Bear Lake Utah and the Empey Clan!

You have to love family reunions! Seriously, what is better than getting together with all the people you love and hanging out for a few days! We just got back from Bear Lake and the Empey Family Reunion! I will start first by telling all you Empey's that we love you and miss you already. The kids hate being away from their cousins. And Kayla, we love and miss your clan too, we wish you could have been here with us, but I guess a vacation in Spain isn't a bad substitute!

We left on Monday and drove to Mesquite Nevada. I thought it would be a great place to stay at only $30 a night. So we did, I thought Steve would kill me because he really wanted to just keep driving, but we stopped at the lovely (that is sarcastic) Oasis Spa and Casino. Let's just say we have not stayed in too many places this bad. I learned a few things about our kids that night. Tyler isn't bad to sleep next to. Brooklynn loves to snuggle in next to her Daddy! And Josh sings himself to sleep and plays with his belly button!

Tuesday we hit the road and stopped at Mike's house. Stephanie and Mike were taking a boat and trailer up to Bear Lake and since Steph had never towed anything was a little nervous. I can't say I blame her I would have been the same way. So, we helped them get ready and left on Wednesday with Steve pulling the boat, Mike the trailer and me driving our car. It worked out well and Kenzie and Steph drove with me and read me some Harry Potter. Now that I know some of the last book I may have to start at the beginning.

We got to our campsite, which was in a great spot and set up camp. We hauled our tent up and all our sleeping bags, got it set up and then ended up bunking in with Kari and J. Of course, why wouldn't we. J's parents let them bring up their trailer and it worked out nicely. Steve and I slept on an air mattress on the floor the kids slept on the bed, Jake and Josh each had a pack
n play and Kari and J got the bed. It wasn't the most comfortable on the air mattress that is, but it worked! Oh and of course the tent we had just purchased had a hole in it!

On Thursday, we hit the lake. The water was soooooo smooth. It was fantastic and I skiied. Yippy, it was so awesome I hadn't skiied like that in years. It was so very fun. Kari learned to wakeboard, Steve Skiied and wake boarded, it was just really fun! At least until the thunder storm rolled in and ruined it! McKenzie, who by the way for those of you who don't know her, is the coolest 13 year old ever - I love you Kenz! After watching me ski wanted to give it a whirl. She popped up on that one ski so fast. She is a total rock star! I have to say the highlight of this day was when James road his bike in the water and then lost it in the water. Lucky for him the bike search party found it!

When we got back to camp, Tyler crashed! He had a fever and was not feeling good. Being the mom I am I started to worry. I soon figured out that he probably had the strep throat that Joshua had the week before. Of course I had thought in my own head before we left I should really call and get some anitbiotics for Ty and Brooks just in case, but I didn't. Next time I will listen to my own self. Anyway, I tried my Pediatrician, but he was unable to prescribe in Idaho. So, on Friday Morning, after Andy had gotten us a list of Dr's etc to call in the area, thanks Andy! I called an office and they got us right in! You have to love the nice small town Idaho folks! Anyway, sure enough it was Strep and so we got the medicine and kept Ty's fever down with Motrin and headed back to the beach! It was another great day. As the pictures show, the kids had a great time, especially Josh in his mud puddle. He played in that silly mud puddle forever, even though a whole lake of water was just feet away.

I must mention that Kari planned a great dutch oven dessert cook off. The first night of the cook off was on Friday and it was awesome! We made Monkey Bread that turned out great! Stephanie and crew made a chocolate carmel thing and mom made some sort of cobbler or something that looked like chili. They all tasted great and it was fun to see what everyone came up with.

On Saturday we headed up to some caves - the Minetonka caves (I think). Anyway, it is a huge cave that they have put stairs in so that you can go on tours. In all there is over 400 stairs. Well, we all went and Grandpa Nelson was not going to miss out either! At almost 99, he is truly amazing, he climbed all the stairs and even though most of us were very worried, he made it through with no problem.

Later in the afternoon we went up to Bloomington lake and Steve and Kelly jumped off the cliffs. Dave couldn't make the swim (you big whimp - HeeHee). Once we got back to camp, Steve and I packed up, ate dinner, said a sad goodbye and headed to Pocatello. We decided to get an early jump on it. It was better to get some Laundry done and clean up and shower before the long car ride home! We heard the dutch oven on Saturday night was good too, I am so sad I didn't get to try all the creations! Kristin, I love apple pie and I bet it was sooo good.

All in all, it was a great reunion. Thanks to Mike for bringing the boat! Thanks to mom and dad for having such a great family! Thanks to Kelly for having lots of extra gear. Thanks to Steph for feeding my family so much food. Thanks to everyone for putting up with me and my non-camping self. I try, no really I do, I just have an aversion to dirt or something. Of course a huge shout out goes to Kari for planning and stressing and dealing with everyone's, especially mine, complaining, I love you! Dave and Trista, we are sad that we didn't get to see more of you! We can't to hear about the flavor of your baby! Let us know.

