Lake Tahoe August 2011

After leaving Clearlake we headed to North Lake Tahoe.  We have a family in our ward that has a cabin up there and we "bought" a week there during a ward auction (a fundraiser for the youth programs at our church).  It couldn't have been more awesome!  I grew up going camping in South Lake Tahoe almost every year, and although it was sad to not be around a camp fire every night, it was very nice to go home every day to a nice warm cabin with beds.  The cabin was also within walking distance of the lake and shopping, so everything was right there when we wanted/needed it.

Accommodations

Funny story about this next picture: Hunter would not walk on that air vent in the ground.  He would be running full speed and stop dead in his tracks to slowly walk around either side of it.  Ok, so it doesn't sound that funny, but it totally was, and it is a memory we don't want to forget.

Exploring North Tahoe
Because I grew up going to South Lake Tahoe, we weren't sure what there was around the cabin we were staying at, so the first day was just spent exploring the area.  We found a fun park and then just went hiking from there.  The kids loved finding "walking sticks" during each of our hikes and would carry them the entire way once they found the perfect one.

Sand Harbor Beach
This beautiful beach was on the east side of the lake.  I would definitely go there again if given the chance because it was so pretty.  Tahoe is not known for its warm water, but you can't beat the beauty surrounding it.

Indoor Smores
And what family trip is complete without smores?

Eagle Lake Falls and Eagle Lake
This hike is one that I grew up going on when I was a girl.  The falls are a short 3/4 mile hike, if that, but if you continue on the path you can hike another mile or so and come to the lake in the pictures.  Not many people continue on to the lake, so it was nice to have the peace and quiet once we go up there, enjoying the picnic lunch that we had brought.

Emerald Bay

Bike Ride Along Truckee River Bike Trail
Most beautiful bike trail ever!  It was a nice easy ride (even for me and that is saying alot!) and right along the river the entire time.  We rented bikes for a couple of hours and just went riding and stopped along the way to feed some ducks.  Definitely on the "to do" list next time we visit Tahoe.

Angora Lake
This is a fun little lake that you get to after about a 3/4 mile hike.  It is so pretty and peaceful.  There are little rocks to jump off of close to shore and then some bigger cliffs to jump off of for those who are more daring.  I wasn't feeling it this year, but the kids were able to convince Brett that he should jump off the 15 footer.  The kids favorite part of this day was feeding the squires.  Those things would come right up to you, even if you didn't have food.  If you left your bag open, they could literally climb inside to check things out.  But it definitely made for a fun time for the kids to watch them and feed them.

Glen Alpine Falls (Fallen Leaf Lake)

Magic Carpet Golf, Carnelian Bay
And to finish off the trip we hit the miniature miniature golf course.  The kids had been asking to go to that "cool looking" place all week, so we thought why not.  I think they had a blast and would do it again if we asked them.

Yosemite National Park

On the way home from Tahoe, we decided to take the "scenic route" and drive through Yosemite.  Our real desire was to go to see the Giant Sequoias, but the three hour drive through the park was a beautiful added bonus!  We are glad we went off the quickest path to see the beauty that this earth has to offer us.

As you can see, it was a very fun trip.  We did a lot without doing too much at all.  I know that was a lot of pictures, but I don't want to miss any memories from our trip.  It is times like these that I treasure in life.  Added bonus:  Brett accidentally threw his phone into the lake on the second day of our trip, so we were really able to get him away from work!  Oh, the tender mercies. . .

Clearlake Visit-August 2011

This past August we were able to go visit Clearlake, Ca, where we lived before moving back to Southern California.  We stayed in a hotel for two nights, and the kids thought that was the coolest thing ever, if only because the TV actually worked (we don't have cable here at home).  Our trip was short.  We arrived midday on Saturday, went to dinner with our good friends the Mavy's and a couple of young men from the ward, went swimming where the Mavy's work, and then attended church on Sunday morning before heading out.  Even though the trip was short, it was a blast and we are grateful that we went.  We don't see Ruth and Jason and the kids nearly enough, but whenever we get together it is like being with family:  you start up right where you left off!

