Utah: Bear Lake with Daetwylers

 Bear Lake!

It was so fun to be with all the Daetwylers for a week. I married into the best family.

Monday was our beach day, and the cousins had so much fun in the sand and on paddle boards, trampolines, and a jet ski. Westin loved picking up a bucket of trash to earn a free milkshake, genius system they have happening on the beach. I had so much fun seeing Bennett scared of the jet ski but then totally love it soon after we started. For some reason taking Westin on the paddle board made me suuuuuuper nauseous but he loved it.

On Tuesday Grandpa was so nice to rent a boat for the day and we went out in shifts. Westin and Bennett snuck on the morning shift with Katie's family and then again with us in the afternoon with Shelley's family so they had a fulllll day. Bennett fell asleep on our ride back to the dock. Westin's highlight was when Gary caught a fish off the dock just before we boarded the boat.

On Wednesday we did a short hike together that was perfect for the little kids, then did some pool time and played some tennis. Michael has to reteach me everything about tennis every time we play.... someday I want to take lessons so we can spend more time playing and less time teaching when we play together. 

Thursday we did a longer hike and Rachel and Katie's family stopped by a stream with us where we let the little boys play for a while rather than try to keep up with everybody :) I can't believe we have 8 boys between the three of us and that Westin is the oldest. So many little boys! They have so much fun together.

Each night we had great devotionals from the older grandkids, some thoughts from everyone about how wonderful Sally is on her birthday, some fun videos Ed made, and an epic Tater Hole tournament. Grand and Grandpa took home the championship, but we all ate enough dessert that week to feel like winners. Shelley was so incredibly nice to plan all the food that week and do some major prep that made it so much easier for each person on their food day to feed all 36 of us. Michael comes from a family that knows how to work and know how to play.

Friday we all packed up and headed separate ways. Michael and I stopped at a house a few minutes down the road to see our Jerusalem friend Allison, who was meeting up with her husband's family there that week. It was so fun to see her! Then we drove the rest of the way home and picked up Cafe Rio to eat with Rachel and Spencer at our house for dinner. Eli and baby James are adorable and we loved having them here. 

On Saturday we took things slow and did a lot of laundry :) Then on Sunday we went to Denver for dinner to have some Fourth of July fun with Katie, Rachel, and Spencer's sister Kate. Katie got all the little boys Colorado baseball hats and they all looked so cute. Rachel and Spencer left to go home to London via Iceland the next day so we were happy to see them a little more!

This sauce changed my pregnancy life.
Spicy somehow cancels my nausea, for at least a little while.

Naps and vacations.... constant battle.

Fourth of July waffles! Would you feel bad for my kids if I told you I didn't have any whipped cream and that's cottage cheese? They loved it though.

Colorado Time

Michael:

flew from Fresno to Denver on Saturday after a lonely week of being sick and working. He was also the only person home while one of my high school friends stayed at our house, but he barely saw her family. Kendra, come back when I'm actually home and Michael isn't sick and working 90-hour weeks. We'll be way more fun. I was excited for Michael to have a week off in Denver with all of his family. Time with the Daetwylers is always a highlight of our year.

Maddie:

drove from Salt Lake to Denver with the boys and with Ali after Lydia's baptism. Ali stayed one night in Denver with Michael's family then flew back to SLC the next day for work. Then we spent the week with Michael's family having a blast in Rocky Mountain National Park. We hiked, ate lots of good food, played games, explored around our cabin, and caught up with our favorite people. Family is the best! We left on Friday to drive back to Cedar City, and on Saturday I went to my 10-year high school reunion. I know everyone has their own feelings about high school, but I personally feel like I graduated with some of the greatest people I've ever met. I still don't know if I've ever been busier or slept less than my senior year of high school, and I just have a spot in my heart that will always belong to Cedar City, Utah. I was really happy we could pass through the same weekend as that reunion.

Westin:

loves hanging out with his cousins so much. He was a trooper on our drives, too. Michael would carry him for part of our hikes, or he'd walk a good amount, or his Papa Daetwyler would carry him. Grandpas are the best. Westin was excited to see the elk and moose and eagles that we saw that week. I took him on a run around a lake by our cabin, thinking a 3-mile loop didn't sound too bad. I didn't take into account the rain or wind or elevation change (mainly that elevation change), so it ended up being more of an effort than I thought. Then near the end of our loop when we were almost back to where we parked our car, we started seeing tons of warning signs about protective mother elk and "proceed at your own risk" started sounding pretty creepy. Then we turned the corner and right on the path was a baby elk plus two huge females. I stopped and tried to picture sneaking by them with my stroller but it did not feel like a good idea. Soooo we turned back and ran around the whole lake again to get to our car the other way, all while Westin said "those elk were in our way, that's not very nice!" 

Bennett:

did not sleep well in Colorado but he made up for the trouble by being extremely sweet on all our hikes. He loved being on my back in the Ergo so much and it felt like having a sweet little monkey. He never cried on the hikes, just happily leaned against my back and held my arms, took naps when he wanted and looked around when he wanted. He melts my heart. His cousins liked holding him and he loved when they did. He hit 8 months the day we made it to Denver and that just sounds too old. His age has really been making me sad the last couple weeks, I love this stage. Bennett is just such a sweetheart and I want to remember how he is right now forever.

Lots of pictures from our week!

Benjamin and Bennett, cousin love.

Seriously, you guys. Little monkey.

Hannah and Bennett finally meeting.
Kendra, let's never forget when Hannah ran down the slide instead of sitting because that was amazing.

DaNae is the best, and I just really love that we are good at having baby boys at the same time.

Dawson is into the camera, Bennett is into his ear.

I love these girls so much!

Seeing these people made me so happy.

The reunion crew from CHS.

We had water balloons at the family picnic part of the reunion and Westin was so confused about the way they disappeared.

We got a free ice cream cone for filling up our car at this gas station on our way home. I made Westin run to the end of the sidewalk and back for every lick. You gotta burn that toddler energy in creative ways on 9-hour road trip days.

Yeah, this happened. Such a beautiful place. We were up at about 14,000 ft. in the alpine tundra zone.

He's so into food lately. He was all about this sandwich, but not super successful. Don't worry, I broke off little bits for him.

Moose and Baby

Daetwyler girls. Michael has such a great mom and sisters.

Anthon is Westin's oldest cousin on the Daetwyler side and I thought it was so cute how he helped Westin with hiking.

Alberta Falls

All the cute grandkids. I'm so impressed that all 31 of us made it out the door before 8am for hiking most days.

Bennett mostly just wanted to eat his Sheriff's badge.

Yes, Westin is peeing. "Superman peeing" has made our lives so much easier, thanks for the tip Jenny ;)

Friendly. Too friendly.

Nap time for Bennett, sweet little guy.

Before the elk encounter.

Thanks for helping us, Aunt Ali!

Time outs are the best form of discipline for Westin, and at home I give him time outs in his crib. When cribs aren't around and I threaten a time out, I can tell he knows I don't have the necessary resources. He looks at me and tilts his head and says, "What kind of time out?" At church on Sunday in Estes Park he really did need one, so this was Michael's spot. Michael showed me this picture and said, "This is where I gave Westin a time out. But he liked it."

I just love them.