End of Summer Party!!

 Maggie threw an end of year summer party for these cute girls!! They had a blast! 

Summer Parties

Jenna had a great time at Clarissa's birthday party!! Jenna said, "We went to the mall and went into a ton of stores and we all bought matching bracelets at Claire's and did the massage chairs. Allison brought a lot of quarters and we did the vending machines. We went to Arbys for french fries and ice cream!" (Jenna, Brinkley, Clarissa, Anna, Lindsey, Sammie)

What is going on with this chair???!!!

Cabin on the Beach

 After the beach (and an attempt at naps) we packed up our things and said goodbye and thank you to the Jensen family and headed twenty minutes to the other side of the lake (in Lake Town) to Brandon's family cabin. 

Brandon's mom, Barbara, gave us a tour of the cabin -- it is amazing! They have a big front yard of grass and a back yard grassy area and then the beach! I should have taken some pictures of it! I am not sure how many the cabin sleeps, but it is a lot! The house has many bedrooms -- all with king sized beds. There is also a room with two sets of bunk beds and another twin bed. Upstairs in the loft there were several more bunk beds. 

Barbara fixed a delicious meal for everyone of Hawaiian Haystacks and fruit and ice cream for dessert. Brandon and his brother-in-law, Adam, then took the kids boating. They had a blast being pulled behind on the boat on giant tubes! Rick and I went to watch them and take pictures and videos (although working the camera on a fast moving boat made me really sea-sick and so I had to give the camera back to Rick). The kids loved it and we got some great shots! 

We weren't able to be out on the boat very long since it was low on oil and wasn't working quite right. Thankfully they were able to get it fixed up for the rest of their stay that week. Peyton and Taylor were really excited to be able to play with the girls and they all slept in the room with the bunkbeds.  

That night the kids played and the adults visited. I would have liked to stay up and visit longer but I was literally falling asleep after getting little sleep the night before. Thankfully we slept great tonight! 

Sunday Barbara treated us to a delicious breakfast of bacon and eggs and fruit. We had a nice sacrament meeting with the Jensons and I really felt the spirit! Adam's dad (Adam is Brandon's brother-in-law) made this cool creation to hold sacrament cups. I told Josh that he should make something like this for our family since we have the sacrament at home every other week (on the weeks it is our turn to stay home for church). 

Then we listened to a conference talk and then took some pictures and headed out. Peyton and Taylor were so sad to have the girls leave and Peyton was crying. They are such sweet, cute girls! 

We headed to SLC where my mom had prepared the fixings for lunch. Shane and Alicia and their family joined us and also Jeni. The kids were excited to see their cousins! We would have liked to stay and visit longer but we had a long drive ahead of us and a big week coming up. 

When we arrived home Jase and Ellen were over at our house with a bunch of their friends. Jared had moved his and Janelle's cars in the garage when we left on Thursday and so we had no where to park! Our driveway was filled with cars! Then Jared's former missionary companion, Cole Bolton, came over with his wife to visit Jared. So we had a houseful! We unpacked and then went to bed! 

Bear Lake Beach

The Jensens said that in order to get a spot on the beach at Bear Lake someone had to go right when it opened at 7:00 a.m.! So Craig and some others went early in order to secure a beach area for the family. They set up a big tent area over some tables and another smaller tent and we all brought camping chairs. Our family met up with them around 9:00. (Unfortunately Josh and Jared were not feeling well and so they stayed back the cabin). Apparently they had fun there also, playing ping pong and other games. 

It was still quite cold when we arrived at the beach and I was glad that I had brought a jacket and a blanket! It did warm up an hour or so later though. We had all brought food so that we could eat lunch at the beach. Janika and Brandon were staying at his family cabin in Lake Town and they came and joined us on the North Shore Beach so that we could visit and watch the children play.

Jenna had a blast playing on the beach with her cousins! (Actually all of the cousins are adults now with kids of their own and so they are actually Jenna's first cousins once removed. But it is easier to just say cousins!)  They built sand castles and tunnels with water going through them. As you can see from the pictures of London and Jenna below they also built mermaid tails!  

Craig brought two big paddle boards (the kind you stand or kneel on) and two kayaks. So that was fun for the kids. I went out on the kayak and also the paddle board. The kayak was easier and more fun. I have done paddle boards while standing up before, but it was at the Ivin's Reservoir with no waves. It was more difficult to keep my balance at Bear Lake due to the gentle waves coming in from nearby boats! It was also more tiring than I remembered. Maybe I am just getting old! Grandma Jensen went out on the kayak also-- with Chase nearby on the other boat to watch out for her. Way to go, Grandma!  

Fourth of July!!

The usual festivities at the park were cancelled due to Covid-19 and so we did our own thing for the Fourth of July this year! (The city still had a parade and a road race, but we weren't thrilled with the parade in the past and so we passed on that.) Janelle's friend, Porter Radley, is starting his mission in a few days and so he wanted to go do something with friends. So Janelle, Jaiden, Emily, Tanisha and Porter went bowling for a few hours today. Emily creamed them all.

Janelle went to a work BBQ and then spent the rest of the evening with friends. The rest of the family (and some friends) had a rousing game of pool volleyball -- boys against the girls (girls lost) and then had a barbecue. Jaiden and Emily went to a work party at Dixie pool (even though Jaiden hasn't officially started her job yet) and then they joined up with the rest of us at the Williams for rootbeer floats and fireworks!

Allison sent me some pictures she had taken of the girls with the big box of fireworks along with a picture from 2014 of Jenna and Clarissa standing in front of a big box of fireworks. The box is probably about the same size, but the girls have sure grown! Jenna and Clarissa used to be the same height, but look how tall Clarissa is now! 

Cousins

The girls and I slept over at Shane and Alicia's house last night and they treated us to a yummy breakfast of pancakes and sausages. Alicia set up a big slip-n-slide in their back yard and the kids had a ball playing on it. We left around 3:30 to head back for St. George. The first thing the girls said when we got into the car was "Well, that was fun!!" It was nice to have have a change of scenery and spend some time with our extended family -- even if it was only for a short time! We stopped at Wendy's on the way home for dinner (which was a mistake because it was quite expensive!) Jaiden drove for an hour or so in order to get some of her driving hours in!

Ivin's Reservoir

We had a great time at the Ivin's Reservoir today with the Williams, Olsons, and Purdys! A few more friends tagged along with them. The water felt so good! Thank you to Allison for bringing the shade and for Mari and Christin for bringing the paddle boats!

Jenna and Janelle went early with the morning group and Jaiden and I joined them after her eye appointment (contact evaluation for new contacts). The Purdys came shortly after we did right after lunch. Jenna stayed until we went home later that afternoon and so she was in the sun for six hours! I applied her sunscreen every two hours and so thankfully she didn't get fried!