Bear Lake Vaca

A few of us lucky Pollan's headed up to Bear Lake with our good friends the West's. Byron and Carter stayed behind because Carter was sick and Byron had to work. Bummer for them. We had a great time staying at the Ideal Beach Resort and seeing the funniest play, Juanito Bandito, at the local playhouse. Highly recommend the playhouse. I walked about twenty miles around the sidewalks and jogging along the highway and the farm roads. It was a great weekend.

Anytime I asked the kids if they wanted to go for a walk they all said yes. They would grab their scooters and ride around and round their big mile long sidewalk/grassy area.

Hanging out at the lighthouse. Not sure why they have a lighthouse nowhere near the water but hey I guess in Utah you put in a lighthouse wherever you want. We had fun walking around it. Not open to the public. 

Funniest play ever, hands down. We want to go up and see it again it was so funny. Ethan, Tyler, Jaggar, Emily and Ally waiting for our show to start.

Tyler posing on the stage. He may be heading to Hollywood soon.

Haystack fun with Jaggar and Ethan.

Ty is in his zen while the world is whirling around him. The park at the beach was pretty sweet. The kids had fun playing on the giant swings.

Chicken in the pool. Glad it was heated well because the air was not quite warm yet.

We found a stray tractor to pose with.

The dock. Lots of fish to see under this guy.

Jaggar and TY...buds since preschool days.

Paddle boarding was fun-for those brave enough to gate the cold waters of Bear Lake.

Beautiful Ally

Jaggar broke his golf club while playing mini golf. I caught Ally's reaction perfectly. Luckily they just gave him a new one and let him keep playing. The kids spend many hours on the mini golf course. It was just right outside out condo.

We had such a great time relaxing, watching movies, playing flies up, walking, sitting in the sun, swimming, eating but mostly just enjoying our time off of school and work. Thanks for inviting us Marylyn and Jeremy. Awesome vacation!

The highlight for me....Best owl sighting ever at Bear Lake. We saw two juvenile Great Horned Owls. It was amazing. These guys were hanging out in the tree near the pool house. We came out and saw one fly across the lawn. Then it perched in the tree for quite a while. I had time to race back to the condo and get my good camera. I am so pleased with the photos I got of this cutie. By the time we spotted the second owl it was too dark for good photos but amazing owl encounter. I am so pleased.

We're Smokin' at the Pollan's/Heber Campout May 30-31

 Byron has done so much research and is so excited to welcome this Comodo Joe to the family. I call her Diablo Rojo. He and Jason built this table to prop it on and perfect their smoking skills. We are looking forward to many good meals coming out of this smoker.

 Flag Day- Ally and I went out to help the scouts this morning. It was the Flag Day flag posting morning. We all woke up early and decorated the neighborhood. No cutting corners boys, each house gets their own flag.

 Byron and Jason are at it again. Shelving for the garage. They worked hard one Saturday to get these shelves up. They have been talking about it for a long time now. Nice to have more storage in there.

 Tyler had the opportunity to be Oberon-King of the Fairies from a Mid Summer's Night's Dream. He did an awesome job memorizing all of his lines. I couldn't believe how many lines he had. It was awesome to watch him in action. His brain is definitely young and strong. 
 Emily and Ally over at the Gardner's pool. Let the summer swimming begin.  These girls always have way too much fun when they are together.

 So this is our kitty Cleo we got back in October spayed from the Humane Society. We were convinced for about three months that she was pregnant. Thankfully we were wrong and it was just a case of the fat cat. Diagnosed for $50 by our family vet.

Last day of school celebration at Hokulia Hawaiian Ice Shack. Love us some Hawaiian Ice. The kids are a little bit excited to be heading full speed ahead into summer. It was a good year but glad to be moving on up in the world.

