw that the lights were on so I went in. I'll never forget the feeling when I walked through the door knowing that my Grandpa wasn't there and that he never would be again. So sad. I found Sam downstairs and gave him a hug and cried again. More for him that time knowing the pain he felt of losing his father. We talked for a few minutes, then I left and drove out to my Mom's. I didn't sleep much that night, then got up and went to church the next morning. My Dad got into town awhile later, so he my Mom, Sam and I went to lunch, then we started cleaning my Grandpa's house. It was nice that I could be in town without my kids this time to spend some time with my Dad and his brothers. For as long as I can remember my Grandpa talked about donating his body to the University of Utah for research. He had it all planned out and after he passed away the funeral home agreed to keep his body there all day Sunday for anyone who wanted to come say goodbye. I decided to go with my Dad to see him one last time. It was really hard, but I'm glad I did. I got to help my Dad and uncles with my Grandpa's obituary as well and pick out a picture to put in the paper. It was nice to just hang out at my Grandpa's house and reminisce about him and do the things that we always did there. We played our favorite family card game "Oh hell", and talked about how sad it was when my Grandpa got to the point that he couldn't see the cards well enough to play it anymore. We sat by the fire on my Grandpa's patio and at one point my uncle brought me my Grandpa's old coat to put on because I was still cold. I imagined my Grandpa looking down on us smiling. As sad as I was I'm happy for him to be rid of his tired old body and I love to think of him in a better place watching over us now.
Since he was donating his body, there wasn't a funeral and we decided to just hold a casual gathering in his memory on his back patio. There wouldn't have been a better place to have it. It's the place that we all always gathered and he wouldn't have wanted anything formal.
After staying all day Monday I drove home and the boys and I drove back to town Wednesday. Almost all of my Dad's side of the family got to town between Tuesday and Thursday and it was great that everyone could be there to celebrate my Grandpa's life. And that is what we did. I think we all felt his loss a lot being at his house without him there, but we also had a great time reminiscing again and just being together. I hadn't seen some of them for a long time and imagine now that I won't again for a long time.
The only bad thing was poor little Gunnar was so sick. He was up all night Wednesday with a fever and was miserable all day Thursday. Ashton on the other hand had a blast playing with his uncles Jordan and Michael. They were so cute entertaining him and wrestling with him for hours. My cute cousins Ashley and Beth and my sister Kelli were so helpful with him and Gunnar too. Thanks you guys!
I think we would all agree that it was a great few days of celebrating my Grandpa. He lived such a simple life and was such a good man. He use to love hunting and fishing and was an amazing carpenter. For years he had walked up to the Legal Tender in Evanston to go to coffee with his loyal friend Lloyd, so on Thursday morning we all met at 10 am for coffee with Lloyd. That afternoon we had our gathering and it turned out to be a beautiful day as we all hung out on the patio and people came to extend their condolences. We took lots of pictures before a few people had to leave town that afternoon, then we lit the fire again for more s'mores.
I think we are all glad that his house will stay in the family. While everyone was in town for his 90th birthday in January he told my uncle Charlie that he wanted him to have the house after he died. He had so many things planned out trying to make it easier for everyone when he was gone. I couldn't imagine his house having to be sold. The thought of never getting to go sit on his back patio used to make me cry. I have so many memories there and it's really one of my favorite places to be. After moving away from home when I was 17, I still pretty much came home every 4th of July weekend and almost always watched the fireworks with my Grandpa and whoever else was in town. We'd walk up to the park on the corner or go to one of the schools and sit out on the grass.
I'm so grateful that my Grandpa was alive to meet my boys and hold them as babies. He loved to see them when I brought them over and one thing he said to me a lot the last few times I saw him was that I had a great little family and then he'd always ask me where my little girl was, saying I needed one. I also always remember him saying "Keep the faith" as I was leaving his house. The last time I was there when he was alive he ate one of those little ice cream cups and gave some to my boys.
When I told Ashton that Great Grandpa had died he said "What? No I don't want him to die. I loved him so much." Then as we were pulling into town on Wednesday he said "Ya know Mommy, just because someone dies it doesn't mean you can't still love them, because I still love Great Grandpa." Such a sweetie.
I still love you too Grandpa and I will miss you so much.

Look below to see a slideshow of my favorite pictures of my Grandpa

( I couldn't get it to work to put it in with this post)

It also wouldn't let me move pictures around where I wanted them in this post, so I'll have to add more tomorrow of the past week...

Grandpa slideshow