Crested Butte

Our friends the Fox's come to Co frequently to vacation in Crested Butte

Usually we manage to squeeze in a dinner or a couple of days hanging out at our place.

This year we were able to go up to C.B. with them.
Knowing that it was going to be a super fast trip we debated about whether or not it was worth going.
It the end we decided that a little time with them was better than none and we packed everyone up and headed out.
And we were SO glad that we did!
We had such a fantastic time.

It was great to hang out with them and catch up.
We have been friends since before there were any little Hahl's and little Fox's running around.
It only takes a few minutes together to remember how much we love being with them.
They are such great people.
I feel honored to be able to call them my friends :)

(Emma and I at the start of the trip)

The main event was a fourwheeling trip up to Tin Cup.
Riding Tin Cup was on Larry's bucket list so he was really excited to be able to check it off.
Personally I had no idea what I was getting into.


( Everyone pretending to be blown off the top. See the elevation sign - I have never ridden to that elevation before)

Usually when we ride we do short little trails and as a family we can't go out all at the same time.
I was expecting a similar ride this time.
I was completely wrong.


(Some random dog decided to pose with us)
Everyone loaded up, I rode with Lily and since Larry's atv is larger and he has mad skills he rode with Bella and Brooke.
And Brendan headed out on the little atv.
We rode, and we rode and we rode some more.
By the time we were done we rode around 32 miles.

(our F.B.F.F.'s Hunter, Emma, Matt and Caleb)
Part of it was on an actual dirt road and the rest was up rocky switchbacks.
And on some of the switchbacks the shoulder was very narrow.
It was a little bit scary.

(one of the mountain top views)
After we reached the top of the mountain we continued on another couple of miles to some property Matt's brother owns.
The trail to it was terrifying.
I was pretty certain I was going to roll the atv and die.
Larry kept telling me that I was going to be fine.
It looked worse than it was yadda yadda yadda.

(the other side of the mountain)
And while it was scary, and I DID almost run off the trail, in the end I made it!
When we got to to the property it was so windy.
Larry actually leaned into the wind trying to fall forward and the wind held him up.
It was crazy!
(The town church in Tin Cup. So quaint)
What a great ride!
The memories the kids are going to have from that trip!

So thanks Fox's for letting us hang.
We are looking forward to next year's vacation with ya all!

swimming moab style

one of my kids favorite things to do when we go to moab is swim. mostly because we don't swim in a pool but a good ol fashioned swimming hole. carved right out of the gorgeous moab red rocks. it's the bomb! and it has all the amenities of a regular swimming pool - well minus the chlorinated water but we just try and not think about that. earlier i posted pictures of the high dive area. here is the natural water slide.

my girls love to slide down it. and there is another one a few yards down that ends into a deeper pool. my girls just about drowned their cousin taylor at the end of that slide. a little bit of a scary moment but everyone recovered just fine.

the first time we visited this place brooke was about 2 months old. to get down to the swimming hole you basically walk to what appears to be the edge of a cliff and start climbing down. it's not a huge climb, but it's big enough especially when you have kids. when we got to the edge i wasn't sure what the best was was to lower brooke down. in the end i put her in the diaper bag and lowered her down to char. moab is always such an adventure. we do and see things there that i just never would have dreamed of.

cliff diving

for the past few years we have spent the 4th of july out of town with family. the original plan for this year was for 3 of my brothers and their families to come explore the beautiful colorado mountains with us. unfortunately we had a lot of scheduling conflicts and that didn't happen. so instead, the kids and i went to moab and visited with char and nancy's kids where i allowed my son to jump off a cliff.

ok - so it's not a HUGE cliff, but when your 11....... it's pretty stinkin cool!
cousin sam striking a pose in mid air cousin austin doing a little air jordan
brendan doing a little free style. the boys had so much fun diving over and over again waiting for me to get the perfect shot. unfortunately my camera doesn't snap fast enough so these are the best pictures i could get.

the biggest thing missing from our vacation was ........ Larry! he is actually in nauvoo this week working with his dad. so for the first time ever i was flying solo on vacation. can't say i liked it to much. but the kids had a lot of fun and we did a lot of cool stuff which hopefully i will post in the next day or so.

** side note **
in case you are concerned about the safety of the boys during this activity please note that the number one rule was you could not under any circumstances jump in head first.

to grandmother's house we go....

larry was on a much earned vacation last week. as a representation of larry's character and drive he spent the first part of the week painting our neighbors house. it can never be said that larry is afraid of good, honest hard work. he worked so hard in fact that he got the house done in 2 days, half the time we were expecting. so what to do with the rest of the time?? that was the question. the answer - a trip to grandma and grandpa's house!! we packed up the car and headed to nw missouri where my folks live. living so far away from our parents we don't see them as much as we would like and as they get older, sometimes we are shocked at how much they have aged since the last time we saw them. i was so nervous when we pulled into their house late weds night. last year they seemed to have aged alot since the last visit and not feeling so chipper. but we were delighted to find exactly the opposite scenario this time.
they were anxiously awaiting our arrival and ready to play!!

