Boating

Mike's friend Dave has a boat.  Very nice having friends with boats :)  He invited us to come up to Bear Lake with him and some friends, so we headed up there again for some more lake fun.  One of the guys who came out with us, hopped onto a wake board and was enjoying some wake boarding.  He was the first ride of the day...and the last.  He took a pretty hard tumble and somehow dislocated his shoulder, which appeared to be VERY painful, judging by his reaction.  We were able to get an ambulance to come out and take him to the hospital.  That pretty much ended our day at the lake, so we headed back to Logan to relax, which is pretty much all I felt like doing anyway.  Our jam packed summer of fun was making me welcome the R&R!

me and my love out on Dave's boat

Love the sunshiney days!

Day at Bear Lake

We thought a picnic on the Bear Lake beach sounded like a super fun activity, so we loaded up the truck with the girls, swimsuits, snacks, and drove off through Logan Canyon, headed for the lake!  By the time we got there, McKel was sound asleep and a random hail storm decided to hit...so much for our beautiful picnic day!  We just decided to hang out in the truck, eat some food, and wait for the storm to subside and McKel to wake up.  Nobody wants to be around McKel without her nap anyways.
When the hailstorm stopped, all was quiet and calm at the beach, although it was no bright and sunshiney day... the girls get more excited when they see a beach than anything I've ever seen!  They were both giddy with excitement.  McKel and Avril went running along the shore.  They were disappointed that this beach didn't have any sand crabs for them to find... but they still had a blast, getting all muddy and splashing through the water.

McKel's beautiful mud mask!

Hi mom!

This cutie pie didn't let a  little storm stop her from having a blast at the lake!

Mud pie, anyone? :)

Love him!

Not afraid to get wet!

Just look at the smile!!  :)

Some adorable shots of the girls drying off after their swim:

I wonder how these little muddy footprints got on our nice clean towel??

My message in the sand....and McKel's cute lil foot!  :)

Cache Valley Gran Fondo

Distance: 105.33 miles;  CLIMB: 2588.58 ft

We lucked out getting to do this ride... I waited until the last minute to register, not sure if I'd be ready for this lengthy Century.  At the last minute, my dad's friend, Dave Jones (who did Rockwell with us), could not do this ride even though he'd registered already, so I got to take his spot, which was totally nice of him!  We signed Mike up too so I wouldn't have to ride solo and suffer alone.  This was a beautiful ride, but soooooo long!  In my mind I kept thinking I could do 100 miles, then I found out it was closer to 106 miles!   What?!!  That extra 6 miles seemed like an extra hundred!  But somehow we managed to finish... my dad also did this ride and finished WAY ahead of us, not surprising at all, considering he's pretty much a pro biker now...  I'm so proud of us for adding this to our list of athletic feats!

Here we are at the start of the race.  Ready to die ride!

We stole this photo from the race photos.  Nice shot of us at the starting line.  Love that guy on the Specialized next to me!

Mike was able to find a few more photos from the race photographer's website.  This is us coming up a killer hill.  Some guy with drums was up at the top playing music for us, encouraging riders to keep going I guess.  Kinda cool.  Note:  there are people behind us... we are not in last place!  :)

Here I am, headed up the ginormous hill!  Beautiful ride though :)

Look How our Garden Grows!

Our first artichoke begins to bud.  Never seen anything like it, so excited!!!

I'm naming him Arty :)

Avril's Ear Tubes Surgery

Avril continues to have problems with her ears.  Her ear kept draining and she was complaining of pain, so we decided to take her in to the ENT office.  As it turned out, the original tubes that the Doctor placed in her ears were causing more harm than good.  They had dislodged and turned sideways, causing fluid build up and infections.  The doctor decided that he needed to do another minor surgery and place new tubes in her ears... these a more permanent kind of tube... Avril was so unbelievably brave, I was so proud of her!!

Before the surgery, with her princess doll and princess blanky...wearing cute Tiger scrubs, all ready for her surgery.

Nana, Papa, Mommy, and her dad all came to be there with our precious girl

Poor girl had to get up in the wee hours of the morning to get here in time

Avril shows off her cool hospital bracelet.  She was so proud of herself for being brave, like Rapunzel!

lots of people who love here were there to make her smile :)

Mommy comforts her sweet angel after the surgery.  Avril was a little disoriented but in good spirits.

Mom catches the popsicle drippings.  A fun job ;)

4th of July!

Thank goodness for a holiday!!  I sooo needed a day off of work.  Luckily, my house had a pretty good view of the firework display from the nearby church parking lot, so we didn't have to fight the crowds to go watch the show.  However, it stays light until super late this time of year, so we waited and waited and waited, hoping to hear the loud booms, so the tired and cranky pants kiddos could get to bed.  Finally, after 10 pm we saw the first fireworks light up the sky.  By that time, the girls were so incredibly tired and ready for bed, that we decided not to stay.  They were just plain pooped, so we went back home and retired to bed early.  It was still a fun night, cuz I got to be with all the people I love!

Here we are driving the block away to go see the fireworks...hours later...

McKel is really taking a liking to Mike :)  My heart melts

It was very difficult to get a good shot of all 4 of us in the dark, with squirmy little ones... this was the best we could do...but its the first photo I have with all 4 of us in it.  I tried to modify it with my Camera+ app on my phone, to make it a little cooler.

The next morning (July 4th), I signed up Mike and I for the Patriot Border Run, up in Lewiston.  It was a small little 10k, but not one of my shining moments.  For some reason I was not feeling that 'it' factor, that makes you feel like you can conquer any athletic feat.  My body felt dead.  I think the fact that they did not have any hydration stations until the very end of the race did not help.  At one point I ran in to someone's yard who had their sprinklers on, and gulped from their sprinkler a bunch of water, just to keep going.
Despite my weakness that morning, I was still glad we participated.  I love doing activities like this with my love.  He's pretty amazing at everything.

Not the greatest shot of me, but a great memory!

After our run we headed over to my parents' neighborhood annual 4th of July breakfast.  Here Arleen, McKel, and I scarf down some delicious pancakes, eggs, and bacon!

My sweet McKel, who always manages to get more food on her face and on the ground, than in her mouth ;)

Mike and Avril, looking very patriotic :)

Dad always volunteers to be a breakfast cook for the event.  Here he takes a break to hold his granddaughter.  Good times :)

A cute red, white, and blue couple

Role switching:  Avril decided to push mommy on the swings.  She was so proud of herself for pushing mommy so high!

The girls wanted to stay all day on the swings, they had such a blast :)

Grandpa

This is the most completely awful picture of myself but I don't care, I'm still posting it because I don't have any other recent photos with my awesome Gramps P.
This morning I did a killer work out at my gym boot camp.  Even though I had zero energy left to burn, I for some reason thought it would be a good idea to drop my car off at the car wash and go for a run in the 100 degree heat.  I wanted to stop by at the Legacy House and visit my grandpa on the way back from my run.  I didn't make it nearly as far as I planned on running.  The chills set in and I knew that was a heat exhaustion sign so I thought it would be wise to turn around and head back.  I somehow made it to the Legacy House and then gulped down all the water I could from their drinking fountain.
Poor grandpa had to sit by a sweaty, half-dead girl, but I think he still enjoyed the company.  He doesn't know who I am when I come visit, but he's always happy for visitors.  Everyone at the Legacy House says Spencer is their favorite person who stays there.  He's always so cheerful and has the best sense of humor.  He loves his wife more than I've ever seen a spouse love their partner.  Love you Grandpa!  :)