"Waters of Tribulation" ..........

...That is to say, "Trial Lake." That is where we went for Labor Day and it was the exact opposite of that name! We enjoyed a lazy schedule and a tech-free existence for a few precious days (well, mostly tech-free, see below).

We headed up with some great friends who, thank goodness, are more experienced campers than us! As we went on, I found that I had forgotten several important camping staples (oh, like hot dogs and marshmallows!) and it was so nice to have them there too! Here we are making our foil dinners...

... with some fire-roasted cookies for dinner. Mmmmmmmmm, smokey.

We went on several walks and hikes. We were able to hike all the way around Trial Lake. Baby Sunrise did great and all the kids were troopers. This side of the lake had a parking lot, but the other side was filled with lush trees and tons of fallen trees and rocks to climb around.

Here are our camping buddies, they are the best!

Are here we all are, on the other side of the Lake.

And here was our lone connection to the outside world! Thunder's one requirement on this camping trip was that we find a way to watch the BYU-Oklahoma football game. As the time got closer for the trip, I too started getting excited for the start of football season. There were so many trees, it took a few HOURS to find the correct satellite signal, but right about game time, we got it! And it was an AWESOME game, go Cougs!

The Harmers were also kind enough to give everyone sail boat rides on the lake. So relaxing!

Good food, good friends and God's green earth. How can life get any better than this?

Movie Time!

As Bishop, Thunder is sometimes in charge of hosting youth firesides at our home. A few weeks ago, he wanted to show the Legacy movie, and decided to rent a large movie screen to show it on. Then we thought... why not get it a day early and invite the neighborhood over? We tried to get the word out as much as we could and had quite a few families come over.

We showed the movie Cars and had treats. Everyone laid out blankets and had chairs and pillows. There was a little breeze, so the bugs weren't so bad either. Let me tell ya, we were able to bribe the kids to do a lot that week with this to look forward to!

The next night, the youth, their leaders and families came over again to watch "Legacy." Thunder popped about 30 bags of popcorn in the microwave and we dumped it in a huge plastic bin. It was so fun!

Allie, Anniversary and A new school year!

This is Allie, my beautiful and athletic younger sister. She is so goofy and finds humor in simple things, so that most of the time she looks like this:

... or sometimes like this. I think my kids wore her out!

We had fun hanging out and she was a good sport about tagging along to all the kids' crazy activities. We went to the Dinosaur museum one night...

where Allie made the dinosaurs and sharks fun...

... and Sunrise got to feel some dino-sand between his toes!

Cloudburst finished up a sports camp. It had 6 classes of different sports and this was baseball. Steal that base girl!

BYU also had a fun night for the beginning of the fall sports season. They had sports players there, and someone even asked Thunder for his autograph (still got it!). The kids ran in a race and it was a fun night.

And this is Thunder and I on our anniversary! We went to Cabella's and shopped around for handguns, although we didn't buy one that night. I would like to learn how to handle and shoot a gun. And no, there is not something grody on my face, people! A wasp flew right in front of my face as Allie took the pic... one second later and you would see my freaked out disgusted expression!

We now have a First-Grader! Cloudburst started school on Thursday. I asked her about her favorite part of the day: "Eating lunch at school and having three recesses!" Three recesses?!? Hopefully a first-day-of-school thing... worst thing? "We have to sit too long at our desks." Yeah... that's how school will be for the next 12 years, sorry!

And something wonderful for this year... carpooling! Charter schools are great, but driving the kids there can be a hassle. I'm so glad Cloudburst has a friend in our neighborhood! Now I just drive in the afternoons and can just wake Cloudburst and not the whole crew in the mornings. We've also decided to wake up 15 minutes earlier this year and set out clothes the night before and it's been smooth so far!

That same day was also Sunrise's 3 month birthday. He is smiling all the time and sleeping 7-8 hours a night.

And this is my big preschooler! Sunshine started a MWF school and loves his teacher. He really wants to learn how to read like his sister, and I don't doubt he will do it!

Fun friends and fun places

Greetings! We have been so busy squeezing the last few drops out of summer that I haven't had time to post for a while. But now school has started and we are getting back into a routine. But let's back up to a couple weeks ago!

This is Amanda D. We met in 9th grade. She was instrumental in helping me start going to church as a teenager, we fooled a bunch of 1st Year campers that we were twins born 6 days apart (we actually were born 6 days apart, by the way), we were roommates at BYU and had weekly playdates for our kids until she decided she just HAD to move to Virginia! Her sister-in-law was getting married out here a couple weeks ago, so she and her family ventured back for a visit and stayed with us. It was so fun!

Aren't her kids just gorgeous?!? We had fun playing in the water and just catching up. Thanks again for coming out to see me (I know the wedding was just an excuse)!

And here is The Beast. Just a few days after Amanda left, we loaded up The Beast and headed out on a trip to Truckee, CA to visit Thunder's brother. They live in some beautiful mountains nestled in next to Lake Tahoe. We had an unexpected delay from a very stubborn hydraulic jack that refused to raise, but after only 4 hours we were on our way!

Before we left, I got pillowcases for all the kids and they decorated them with fabric paint. I surprised them later when it was dark and the paint glowed!

This is a pristine beach of Lake Tahoe called Sand Harbor. The sand was soft and the water was crystal blue. Thunder's brother, Kevin, made sure we got to the best beach and was like a tour guide, showing us all the cool rocks to jump off and explore. The kids had a great time splashing around with their two cousins. Later that evening we went to an evening church service with Kevin and Vicki.

This is a typical vista where they live- beautiful trees framed by a perfectly blue sky. We went swimming all together and had a great time.

This was baby Sunrise's first real trip, and unfortunately decided he hated his carseat. And missed his swing. He also didn't appreciate it when I forgot his pacifier at the pool and he wanted to go to sleep! After screaming for an hour, he wore himself out and had a short nap... before waking up screaming again. Sorry fellow pool-goers!

As a mom, don't ya just love days at the pool? I sure do. It was the quietest ride we'd had.

Thunder and his bro. He and Vicki were the best hosts.

Here is the whole clan! We met up at Squaw Valley, where Vicki works, for dinner and ice-cream.

And here are the cousins together!

Here are the boys at a 4-hour stay the the park in our RV campground. Not exactly planned. However, Friday morning we got ready to go play and discovered a flat tire (after having black water come out of the RV sink faucets, yum). The guys were able to blow up the tire enough to get to a tire shop just up the road, and I watched all the kids at the park. They were actually really good.

After fixing the tire, we went up to the Northstar ski resort. You can ride the tram all the way to the top of the mountain for only $5 and all the kids were free. There were tons of mountain bikers who would ride up on the tram and bike down.

We had a few tired kids, but they all wanted to go roller skating. So we figured, why not, it's vacation right? It was actually really fun and the kids did much better than the last time they went. All in all, a great trip to a beautiful part of the world with wonderful people!