Bear Lake

Ty's parents have a timeshare condo in Bear Lake and their week this year was over Memorial Day Weekend, so Ty took a week off work and we headed to Bear Lake! We had a lot of fun with Ty's family. It was pretty chilly there, but we still had fun in the condo and got out while it was nice outside.

I have a TON of pictures so here goes:

 Bear Lake Pizza our first night there!

 Crystal loved looking for 'sea shells'

 In her sunglasses.

 Walking along the beach ... heading to the toys of course!

 More shell searching

 Waiting for Crystal to catch up...

Funniest thing! And I wish we would have gotten video, but Lily HATED the sand.

LOL. We were walking along and as soon as the path turned into sandy beach, Lily stopped dead in her tracks, looked down at the sand, and then reached for someone to carry her. When we wouldn't pick her up, she whined and screamed and stomped her feet. We'd gently push her onto the sand and she'd FREAK OUT! She hated the way it feels to walk on sand!  

BUT she has an innate NEED to get dirty, and she couldn't resist such a wonderful opportunity to do so. She let Ty put her down as we neared a firmer part of the beach so she could sink her hands into it.

 She's still not so sure about having it under her feet!

Picking up sand to through over her head!

Playing in the sand and on the toys. Life doesn't get better than this!

Minnetonka Cave! Crystal didn't even freak out when they turn all the lights out at the farthest point in the cave... unfortunately Lily didn't like it much. She started yelling "OUCHY!" lol. Apparently darkness hurts.

MINIATURE GOLF:
Taking the children with us to go miniature golfing was pretty unproductive, BUT they enjoyed it and we all had fun! Since we had the entire course to ourselves, it worked out pretty well.

 On our way out of town we stopped to get a burger in Garden City:

Easter 2012

We went to Idaho Falls for Easter this year. The girls had 3 Easter Egg Hunts at Grandma and Grandpa Cook's and at Grandma and Grandpa Gordon's houses. They were also spoiled yet again by the Easter Bunny! Both of the girls LOVED decorating Easter Eggs (and they got to do it TWICE this year!). I have video of it, but I don't want to hassle with uploading videos at the moment. I'm afraid, because of all the video we took (with our brand new HandyCam btw :D) , this is my only Easter picture!

The Easter Bunny found us at Grandma and Grandpa Gordon's house!

The Ice Cream Cake

Even though I've grown to rather enjoy making and decorating cakes on birthdays, Ty LOVES LOVES LOVES Dairy Queen's ice cream cakes! So for his birthday I bought him one instead of decorating my own. And I didn't just get him one, I got him the BIGGEST one they had!

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TY!

 Crystal helping blow out the candles!

 This is beside the point but this picture is a good view of Crystal's freshly cut hair. That's right... she did something I NEVER thought she would do. She got a hold of scissors and cut her bangs off (not to mention part of Lily's hair too)! After like 3 months they are finally growing back!

Sadly, the next night after eating our ice cream cake, we forgot to put it back in the freezer (Ty thought it needed to go in the deep freeze in Lily's room so he left it on the counter while we ate, but I had cleared a space in the kitchen freezer and thought he had put it away). It was left on the counter until it had completely melted into soup ... it was VERY VERY SAD! But no worries, Ty bought one for my birthday just a few weeks later. 

TROUBLE!

It was one of those moments where I realized the girls were being TOO quiet, so I decided I'd better check on them. I came into Crystal's room and found THIS!

 BUSTED!

 Oh well. No worries. 

 I'll just finish my french fry...

The ENTIRE dresser was emptied! 

(In Lily's defense, Crystal assisted in this particular piece of mischief.)

 "Helping" with the dishes!

She's our little monster but I wouldn't want her any other way!!!!! We LOVE her to death! I love her sweet smile and the smarts she has that gets her into the trouble she's ALWAYS finding!

Christmas in Idaho Falls 2011

As usual the girls were SUPER spoiled for Christmas this year! On Christmas Eve when we put the girls to bed Crystal informed us that Santa was going to bring her a tractor. A WHAT!?!? She'd been asking for a 'baby' religiously all month long. When we told her she'd just have to wait and see since she had personally asked Santa for a 'baby' several times and not a tractor, she cried REAL heartbreaking tears! I felt terrible! I was sure Santa wasn't prepared for such a turn in events! 

Amazingly Santa didn't let her down! I don't know what Santa would do without Grandparents and A LOT of LUCK! Santa had just happened to have a Lego Tractor Set stored in Grandpa's closet for moments like these!

 Santa definitely outdid himself this year! Next year we need to have a chat with him and tell him to tone it down a bit I think!

 Coming down the stairs to see what Santa brought!

They LOVED the huge Frog and Hippo! 

(It was fun to stuff in our little car to get them home too)

 Grandma and Papa Gordon got Conner and Crystal motorized Jeeps.

(This one had to stay in Idaho Falls till Papa could bring it in his truck. 

It was NOT going to fit in the car)

 The ADORABLE beanies Grandma Cook made for the girls! They LOVED them!

 Like I said ... completely spoiled!

Crystal cleaned the car while Lily drove! lol! 

(Lily was a very scary driver)

North Pole Express

Wow! I'm apparently even farther behind on my blog than I thought. I'd better get started or I'll never catch up!

Just before Christmas we went for a train ride on the North Pole Express at the Heber Valley Railroad! We were supposed to go for preschool, but SOMEBODY (this person knows who she is ;-P) decided to get married on the day of the ride. I had already bought the tickets and they have a no return policy. I tried to sell them but to no avail, so we called and asked if we could change the date on the tickets and just go as a family. I was extremely glad they were willing to work with us because those tickets were VERY expensive and I didn't want them to go to waste.

The girls LOVED the experience, but I'm still undecided as to whether it was worth the money. We went to the matinee which means the sun wasn't down yet, so I think if I were to spend the money again I would definitely fork out the extra money for the regular night showing.

In the car hanging out in our pajamas waiting for the train!

Boarding the train! Finally! We froze outside for 30 minutes because the stove (used to heat the car) smoked the car out. They wouldn't let us in until it had cleared out. The mechanic was still fixing the stove when the train decided to depart, so he unexpectedly got a ride to the North Pole! lol.

 At the North Pole! There's Santa!

 HOT CHOCOLATE!

 Santa visited our car as we were on our way back from the North Pole!

 He gave the girls each a jingle bell! They thought it was pretty cool!

Examining her new prize! Looks like nap time!!!!