Lake Land

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Birthday Bonanza

June and July are Birthday months around here - 3 birthdays in 3 weeks. We added to the party by having a Lovell family "staycation" in the middle of it all.

With all the change (moving) in our family this summer, the plans to have a Lovell reunion at Lake Powell were scrapped and everyone (except poor Nate who was also moving) met in Idaho. We spent a day at Island Park, before seeing an amazing production of "Les Miserables" at the Playmill. We visited the ranch and a few brave souls went water-skiing and tubing on what has been the coldest day of the summer (I was not one of them). When it warmed up we went to the Splash park and the pool. We played games, watched soccer, talked a lot, and ate too much good food.

Picnic at Mesa Falls

Beautiful view of The Tetons

K-Rae & Diego at the ranch

Berry and Lyssie back to their old tricks

Sleeping on the trampoline

Baby S loving the Splash Park

Curly was lucky to celebrate her birthday with Lettie this year. Since they both have birthdays near the 4th, we made it a big party all day long. We hit the parade, played outside, watched a movie, had cake, and topped it off with fireworks.

At the Parade

Bubble blowing contest after parade

Curly the witch

Curly and Lettie both enjoy Harry Potter books right now, so Shar and I had fun making wands for everyone and letting them choose a wand at "Olivanders"

The wand, choosing the wizard

Excited for ice cream cake!

Spud's wand really did work :)

The celebrations on the 4th were the finale to having family here. We did get to have an encore in the form of a spontaneous and fun visit with Cayenne and Mark's family when their car broke down a few days later.

With everyone gone, Lou's birthday was a bit more quiet, but we had fun playing mini golf and enjoyed a lazy afternoon reading a good book. Lou really wanted an Olaf cake and thanks to a trick I learned at a Relief Society class a few weeks ago (and some taffy from the parade), it actually turned out looking like him. We had fun making it together.

Lou is our actress and puts her volume and energy into everything we do. She and Curly are best friends and I love watching them play with their little siblings. It's never boring around here. They are all growing up too fast!

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Happy Choo Choo Spud!

One year older and cuter too! Our Spud man celebrated his birthday a few weeks ago. He likes trains and whenever he sees anything that looks remotely like a birthday cake, he starts to sing the birthday song, "Happy choo-choo to you..." So we made him a choo choo cake.

We had a fun, simple celebration with Grandpa, Grandma and Paisley. Homemade personal pizzas, cake, and playtime outside. (By the way, this is our cute little apartment kitchen, dining, family, office, and laundry rooms)

I am so glad we have this tubby, little guy in our family. He talks all the time and asks his favorite question to everything you say, "Why?" "Baca" (grandpa or grandma) is another favorite word and friend. He loves to rough house and cuddle. He follows his big sisters around and loves to play with them. Any type of faucet or spray bottle are his favorite toys. I remember when we found out we were having a boy after three girls, I wondered if I could love a boy as much as I love my girls and now I can't imagine our family without him.

Wrapping up

This year Curly and Lou took a ballet class with Lettie and Gracie. They had a lot of fun together and sometimes got a little goofy (particularly Lou) but at the recital they were all grace and sweetness. It was fun to watch these cute girls dance.

Two days after their recital, we loaded the truck. After about 15 minutes of loading, I looked at what was left and thought, "There is no way that this is all going to fit in the truck." I even called U-haul to see if they had more trucks.. but apparently I had little faith because thanks to Fisher's meticulous and careful packing - everything important fit. It was a long, exhausting day but we were energized by the kindness shown by friends and family who took care of the girls all day, and stopped by to help clean and pack.

After a short night's rest, Fisher and his dad got an early start in the truck. We said goodbye to Tim, Sharla and their girls and it was sad. I took the girls to the house to see it one last time - totally empty. I was hoping it would be good for them to see that a house is just that - a house where you live for a while. About the time I finished crying from saying goodbye to Lovells, the Hintons came down to say goodbye and the tears started again. We have loved living on Irma Lane.

It's not goodbye, it's see you later!

Happiest Place on Earth

When you are in the middle of moving and things get crazy, there is only one thing to do - drop everything and go to Disneyland!

Waiting at the gate - the early birds get the worms

In all reality we have been trying to plan a trip to Disneyland with Tim and Shar and Pika and Pato for about a year, but it just hadn't worked out. So with the deadline of moving, we thought it would make a nice finale event AND get our kids minds off the move.

My most vivid memory of my childhood trip to Disneyland is of my dad with a determined grin on his face, spinning the teacup as fast as possible. He loves that ride. After hitting the Matterhorn, there was no one on the Teacups, so dad and Tim hopped on for a nostalgic spin. The rest of us were wiser (and still remember my sister vomiting after riding with my dad).

Berry was a big fan of Disneyland. She was willing (and barely tall enough) to try everything and even braved Splash Mountain with the grown-ups. She got pretty wet in the back with Uncle Paul and is still talking about "the boat that goes off the waterfall."

Splash Mountain

My Aunt Pika is a master Disney vacation planner (she could do it professionally) and with her careful planning we never waited in line longer than 10 minutes. She also planned in food breaks and even time for an afternoon nap and swim each day. With her planning and the help of Grandpa, Grandma, Pika and Paul there were plenty of adults which made for a very unstressed trip.

Goofy girls playing in Toon Town

Pika, Paul, Lou and Curly in Flick's Flyers

Day one was spent at Disneyland and day two we hit California Adventure. Carsland was the main attraction there and we couldn't believe how real it felt. I am so impressed with Disney's creativity and attention to detail.

Headed to Radiator Springs

Berry was Uncle Paul's buddy for most of the trip

Most of the gang in Radiator Springs

The two days in the parks flew by too quickly! It was a wonderful and perfectly timed vacation that took our minds off of the stresses at home and allowed us to just enjoy being with each other.

Waiting for World of Color

We said our goodbyes to everyone (including Spud who flew home with Grandpa and Grandma) and headed to the beach for a morning in the surf before heading home to pack like crazy.