Visits and Bear Lake

Mary and Sam have a time-share up at Bear Lake and generously offered to let us join them up there for the Labor Day weekend. My mom and dad joined us on their way to the Viking Man Triathlon in Idaho (Mom is the race director). We had a WONDERFUL time together playing games, going to the beach, swimming in the pool, and enjoying each others' company. A big THANK YOU to Sam and Mary for the invite.

Here's a mish-mash of pictures of our time at Bear Lake, and from Mom and Dad's visit the following week.

Here is Beth with Dad's hat. The kids loved reading stories with Papa and Lela before bedtime. Here's Dad reading scriptures with them.

Here's Lela's rendition of The Three Little Pigs.

Eric loved using Papa as a TV-watching perch. Dad was a good sport.

This was the deck of the condo up at Bear Lake. The kids loved eating out in the sun wearing their shades.

Puddle-jumping Beth. This is at the tennis courts at the resort, across from the restaurant that looked like a lighthouse. It was a really snazzy place.

Sleeping on Papa was a favorite pastime for the kids.

This is a beautiful pic of Ryan and me. And Bear Lake, of course.

Beth loved Papa's style of playing.

We had a fun time, and it was great to see everyone. Hey, Mary and Sam--how about next year? Same time, same place? Huh? Huh? Please? What do you say?

Correction

I have had a few comments on Beth's "black eye." I'm sorry if the last post was misleading. Beth was playing with the vacuum attachments and got dirt off of them in a circle around her eye and mouth. She is well and whole.

Quick Post

Beth and Eric were playing with the vacuum attachments and Beth ended up like this.
A few weeks ago Eric was sitting at the table doing some letter practice and started singing. I went and got the camera so you could all see this.

"If you're happy and you know it write a 'K'."


Here is the world's biggest mosquito bite. Eric has a gift for milking these things for all they're worth, but I was really worried for a while because he said it didn't itch and I didn't know what this huge bump was. It was about three and a half inches in diameter and stood up off his leg almost three-quarters of an inch.

Graduation

So I'm going to post the graduation pictures... better late than never, right? Ryan worked so hard to get to this point and we could not have made it without so much support and help from our family. Thank you so very much!

Here is the first picture after crossing the stage.Ryan graduated with a Masters in Fine Arts, creative writing. YOU GO, SWEETHEART!! The kids were thrilled with the whole thing. Here is a pic of them with Ryan.
Eric and Beth fought over wearing Daddy's "silly hat."

Here's one with Dad and Mom Alleman and beautiful Megan.

Our family.

There was a point where Eric was just done with the whole thing.

We are so grateful that we have a husband and daddy who works his rear end off to provide and take care of us. Congratulations, Daddy! WE LOVE YOU!

Overload

Because I have not been fulfilling my responsibilities as "poster of pictures for Grandparents," I will attempt to rectify this by overloading you with pictures and video clips. So this post is for the whole month of August.

We had some fun evenings with the kids "playing ball." This would consist of rolling the ball back and forth (we don't throw it in the house anymore because Beth has one heck of an arm) until Beth runs and tackles Ryan. Then Eric does his best to pull her off of him the whole time they are all laughing hysterically.

Here is Eric.Beth mid-tackle.

Here is a video clip of the process.

This month Ryan graduated with a Master of Fine Arts. We had some of his family come up. It was too bad that the day before they got here I took the kids to the pool. We had a lot of fun, but Eric and I came away with a nasty sunburn.

Here is Eric the morning after being comforted in his misery. Doesn't he look bright and perky?
Beth had a great time pestering Grandpa over and over again. Here is a video clip of one of her favorite things to do with him.

Before the graduation (oh, by the way, graduation pictures will follow) we went to campus to feed the ducks. Here is Aunt Megan and the kids on our way out the door.
We all had a great time watching Eric ping the ducks in the head with his bread and Beth giving them only every other bite. "One for them, one for me, one for them..." We don't feed the ducks moldy bread anymore because of this habit.
There were some very cute baby ducks.
And of course no trip to BYU is complete without a dip in the packing peanuts at Daddy's work. This functions like a play-pin when we visit Daddy.
I didn't finish all the pictures from August but this is a step in the right direction. The last one I will post is one of the kids before Church on Sunday. Beth vacillates between worshipful adoration for her brother and attempting to make his head explode in sheer frustration. While sometimes loud, it is fun to watch.
Till next time...