the Leeflangs

Monday, August 8, 2011

The Lake of Bear

Deep in the rocks of Northern Utah lies the famous Bear Lake which has brought many great memories to Steve. (hee hee) I'm afraid I never spent many summers here, but I was along for the ride. It was fun to see him enjoy himself so much, and actually be bored for a couple of hours (which never happens).

The fun cousins who basically swam 7 hours a day. Camping is great- we need to do this more.

Smilie here had a great time splashing the day away. We found little frogs, tadpoles, roasted marshmellows, went to Rasberry Days, drank tons of Capri Suns... what more can you ask for?

Love them!

Bless Steve's Dad's soul- he rented Ski Jets while we were there, and it was awesome. The entire family took 15 minutes turns, which was a blast. I'm more of a go fast and jump the waves, and Steve is more of a turner and jump his own wake driver.

Splash'n back and forth!

Steve was so excited for this trip, he bought a little boat, water toys, sand toys, goggles, every type of treat you can find on the isles of Walmart, Rootbeer... it was some serious motivation :)

These two were basically in this position the entire trip!

This little guy is Maddie's other cousin who, by the way, is the nicest 1st grader I've ever met. He is so funny and I loved to hang out with him during the trip. My favorite conversation went like this... "So, how did you sleep last night?" "Oh, really good." "Well, I mean, maybe... well, I woke up a lot and I was really cold."

Hee hee. Yes, I was cold too. I should have brought more blankets! Ah!

The second night we were there, there was a 1) rainstorm, 2) lightning storm, 3) windstorm followed by Steve's snoring. Oh.... I was tired.

One of the other highlights was meeting our new Nephews (held by Uncle B and B)!!! They were so adorable... and I kept on thinking about how much work Twins would be. You guys are doing great!

And, of course, lots of great moments with Grandma and Grandpa. Emilie still says "Papa Sue," which has to be heard in real life to get how cute it is.

All in all, it was a great trip- and we can't wait to come back next year!

Just 12 hours later...

Two months ago, Steve decided he wanted to take a trip to Utah and relive some childhood memories at Bear Lake. So, we jumped in the van, albeit reluctantly because I HATE DRIVING 12 HOURS, and I'm so glad we did it. We had a fabulous time :)

The first couple of days we stayed in Salt Lake and spent some time with my dad. Our first afternoon out we went to Red Butte Gardens. We always love going there because I grew up close by and have so many great memories walking around, and not to mention that we also had our ring ceremony there! They have really expanded the grounds- it is gorgeous!!

Some of my favorite people.

Some family action brought to you by a camera balancing on my backpack on top of a stroller. Agh- I'm glad it didn't tumble.

The kids always love visiting these enormous lizards- they are pretty lifelike.

My cold blooded friend!

A couple of days later we decided to visit Thanksgiving point- an area attraction that has a dinosaur museum, a farm, gardens etc. It was the first time we've been there, and we thought we would drop by on "Two buck Tuesday," where all the entrances are only two bucks. OH- What a mistake. Talk about Crowded. Never again will I go on "Two Buck Tuesday!" It was crazy. I don't think I've ever seen so many kids in my life. But, we pushed our way through the stampedes and saw some cool dinosaurs. We saw the IMAX T Rex movie- which scared Maddie out of of her pants, and then headed over to the gardens which I would highly recommend!

Oh-and we saw ASHLEY!!! We miss you!

My dad got the girls some frogs which they loved playing with in the water. Emi named this little guy "Scoobie."

This picture doesn't do the place justice. If you ever have a chance to visit, bring a picnic. You'll love it.

The other Leeflangs

Once in a blue moon, our family visits us in lone California! Whoo hoo! This time it was Steve's brother and sister in law and kids- it was so great to have them here. They have the cutest little girls that are exactly the age of our girls, so it is perfect for all of us.

The first day we went to the beach and the second day we headed south to Gilroy Gardens. Usually Gilroy Gardens is a huge hit, but because the kids stayed up really late playing with each other, they were kind of walking zombies. Ah! Oh well, I just couldn't make them go to bed early- they were having too much fun. Plus, aren't the best memories when you were at your friends/families house having a sleep over? Good times.

These little cousins hit the tea cups first, and loved every minute of it. Emi tried to get on, but got super scared, so we stopped the ride. Emi! What happened to my thrill seeker?

"Mom, can I ride by myself?" "Yes, Mad." "Mom, can I ride by myself?" "Yes, Mad." "Mom, can I ride by myself?" "Yes, Maddie!!!" Yes- she was excited to ride this by herself, and who can blame her? I still remember the moment when I got to ride these little cars in Lagoon (a theme park by my house).