Enjoy the pictures. I didn't get pics of everyone, but I'm sure with all the cameras up there we got everyone!

Oh ya and I musn't forget. Dad Empey water skiied! Go Dad! Look for the pics of that too!

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The Things I LOVE!

I was inspired to post the things I love most about my kids today, thanks to my friend Melissa! So here it goes.

1. I love it when Josh say "DADA" with as much excitement as his little person can muster. "MAMA" on the other hand seems to be more of a whiney and complaining tone.

2. I love Brooklynn trying to figure out and remember to say her L's, it is a real challenge, but slowly she is getting it!

3. I totally love Tyler's passion for swimming, the kid goes non-stop in the pool.

4. I love when Joshy mimics what I do, for instance, when I blink my eyes at him and he does it back, but when he does it, he scrunches up his nose.

5. I love Brooklynn's energy, she can run circles around all of us and is constantly jumping around.

6. I love it when Tyler is the 'big' brother, and is so concerned and worried about his little brother and sister.

7. I love that Josh LOVES and I mean LOVES to be outside, no matter how hot it is. He wants to go go go all the time.

8. I love when Brooks decides she is going to use a new word, like last week, when she told us, "My lips don't feel so funky anymore!"

9. I love to listen to Tyler read! He is so cute and trys so hard to figure out all the words.

10. I love the grin Josh gets when Daddy and Tyler play catch with him. There is nothing greater it the world than a ball and hanging out with Dad all wrapped into one.

11. I love to listen to Brooklynn play, she has an amazing imagination and it is fantastic to eaves drop on her.

12. I love how my Tyler will still give snuggles. Even though he is almost too big to sit on my lap he still has to have a good snuggles once in a while and I wouldn't miss it. I keep telling him that he is getting to big and I will have to sit on his lap soon.

I guess that is all. I just really love my kids, they are amazing and so wonderful. I think sometimes I forget how wonderful they are and get worried about all the trivial stuff. I am so grateful for them and the fun and joy they bring both Steve and me!

The 4th and 100 and HELL!

We had a great 4th of July this year. Our friends the Lawrence's hosted a little party and we went over for some great tri-tip (thanks Logan and Jamie) and some other good food. The kids played on the water bounce house slid thingy and we sat around and visited. It was nice and relaxing. After that we headed over to our friend Megan's brother for a little swimming. The kids also loved that! And then we went back over to Lawrence's to light some fireworks. It was a great day and the kids had so much fun! We are blessed with such amazing friends and it was nice to spend time with them. Here are a few pictures from the day!

The Slide, you can see Tyler right at the bottom.

Joshua after a cupcake! It was really good.

A good toothless picture of Brooks!

Tyler - he is so dang handsome.

I love the look on Brooklynn's face here!

Tyler and Dax

Brooks and the sparkler

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Brookie and Duncan (her boyfriend) even though she always says to me, "Mommy Duncan won't talk to me!" He is somewhat shy and doesn't say too much.

Nash and Josh, they were hilarious. Nash kept giving Joshy hugs.

Well, other than that we have plunged into our Hotter-than-HELL temps here. I know some of you are experiencing them as well! I still don't love the heat, nice yes, Mid 90's I'll take it, but anything over 100 makes me sick to my stomach. I can't complain too much though, we do have our water park passes! I guess that about sums up our last few days!

Going, Going, and really truely totally and completely GONE!!!!

Brookie had a most traumatic morning today, but thankfully she didn't know it would be quite so traumatic! As many of you know when she was around 18 months, she slammed her face on our tile floor in the middle of a tantrum and chipped her two front teeth. She slammed the same teeth into my cedar chest last October and bit through her lip and then a couple months ago she sneezed whilst putting her dishes into the sink and slammed them into the counter. Yikes, I know it makes you cringed doesn't it? Well, the last blast to the teeth finally did in not only one, but both of her front teeth. Before we left for Utah/Idaho last week I took her to our Dentist and yep, sure enough both teeth were abcessing. Sad - they were going to have to come out. Due to the scheduled family pictures, we decided to wait until after we got home to pull them.

So, first thing this morning Brookie and I headed to the Dentist. It was so sad to sit in the corner and watch, but I was very brave and although I really wanted to, I didn't cry! I think the worst part was of course the needle, but she didn't know it was a needle. Dr. Grant was so fantastic with her. Then once he went to pull them, that really put her in tears. All the pressuer and stuff is so hard to understand pressure and all that stuff when you are only 4. She was super duper brave and although she really hates the way her nose and lip feels, my Brookie is a trooper. I'm sure I will have a good cry later today because her teeth are gone and although they were scraggle teeth, they were teeth.

Enjoy the pictures!