A Short Trip

 Last week we loaded up the van and headed to Utah!

Ben has some family there and we arranged to go to Bear Lake with them for a few days. Ben's aunt, uncle, cousin and his cousin's family came with us.

Beforehand we stopped in Sandy, which also gave us the opportunity to go to Provo and visit a friend who had just moved there. Anyway, it was A LOT of driving.

Thankfully, Claire was prepared:

 The girls really did incredibly well on the drive. Ben's parents came with us, and that definitely helped to keep them entertained. The DVD player didn't hurt, either.

Finally, we got to the beach.

 I know this is a horrible picture of Camille, but I really wanted to show how filthy Camille got at the beach. That girl LOVES sand! She kept putting handful after handful into her mouth and it got everywhere. It was pretty disgusting, but she had such a blast- so what do you do?

 I had never been to Bear Lake, and I really fell in love with it. The water stays shallow until about forever which is unbelievable. The water is crystal blue and really warm (well, except for day 2 of our trip when it was freezing cold, overcast, and rainy).

Ben desperately wanted to rent a paddle boat. I really wanted a jet ski. In the end he won (I can't believe I let him win). Because of the rain and the cold, though, I ended up being glad we didn't get the jet ski. I hate it when I let Ben win AND he ends up being right.

 Bear Lake is famous for its' raspberry shakes, but I was the only one who ordered one. Oh, well.

 The girls were incredibly proud of the sand castle they made (with quite a bit of help from Mom).

 Here's Claire with her cousin (at least that is what we are calling her!) Izzy. I really am astonished at how well the girls all played together. One would think after 4 days they would have started bickering, but they never did. Claire didn't have a single tantrum (or if she did I have blocked it out) and it was as if they were all best friends. Really, it was unbelievable.

 I was looking out the window of our cabin and I saw this moose- oh, how the girls were excited to see that! And, the adults were too.

 This was the view from our cabin- absolutely gorgeous!

 And here is the best picture of the whole trip:

We really did have the best time! I am so glad we went! We are so grateful to have such a wonderful family and to have had such an amazing time! It really was just the best!!!