Family Get-Away Day 2 & 3

Day #2 was Sunday so we turned on the air conditioner in the camper, popped in some movies and took a big giant nap.  Later that night we played Hearts and Penochle with Dustin's parents who had arrived late Saturday night.  It was one of the best and most needed days of all.

Day #3 we got up and headed to Jimmy Smith Lake with Dustin's parents who came up late Saturday night.  We packed another picnic and rode the four wheeler up the trail so we didn't have to walk then did a little hike around the lake so we could fish.  Dad let all the girls take turns driving on the back roads.  They thought it was pretty neat.

We had to walk through a little creek to get to the "fishing spot".  Our good dad did most of the work to get us across safely. :)

There was very little shade so again our good dad did some clever work and created some home made shade for the girls since it was so hot.  They loved it and sat under there with their bag of Cheetos and a big smile.

They got to wade in the water and throw lots of rocks.

Even catch a few fish.

Ella got to baby sit the fish that died and we thought we might cook until we found bugs on it.  There were also big leeches we could see swimming around in the water.  Pretty gross.

At the end of the day we had some pretty tired people.  David and Carol headed back to the trailer and we headed the opposite direction to Challis for some dinner and a soak in the Challis Hot Springs.  It felt so good after a long, hot, fun day. 

Family Get-Away Day 1

For the last few weeks life seems to be running in fast forward.  Everything has been so fast paced, everybody needs our time and it was causing me stress.  So last Wednesday night I told Dustin we needed ot leave town.  We agreed that we would call all 10,000 people that we had been communicating with and tell them.. it will have to wait.  After swimming lessons on Friday we headed out of town.  I can't even tell you how good it felt to get out of service and power my phone off.   It also felt good to arrive in Challis and get a good laugh at this truck with cups on his windshield wipers.  It reminded me of my incident with the socks and my wipers.

We went to the Salmon River where Dustin's family owns a lot and stayed in his brother's camp trailer with full utility hook ups and unwound ourselves.  We remembered our priorities and I have been thinking in my head about the talk by Boyd K Packer in the recent conference who said, "Family time is sacred time.  It must be protected and respected."

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Bayhorse where we took our little rubber raft and paddled around which was slightly insane with the smaller girls. :)  The lake was beautiful!  Dustin got some fishing in, we had a picnic and the girls and I got to ride the 8 mile trail out of Bayhorse on the four wheeler.  It was such a great time! 

Molly got a little tired.  I assume she was crying for her binki.  That is pretty much the only time she cried unless she got hurt.

These are a few pictures Ella and I took on the way out of some of the beautiful things we saw on the trail out of Bayhorse. 

Saturday night the neighbors had some big fire works then set off.  It was a pretty good 20 minute show.  We were impressed and entertained.

Swimming Lessons

Ella and Alissa finished their 2nd week of swimming lessons at Ammon pool.  It was Alissa's first year and she LOVED it!  We pulled out Ella's old swimming suit and Alissa has been loving it too.  She calls it her swimming princess swimming suit because it has a little skirt around it.  She prances and dances around with it on.

Every day Ella would make sure her little sister made it safely into the pool.

Alissa's class mostly got comfortable in the water. 

She will jump in and go under water without much hesitation now.  I am impressed.

I love this picture of her with her class because after I took it she turned around and said, "that's my mom!"  Made me feel all warm and fuzzy that I was the person she was calling mom.  I sure love that girl.

She even jumped off the diving board on the last day.

Ella is becoming a little fish too.  She isn't afraid of the water anymore and spent most of the class time sticking her face in the water or talking, talking, talking.  I'm not sure she got much out of this session. :)

Ella was so nervous all week about Alissa jumping off the diving board.  At least that is what she claimed.  I'm sure she was a bit nervous for herself too. She is so funny.

She was pretty proud when she came back up out of the water though.

Dustin had Friday off so he got to come to the last swimming lesson with us and watch the girls jump off the diving board.  For the last few years we have bought a snow cone after the last swimming lesson and sit on the grass and eat it together.  It's fun to be together.  Sure do love this little family of mine and I'm so grateful I can stay home and take these girls to swimming lessons every day.