Welcome Home Uncle Sid...

After serving two awesome years in the Sao Paulo Brazil Mission, Uncle Sid is home. We headed to the airport to pick him up and then spent the day/ night with the Becksteads. I think the airport is great! There was about 10 missionaries coming home that day, I was so excited for all the mom's there. They were ecstatic and couldn't wait to hug their boys. We are sure proud of Sid and his example to serve. We are glad to have him home !! Rylie, Gavin and Holly waiting to see Uncle Sid.

Jeff and Kaye are a tad bit nervous and excited.

Welcome Home!

going to the dentist...

Rylie had her first dentist appointment last week. We had tears for a month before the actual appointment, she was nervous. The day of the appointment, we played barbies and my barbie was the dentist and he counted her barbies teeth, brushed their teeth and played with the dentist chair. It payed off, she was such a big girl. She teared up once but was fine. Well all 20 of her baby teeth are looking great and no cavities. She thought the dentist was so much fun (the playroom and getting a prize afterwards, I'm sure), that she begged to go again the next morning. We will just stick to her appointments.

I'm loving it...

Rylie is loving it! I think that is the motto for McDonalds??? Well Mike's aunt Sallie picked up Rylie about a month ago and took her to McDonalds with her granddaughter, Josie that is the same age as Rylie. Well these two had a blast playing, getting chicken nugget happy meals and icecream. Aunt Sallie really spoiled these two girls, they had so much fun.... they decided they needed to do it EVERYDAY!
Well everytime we drive by McDonald's Rylie reminds me that Aunt Sallie missed that day on taking her to McDonalds. So when we saw her this past weekend, Rylie reminded Sallie that they were to go to Mcdonalds EVERYDAY and that she had a missed a few.... well she doesn't let that slide. So Rylie, Aunt Sallie, and Josie got to return to McDonalds, but also got to take Holly (another cousin) and Grandma Beak.
They once again had a blast and I am glad to have an Aunt that will take her to McDonalds to play so I don't have too.
Thanks Aunt Sallie and Grandma Beak, Rylie looks forward to going EVERYDAY!

Bear Lake with the Becksteads...

We got home from the Meyer Bear Lake Reunion, did some laundry, shopping, repacking and headed to BL again with the Becksteads. What another fun time at the lake. I seriously could live over there all summer if Mike would buy me a place, in fact I will live over there year around if he would let me. We rented a home in Garden City and had a great time. It was a fun time for all; with delicious dinners and breakfast's, playing with the kids and just hanging with family. My highlight of the trip was riding my bike the whole way around the lake with Mike and his dad, i won't even say what I did at the end. But I did make it around the lake!!

Check out these bathing beauties!

Gunner and Rylie...

Holly and Rylie...

some of the Beckstead Grandkids watching a movie in Grandpa and Grandma's bedroom.

Rylie going for a bike ride, she tells everyone they rode around the lake. They did make it to town to buy me Bear Lake Fudge (have you tried it, yum)~~

Bode, enjoying a little more sand. He loves to eat it!!

She too, cannot get enough of Bear Lake....

CONQUER the MONSTER...

Last year Mike and several of my cousins biked around the lake. Well that got us going to train for this year. We made it, the 51 miles, well sort of - kind of!! We took off early in the morning and made it to the idaho border when I got a flat tire. Must have hit a thorn or something, it was crazy because I was in the same path as everyone else. Mike was prepared with an extra tube, as he was pumping it up, the stem broke so I was out of luck. I would not be able to finish the ride around the lake and was totally bummed. I then batted my eyes at Mike and asked him how much he loved me? Enough that he took the tube out of his tire and put in in mine, he was done. (NOW that is true love) So we called our awesome support person Uncle Wayne (thank you) and he came and picked up Mike. I took off trying to catch the pack and got about a block down the road and the new tube was flat again. I called Uncle Wayne again and he came and got me. The KOA over there rents bikes so we decided to try and see if they had any road bike tubes, but had to wait until they opened. They opened at 8 and it was a mircle they had road bike tubes and we bought them out. Mike got our bikes back together and ready to go. We ran into Cole my brother who was getting a late start (since he got in from Denver at 3 in the morning) at the KOA and we had our awesome support take us to the north beach turn and drop us off(so we road 42 miles instead of 51. We took off from there to catch the pack and we did. None the less, we all made it around the lake and were pretty proud of ourselves. We are going to add this to our many fun things we do at our reunion. When we made it around the lake we had the best fan club ever cheering us on, if made it so worth the ride to see our family there cheering. My mom was the biggest fan ever; she made the awesome sign that says "conquer the monster M Team". the M team is for my mom and her sisters that all start with the letter "m".

The awesome support and our fans!

My cousin Kenzie and I finishing the ride...

My sister Erica and cousin Tiff finishing the ride!

My brother Cole finishing the ride!

Mike and I before we took off!

Me and my too great Sisters!

There were alot more family that finished the race, but I didn't get everyone's picture!! There was 15 of us, way to go everybody.

a very special birthday...

I have been blessed with TWO wonderful sisters and THREE awesome sister in laws. But there is one SISTER in particular that just had a very special 40th birthday. We celebrated at the Olive Garden and then someone hung a sign (see picture below) at her home to let everyone know it was her 40th... We just want to say your the best SISTER and we love you tons!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

OH the funniest week in the world!!! My mom's side of the family gets together everyyear at Bear Lake for a whole week. This is my mom and her four sisters and all their families. It is such a fun week and one that I look forward to everyyear. My mom remembers going over as a little girl, so for sure we have been doing this week at the lake for over 50 years. That is pretty impressive. Here is an overview of the week..... We spend as much time as we can at the lake and on the beach, you would not believe how fast a week go by when you are relaxing on the beach. We are lucky to have boats that take us on crazy tube ride which was first for Rylie and Bode's first boat ride. After spending the day at the lake and playing hard, we clean up and enjoy some serious yummy food. We each take a night and make dinner, we eat very well. We stay up late at night playing apples to apples and enjoying each other company. I love this week!! I am so sad that 9 days are over and look forward to it next year. I hope we can continue to keep this tradition alive and that my kids will have as much fun at Bear lake like as we do. Just some random pictures of the week... We did bike around the lake, well almost for me, but that is another blog post.
This is the great big floatie that Mike brought to the beach. It was a huge hit to hang out on for everyone. I was a big nervous about it considering we have two little kids to take care of, but it turned out way fun and a great place to relax and hang out on. It did hold 15 smith grandkids!! Everyone in my family made to the lake, it was great!!

Uncle Spenny getting dog piled by Rylie, Karden, Lincoln and Payton.

We got new Meyer family shirts, here is my family (even if it is not the best).

Let me just say that this double stroller and getting them both to nap at the beach was a life saver. This is the only way we survived the week.

Bode's first corn on the cob and he LOVED it...

MORE BEAR LAKE to be continued.... I am all blogged out at the moment!