Summer Vacation - Part 3

We filled our summer vacation with some of my favorite things - road trips.  After living on an island geographically smaller than the city of Bountiful, Utah for the past year, we were excited to get in a car and drive and experience wide, open spaces again.  Plus, we wanted to visit as many extended family members as possible.  Two of our road trips this summer took us to Bear Lake and Las Vegas.

Bear Lake

For the past 13 years, the Farrell family spends a few days each summer at Bear Lake.  What started as a fun get-away for a family of 9 (Mom, Dad, me, Stacy, JD, baby Josh, Becky, Bobby, and Tyler) has turned into a large family (the Farrell clan numbers 23 with 2 more on the way) summer tradition that everyone looks forward to each year.

Since my family missed going to Bear Lake last summer we were especially excited to go this year.  The entire Farrell family group wasn't able to come (we missed Bobby and Amy, Tyler and Marisa, most of the Leuluai family, and Kyle) but we still had some good times.

We spent 2 days at the beach hanging out and enjoying the sun,

 playing in the water, jet skiing, paddle boating,

"conquering the lake",

building sand castles, digging holes,

 and making other fun sand creations,

like the man-eating crocodile and a BYU tribute - Go Cougars!

We rode 4-wheelers,

a favorite activity for all the kids,

especially for Cade, who learned to drive them this year.

We also played games, swung on the tire swing,

watched movies, and ate Bear Lake's famous raspberry shakes. 

Another great summer trip to Bear Lake!

Las Vegas

We also drove to Las Vegas to spend a few days with the Leuluai family and see their new house.  Having lived in Vegas, we knew the middle of summer could be scorchingly hot but we went anyways.  While we were there, the temperature reached 115 F  and I was reminded how glad I am that we don't live there anymore!

Despite the heat, we had a wonderful visit.  The kids had a blast running around the new house, playing in an inflatable pool outside, teasing the dog, playing at a water park, going to a movie,

and just being together.  

Because they played hard, they slept well!

One thing that I missed the most while living in Macau was Mexican food.  So, being in Vegas I had to make sure we got some real, authentic Mexican food from our favorite restaurant, Lindo Michoacan.

Visiting my sister and her family was lots of fun.  We love them and miss them so much.

Road trips are great but even more fun is being with cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas.  Families are the best!