Bear Lake

Now that all of the Peterson kids are married it was high time we start having an annual reunion. It's been so difficult to sync everyone's busy schedules but we decided that a ski trip during President's Day weekend would be perfect! Kaitlin found us a GINORMOUS mansion of a cabin to share and assigned us each a meal or 2 to prepare for the group, and she also planned a "kid" talent show and an "adult" Lip Sync Battle! We decided to take 2 full days to drive up to Bear Lake so we wouldn't go insane. I wished we could have planned to fly but with Tanner's work schedule it was just impossible. But the kids were absolutely amazing in the car and they LOVED swimming and hanging out at the hotel in St George. Jack was thrilled to be in the pool! He jumped to Tanner over and over and over! It was all fun and games until Rayleigh threw up (she swallowed too much water) and Jack pooped! Tanner and I literally did not sleep for one minute that first night. The kids all slept like little angels but because we are not used to sleeping with them we did not do too well. I was laughing because it was so ridiculous but Tanner was mad. Poor guy.

On the road again! The temperature was dropping as we headed north! We stopped in Provo and let the kids play at the park and ate some 2 Jack's Pizza. We stopped by my office to say hi and use the restroom. It was happy to see Pam but sad that everyone else was gone, :-(

We arrived to the cabin in Bear Lake just after the sunset and the road had just enough ice on it that we couldn't make it up the steep drive way. Tanner was losing his temper big time and poor Parker was getting scared. All off a sudden out in the dark we saw a figure running toward us, "It's the Bishop!" I cried! The Bishop always saves the day. I just love Travis so much, His wisdom and example, guidance and perspective is something I truly cherish in my life. I am so blessed to have him so close to me. What a wonderful man he is.

 All the guys came to our rescue and helped tow us up the hill and unload. We made it!!!!!!

Straight out the gate, Tanner was showing off his new toys. The kids all ran in different directions. I don't think I saw Parker again until we got back in the car to leave. This place was huge and the entertainment was endless! Everyone was so happy to be there together! And we had a ton of yummy food to eat!

The next day, all the big kids and Monte went skiing. I tried to take the kids out to play in the snow but we were not prepared and had no idea what we were doing. The babies didn't want shoes or gloves so they got upset when their poor little hands got cold. It was an adjustment! ha ha Half way through the day, Nicole, Kassidy, Bridger and the older kids met the rest of the group on the ski hill and Kim and I stayed with the 5 little ones. It was hard. Jack was beside himself and just followed me around all day crying. I tried several times to get him to take a nap but he just wouldn't settle down. I had to call my mom to keep from freaking out. I tried to be strong but I was exhausted. I was happy to know that Tanner and his siblings were having so much fun skiing, though, and I was glad Parker could get out there and experience it as well! But when Tanner got home he tossed out a very hurtful comment to me in front of the whole family and I just broke into pieces. 

Tanner was completely oblivious to the way he was treating me which didn't do him any favors but man, I could NOT stop crying. It was a nightmare. I just sat in my room with the babies (They wouldn't leave my side) and cried and cried and prayed and prayed for a miracle. I didn't know what to do. I felt humiliated and hurt and was trying to fabricate some lie to tell the next day to explain my disappearance. Later that night, after the dinner that I missed and everything, I sneaked out of the room to use the bathroom and the babies followed me but they didn't know where I went so they found everyone else in the basement. I thought, "Well ok, I'll just let Tanner handle them from here and I'll just go to sleep" But a few minutes later Parker came in and said he didn't even know where Tanner was! I guess Tanner was in his room just laying there, too. Can anyone else imagine a more awkward family reunion???? I told Parker to find Daddy and have him help get the babies to bed. I pretended to be asleep (crying into my pillow in the dark) as I heard Kim sweetly putting Rayleigh to bed (I had Ray in the room with me and Tanner was supposed to take Jack so we could all sleep a little better...) Then Tanner came crashing in looking for something of Jack's... I was finally able to doze off a few hours later but I was starving and had a terrible "crying" head ache and I knew I was going to look like a train wreck the next day.

