Minnetonka Caves!!

Our second day in Bear Lake we drove about 12 miles north and toured Minnetonka Cave. The day was actually quite nice, but we knew that the cave would be chilly so that is why we are dressed warmly. The cave was really amazing and fun. We went down really deep, down many steps of natural and man made stairs. Since it had been raining and the cave is still "live", Jason had to carry Jefferson the whole time, which Jefferson did not appreciate.

Me and my sisters. Our brother and other sister could not make it. We missed you guys!

Here we are at the mouth of the cave. I was really excited and really wanted to see a bat.

The stalagmites and stalagtites were really quite fabulous. It still amazes me how there are so many natural wonders out there to see and learn about. Gorgeous!!
Those three structures are called the Three Sisters

If you look close and see the dark brown spot sort of near the center--that is a bat. I almost didn't get to see one, but on the way out I finally did. At the bottom of the cave the guide turned off the power to show us how pitch black the cave was Jefferson promptly started screaming. He did not like it at all. We tried to hurry and settle him down because screaming is not good for the bats since they "see" with their hearing. I think Jefferson might have caused a few bats to fly into to a wall or something.

We had a lot of fun!!

Bear Lake Part I

Our big Bear Lake family trip began with our annual Harmon Family Reunion in Sandy. We have this every year for the decendents of Esse and Estella Harmon, who are my great grandparents on my mother's father's side. Esse and Estella had 12 children, 11 of which lived into adulthood. Those 11 had children, who had children, who had children and so forth. It was calculated that as of this year Esse and Estella have made it possible for 873 children to come to this Earth. That just blows my mind when I think about it. Crazy!! I apologize for the huge amount of pictures, but I really liked them so, ohwell!

Below and to the right is my dad playing with Jefferson who affectionately calls him Papa, Pop, or sometimes Popeye. It is really cute. Above is some of the extended family who came to the reunion. Below and to the left is my sister and her husband who are abnormally silly (okay the picture was my idea, but they make it funny).






Here I am with Jefferson, running crazy at the park. He had such a great time playing with cousins and other relatives. It's times like these that I really wish we had everyone living on the same block. Life would be great.

After the reunion my immediate family drove to Bear Lake, where my sister Kelli had scored us a fabulously great condo close to the lake. Seriously, it was awesome. Thanks so much Kelli!! We got there Saturday night and on Sunday we had our own church and then we took a walk along to marina. It was a beautiful day. It was a little windy though, as you can tell by my hair.

Here are my boys walking back from looking at the boats and the fish spawning all along the shore. Seriously though, those fish were going nuts, pardon the pun.




Here is a cute light house that we passed along the way. It did turn out to be fake though.

Cute duckies that the little ones couldn't get enough of. Jefferson and his cousin Chase were quacking away. But the big one hissed at me.

All in all it was a really great day. Although some of us got tuckered out towards the end. Gotta love the daddies.

More pictures from the rest of the vacation to come. I know, you are just so excited!!

Memorial Day!!

We have had quite a lot of vacation in the past week and a half, so bear with me as I post pictures over a few days. On Memorial Day we went to the cemetary where both sets of my grandparents are buried to honor them and remember them. Both of my grandfathers are veterans and were honored with American flags at their grave site. Jefferson had a heck of a time letting go of my mom's father's flag so we left that one for last. He is such a boy sometimes, it cracks me up. He started out just running around with the flag and when we turned our backs for just a few seconds, we turn back around and see that he is using the flag to beat the crap out of other peoples flowers. Sorry! I hope they didn't mind a few less blooms on their plants.

James is also buried at this cemetary and thankfully they were able to get his headstone in in time for the holiday. As you can tell it is still fairly new because the grass needs to grow up around it. I tried to be really strong and just be thankful for all our blessings and be glad that we got to have him for the little time we did, but towards the end I just started crying because the only thing I could feel was the fact that I miss him so much sometimes that it hurts. Don't get me wrong, I know what happened was a path we had to take and for the most part I am doing really well, but it still hurts and it probably always will. But I also feel the love that surrounds us when we hurt and that is a great comfort.

My dad's parents

My mom's father

My mom's mother

We had a really good weekend with some BBQ-ing and some shopping and some R&R. I love spending time with my family. They are the greatest and have been such a great support to me and Jason. I am thankful for the men and women that served and do serve to keep our freedoms and to protect us. It is a blessing that we all sometimes take for granted.

I have never seen a cemetary so beautiful with all the flowers and so crowded. It made me really proud to be an American.