Utah or Bust: Lazy E

Right after school got out in June we headed to Utah to visit family. We had such a fantastic time. Sometimes it's hard to juggle families and figure out who to see and when and how to fit it all in. But this time my family headed up to the cabin for a few days, so it was much easier to find a balance, and it was fantastic to hang out with my siblings and their kids for an extended amount of time.
This is one of my favorite places in the world. My grandparents built this cabin before I was born, and I was raised exploring that property. Now it's my parent's cabin and our kids are the ones running around filthy and happy.
That light, right there, coming through the aspens? (We call 'em "quakies.") You have no idea how beautiful it is. And in the fall it is breathtaking.
Maddie and Grandma made that "cabin bag" before we left. It was perfect for carrying around horny toads and rocks.
So this picture of Jordy is not actually from this trip, but it is priceless and perfectly captures the favorite past time of kids and adults alike at the cabin. Everyone brings a "candy bucket" and Grandpa gets to judge who has the best one. We combined candy buckets, and the end result was a beautiful thing.
Part of what was so amazing this time was seeing the entire transition to "next generation." When I was a kid it was me running all over exploring that mountain with my siblings and cousins, and then listening to my Grandma, aunts, and parents sing and play the guitar around the campfire at night. This time it was my kids and my siblings' kids exploring, with me and my siblings bumping into each other in the kitchen preparing meals and then Dad, Jodi, and Kolby playing guitar around the campfire. There's a Vampire Weekend song I love with a line that says, "Me and my cousins and you and your cousins, it's a line that's always running." I couldn't get it out of my head this weekend.
Here's the whole crew in our Lazy E shirts Grandma made for us, right before we started the Lazy E Summer Games.

Kalee's game was a crazy video/photo scavenger hunt that we played in teams. I think we need a video made with the photos.

(Three blonds screwing in a lightbulb.)

Kolby, wearing nothing but nature.

And as every family knows, it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt.

Apparently, Great Danes do not like water fights.

Every once in a while we need a trip to the ER in Price to add to the cabin lore. And at least Kolby and I were wearing matching shirts for that ER trip.

It was a fantastic weekend, and I'm already looking forward to doing it again next year!