Bear Lake

One of the days my parents were here visiting we drove up to Bear Lake to spend the afternoon on the beach. This is something we have wanted to do since we lived here and just have not made it there yet. The drive up there is beautiful and the lake is gorgeous. These pictures are taken from the view point area before you drive down to the lake. The water is so blue and the mountains in the background make it really beautiful. 

 

 

 

We were able to drive down to the beach and park right on the sand. We got to our spot and unloaded the car and realized we didn't have the top to our canopy. Luckily there was a beach stand close that was selling umbrellas so the day was saved. The weather was perfect, sunny and around 75 degrees. We were able to relax and let the kids play in the sand and the water. Quinn and Leo had an absolute blast. When Quinn was playing in the sand with grandma she said "arr matey, lets be pirates and find treasure." Leo loved bouncing in the water (even though it was freezing!) and filling up his bucket with sand. He also loved chasing the seagulls around. 

 

Grandma was the best and entertained the kids most of the day. 

 

These guys did the most relaxing of the group and Dave even snuck in a nap. 

 

I can't even explain how pretty it is. Plus the water is clear so I don't mind being in it because I can see my feet! 

  

 

 

 

  

 

Quinn is such a fish and I am so glad we put her in swim classes. She was doing "bobs" in the water and swimming all around on her "surfboard" as she calls it. 

 

Leo loves jumping up and down in the water. He also loves to crawl face first into the waves. He has no fear and we are going to have to really watch him around water, he makes me nervous!  

A little lake selfie because why not?! 

It was a great day and I am glad my parents were able to go with us. Both kids were passed out less than 5 minutes in the car which always means it was a fun filled day! We finished the day with milkshakes for the drive home and then stopped at Burger Bar for dinner. 

Beach days are good, life is good. 

Our Garden

Like I have said before this is our first year having a garden and I just love it. Hopefully we will be able to have a garden in our next house too! The kids absolutely love it and I love how we spend our evenings in the backyard looking at what has grown and picking our veggies! Dave is so excited because he finally has peppers growing! He spent a lot of money and time growing pepper seeds last year and nothing grew at all. This year he already has habaneros and jalapenos growing. The other day we found out we had our first cucumber and since then we have picked 3 more and have many many more growing! Quinn loves cucumbers and calls them "pickles." She was so happy to pick our cucumber and started eating it before we even got in the house. Leo took a bite but he wasn't too interested, he is more of a fruit guy and loves to pick our strawberries and then rinse them off with the hose and eat the whole strawberry-even the top before I can pick it off. 

 

 

 

 

Leo is also a fan of cupcakes. I love this picture. 

This past week my parents were here visiting and Quinn was excited to show them the garden. Grandma helped us pick some weeds and water the garden. Quinn wanted to pick a carrot because last week I accidentally picked one and she loved eating it. I went ahead and picked one for her even though I want to let them grow some more because she will be missing out on some of our veggies while we are in Ohio. She loved her carrot and ate the whole thing. I love how she will eat things out of our garden and it all tastes way better than anything we buy in the store. 

 

This is how we roll in our backyard, pants and fixing your hair are always optional. 

Gardens are good, life is good. 

Crawfish Boil

This is my first blog with my new computer! It is going much faster and hopefully that will encourage me to blog more often. I have had the same computer since I graduated undergrad, 8 years ago!! It still works but when it comes to doing anything with pictures it takes forever. Dave has been wanting me to get a new computer for years but I refused since mine still worked. The other night I was trying to work on Quinn's photo album and it took over 45 minutes for me to upload 8 pictures onto the website to print them! I finally decided it was time to get a new one since all I do on my computer now is pictures and blogging. So I am the proud new owner of a MacBook Pro and it is much nicer than my 8-year old "crack book" as the guys at Apple call it. 

I am behind on many events this summer so I will go all the way back to May for this one. Our friends from Louisiana had a Crawfish Boil in May and it was the first time I have attended one of those. It was so much fun even though the weather did not want to cooperate and it rained the whole evening. The pictures are courtesy of our friend Peter. He got much better pictures than I got on my phone so I asked him if he would share with me. 

