August = back to school, our anniversary, and a campout

Sweet moment - I woke up from my nap last Sunday to discover Curly washing dishes.

Well, that fateful day has finally come... my firstborn has officially entered the public school system. Curly started Kindergarten this week. She was very excited for this new adventure and it did not disappoint. She loves her teacher, recess, and riding the bus home... hopefully she will like learning too :) To initiate this great beginning we held a "Back to School Banquet" or "fancy dinner" as Lou and Curly named it, complete with candlelight and a new school outfit fashion show. The dinner was a hit and I think it is a tradition that we will continue.

Ready for Kindergarten

Curly with her teacher and student teacher. We lucked out to be in a great classroom!

This week also marked our eighth year of marriage. As with every year, we can't believe how fast the time has flown. It marked the first full year that we are not students and have an official job. That is something to celebrate!And finally, no summer would be complete without a camping trip. Our ward provided the opportunity and we jumped at the chance to be with friends and escape the heat. We drove 90 minutes northwest to the Prescott area and enjoyed a pleasant evening and morning at Granite Basin. Fortunately, Fisher gave into my pleas to bring the air mattress (I used the pregnant woman ploy) and we all slept relatively well.

Lou with two buddies.

And we are back!

Curly, Lou and I returned from our three week visit to Idaho and Utah. What did we do for three weeks you ask? Well...

We went to Artic Circle (a lot)

We hung out with nice Aunts (a first day of kindergarten necklace from Ba)

We rowed on Daybreak Lake with cousins

and aunts

We floated the river with Grandpa and Grandma

We went to a fair

We slept (some of us, like me, a lot)

We fed the ducks at the nature park

I went to a Brighton Girls Camp staff reunion (many of my sisters, cousins, and aunts worked there also - so it doubled as a family reunion)

We went to the aquarium with Oma

We got to see Aunt K-Rae when she came home from DC

We had our yearly photo shoot

We rode the carousel

and a whole lot more... K-Rae was volunteered (by my mom) to make the long drive home with us (and she more than graciously agreed). We were very happy to have her visit and sad when she left. We had enough fun to last until Christmas! but as Curly put it, "It's fun to be home, mom!" I agree, it is nice to be home.

A few weeks ago we gathered for our bi-annual Lake Family Reunion. We met at the Lovell LLL ranch. The event was well planned with 100% attendance and we had a lot of fun. There was a nice balance of planned activities and free time for game playing, visiting, and golfing. Here are just a few of the activities we enjoyed -

We all tie-dyed our own t-shirts, messy but fun

Oma spent lots of time with her grandchildren

The kids played in "the fort" which is an old grain shed converted into a western style fort. They formed a "Cousins Club"

We had relay races and classic group games like the three-legged race and the human knot.

Grandpa Lake came up for a day. His great-grandchildren surprised him with handfuls of wild flowers they gathered on an outing into the forest.

One activity was a trip around the world. Each of the men prepared a little presentation about the country where they served their mission. Steve served in Honduras and demonstrated the birthday tradition of cracking an egg on the head after singing to the birthday child. My nephew T was a good sport!

Other brothers/father-in-law served in Russia, Germany, California, and Mexico.

Fisher served in Finland and taught the kids the art of the Finnish sauna. They skipped the sauna part and went straight for the ice cold lake experience (a bathtub filled with ice). Lou was so cold she started crying.

At each country, the girls got a stamp on their "passports"

We hooked up the little trailer behind the ATV and took a ride once or twice a day... usually in the evening when the kids were starting to get a little whiney/crazy.

Fisher waiting to spray the unsuspecting victims coming down the water slide. He looked so cute and mischievous waiting there.

Wahoo! and Brr!

Jumping on the tramp to warm up after the water slide... not many trampolines have such a great view!

During the reunion everyone "earned" G.O. (Grandpa and Oma) Bucks for helping, being kind, being cute, etc... Grandpa and Oma were the distributors of these currency. The last night of the reunion there was an auction with some pretty serious prizes. Grandpa was the auctioneer.

