Eve is SIX!

Today was a looooooong day. It was a lot of fun though. It was Eve's birthday. Rachel made pancakes for everyone. We did the whole birthday stuff first thing in the morning. Eve loved it. She is adorable.

Eve 

Anne & Eve

Greg, Grace, Marie, Mina, Anne, Eve, Jeff

Eve with her own tub of cotton candy (Jeff next to her)

Eve ~ I gave her this shirt. Look how adorable she is.

Eve & Anne

Eve

Early this morning, before breakfast, Mike went to the lake. He wanted to spend some time sailing. He was able to get an hour with good wind. He loved it. Brett, Rachel, Mina and Marie took the jet ski down to the dock at Blowout. That is about ten minutes away. The rest of us went to the beach by the cabin. Matt and I both took a load of kids. I went back and Stockton and Preston took the rest of the kids down. I walked down to the beach with Bear. I was wondering how he would do crossing the street, but he did great. He had such a fun time, I'm glad we were able to get him down there. Especially since Sam wasn't feeling well and she stayed behind with Kaylee. I think it was nice for her to have an empty cabin with no dog.

Brett and Rachel rode the jet ski over here and Mike brought his boat and anchored it nearby. It took me awhile to get to the beach because I was walking with a dog and Mud showed up right as I was leaving. I played fetch with the dogs while I walked to the parking lot by our cabin. Then I told Mud to stay as I climbed through the gate with Bear. I can't believe he didn't follow us! It took about 15 minutes to get down the beach. When we were far enough on the path where I knew Bear wouldn't run up to the highway, I took off his leash. We walked and walked until I heard Mike call, "Bear dog! It's Bear dog!" Bear took off running to him. He was so excited. The beach was suuuuuuper muddy. Amy loved it. She was covered from head to toe in mud. Stockton and Preston were on the jet ski waiting for passengers for the tube when Bear hopped on. What the? He is such a scaredy dog. No chance he realized it could move. Stockton couldn't miss that opportunity. He yelled, "Someone film this because it is never going to happen again!" Haha. Preston jumped behind with Bear. I think Mike drove while Stockton filmed. Bear did not like it and finally jumped in the lake. His fear of the moving tube was greater than his fear of the water. He swam to shore. What a brave Bear Dog.

Bear, Stockton, Preston

Bear & Preston

We played at the beach for hours. It was a lot of fun. Brett and Mina were kayaking when Bear climbed onto their kayak! I think he just wanted to be out of the water and mud. Mina took him around and was out there when Mike got back from adding gas to the jet skis.

Stephanie, Brett, Bear

Bear... what a muddy dog

Mina & Brett

Mina & Bear

Brett, Marie, Stephanie

Mike brought Bear back is life vest and was able to coax him onto the kayak with him. They paddled out to the boat and he got Bear onboard. I was really happy about that because now I didn't have to walk him back. The 4-wheelers had already gone and there was a bit of time that Preston and I were planning on walking back without shoes. Luckily right before we started Rachel came back with the 4-wheeler. It was perfect. We sent Brett, Rachel, Marie and Mina back on the jet ski and Mike brought his boat back. I drove Stockton and Preston back. It started raining on us on the way back. Glad we were able to get so much time on the water today!

Rachel and I went to the store today. Rachel wanted to get Eve a cake she had been eying. It was adorable and looked just like Eve. Eve really wanted a mermaid cake. Rachel asked the lady if she had any toys they could stick on the cake. They had some mermaid tails. Rachel also found mermaid tail candles. It was perfect and Eve loved it.

Jeff & Eve (and Stockton)

Marie, Eve, Anne

Preston, Brett, Marie, Rachel, Eve, Anne

Marie, Eve

Eve

We spent the rest of the time cleaning the cabin, except for a game of Dominion. We did not leave as early as we wanted to. We left waaaaaayyyyyyy later. We didn't leave until around 10:30 at night. It was a bad idea. I drove one car and Mike drove another. The first hour was fine, but the rest was a struggle. I listened to a book on tape, but don't really remember most of it. Mike and I stopped three different times and walked around. That helped for a bit. I drove pretty slow and caught myself weaving several times. I remember wondering if they would pull me over for drunk driving. It was super dangerous and I'm never going to do that again. We got home at 3:30 in the morning. So glad we both made it!

Fixed!

Mike worked for hours on getting the rope untangled from the jetski. Bear was a loyal dog and waited patiently beside him. The kids would come out and play with him. He has lots of fans.

