Bear Lake

Is where we were this past week at Ryan's family reunion. They go to Bear Lake every summer and it is always beautiful and fun. We sure had a great time. Dennis loved the sand. He likes long strolls along the beach (pictured next... he probably would have gone the whole length of the beach if I let him)

This year was the most crowded it has ever been. The tents were packed together like the little cabanas in Calais, France

Dennis's FIRST boat ride!

The babies.

Dennis with GG Meyer.

GG Meyer with baby Myer.

All the guys at GG Meyers house.

Grandpa Dennis and Baby Dennis and Grandma.

Here are all of the kids about Dennis's age at the reunion (except Myer). Dennis is the oldest. The whole time they played musical toys and traded a lot. Dennis found this one particularily interesting, he wouldn't smile... and I was lucky to get him to look at the camera.

We were having dinner and some of the kids went down to the beach for an evening swim when a moose came trotting right on up to our beach. Luckily, it decided to turn around. But, we saw it for a long time. My first time seeing a moose.... pretty cool.

Making sure there weren't any leaks in our sink. That busy boy. Good times with Papa.

Kristen (11 yrs old) showed me up on one ski... maybe next time I'll get it.
Dennis took a nap while on the boat... precious.

Dennis especially liked the watermelon rind.

Things I learned this year at Bear Lake:

1. Even though everyone makes a big fuss about raspberries... they don't grow at Bear Lake anymore.
2. Bear Lake is soooo crystal blue because the mountains around have calcium in them and so they deposit calcium into the water and that reflects very blue like the ocean.
3. Maree is a very fast walker.
4. Shrimp salad is a Meyer family- Bear Lake tradition.
5. La Beau's Raspberry shakes are still really good. (I'm so glad that I got one)
6. Putting kids to bed in a condo is hard.
7. Even though Ryan wasn't along... I had a great time with his family.
8. Always bring your Tennis shoes when vacationing with the Funks. :)

Back in Kaysville:

Dennis has proven to be the tether ball king! Everytime that Dennis is outside he B-lines it for the big yellow ball.

Nonnie had quite the crop after the week at bear lake.

Thank you for such a wonderful trip! We sure had a great time! We love you!

Its Magic!

The Magic House is a children's museum in St. Louis. We went for the first time today and as you can tell Dennis thought it was pretty cool. We will have to go back.

more cute pics

pool here I come... grey eyes...

The new smile... mentioned before. It has taken on new meaning... he makes this face whenever he wants something before he reaches for it. In this case, it's the beach ball.

I love his thin curly hair and chubby legs... this is right before he straddled the pool. :)

Correction & Inspiration

Oh bother... being a mom is such a guessing game. I have to make a correction to the previous post with a new guess as to why Dennis pulls his fists to his face. He has continued this now a lot more often when I am not taking something from his mouth. I am almost positive it is because he is going to be popping some new teeth on top soon. And, once in a while he gets a tooth ache and tenses all up. I just love him.

I love being at home because my house is pretty much Dennis-proof... although it is a continual battle... I feel comfortable leaving him to play while I do something like the dishes or fold laundry or read a book. But, today as I was putting the dishes into the dishwasher I just had an instinct to go check on Dennis. As I turned the corner, I found him swinging the basement door open! With excitement in his eyes he was ready to charge for those stairs! I am so grateful for those little promptings and grateful that I listened... otherwise, we might have been blogging about the ER.

Mobility

As Dennis starts to become more mobile we are having to baby-proof continually. He finds all sorts of things to climb on. Today, he climbed on a stool that stood by our couch and patted me on the head. He also climbed onto a stool and started to climb onto the toilet but fell in the process. He even tries to climb into the tub as it fills up. Here is his first attempts at walking not in the walker.

Here is a video of what Dennis does when I try to take something out of his mouth. He hates it when I do it... rocks, toys, and big bites of food. This particular one is peaches... he loves his peaches!

What a morning...

This morning we woke up at 6:00am with Dennis and decided that we were going to pack up everything and go mountain biking at the Chubb Trail. (BTW this is our new van- we LOVE it!)

We were pretty excited! Dennis was happy. It was a very cool morning for mid July. And, we hadn't been mountain biking in a long time.

Here is a quick overview of what we encountered.

• Steep hill (down) with loose gravel.
• a mile long sand pit trail... we had to walk it.
• a dozen or so fallen trees in our path.
• I fell in the mud.
• a gillion mosquitoes that ate me alive.
• Buster and Bruno found 3 wild turkeys.
• Bruno ran away.
• I continued on to the car with the trailer and Buster while Ryan did the whole trail 2 more times looking for Bruno.
• I had to pull the bike and trailer up the steep hill mentioned before (and only made it half way before I thought I was going to die of exhaustion).
• Ryan saved me while I was hyperventilating and preparing for my death.
• I went home to make fliers for our missing dog.
• Came back to the park.
• Ryan finally found Bruno standing on the path 1.5 hours later.

I think everyone enjoyed it but me.

Ryan: "This is so fun!"

Dennis: "weee"

Buster: "ruff ruff"

Bruno: "woof woof"

Me: "I hate this!"

I think its time to invest in a road bike.

Lessons I learned:

1. don't take a baby trailer on a trail that you haven't ridden before.
2. turn around at the first obstacle... don't assume that it will be better after.
3. dogs... will be dogs...
4. don't take me along.

And, Ryan still thinks that I had fun?

home again, home again...

jigidy jog.

tomatoes and cucumbers in the back by our neighbors truck.

Our newest purchase from IKEA with our huge cucumber crop~