It was fun to watch how everything went down and then to get to eat it all! I didn't "suck the heads" of the fish because I am not a big seafood eater but everything else was so good and I am definitely a fan of crawfish boils even though I didn't actually eat crawfish. Dave enjoyed all the food and I can't even tell you how many crawfish he ate! It was a great evening with friends and I am look forward to next years boil. 

The bag of vegetables and sausage that are boiled and then some cajun seasoning of some kind is put into the water also. 

 

Todd and Millard preparing the food for everybody. 

 

 

After the vegetables were finished cooking they cooked the crawfish. I was not around for that because they put them in alive and that made me sad. When we first got there they were crawling out of the cooler and people were having to put them back in. 

 

 

The spread was amazing. Everybody just stood around the table and grabbed what they wanted and "sucked the heads down." They also had a lot of sides including rice and beans. It was all really good and fun to experience something new. 

 

Crawfish Boils are good, life is good. 

Lately

We haven't been doing anything super special lately just been hanging out and enjoying summer. I think a lot of my posts are going to be these mix of random happenings because I am not doing a great job of blogging on a regular basis right now. I find that in the evening after the kids get to bed I am so exhausted and all I want to do is sit and watch TV! Staying home with a 3 and 1 year old is hard work, they never stop moving!! 

I can't even tell you how many tantrums this kid has per day. I don't remember Q having tantrums like him. He just drops to the ground and screams whenever he doesn't get his way.  

Leo loves fruit especially blueberries. I went into the kitchen and found him lifting up the blueberries and going in face first. He also has his blanket with him. Every morning I get him out of his crib he grabs his blanket too. 

We love to go to the local children's museum and have gone several times the last few weeks thanks to a membership we got for Christmas. The kids both love it but I am exhausted after a few hours there and chasing both kids around! Leo loves the train tables and the music room. Quinn loves the kitchen area, blocks and babies. 

  

 

Quinn can now spell her name and is getting really good at writing it. 

 

 

I think Santa is going to have to bring some of these fun magnetic blocks, they both love them! She is really good at building things and always has been. Maybe we have a future architect on our  hands? 

We are spending a lot of evenings outside and enjoying summer. After dinner, if we don't eat outside, we head out back for a little fun with the hose and of course popsicles. I love the evening weather and watching the kids run and laugh. Leo loves playing with the hose and Quinn's new game is running to touch the back fence after you tell her, "ready, set, GO." 

 

 

 

Being home with these two is so much fun. They love eating at the little table together and always crack up throughout lunch. They are usually really good about sharing their food and giving each other bites. I love watching them build a sibling bond.

 

I think her current favorite dinner is tacos. She loves them and we love our new taco plates Aunt Juju got for us. 

Here is Dave's Father's day gift. I love it. It holds beer caps from the different states. I think he has a lot of beer drinking to start doing! We spent Father's day in Denver and had a cookout with Dave's family. It was a great day and we are glad we got to see everybody. 

We are just trucking along with this pregnancy. I can't believe how fast it is going! I haven't really done anything to get ready for this little girl but we already have everything we need (except diapers) so I think when it gets closer I will just need to pull everything out of the basement and organize. Since we will be moving a little after she is born we are not going to do a nursery (at least not at the beginning) so that makes it a little easier too. I am feeling her move all the time and feeling really great (except being exhausted!). Quinn has started kissing my belly and I love it. I can't wait to see how great of a big sister she is to this little one. She already is a great sister to Leo but she is really excited about a baby in the house. 

 

 

 

My little picture helper! 

We have a garden and it is super fun. We have tomatoes, sugar snap peas, peppers, kale, carrots, cilantro, squash and strawberries. Quinn said today after we came inside that her favorite part of the day was watering the garden. She loves to go pick peas out and eat them on the patio. I love that she is eating vegetables and enjoying her summer. Leo will eat them but he mostly likes to throw them, maybe he thinks they are a ball? 

 

 

 

 

There is a quick update on us. Enjoying summer and getting excited for all the upcoming travel we have planned! 

Summer is good, life is good.