Bear Lake for the weekend

We hung out in Bear Lake- Thanks to Aunt Nellie it was a lot more fun. Darren was helping with a big Triathlon race all weekend.

Toby played fetch in the water until he could barely swim out there. And Tyler loved playing his own version of fetch with himself. I loved it because he was having fun in the water and not being scared of it.
Ella ate a bit more sand than I would have liked...
but seems to like cars and trains like Tyler. She says choo choo and drives them around.

Here's to many more memories of bear lake...

My eventful bike ride

on a bike ride today

going to the library

pulling kids in the stroller behind bike

Had on a normal T shirt

Bee flew down my shirt

I caught him in the act of stinging me

I pulled the bee out of me

ouch!

Family Reunion Time

I know my sister and cousin took more pictures than I did, but here are a couple- I have cousins who are reading this who couldn't attend this year but hopefully next year- August 12. 13. and 14.... here in Utah. We are doing it next year so people can come see Grandma. And If we tell you the dates now, maybe you can schedule your vacations and visits out here around that time.

Aunt Linda at the Lake enjoying the shade and Harry. Aunt Ronda is behind.

My kids at the lake having a good time in the water.
Cousin Devin teaching Tyler and Isaac how to fight.
oh, my concert pianist
A couple pictures of people- like Tamara who I challenged to stay single one more year at the Y. Ethen and Kelly also pictured.
Aunt Susan brought stuff for necklaces and bracelets. So you see some of the gardners and the Taylor family- Renee's back is to you in this picture.
Randy has more family photos of the whole group, I need to get one from him.

See you all in a year!

"Heaven"

This is the the amazing Colorado town I told you about- It is very small down in the town, we stayed in the Mountain Village up above. Notice the mnts all around the town except the one road in. The town has passed laws that you cant change the front of any of the old buildings and no fast food chains or big names like target, chilis, can ever be built here. Very few cars, most people bike everywhere.

You can buy one of these 2 million dollar homes but you cant change it much.

Like I said we stayed up in the Mountain Village so they made 4 gondolas to get you down into the cute town.
We had a nice place with a kitchen so we didn't have to eat out. We bike 3 days and one of those days we even did an 11 mile hike to a lake. (all told we did over a 100 miles in 5 days of road/mountain biking) The town is at about 9000 feet.

This is an old mill on a cliff- we drove to the mill on old mill 4 X4 roads.

This the waterfall coming out of the mill- look n the top left waterfall- you will see the mill house where people still live- INSANE!! I would have died just building it.
This is the view of Heaven from the mill. It is amazing. You can just barely see the town in the back right corner.
It is a mining town. Little mines everywhere- notice the train tracks going into the mountain. And the talings (or the leftover stuff they didn't use) after they mined out the stuff they did want.
So we hiked and gained over 2,000 feet in elevation in 5 miles. Darren stood in one place and took the next two pictures- up to the peak we were right below when finished...
And to the other side of us, the cliffs above tree line. Lakes and waterfalls everywhere- and old mining cables, buckets, etc... and lots of green rocks- Ang- what is in the rocks to make them green?
This is Blue lake - why blue- because the miners dumped stuff in the lake and the chemicals made it pretty blue. There are two small mines right behind the rocks you cant see (on the shore)
It rained and sprinkles almost our whole trip but it was perfect for biking and hiking- no heat exhaustion! But when we finally reached the lake after being drizzled on the whole way up we turned around to this sky.

Can you see the valley below us...

Can you see those white clouds that are low right in front of us....

While those clouds engulfed us in minutes. We could hardly see in front of us. Then it started. The worst storm I have ever been in. We are above tree line...

Do you see any trees around us???

We ran down a path that was now a stream. To the side of us we both see lightening strike right next to us. Then the loudest and longest thunder I have ever heard.

We finally found a group of trees. I know, don't hide below a tree but it was us be the tallest thing or hide below it! Just as we reached it another bolt and more thunder. We sat under that tree until we could see in front of us again. and until the hail stopped.

Then the sun came out half way down the trail and we were glad, but pretty wet and COLD!

So I have discovered my new heaven! Pictures never do a place justice, but this place, this place made us turn in ahh at every corner. The people and town were even very nice. And I will be back many many many times~

Warning!!!

Do not continue reading if you are feeling tired and overwhelmed with life. This will only increase those feelings. But if you love your children, your spouse, your job, your life... 99% of the time, then read on. No problem.

So I was feeling a bit overwhelmed the last few weeks. I think I was just tired, and not feeling like I was ever getting anything done. Ella hasn't been sleeping well and Darren was working a lot, oh and we are both training for a triathlon in September so that leaves no time for down time.