Amy, Bear, Jeff

Brett and I left this morning to go to Thayne and get his blinker in his car fixed. Everything worked out and they can now do all the left turns they want. Christian told us he could install it for us when the part came in on Friday. Brett asked the lady about it and she was kind of short with him and said she would see if he had any time. Christian was super nice. He came out and helped us right away. He said that we were going to be surprised how easy it is. After watching him cut wires, twist them together, add water proof glue and a bunch of other things, I think the $30 Brett paid him was worth it. Nice to have that done! 

Brett and I went in the gate at Chokecherry. Right after we turned onto Hummingbird Lane we noticed some kids. Then Brett realized it was Rachel. She was on a walk with Bear and lots of kids! We pulled over and the kids all hoped in the car. I got out to walk with Rachel. Brett let Eve "drive". She needs a few more years before I would be confident with that. Haha. Bear did not like all his friends leaving. He wined and barked and pulled on his leash and was so sad. After I thought Brett had made it back to the cabin I let him off his leash and he zoomed away. I was glad to see him back at the cabin when we got there. 

Mina, Eve, Brett

When Mike got the rope unstuck, Brett, Marie, Mina, Mike and I all took it down to the lake to make sure it was still working. It was! We had a great time. We had the jet ski and tube going and had no problem. There was thunder and lightning nearby and that made me a little nervous. I prayed a lot! It ended up being perfect. Stockton said while we were gone Anne gave them a lesson on the solar system. Haha. We have also been talking with Sam about helping us get Stockton's plates printed. She is going to help us out! She has great contacts. Sam said if we were willing to pay one of the typesetters $10/hour, she would be able to help us get it ready for printing. She also suggested hiring a graphic artist for the cover. (That will probably be the most expensive part besides the actual printing.) She has contacts at BYU she can ask about printing. I'm excited that she will be able to help us out because after all the work Stockton has put into this I want him to be able to hold it in his hands one day!

I can not believe tomorrow is our last day. This week has gone by so fast! I love it here. Especially when my brothers are with me. Only two of them this time, but it is the best.

Fun and Disappointing

I love these mugs. I like how they all are similar, but all are unique. I love how their name shows in the perfect place. I love that they are plastic and light so they are perfect for the kids. Here are a few of the cups hung up.

My dad made crepes this morning. Delicious. The kids were so cute reading Calvin and Hobbs this morning. Anne was reading it out loud and it was adorable.

Mina, Grace, Matt, Anne, Stephanie, Jeff 

We spent the day on the lake. It was a lot of fun, and also disappointing. There were a lot of kids. Stockton and Preston were so great. They took the kids around on a jet ski. The kids loved it. Stockton had each of them pick their favorite song and he would blast it as they rode. Mike got his boat into the lake and was calling out to Brett about how to hook the tube on. We had never started the tube this close to the shore and were unprepared for how fast the rope could get sucked in. Right as Mike took off in his boat that happened. At first we thought we could get the rope untangled, but we couldn't. Brett spent so long working on it. Mike brought the boat back and helped. I held the boat on the dock and we thought it would be fast. It wasn't. Finally Mike brought the boat back and took the jet ski back to the parking lot. Jet ski was done for the day. The most disappointing thing was my dad didn't get to ride in the boat. He was in it for a few minutes before Mike had to come back. My dad and Brett worked on the jet ski while Mike took some kids around. Once Mike got back it was time for my dad to leave to go back to Utah. He took Stockton and Preston back to the cabin on his way. Mike took another load on the boat. I was in it with Brett and a few of the girls. Bear was also with us. (Bear was great the entire day. I'm glad we brought him.) Matt played with Jeff and Greg on the tube at the shore. Rachel had come back with Eve and rode the kayak. Even though it was disappointing that we lost the jet ski, we still had a great time.

Stockton & Preston 

Broken jet ski... Matt, Marie, Brett, Preston

Grace, Amy, Anne in the boat

Grace

Jeff

Mina, Preston, Marie ~ they played on this for a LONG time

Brett working on the jet ski with Greg supervising

Eve, Anne, Rachel, Grace, Marie

Sam made delicious enchiladas. I was very glad I had Bear at the lake with me. She had all these enchiladas laid out on the table as she was working on them. It would have been so hard to do with Bear. The rest of the night was spent playing games with the Olympics in the background. This trip is going way too fast.

