Pineview

When Megan had a day off work, she was kind enough to take us all boating again. Amy was there with her kids, Andrea and fam, Kami and fam, mom, and myself and my kids. It was SUCH a fun day. It was beautiful weather, the kids were SO occupied playing in the sand, that we were having a lovely time chatting and watching them and the kids were loving the boat rides. Then the weather decided to turn devious on us and a massive storm rolled in. But it was still a great time!

Danica and Olivia waving at the front of the boat. Those lovely valley mountains. 

Endless fun.

 When we first arrived, we didn't have any toys yet because they were busy with the boat. Another family on the beach did have toys, so naturally my kids gravitated towards them. They seemed to be okay with it, until Will hit their little girl. I apologized and got after Will and the couple was so funny. They were both laying on their backs on their towels with their eyes closed and without even moving an eyelash the dad said "It's okay. Our kids never fight." and the wife came in with "Yeah. We've never even heard them cry before. It's fine." HAAHAAHAAA. I love Utah, and people who are used to kids, and who are used to families and normal sibling squabbles. No one, ever, would have responded so drily and comfortably in Miami. Hahaahaahaa.

Garrett, Myles, and Lynnaea on the tube.

HAAHAAHAA mom. 

Kiersten and baby Molly were just the sweetest the entire trip.

Anders and Cowen, boaters extraordinaire.

Painful grins.

This is my baby. In a mud hole. She loved it. 

Love these two hooligans.

See those clouds rolling in? It started thundering and lightning and the boat came in to drop everyone off and all the moms started mad-dashing about trying to clean everything up and get kids into vans. It was quite amazing, actually, the speed at which we took down camp.

Utah, unlike Miami, drops temperature when it rains and storms. Ruthie was freezing. Oh wait, I was freezing.

The waves kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

I love how Garrett looks like he's drowning. He was fine, I promise. 

Those waves!

After my kids were safely in the van, I convinced Olivia to run back with me and jump in the water, even though the rain was PELTING down on us. See those dirt stairs? Yeah, Olivia took a pretty good slide down them. I rode on my heels. It was awesome. The water felt so WARM after the freezing rain, and the waves were amazing. There is just something so incredible about extreme nature. I love it so much. It was breathtaking and spectacular and I just wanted to soak in and drink in every single moment. It makes time stop for a moment so you can actually FEEL that moment. I've always loved extreme weather. It's almost like when the tornado sirens would go off in Minot and Wyatt and Ethan would run around like crazies in the rain and hail until mom made us go down in the root cellar. It's exhilarating. 

Olivia was the bomb and I am so glad she ran back. She accused me earlier that week of being old and no fun (my kids were ornery and I didn't want to make a raspberry shake, which I feel bad about now, because that has always kinda been our thing.) so hopefully I redeemed myself a bit. Definitely a highlight of the trip. Also, the hazelnut Stephen's hot chocolate at my mom's house afterward (which she mocked me about, but it was freezing!) was perfection.