Well, bright and early, as everyone was getting ready for church, Tanner came storming in demanding that I talk to him and tell him what was wrong and "stop being dramatic" but once again I was crying and I just couldn't stop. What a way to wake up. He told me to get up and get dressed because we were leaving and that I was ruining the trip for the kids. He stormed out once again and then an angel came to the door. Sweet Nicole softly came to my rescue. She held me and cried with me and told me everything was going to be ok. I can't even tell you how comforting that was for me. I was feeling so alone and so broken and she just scooped me up and put it all back together. She told me that everyone heard what Tanner said and that no one blames me for feeling the way I was feeling.  I felt so good to be validated and know that her love is so unconditional. I know part of my being emotional was because of pregnancy hormones and I don't know why Heavenly Father saw fit to send this awful trial my way at this particular time, but I am forever grateful to Nicole. She is my sister for all eternity and that brings me so much joy. Travis came in and offered me a blessing. Kim came in too and cried with me and made me feel so much better. Late I talked to Kassidy and she too made me feel comforted and loved. And my sweet Brothers in law each awkwardly gave me side hugs and told me they loved me in the cutest little brother way possible. It wasn't until the drive home that Tanner and I even talked about what happened and to tell you the truth, he was absolutely unaware that he'd even done anything wrong. With love and patience we were able to talk it through during our long drive back down to St George. We have set some new goals and each showed humility and forgiveness- which is what being married is all about. It's good to know that Tanner and I can go through these crazy, emotional, trying times and still manage to work our way through it and become more tightly bound than we were before. Our marriage isn't perfect (sometimes it feels that way, but not often) but we have the same celestial goals and our hearts over flow with love for each other. The natural man is an enemy to God and the spouse he's married to. But when we focus on the Savior and try to be more like Him, we can do all things and have paralleled joy.

This girl has a brilliant and vibrant mind

Tanner, surprisingly, took the kids to church with the rest of the family while I stayed behind to get a grip on myself. It was still hard for me to stop crying which is extremely unusual for me. But when he got home he was the Tanner that I know and love. He played with the kids and was sweet and attentive to me (who gave him the cold shoulder) and he was fun and happy around his family. We ended up having the most amazing day. The kids played outside and Tanner took Rayleigh on a few ATV rides which she LOVED! We took some great family pictures with Tanner's drone.  We had delicious food all day and when it got dark we had the most entertaining and fun talent show and Lip Sync battle! I wish Tanner and I could have practiced ours at least ONCE (and I was still keeping my distance from him) but he pulled out all the stops and made it a success. We used the "Elephant Song" from Mulin Rouge. Everyone else had costumes and make up! I hope we do this again in the near future because it was a blast!!!! Rayleigh fell asleep on the couch during dinner so I was paranoid the loud music would wake her up but it didn't! We danced the night away!

Around 10pm we got all the kids to bed so we could watch a movie in the amazing theater room but then Rayleigh woke up! Dang! I gave her the phone and some more milk and told her to go back to bed. Well, around midnight when the movie was over I went to bed and there she was wide awake sitting there enjoying her little show on the phone. I was shocked! She said she was hungry and wanted ice cream and at this point the rules were out the window so ice cream it was! I let her stay up for about another hour while she ate her ice cream and I read a little bit. It was just bizarre. But around 1am we both fell asleep and slept pretty good for the rest of the night/morning.

The next morning we had a wonderful breakfast and then spent most of our time cleaning up and packing up to leave. It was sad to say goodbye. The time went by too quickly and it was a shame part of it was spent so terribly. Once again, though, the kids were excellent in the car and we had a nice stop in Orem to see Carole. I even got to meet Sari's twins!!! We stayed at a HomeTown Suites this time so we could have more space- well, we had 2 bedrooms and a big nice living room with a kitchen! Not bad! The kids loved swimming the next morning and we didn't end up leaving St George until around noon.

Jack would NOT go to sleep. Ray was outstanding. But Jack would not stop singing "It's a Small World" so we showed him YouTube videos of the ride until he fell asleep.

Parker was stoked to have his own room with a TV!

At one point Rayleigh jetted out the door and down the hall with Jack following close behind. I caught Jack but couldn't find Rayleigh and was worried she went down the elevator. I yelled her name several times and eventually she came running back down the hall. Who does she think she is?!?!?!?

Glad we had some Top Ramen and a kitchen to cook it in for lunch before we hit the road.

14 weeks and starting to see a bump.

We wanted to stop and see Josi on the way through Vegas but Wyatt had the stomach bug. It's always hard to drive right through Vegas without seeing our dear friends. We have so many out there! But we tried to make it quick since we got a late start. We wanted to check 7 Magic Mountains (a random art installation) off our bucket list, though. It was cool and the kids really enjoyed it. Rayleigh kicked off her shoes (we need to be more adventurous and take her camping) and Tanner loved flying his drone around and capturing some cool shots.

It was windy!

Of course she fell asleep when we were 10 minutes from home. She just wanted to snuggle for a while which I was perfectly fine with. We unloaded and tried to clean out the car a little bit. We got the kids ready for bed but then I was off to bunco and I could't wait! I needed some girl time! At 9:30 we decided to stop playing and call it a night but then Katie, Courtney, Jill and I ended up staying and talking until 12:30! ha ha Sometimes you just need a little detox with your girlfriends! It's so refreshing!

Bear Lake was amazing. I have no regrets. We had some super bad lows but then some of the most amazing highs. I hope we can make it an annual thing and I hope next time we can fly. Not that the drive was terrible but it's tiring and I'd like to spend more time with family playing and less time traveling.

Being from Southern California, it's a real treat when we can play in the snow! And the best part was being with the most incredible family in the whole wide world!!!