Holy Hebgen

I've got to tell you, I really married well. Not only do I have the awesomest wife ever (sorry dudes, it is totally true and you are the worse for it) but my wife comes with CABINS. Not just regular cabins either. These are the real deal, Norman Rockwell eat your heart out kind of cabins. Last week was spent at one of said cabins and as expected, it was heavenly.

This cool old cabin was built in the '30s just feet from the beach on Hebgen Lake with the sort of cool pier going out into the lake that you only see in cheesy summer camp movies. In '59 there was also a huge earthquake in the area that created a great beach for us but also eliminated the cabins on the other side of the lake (sorry other side of the lake people, but happy 50th anniversary.)

The first funny thing that occured on the trip was on the drive just past Tremonton. (also the site of a not funny thing when a boat trailer we were towing broke and set the freeway median on fire several years ago.) So I was feeling tired after a whole day of packing and preparing and since Romney wasn't sleeping as he should, I asked him if he wanted to drive so I could sleep.
"Dad, noooo, I can't drive, silly."
"Rom are you sure?"
"Nooooooo Dad. I don't WANT to drive."
"What? Why not Rom? I just want you to know that this is your chance and if you don't take it then when you are 15 and want to drive all the time I'm going to remind you of this moment when you didn't take your chance."
"Okay FINE. I guess I'll drive."
SHOOT! I hate it when those things backfire. I was never that smart and my dad to this day STILL reminds me of the time I was 6 and wouldn't share my milky way with him. ("Dad, can I have an oreo since it is the super bowl and we are having a party and I am at your house?" "NO, you remember that time you wouldn't share your milky way with me?")

So this week was full of the usual kind of magic that exists at Hebgen but did include a few new twists as well.

The usual magic consists of things like.......

Kissing toads in hopes of finding a prince. Laine was so excited to find a prince in fact she was talking in her sleep in the car on the way to the cabin. It was about 11 and night and she was pulling her own hair in hopes of not falling asleep so she could run to the beach and check under the canoes for frogs. Once we convinced her that this was NOT going to happen in the middle of the night she finally fell asleep about 4.5 hours into the 5 hour drive. The little stinker. (credit to aunt Janie for the awesome picture)

There was the traditional Sunday drive into Yellowstone after church for picnic, eagle, and elk viewing. Luckily for us we also came across some buffalo hair so we could see the Kingfish do his best buffalo mustache. The traditional Sunday drive to Yellowstone also included what I hope is not a tradition but did seem to be a pattern during the week of wet batman underwear. Here is Marie who was taking her turn with the soggy underpants on a stick. (never to be confused with hot dog on a stick.)

Another great part of the traditional drive to Yellowstone is Old Faithful. This year it seemed like it was taking forever to get around to erupting so we had Laine do an Old Faithful dance and it worked!



How can you spend a week on the beach at the cabin without burying at least a couple of kids?

And then there was fishing from the dingy with the Kingfish and Stella Luna. Of course they didn't catch anything because we wouldn't let the kids stay out in the dingy for over 8 hours or until 11 at night (little rules we have because we love them) and apparently this is the effective way to fish from the dingy. Luckily, the Kingfish and Stella Luna brought home many LARGE fish from their adventures which led to multiple yummy dinners.









Some new adventures this year included having baby Peter with us! I feel so grateful my kids did not poke his eyes out because they were totally obsessed with him.












There was some talk of organizing a fun, small triathlon for the 4th of July - the first annual Hebgen Lake Triathlon! But it didn't happen....at least not as originally designed. You see Lainey got it in her mind that she was going to organize a kids triathlon. I doubt she had the idea completely on her own but once in her mind, she was determined. (Sound like any other girls in our little family?) She was inviting every kid, cousin, and stranger on the beach to join in and then to come to her cabin for ice cream afterward. (Ice cream was her own original idea much to our surprise.) So in the end we held the First Annual Hebgen Lake Kids Tri! They began by swimming from the end of the pier to the beach. Then off to an exhilarating bike to the end of the road and back, followed by a .25 mile run. It was pretty sweet....because you could do the whole thing in flip-flops and you could flex your muscles when you were done.





















For me the highlight of the week was biking. With Marie's brother Dave has-more-energy-than-anyone-I-know Curtis, we got in several rides. We had 5 great mountain bike rides and our first really long road bike ride. On the road bikes we rode just under 70 miles. We had hoped to do a century in Yellowstone but with the holiday it was too crowded and scary because there is no shoulder so we settled for riding around lake.
To make it sound just a little cooler I will also tell you that we crossed the continental divide twice! Sure the elevation gain was not that significant but you don't need to know that. Next time we will take more food. Marie saved us around mile 60 with a candy boost but we needed a lot more.

The week concluded with a great 4th of July bonfire on the beach and watching fireworks go off on the other side of the lake.

The kids were very sad to leave and a few tears were shed on the last day. Laine was very sad because we had to amputate her arms also so that was a real downer. We took one final stroll down the beach before we left and picked a few wild strawberries. The last thing we saw was an Osprey dive into the lake right next to our pier and come out with a fish! It was very cool. Romney has already asked for clarification 427 times as to when exactly we will be going back.