I expressed with tears and sobs my feelings to Darren last week.

Monday the 10th, He casual says so you want to go camping this weekend. I say sure, thinking we will be headed up to Ogden or something. Tuesday night he says so you still want to go camping . I say sure, he says, great, we are leaving tomorrow.

Of course first I was unbelieving but then with tears and happy excitement we packed up our bikes and I threw some food in a box and cooler. He had arranged babysitters for the 5 days. Pretty impressive. We got some sleep and took off on our weekend getaway on Wed morning.

We stopped in Moab for the night. We did some biking. It was only low 80's in Moab in August... amazing! We camped and had some good camping food. We left the next morning for the real get away.

It is now Saturday night and we are headed home tomorrow morning. Needless to say, I am eager to see my kids but have enjoyed every single SECOND here.

This place compares only in amazingness as El Chalten/Bariloche (Patagonia), Argentina. I will just call this amazing place "Heaven". I will post pictures of "Heaven" when I get home. I think everyone has their own heaven and Darren and I found an amazing place here in Colorado that we hope our heaven looks like.

Stay tuned for details and pictures of "Heaven".

I hate it when I don't take more pictures!

This picture almost makes me cry- I could stay and play and talk with my sisters (and sister in Laws) forever. and that is just what I did for a week. With nephews running through the house and dinners with all the family- WOW! Don't get me wrong- like I said, I would spend forever with my sisters/sister in laws- but when they go you stop and realize your house has had a number done to it.

This is my sister Rachel- she just drove 14 hours from Seattle to visit. She really just arrived about 45 min before this picture was taken. She vacuumed. It is what I needed. I ran around and cleaned up everything. and she just vacuumed the best job this house ever seen.

THANK YOU RACHEL!!!

Ella tried to vacuum with her.

I didn't take many pictures of the Dennis Harston get together- Thankfully my sisters took more. Swimming one day. Ella loves hats, sunglasses, necklaces...

Spencer and Seth are in Ogden preparing for their Grandpas funeral. Chad and Jeana had to come from Hawaii one day early to attend Jeana's fathers funeral. We all enjoyed the funeral services. I cried 95% of the time. He had cancer for many years and was grateful and optimistic those last 5 years of pain.
After the funeral and church we went to my parents cabin- Heartland. We spent one day on the lake swimming and boating- and making mudpies.
Ella discovered corn
Everyone in our expanding family but an accountant, a lawyer, and a doctor- Darren, Jared and Eric. This is taken at the Oquirh Temple.
Tyler and a much needed hair cut- now he looks like Uncle Rob- the architect
and now I am update!

My brother in Hawaii

My brother took his wife to Hawaii- A much needed get away and the first one in 9 years. We took care of the kids. We spent one full day in our backyard with water toys and DIRT! This is lunch- chicken nuggets and apples- If you could turn the sound on you would hear very scary dinosaurs roaring. (Ella is napping and Isaac and Grace aren't here yet)

Dress ups- I dont know what they are but they had fun.
Candace was the mother hen- she made sure we were all feed and entertained. Thanks sis! Ella is soaking in the attention.
Sophie and Ella loved being together- The boy cousins would run and be rowdy but Sophie and Ella seemed to stick together and hang out with baby Grace. Dolls, etc....
Then Aunt Jenny pulled out the big guns- I mean Tools!!! what a party!
They did a number on Grandmas Cabin- They were drilling, sawing and you know ... just helping build it.. workers... they were workers!
This is cousin Spencer- a replica of his father- my brother- Chad
This is Tyler's death glare- "dont you touch my tools- yes these are ALL my tools"- notice the hammer in his pocket

Uintas with the Balls

Several weeks ago we headed up into the huge expansive Uintas with the Seth and Pat Balls family. It was such a nice time. The Uintas were so amazing, big, picturesque, and most of all, they were very bike-able... is that a word. Darren and I kept talking about biking there. I had just biked 35 miles by myself the night before so I cant say I was too into climbing a peak that day. The kids love camping and so do we. We finally upgraded to a family tent instead of our lightweight four seasons backpacking tent. Now we just need to buy an air mattress right!

We stopped at this waterfall on the way out.
This is Cousin Jonah (Nolan and Corie's kid)- Ella is about to give him a sweet kiss.
Toby is getting old- (and had to be tied up the whole trip)
Nellie was the life of the party- thanks for entertaining the kids! Camping is so much more fun with more people.
Ella was just mastering going down stairs-