The Jensen family tradition continues to meet at Bear Lake in July. It's been off and on, but I remember going there when I was little and being buried in the sand.
Our little family went to Logan a day early to stay at my parent's new fixer upper near the temple. They are working on restoring it little by little, and just finished all new landscaping and steps. They've done a beautiful job painting and decorating, and it has a lot of character.
After dinner at Frederico's Pizza with my parents and Cole & Miyoko (who had just pulled in from Colorado) we walked down the street to the temple to let the kids play.
This temple has such a special place in my heart. My twinner and I were sealed to our parents here as babies, and I was endowed here with her too, when she was going on a mission and I was getting married. Plus the building just seeps with Pioneer history, and I have many ancestors that had their temple work done here too.
Can we just gawk at the hydrangeas for a minute?! They were huge!!!
The next morning my mom babysat and Mike and I were able to go inside to do sealing together.
That afternoon, up Logan Canyon to Bear Lake we went! My parents generously rented two condos side by side to accommodate all of us kids and our families!
You will see lots of these balancing acts in the future... it's Daddy's favorite trick.
We often sent the kids out to eat and play on the deck.
After a yummy dinner of lasagna from Dana, we walked down the street to the lake to see if we could wade.
Turns out it was murky and we couldn't access it from this spot, but it was sure pretty!
We walked back up to the main drag in Garden City and got our first of many raspberry shakes!
Saturday was our designated beach day. We decided to try North Beach in Idaho this year, and loved it!
Mike spent a lot of time playing in the sand with the kids. I think his engineering mind likes to create and build sand castles.
Ella found some pretty shells.
Kate loved the beach, but ate aaaaaaaalllllllll the sand. I couldn't keep it out of her mouth!
Maddie spent most of the day on some kind of floatie or another.
Grandpa and Cole tried to get Tank into the water for the first time.
Daddy buried Kate in the sand, and Mommy saved her!
The cousins had a great time playing.
After lunch Grandpa rented a pontoon boat and a couple of kayaks. We took turns rotating on all of them.
Baby Kate sweetly took her afternoon nap in the stroller.
Most of the kids got a turn with Grandpa or Daddy driving the boat. And that water.... especially when you're out on the boat, there's nothing like it! It's called the Caribbean of the Rockies for good reason! I looked it up and apparently it's full of suspended calcium carbonate (lime) that reflects the water's own color on itself.
Zak decided to back flip off the boat during my ride, and then Landon did an awesome pencil dive. Ha ha.... so i did a regular dive and it felt so good!!! The water is frigid but it was sure refreshing.
Ella, Maddie, and Ty each had their own turns paddling the kayaks on their own. How cute is that?!
We had such a great day. I love Bear Lake and I love these people!
Sunday morning Cole and Miyoko had to head back to Colorado for work. We made sure to take a sibling photo, but the first one got bombed by little miss Kate.
Here's a real one. These people are my closest friends and I sure love them.
After attending church in Garden City, it was my turn to cook dinner with Noelle. We made a pork roast, mashed potatoes, and broccoli.
For dessert I brought homemade cookies from home and warmed them up with ice cream and fudge sauce on top.
That evening we went on a hike up near the scenic overlook of Bear Lake. It was only about a 1.5 mile loop, perfect for the little people.
I brought our fancy camera on the hike to learn a little bit from Noelle about photography, and although it was a distraction I am glad I got some beautiful shots! The mountains are a special place for sure.... nature's cathedral!
We weren't prepared for a family picture, but the lighting and setting was so pretty we did a little impromptu shot. It may not be Christmas card worthy but it's sweet anyway!
Ella is my little nature lover.
It was such a gorgeous night!
Monday was Pioneer Day, and we were still in vacation mode. We thought about doing the Minnetonka caves, but the beach was more tempting, so another day at the beach it was!
This time it was quieter and we had lots of space to ourselves. I loved wading and swimming out as deep as I could touch, past those floaters in the distance. It was so shallow for so long, which was perfect for the kids.
Cute brothers! Now you see him....
Now ya don't!
It was so fun to spend so much time with these cousins from Texas.
Little Graham loves baby Kate. He was so sweet to sit by her while she ate sand.
Pretty soon the girls started burying themselves, and it turned into making mermaid tails.
Little miss cool was such a chill baby, going with the flow.
Then it was time for Daddy to get buried!
After getting cleaned up, we met back in Logan for dinner at Frederico's (again!) and then had to get on our way home. Parting is such sweet sorrow.
We stopped at a little park on the way out of town to eek out a little more fun with Noelle and Zak's family, who we won't see again until after they have a new baby girl in the fall.