we frolicked in a park where a large missouri spider fell from the tree and landed in my lap. did you know i am slightly arachnophobic?? and an angry swing grabbed onto brendan's shirt and ripped it to shreds.

it was really warm and muggy there and the kids were dying to get wet. but none of the pools were open so they had some backyard fun of bubbles and sprinklers. can you see the HUGE bubble on it's way up the stairs??

pictures from this cool park that has bison, long horned steers and tons of ducks and geese. some of the geese were as big or bigger than brooke. she could not however be coerced into a photo opp with them.

we went to a wildlife refugee that has all kinds of birds. however most of them seem to have flown the coup for the summer so the big sightings of the day were herons, turtles, muskrats and lots of water snakes. glad we didn't get out of the car at all.....

my brother and his family had already made plans to be camping all weekend with her folks not too far away. so we headed up there one afternoon for fishing and bbq. brendan caught his first fish ever!! it was not the fish pictured above but one like it and on a much smaller scale. that has to be the ugliest fish i have ever seen.

my sis in law is going to kill me for posting this picture of her after she had been camping for 3 days but it's the only picture i had. this is my brother bruce, his wife jami and their 2 kiddos morgan and aaron.

we had a great, but short little vacation. we forget how beautiful that part of the country can be. how hot, how humid and how buggy. the mosquito's were so big they reminded me of small dragon flies. but the culture there is so different from here. everyone is so friendly. i am not kidding you. everyone had a smile on their face whether they knew you or not. my mom and i had many conversations with total strangers in the stores or restaurants. it's such a nice place to live. if you don't mind bugs and creepy crawly things of course. i know it sounds like i'm harping on the bugs, and i am, but they are everywhere! they were even in our car. we were driving somewhere and brendan says in all sincerity "mom, what is the deal with all the ants. two have crawled over me in the 5 minutes we've been in the car." it was unreal. and i know that i grew up with bugs and snakes and all that marvelous nature but living away for 10 years i have forgotten. the only part of nature we didn't get to see were fire flies. apparently they aren't out yet and my kids were really disappointed. next time we well have to go a little later in the summer. then it will be REALLY hot and buggy. but spending time with my folks makes it worth while. thanks for a great visit. you spoiled us well as always!

Bear Lake Chronicles - Fireworks and Misc Fun!

One of the things that made this years trip to Bear Lake special is that Larry's parents were able to come up. This year also marks their 50th wedding anniversary. To celebrate they had a campfire on the 3rd and instead of telling ghost stories they talked about their childhoods and their lives together. On the 4th we had a special family meeting and Larry's sister put together a game to help the grandkids learn more about Nonie and Papa Sir. It was like the Newly Wed Game and it was so cute. She did such a good job. I even learned a thing or two! We took some family pictures, but our camera still had water in it and so far I haven't recieved any pictures from anyone else - hint - hint! Larry's parents are a very special couple and love each other so much. You can see the love that they have for each other in everything they do and say. It is very inspiring to me.

Later on in the day we went to Evanston, Wy to watch fireworks. The cool thing about watching fireworks there is that they are legal. So, while the city puts on their big fireworks show, down below in town everyone else is shooting them off as well. And they are doing ones that are just as big as the city's. You are literally surrounded by fireworks. So cool.

Here we are setting up to watch the fireworks. I a managed to get a quick picture of Larry and his mom before......

Nancy decided to jump right on in.
I think our 4th of July picture from last year was taken in this exact spot.
The girls getting ready for the big show and enjoying some snacks.
You can't celebrate the 4th without some sparklers!

Now the firey things were a little scary to me but the kids really loved them and no one got hurt.
Daniel is always the life of the party. There is something about that kid that just cracks me up!

The rest of the pictures are just some fun things that we did during the week.

The kids spent a lot of time on the swing. Here they are with Aunt Colleen and cousin Anna.
We don't have trees mature enough to climb at home so they love to climb the who knows how old trees in Aunt Colleen's yard.

Bella and cousin Ashely just having fun together.

We ate a lot of shakes while we were there. One night there were so many of us that I think we got close to ordering every shake that they make. We decided that they are all yummy! So many good memories were made on this trip. I hope that our kids will look back, years from now, and remember spending that time with their extended family and it will make them smile.

Bear Lake Chronicles - Four Wheeling Fun

Another great thing about the Bear Lake area is that four wheelers are everywhere. You can ride them on the beach, you can even ride them in the road if you want. We took our three and Larry's sister Charlotte took her two along with two dirt bikes. So there was a whole lotta riding going on. Which was fine by us because we love to ride. The trails were extremely dusty so everyone came back caked in dirt and cow pies. Yuck!!

Nephews Dan and Spencer
They look like they have been through a desert dust storm or something. And the bad thing about getting this dusty is that you have grit in your mouth for hours. The men definitely rode the most, but the girls got in some good rides as well.

