Moon Lake Monday

We had a lot to fit in today. We gotta make the most out of all that Moon Lake has to offer. We leave in the morning!

But first! We need to drive down the road a ways so we can get a signal, call dad, check our emails and not loose our daily streak on Lingvano and DuoLingo. The little girls don't have phones, so they weren't up for the drive. 

We made our way to the beach. Jordan leveled the sand for Mom's camp chair. He's a good egg. 

I'm forever amazed at how kids can acclimate to cold water. 

My feet go numb after a few seconds, but these two are happily excavating this huge log. 

The cousins spent every cent of their allowance at the lodge. I remember how wonderful that freedom was when I was a kid. Sneaking off and coming home with a candy bar or can of soda just for me. Kit Kat and a rootbeer. That's the taste of Moon Lake.   

We made to feed our little porch pirate before we got too involved with our own activities. He's wasting away to nothing!

More games with Aunt Bri! 

I did my best to broil some cookies (flipping them like pancakes works pretty well!)

And the kids settled in with a generous supply of paint pens and the flat rocks I illegally swiped from the dry Roaring River bed last week. 

We exude coolness. 

Ethan missed the whole thing. And I'm pretty sure he's not mad about it. 

Day 7- Guns, burgers and the Polar Plunge

All of this fun is starting to catch up with us. 

It looks like Aunt Ameli not only did the nails, but a pretty epic Elsa Braid, as well.

This is our last day at Bear Lake, so we hopped into the truck and went way the hay away so that we could shoot stuff up with guns. Uncle Mat gave us all a crash course in gun safety and we were off. I was feeling pretty reluctant, but my pride won out and I fired each one and took my turn. Turns out I'm a 9 mm girl!

When we had peppered every object we could find with bullets, we headed back down the mountain...and it started to snow! The boys were riding in the back of the truck and didn't seem to mind. That's a direct result of living in a state where June is usually humid volcano weather.


We stopped back into Merlin's for a burger. I can't resist a burger that combines jalepenos AND raspberry jam. No, ma'am.

I saved a few momentos from our little shooting party. It's who I am.

Another round of Mortal Pongbat!

So here's what happened next. We were all hanging about in the kitchen and the subject I'd been dreading all week came up again. The polar bear plunge. I swear to you, I had actually said prayers in my heart that they would forget about the whole thing.

That's okay! Because nobody can make me do it, right? And I know for sure that Lori and Shannon won't want to participate. I'm totally safe. I can disappear into the masses and no one will even ask me.

Oh but they did.

The did ask. And they stared with hopeful eyes. And I felt like I was a big ole party poop.

And I still said no.

Then...THEN!! Lori said, "I'll do it if Maren does it". WHAT???

So then this weird thing happened where I heard myself say, "Let's do it."

So there we were. At the dock. Do I need to remind you that I didn't get into the water during the day?


It looks cold because it is.

Ethan is thinking about that moment he hits the water...

There are FISH in there. Cold fish.

I thought we'd have a few minutes to contemplate the universe, but people just started hopping in! It was time to face the music.

This says it all.

But we did it. And it was crazy and now we feel awesome and I don't feel like a party poop!

Daddy's away...

Mark is out of town. He's been gone since Sunday and he'll be gone for another 4. He is at a Microsoft Conference in Altanta for 5 days (yay! Free stuff! Nerdy toys and little gadgets!) Then he comes home for a few hours and leaves for Springfield to complete his Crossfit L1 certification for two days. 

He went to Atlanta with his co-worker, Carl. He is very funny and cool. I was happy for Mark when I found out he would have a friend to enjoy the week with instead of an awkward associate that he would have to make small talk with. 

There were lots of classes. And lots of products and vendors.

But there were also guitars....

And there were other guys that could hold their own on the stage...

I think it was the highlight of his week.

While he was gone, we tried to get through each day as calmly as possible. As fight-free as possible. And by Wednesday we were exhausted. I sometimes joke that having Mark out of town isn't that much different than having him here. We are both so busy with kids and work and church callings, we largely move in our own spheres of responsibility.

But it isn't true.

I miss him.  He makes my life easier in hundreds of ways that become very clear when he isn't around. Not to mention I just really miss him. Filling his shoes made the week feel like a tall order.

Monday we went to Ethan's Marching Band Festival.  (He's the trumpet player right in front of the far right sousaphone.)

I cried. That seems to be a new thing for me. Crying to the marching band. The kids were cold and luckily Mathew found a blanket and a beach towel in the trunk. That gave us just enough material to fight over.

Tuesday was youth night at the church.  The boys played ultimate frisbee and the girls had a talent show.

Laney read the first chapter of her book

Megan played 'The Entertainer'

Wednesday we had homework backlog to take care of.

Did I mention it was my week to drive to Seminary? And preschool?

Come home, Mark!!

We took a bike ride down the Indian Creek Trail to get a little unstructured time together.

The field was locked when we arrived at South High School so we ended up playing in the parking lot. Girls played fetch.

Boys played football.

There was a high level of sassiness and mean remarks made between siblings. I won't name names...but there was a need for a dancing apology when we arrived back home.

Thursday is Everly's preschool, after-school play practice, Ethan does childcare at crossfit and my quartet is coming over for rehearsal.

Friday we see Mark!!! Yay!!! Then he leaves (boo!!!) for his L1 Crossfit certification. (So proud of him.)

Saturday we have the Pumpkin Run and marching band practice and birthday party.....and somehow we need to listen to General Conference. How will we do this?

I do not know.

I need sleep.