Preston's New Backpack

Brett and Rachel discovered yesterday that their left turn signal didn't work. Knowing that Rachel was going to be driving back across the country by herself, that was a big concern. Brett, Rachel and I drove to a NAPA auto parts store in Thayne. They were so nice. They ended up being able to order the entire thing Rachel needed. It will get here Friday morning. The store that is connected to it is a mechanic shop. They helped Brett and Rachel figure out what was wrong and said they would install it for them on Friday. Rachel said she had tried to get this fixed three times and every time they told her they couldn't get the parts. The blinker still worked though, it just went very fast. It wasn't until yesterday that it stopped working completely. Luckily we are staying here until Friday, so this will work for them.

My dad and Matt took a bunch of little kids on a 4 wheeler ride. They went to the beach and found the road that is usually covered in water. Brett and I were watching out the window and could see a huge dust storm. It started raining a bit. We could see the 4 wheelers coming back and crossing the big highway. Right as they got back it started pouring. I think most of the kids got inside, but I think it caught my dad and Matt. Talk about good timing! That would have been awful to be caught it. Especially with all the tiny kids!

We had Marie's cake after lunch. It was pretty funny. It is pure cotton candy. It was actually better than I thought it would be. Each layer was a different flavor. A small slice was more than enough. We only went through half of the cake at lunch.

Marie & Eve

Brett did a great job slicing. It's harder to do than it looks!

Preston, Mina, Greg

Amy, Greg

The girls loved playing with Preston. He came up from the basement and told me he got his new backpack from school. Hahaha - what an adorable backpack!

Eve & Preston

Eve, Preston, Anne

While we were having cabin fun, Stockton had the opportunity to go through the temple with Gavin. Gavin has been such a great friend to Stockton through the years. How cool that Stockton was invited and able to be there for this. Gavin invited Dani also. The session was small. It was Gavin, his parents, Stockton, Dani and Isaac. Isaac was randomly there. I remember him being friends with Gavin in high school, so that is funny. Gavin has a mission call to Japan. He got his call one week after Stockton got home from his mission. He doesn't leave for another month. About six months between his call and his departure. That's nuts!

Gavin & Stockton

Dani, Gavin, Shannon, Nate, Stockton

Mike brought Stockton back to the cabin. Maysen didn't feel well enough to come. She was quite disappointed when I talked to her on the phone. She wasn't looking forward to being alone. I told her Jorja was going to be there. She had no idea. That made her so happy. She wasn't looking forward to being alone again.

Mike brought the mugs up and I was so excited to give it to them. They were in individual boxes. I picked the first one up and it said Marie on the bottom. I handed it to Marie and she opened it. She said, "It's a cup that says Amy." Hahaha. Okay, the names didn't match what was written on the bottom. I was so happy with the cups. I love them. Sam told me that the cups I picked for her kids were perfect. She likes to joke that Anne's favorite game is Queen Anne. Anne's cup had a crown. I was worried Jeff wouldn't like his cup. It had a lego pattern. What if he didn't like legos? (I haven't been around Matt's kids for a year and a half because of corona, so I was worried I wouldn't be able to pick good ones.) Sam told me that Jeff loves legos and even saved up his money to buy a lego set that is about to be delivered. I wasn't worried about Greg's. He has always loved balls. Amy's just called to me. I didn't know why. It was ladybugs. Sam pointed out that her blanket she always sleeps with is ladybugs. Haha! I had forgotten! No wonder why that one seemed to fit her! Kaylee's is just simple, but I should have found a mountain goat one. That girl climbs on everything! I think Brett's kids worked out well too. I knew Marie loves Paris, so I got a cute one with an Eiffel Tower pattern. Mina had designed hers last year. She even told me on the phone about it a year ago. Luckily that pattern was saved on my account and I was able to use the same one. Grace loves dragons and Eve is such a dainty princess girl. I think they turned out perfect and I love seeing them hanging up at the cabin. I'll take a picture for tomorrow. I just love it.

Eve, Mina holding Amy, Rachel painting Amy's nails, Jeff watching

Attmepts at a cup family picture

Greg, Kaylee, Jeff, Amy, Anne

The little kids loved playing with Bear Dog. He is a favorite.

Eve & Bear

I played three games of Dominion today and won all three. I'm happy with that record. One game we played in the afternoon. We tried to get people together, but it didn't work out and we did all the cake things. We tried again. Brett wasn't able to play, so we just played with three. Right after we finished Mike texted and asked what we were doing. I told him we just finished playing Dominion. He asked if we played with cards or online. I told him online. He asked why we didn't ask him to play. Oh my gosh! That would have been perfect, why did I not think of that? That is the entire point of playing online. Mike had just been bored waiting for Stockton to finish at the temple. Whoops. I felt so bad. Other than that the rest of the day was great. I love being here with my family!