There were plenty of cute nieces to pass around.

We spend an afternoon at Jefferson Lake and then had a hot dog roast at Great Grandpa Lake's house.

Oma brought the biggest marshmallows I have ever seen. YUM!

Thanks to our planners C & S and Ba & Ry for planning such a great reunion!!!

Lou's Birthday

Our sweet Lou has turned three - energetic, silly, smiley, giggly, teasing, noisy, sweet, chattering, funny, and intense three! She has amazing amounts of personality and is always making us laugh. To celebrate her birthday, she woke up to a birthday display which included a birthday card with sticker's from Oma. Curly graciously offered that Lou could wear her pajamas and her princess panties since it was her birthday.

We spent the morning swimming with our friends, the Wrights and ate Lou's choice (mac n' cheese) lunch with them also. Lou got to go out for dinner with just mom and dad. She requested "Old McDonald's." Our outing could have been an ad for Mastercard and McDonald's. Happy Meal - $3.50; Two Big Macs - $5.00; Seeing your three year old constantly alight with joy and excitement - Priceless.

Lou asked for a "Sleeping Beauty" cake for her birthday. Obviously mom mixed up her Disney princesses (shame on me) and she ended up with a Belle cake. She didn't seem to mind.

Much of the day was spend anticipating and preparing for our trip to Utah and Idaho. Lou excitedly discussed all the grandmas, grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins that we would soon see. That was probably her best birthday present. It was a happy day! Sad that birthdays only come once a year. But fortunate that we had so much to look forward to.

The day after Lou's birthday we got up early and headed for Utah. The trip was relatively calm - thanks to new birthday gifts to entertain the girls. Our first stop was Grandpa and Grandma W's house where we got to see my cousin Elsie - who happened to be visiting from DC and also happens to be due the same day that I am - November 4th. We of course had to take a baby belly shot. She is having a boy and we are having a surprise.

We also got to have dinner and visit with my grandparents and B and J Lake. Grandpa and Grandma have the most beautiful garden and we spent an hour outside picking raspberries, eating them and visiting - oh yum!

The Magical Age!

Anyone who has talked to Curly in the past month knows that she celebrated her birthday this week. To her, it is the most anticipated event of the year. She has had the mental image of her cake planned out for weeks - "A round cake with white frosting all over and blue writing that says 'Happy Birthday' and pink and purple butterflies."

There are many privileges that come with turning five, attending kindergarten being the most exciting. As parents we decided to take full advantage of the birthday hype and have been adding privileges to the list - when you are five, you cut your own pancakes; when you are five, you get a new chore chart; when you are five, you can't throw tantrums anymore!
We celebrated the grand event by going swimming and making crafts. In the evening Curly got to go out for dinner with just mom and dad to anywhere she chose. We all enjoyed some high quality white meat at Chic-Fil-A. When she announced that it was her birthday they threw in a free ice cream sundae. Curly mostly ate the sundae - and since it was her birthday I didn't enforce the "Eat all your food to get dessert" rule.
The cake was apparently NOT everything Curly dreamed it to be (though I thought I did a pretty good job) and she pronounced, "Well this isn't exactly how I wanted it, but I like it."

The euphoria of the occasion created a very happy and polite girl and Curly was so excited to talk to all her birthday well wishers and happy to share her gifts with Lou. I was happy to have such a happy five year old (that's a lot of happiness) and thought maybe there is something magical about turning five (I was wrong - today was a four year old day :)

Even so, I am amazed at how my oldest little girl has grown. Pardon me while I take a walk down memory lane.

New on earth - a few weeks old

One Year old - playing on the beach. I love this moment

Two years old

Three years old - She made a great Strawberry Shortcake for Halloween

Four Years old - This picture is classically Curly - all dressed up with so many imaginary places to go!

Oh how we love her!