Daybreak Lake
My friend and her family are building a home over in the Daybreak community, which is fairly close to where we live. She suggested that we meet her and her son, E, at the park for a few hours. It's the first time I've really spent time over there and I was surprised at how nice it was. Bean and E had fun playing on the slide for awhile and then my friend suggested that we go to the beach close by. I certainly didn't expect anything so nice. There in the middle of nowhere was this lake with an awesome beach (as in, decent sandcastle sand.) Bean and E had fun playing in the water.
I felt bad because (1) I'd forgotten to put sunscreen on Bean and (2) she was not dressed to go in the water and you moms know what happens when a regular diaper gets wet...So we cut our morning a little short. But I was so happy to see something fun to do that is close to us.
Birthday Trip to the Zoo
Since we were rained out at our trip to the zoo for Bean's first birthday, we thought we would give it a try again this year. I am so glad we did. Bean had a blast!
The first thing we did (and, honestly, the whole reason I wanted to take her) was go on the train. (Remember: this girl loves trains!) I love this picture because it is an action shot of her saying "choo-choo."
She had fun seeing the animals and climbing on them too.
And she loved the famous lion fountain.
We decided to brave it and walk around 'sans stroller.' We weren't sure how Bean would do walking so far, but she did great! There were times, though, that it was easier for S to just put her on his shoulders. S and I were distractedly talking and I just happened to look down at Bean and see her giving Mickey a ride on her "shoulders." She has such a cute personality!
If you want to see more on her birthday, visit my other blog.
More Time at the Farm
We've continued going to Wheeler Farm almost every single week. Bean knows exactly where we are when we drive by it on our way to "Papa's" (aka Grandpa's) house. She excitedly starts saying, "Farm? Farm? Farm?" And then I tell her, "yes--we are going to go to the farm for a picnic tonight." And then she'll say, "Picnic. Farm. Horses! Neiiggghh..."
I don't know how we missed the treehouse for the first several weeks this year. This particular trip was her first time inside it and she was so excited!
She got to the top and looked out the window and motioned for me to take her picture (that's what she means when she holds her hands up to her eyes)
and then she said "Cheese!"
Going to a Football Game in Enemy Territory
Okay, so the truth is, I will probably always root for Utah when they are playing anyone but BYU because I am a Utah native and I feel like it would be blasphemous to not root for the home team. S's dad had bought tickets for he, S, and his sister B to go to the season opener, but realized later that there was a conflict and that he would not be able to go. So S asked if I wanted to go instead. And I said yes.
It really wasn't so bad. It was unfortunate that the tickets were in a section with alot of MSU fans. Without a television narrative, I don't know that much about football. So I just cheered when the surrounding crowd cheered. Yeah...I ended up having to just focus on when S and B would cheer so I didn't get dirty looks.
It felt very awkward being there at first, but I had fun and I'm glad I went. And I'm glad they won.
Bear Lake
We found out we had been invited to go to Bear Lake over Labor Day with S's extended family 2 days before we went. It was very spur of the moment.
I've never vacationed at Bear Lake before. And I've only been there a few times--and each time we were just driving through. I didn't really know what to expect.
We packed up after church and drove up with S's parents and sister via Evanston. Once we had set up our trailer and had dinner the day was pretty much over. We were on the east side of the lake so we were able to see the sun set over the lake. Beautiful.
Bean and I headed down to the lake shore and had fun throwing rocks into the lake. Pretty soon this girl will be able to skip stones.
We had a bonfire and Bean roasted her first marshmallow. I think she was more interested in the process than the result, so I got to eat lots of toasted marshmallows.
We headed back to camp early after she tripped and scraped up her poor little hands. I took the time to unwind and read while she colored. Then it was time to go to bed. Trying to get this girl to go to bed in the same bed as me is a challenge because all she wants to do is play. I had just gotten her settled down when everyone else came back to camp. She saw this as the perfect opportunity to jump up and start bouncing on the bed. *sigh* We had finally calmed down again when someone in the trailer got a case of the giggles... :) Actually, once she finally passed out we all slept fairly well (for 5 adults and 1 toddler in 1 trailer.)
The next morning we took turns heading out on the boat. This was Bean's first ride on a boat and she loved it. It's also the first time I've gotten out on a wakeboard since having Bean. I did not do so well. In fact, I plain stunk. I finally got up, let out a whoop, annnd immediately face planted in the water. Awesome battle wounds, though!
Bean was able to get some beach time in with her daddy.
And she went swimming in the lake. I was actually surprised at how clear and warm the water was.
The highlight of the day was watching my father-in-law get tossed around on the tube.
We packed up shortly after and went home. We were pretty exhausted (and sore.) But we certainly crammed everything we could into 24 hours! And I definitely want to go again when we can spend more time there. What a perfect way to say "adios" to summer...
Snowbird
Since S and I weren't really able to celebrate our anniversary on our anniversary, we decided to make a weekend out of it mid-September. Snowbird has some great things to do and I've always wanted to stay at the Cliff lodge up there.
One of the things we wanted to do was go hiking. Then we thought maybe we'd give mountain biking a try. Then we found these things called mountain scooters (basically mountain biking for beginners.)
We rode the tram to the summit
and rode the scooters down one of the maintanence roads (which was still awful steep and bumpy in places.)
It was so beautiful and peaceful. There were mountain streams, waterfalls and wildflowers everywhere.
Another thing we wanted to do was go to the spa. There is a pool and a giant hot tub on the roof of the lodge. By the time we made it out there it was pouring rain (and it was freezing cold.) We watched the storm come in as we relaxed in the hot tub. It was awesome. I can only imagine what it's like up there during the wintertime.
The thing I probably looked forward to most was the couples massage, which we had scheduled the next morning. It was only my second massage ever and S's first one. Ahhhh...I've never had 50 minutes go by so quickly in my life.
Totally uplifted and rejuvenated, we returned home feeling as if we had been a million miles away. I loved being able to get away from everything with my best friend. I think anniversaries are becoming my new favorite celebrations.
Copper Mine
Bean likes trains, tractors AND big trucks. So we decided to take her over to the Copper Mine to see the big trucks. Even though we live right next to it (literally,) I haven't actually been to the open pit in maybe 10 years. It is substantially bigger than I remember it being before.
Plus they have opened up a visitor center with some pretty neat displays. Plus I feel like I should start panning for gold in my backyard.
I remember standing in front of this enormous tire (or one like it) when I was a kid. Except they have covered the hole with plexiglass.
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