We took our popup to our secret spot near Heber and had an awesome time. I hate to admit it but I am starting to actually like this camping gig. Don't tell anyone though I have a reputation to uphold. Ally and Tyler unfortunately forgot to pack warm clothes. They both dressed in extra adult clothing. Lucky for them we had a few extra warm things. Ty looks good in my warm hat I think.

Chewy, Ally and Jessie had a great time leaping over this little stream. We were most impressed with Chewy's leap. He can get some serious height when he needs to.

We found this T-P frame out on our hike. Nobody was around so we claimed it as our own.

Smiles out on our explore.

Thanks Jason for the family photos. It is nice to have a few family pics taken every now and then.

Jason giving Ally a little back pack ride. Spoiled gal.

We found a perfect throwing log and the competitions began. We had a pack of throwing stars and a pack of throwing knives with us on our hike. What? Mom was a little surprised at the amount of heat we were packing. Well protected I guess from the wildlife.

We spent a solid hour at least perfecting our skills.

Boom...we really do have throwing skills.

Found ourselves a log to bring home with us and put in our backyard. That was serious fun.

Little picture of our popup in it's secret location. ( I just can't remember where we were.) Somewhere up the canyon that passes the Timberlakes development.

These kids are too cute. I just love them! I also love aspen trees. Photo made in heaven.

Ally was in frog heaven. We tried to drive up this trail but got stuck in the mud and slid back down. We bailed out of that plan and could hear crazy croaking from this little pond. We stopped to check it out. We found loads of frogs and had an explore.

We caught a cute little frog and decided the smart thing to do would be to bring a bunch of frog eggs home with us. They didn't hatch out. Should have left them where they were.

We kept loading our frogs on this log and trying to see if I could snap a photo quick enough to get one in action leaping. It took a few tries but success. My trigger finger is as fast as a frogs jump.

A little lunch before we pack up and head home.

Successful campout. Jason did end up sleeping in the car with the dogs...yikes. The dogs were in their crates, he did say they were pretty noisy what with all the licking and everything.  Gross. Next time we won't forget the extra tent for poor uncle Jason.

Playing games and eating jelly beans in the pop-up. Everything was awesome. 

Carter's Birthday Celebration

 Ally and I worked up a little chalk art piece on the driveway. Happy to be out of doors again. 

 Byron and I went to Dan VanOrden's wedding and found this piece in the backyard of the church. I say yes to this in my backyard. Need bigger backyard. 

 Lucky for these two boys there was a big fire at the refinery across the street from their school this morning. I dropped them off amidst the cloud of smoke but went back for them five minutes later. I was feeling sick from the smoke that had gotten into my car while they got out. I checked them out and we went out for breakfast. We will try again tomorrow if there isn't toxic air inside their school. They did finally dismiss school at 12:30 which happens to be the time at which they can count the day as a working day. The whole episode made me really mad and I am not too sad to be leaving our old school right now.

 Ally and Ellyse got their nails done. It was a tough week at school and these girls needed a little pampering. They came with my girlfriends and I who were also getting a pedicure. 

 This is how Ally and my toes turned out. So cute. I copied the five year old who was in having her nails done and went for the polka-dots. I loved them! So fun to dress up your feet every now and again.

 Carter's birthday celebration at the Blue Iguana. We were all so happy Carter chose our favorite mexican restaurant to have his birthday dinner at. Puntes de Fillette is such a delicious entree. No need to read the menu just bring it on out. Ally and Jason are working on their secret handshake in the photo above. They got it all worked out during dinner. I know nothing about it, it's a secret.

 The birthday crew. Can't believe Carter is 14 years old. He advanced in the Priesthood to a Teacher and is now in charge of preparing the sacrament before church. He actually gets himself up every week and then comes in for a ride down to get there early. He is such a responsible kid. Love it. Sometimes I have to remind him to relax and have a little fun.

Ally is prepping her blanket to be a parachute. She taped Byron's pushup bars to her blanket and is hoping to get some wind resistance with her set-up. She was hopeful but in the end it didn't work. Keep thinking Ally, it's good for your brain.