Pioneer Trek

Brett and I had the awesome opportunity to go with the youth from our church (age 14-18) on a pioneer reenactment.  Before Trek there was a lot to do to prepare.  I was able to make a couple of skirts, an apron and a bonnet for myself and we found some clothes that Brett could wear at Goodwill.  For his shirts, we cut off the collars.  These are the websites that I used for patterns on the things I made:

http://howtodresslikeapioneer.blogspot.com/2010/01/bonnet-tutorial.html

http://romantichistoryclothing.blogspot.com/2009/12/little-house-on-prairie-sunbonnet.html

http://howtodresslikeapioneer.blogspot.com/2010/06/not-so-pioneer-skirt-tutorial.html
http://cambridgetrek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/How-To-Make-a-Pioneer-Apron.pdf

Beyond preparing our clothes, there was preparing spiritually for the Trek.  Neither Brett nor I have done much research on the pioneers, so we borrowed the book The Price We Paid by Andrew D. Olsen.  It is an incredible book that uses journal entries and historical facts to tell about the Willie and Martin Handcart pioneers.  The faith and courage they had to go through what they went through is amazing!  Brett loves using the word "conviction" when he talks about the pioneers.

On Wednesday night we met at the church to meet our "families".  We were assigned 8 "kids" to be in our family and we couldn't have asked for more awesome kids.  That night we just met as a family, got to know each other and had a little devotional.  Thursday morning we met up at the church again to drive an hour and a half north east to Riley Farms where we would be pulling our handcarts.

The "Bruschke" Family
Back Row: Colin O'Brien, Brett, Rachel, Andy Mortensen, Scott Beatie, Sam Applebee
Front Row: Trevor Edmund, Kenzie Forsgren, Jacob Clarke, Kaitlyn Frandsen, Maddie Roush

Riley Farms takes care of everything while you are there.  They provided the handcarts, food and even had many little skits throughout the weekend of historical event that took place in the life of our pioneer ancestors.

During the Trek they took the men away to the "Mormon Battalion" and the girls got to do what they called the "Women's Pull".  It was up a pretty gnarly hill, so two+ families of girls worked together to get the carts up.

Maddie in the back left, Kaitlyn, two in front of her, and Kenzie in front of her.  My mom is in the middle and Sam is right in front of her.  I am in the front right.

My mom (in the background) and Me

They also had us do a river crossing reenactment.  I can't imagine doing this in ice cold water in the middle of winter.

 But most memorable of all was "Testimony Hill".  I thought the hill of the women's pull was gnarly, but Testimony hill put it to shame.

This picture doesn't even begin to do justice to how steep and crazy long it was.  There were two sections to it, broken up so that you did 1/3 and then the last 2/3s.  I thought that I was in pretty good shape, but man were my legs tired by the end of that climb.

 Sam, Kaitlyn and Kenzie

Colin on the left a little behind the bush, Scott followed by Jacob on the right.

 Brett and my brother Michael

This picture shows the pure exhaustion that was felt during "testimony hill"

Yes, I felt it too!

I have a greater appreciation now than I ever have before for all that our ancestors went through.  They did it all for the gospel and to be with fellow saints.  I wish that everyone could experience, even for just a couple of days like we did, what they pioneers went through and the faith they had to endure such things.

 All the youth and leaders that were there, about 250 people (26 handcarts)

Master Bedroom/Bed Redo

Here is a before picture of the headboard:

And a before picture of the bedroom:

And an after picture of the bed:

And the bedroom:

I am so loving our "new" room.  I feel so grown up having a bed frame and a dresser in my room.  Not sure why that makes me a "grown-up" since my kids all have these things, but Brett and I have never had them and we always said one day we would.  Thank goodness for craigslist.com we were able to do it without digging into our not-so-deep pockets.  Maybe one of these days we will hang things on the walls, but for now, we are enjoying things just the way they are.