Niece Ryan, Nancy and me
Now I know what you are thinking:
1. Are they riding or scuba diving?? What's up with the giant goggles?
2. Are those really porta potties in the backgroud??
Answers:
1. We are riding but didn't feel like wearing helmets. We needed good eye protection so we took the goggles off the helmets and just wore those. When I ride on a trail I prefer to wear a helmet. This ride I didn't and I had an accident which could have been really bad, so it was a very good lesson for me. You will not catch me on the trail again without a helmet. Promise! And we always make our kids wear helmets.
2. Those are porta potties! When you have 31 people at a house you need a few more bathrooms. We also had an outdoor shower, three tents and three hammocks. Yes, we got a few stares as people drove by.

Larry and I took a ride up to the top of a near by hill that over looks the lake. We had grand ideas of watching the sunset because they are so gorgeous up there. Unfortunately, we forgot our bug spray and mosquitoes ate us alive within two minutes of stopping. So we watched the sunset as we were riding back to the house.

Our attempt at a little photo shoot before the mosquitoes chased us away.

As for my accident, I wasn't going to go into detail because it's a little bit embarrassing. But there were some comments about my gimpy leg and a few questions about what happened so here is the scoop. We were riding and I went through a little stream crossing that was uphill. For some reason the backend of my fourwheeler slid and drove me off the trail. Now there are spots on the trail where the sides are open and there are spots where the trees line the trail. This was a spot where the trail was lined by trees, or big bushy tree like things. I hit one of those which caused the handlebars to turn sharply to the right. My body flew off my seat because the bike was no longer moving. I flew into the end of the handle bar right above where my leg meets my abdomen. The pain was horrible and shot all the way to my backside and down my leg. So I have a nasty, nasty looking bruise (which I will not post pictures of due to the delicate location) and for a couple of days I could hardly wear pants, walking was hard and stairs was almost impossible. But it is healing really well and only hurts now when I do stairs. It honestly was a good lesson for me though because it showed me how fast a ride can go from fun to dangerous.

Bear Lake Chronicles - Beach Fun

Summer is not complete without a va-k to the beach. For us that means a trip to Bear Lake, Utah with Larry's family. This year all of Larry's sisters, minus one, and his parents were able to come. That brings the total of beach bums to 31. There were times of chaos, times of fun, times of concern for the safety of children, and a little drama. But isn't that the recipe for all family reunions? We enjoyed ourselves so much that it will take a couple of posts to cover it all. The kids ran from sunup to sundown. And the first question asked every morning was "When are we going to the beach??"

Brooke taking a break from the water and enjoying Aunt Charlotte's company. Or CHAR let as we like to call her. Gives it more of a southern drawl that way.
Brooke trying to swim with flippers on. She decided that she liked the old fashioned way of swimming better and ditched the flippers right after the picture.
Brendan enjoying an afternoon on the boat. He has his shirt on because the day before he burned so bad we referred to his skin as "crunchy". By the end of the week his face was also over done. The best part of boating is the water weenie. You never know what is going to happen. Will we ride for a long time? Will we get ditched right away? Will we crash hard or softly?? Well this crash was hard! Larry was driving and you would think he would be careful with his lovely wife, but apparently he thought it would be more fun to dump his sister hard.

Nancy, me and Aunt Cindy

And getting back on that thing in the water can be a little tricky. Everytime I got my leg up it would slide right back off as I tried to pull myself back on. And it didn't help that we were all laughing hysterically the whole time because I couldn't get on. Finally my sister in law pulled me up by my life jacket which just about strangled me in the process. I looked like a turtle. It was ridiculous. But we loved every minute of it. On Larry's first ride he got dumped hard and got a vicious knee in the ribs which resulted in some cracked ribs (I should clarify that a dr has not been consulted in this matter. Larry has had broken ribs before and is going on past experience). So needless to say he didn't get in the water the rest of the day. However, he got to provide rides for everyone else and all agreed that he is the best driver : ) Jeff, Bella and Brendan getting ready for a ride.

Jeff pulling the kids out of the water after Larry dumped them. Is there no limit to his torture?? Dumping his own kids?? Who would do such a thing?? A fun loving dad that's who!
Lily did not go in the boat this year as they did not have life jackets small enough to fit her. But that was ok with her. She enjoyed leisurely rides in her own personal boat. It even had a horn.
And of course no trip to the beach is complete without building sandcastles! The trick was getting Lily to stop sitting on them and crushing them before they were actually finished.
We found out on this trip that my camera does not like excessive sunlight. I had a hard time getting clear pictures of everyones face. But I loved this picture of Brendan and Lily all the same. You don't need the crystal clear picture to see the pure joy in her face and the pure love in his. He loves Lily so much and is such a good big brother to her. He spent a lot of time playing with her on the beach, splashing around making her laugh.
The beach at Bear Lake is great because it stretches on for miles and during the week it is not very crowded. People are really good about spreading out and giving you a lot of room. So at times it feels like you are on your own personal beach. And the sand is full of little tiny shells which the kids love. We always enjoy the time we spend there. As for the time we spent away from the beach....... those chronicles will be posted later!