Bear Lake vacation with the family!!

This year we went to Bear Lake for our Lyman family trip.  We stayed in an awesome place called Reunion Retreat.  It has 9 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, two laundry rooms with at least 6 sets of washers and dryers (I didn't count), a theatre, an indoor playground, a huge kitchen, a pool table, slides to get from one level to a another, etc.

                          Here's pictures of a couple of the bedrooms.

The huge kitchen area has two dishwashers, a huge refrigerator-freezer, two ovens, many tables and chairs, etc.

     There's also this cute little fort area with a climbing wall.  Some of the kids slept there.  You can see one of the slides right next to it. I think some of the kids never used the stairs, they went up and down the slides.  Some of them didn't even know there were stairs!  When Coy and Aleyah had their snow suits and boots on, they didn't know how to get upstairs because they couldn't go "up" the slide with their snow gear on.  They were surprised to find out there were stairs!!

                            Here's the indoor playground.

If you went down both slides, you would find yourself on the bottom level, and could go into the indoor playground.

                                There were study areas.

                                 And areas to just relax.

 On Friday, we drove a few miles away from the resort and found ample snow to tube and sled.

              And, then we needed to come back and rest and relax.

                         Some of the older kids and adults decided to have a trampoline add-on contest.
                         There was some pretty impressive stuff going on!

     There are x-boxes linked for multi-players.  For the kids that was a plus, for the parents, it was still up for debate.

   Trent could do nothing but sit around.  He had totally ruined his knee the week before and had to have surgery the week after the trip.

                                There was volleyball and pillow fights!

And then there was plenty of time to rest and just "take it easy" before we all had to head home.

                                                        What a beautiful and fun place!!!

http://www.vrbo.com/216672

Are Dogs Man's Best Friend???

Eight years ago my family (kids, grandkids, etc) gave me a puppy for Christmas.  

She was an adorable, little, black and white Shih Tzu.  

Her name was Ellie. 

 It didn't take very long for her to become a member of our family.  

Last week our little Ellie died.  

It has created a very empty spot in our house.

Here are a "billion" pictures of her with the family over the years (they are not in chronological order).

 Of course we have to include a picture of Aunt Carol with Ellie.  She loved her and loved to come visit her.

 Ellie is using Josh for a pillow and notice the white dog that Josh is using for a pillow.  That is Rutger. He was another one of our very special dogs who died a few years ago.

And of course we need to include a picture with Uncle Jeff.  He didn't love her as much as Aunt Carol did--we'll just leave it at that!!!

 Ellie had several litters of puppies.  They were so much fun.  She was an awesome mom.

       She loved to tend the lambs.

 And she loved to hang out with her friends, Rutger and Curtis.

 This is Elmer.  He is one of Ellie's puppies that Stacy and Taylor kept.  He spends a lot of time at our house because they live next door. He and Ellie were best of friends.
He is a little lost and lonely these days.

         Ellie loved all of the family and we loved her.
         So yes, you can say, "dogs are mans' best friend".
         We have had some special dogs and
         you might think we will be getting
         a replacement now, but we are done.
         We are gone a lot and we have
         new carpet in our house and
         many other reasons make it necessary to
         say "we have special memories of the dogs we have had
         but we are done".

Here are some pretty profound words I stole from Cathy Cosby's post on Facebook.  They are true but I have to add that my life is not empty.  It is filled with family, friends and the gospel!!

          If I Didn't Have A Dog 

If I didn't have a dog I could walk around the back yard barefoot without worry. My house could be carpeted instead of tiled. My clothing, furniture and other belongings would be free of hair. 

When the doorbell rings, my home wouldn't sound like a kennel. I could sit on the couch or lie in my bed the way I want to, without taking into consideration how much space she needs to be comfortable. I would not have strange presents under the Christmas tree like bones, stuffed animals, toys and treats...nor would I have to explain why I wrap them.

I would have no guilt about going on vacation. I would not be on a first name basis with three veterinarians, as I put their kids through college. The most used words in my vocabulary would not be sit, stay, down, come, go pee pee.

My house would not be cordoned off into zones with baby gates and barriers. My pockets would not contain things like poop bags, treats, and an extra leash. My house wouldn't look like a daycare center with toys strewn everywhere. I would not have to spell out the words, BALL, Treat, bye-bye, walk.

If I didn't have a dog.... how truly empty my life would be.