It wasn't super hot, but these snow cones looked delicious and seriously tempting. Both Maddie and her cousin got to order by themselves which was really funny!!

I think we rode about everything in the park except for 3 rides, which made it a full day! We got there before the gates opened, and left not one minute before it closed. I've never been there that long, and the kids were exhausted- but we didn't regret one thing! These pictures of Maddie and her cousin are my favorite series for the day because they just feel like a fun young summer.

So fun to be young and carefree :)

Love this girl.

A Garden Party

A few days back off the plane, I helped plan a "Garden Party" for the ladies in our church. We plan this event every year to thank everyone for what they do, and let them know that we love them. I think it was gorgeous- but it was a lot of work, especially because I was still recovering from jet lag etc. I don't usually post about parties, but I need to post about this one, because we spent some many hours on this baby!!

We decided to go "country garden" theme, with quiches, muffins, salads, lemonade. It was a very cute idea that I will definitely repeat someday.

The dessert table was CRAZY- of course everything homemade. Our fearless leader is a killer baker, so she slaved away making all of this heaven. Maybe next year we will order a pizza and ice cream bars?

A pic of the main food table- it was really fun to decorate.

The trick about these events is trying do things on a budget... and when I say budget, I mean "how can we do this and not spend any money?" Ha! I used vases that we bought many years ago, and begged our neighbor to use her beautiful hydrangeas, and supplemented with stuff in our yard. For $0.00, I think we did pretty well :)

I also thought the cut out napkins into hearts was a cute and very cheap idea on the tables!

After 5 million hours, the event was a success!!! Horrah!! I basically passed out for the next 24 hours.

Our overgrown garden

When we got back from Germany, we were happy to see that our yard/garden was well taken care of :) In fact, it was too well taken care of, that our Zucchini were bigger than Emilie! Yikes. Note to self: never let your zucchini's get this big because the outside skin tastes like bark. Yuck.

Anyway, our tomatoes were still not getting super ripe- which is kind of weird, but maybe because it's been a mild summer. Global warming? Who knows! But, we definitely got RATS. Yes, big fat RATS who are eating every ripe tomato that approaches redness, and I am going to start the extermination process very very soon involving rat poisoning, peanut butter and a long pipe.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Swimming and biking

This picture doesn't do our bike ride justice, but it was the only picture I took today because we really relaxed our pants off. After breakfast, we jumped on the trampoline, and rented some bikes to get over to a swimming pool and some water slides. The ride there was gorgeous, and the swimming pools were refreshing and perfect for the kids. After 5 hours, we came back home, swam in the pond, and crashed in the hotel room while Steve went to get pizza and salad.

A perfect last day.

Tomorrow we'll be leaving Bad Reichenhall on the train to Zurich to stay the night before we head to New York and then home. Booooooo!!!!

A beautiful paradise

Somewhere nestled in the mountains of Southeastern Germany lies Bad Reichenhall, a little town devoted to water healing and ski enthusiasts in the winter. For us, it was everything that we needed to relax and get ready for heading home.

This place is gorgeous and I can't rave enough about our hotel which overlooked a little pond which the girls loved.

And, all of the things that they had to keep our kids happy- especially this trampoline, which they couldn't get enough of. I seriously want one of these for our backyard- but not sure we have enough space!

In the morning, we were greeted by a wonderful outdoor breakfast (tons of cherries!!). I think I ate three bowls of yogurt with cherries/raspberries- yum.

This little swing was perfect too- with cows in the distance... could you get anymore idyllic?

This was the hotel.

And the view of the little pond from our balcony that woke us up each morning.

A walk to the lake.

Our balcony was in the middle and sooooo relaxing to sit on at night and in the morning.

Steve jumping right in! This little pond was perfect for swimming- it seriously was warmer than some of the pools we swam in.

My two little fishes.

And the cute little boat we sat in on and off for 3 days.

Put on your sunglasses, folks, yes, I am florescent white.

We took a tram to the top top of the mountain.

I'm not usually that afraid of heights, but for some reason I couldn't stop thinking about these cables snapping! It kept on going higher and higher and higher.

And higher!!

We were so high- we arrived in the clouds!

These were right below us- which seems really crazy, because I've only seen these types of clouds from the airplane! We were really really high!

Emi wanted to ride the ski chairs!

After we rode the tram, we headed home for some more swimming and a lakeside picnic dinner. So relaxing. I could sit on those chairs for days.

When Steve saw some fish, he immediately jumped up and asked the hotel owner if there were any fishing poles... and started to train Maddie.

Super happy.

All throughout Germany, we saw these grill sets they sell in the grocery stores, and wanted a chance to use them. Finally we seized the moment! We bought "American marshmallows" and went to town.