Girls Only

Last Christmas my mom, three sisters, and I began conspiring a way to go on a vacation together sans children or husbands. After many persuasive talks with husbands and massive amounts of emails to each other trying to coordinate dates, we finally decided to meet up in Bear Lake, Utah. This was the view from the back deck of our condo:

We had so much fun in Bear Lake doing all the touristy things. The second night we were there, we went to a western cookout and then watched Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Pickleville Playhouse. The food was actually pretty bad, but we really enjoyed the play.The next day we decided to get up early and go swim laps in the condo's pool. Then, we went to the beach where we did absolutely no swimming because that water was freezing. Instead, we contented ourselves with laying out, chatting, and getting sunburned.
Later that evening, we thought we would go for an hour-long bike ride around Bear Lake (we were really doing the touristy, cheesey thing up right). We rented a surrey that 4 people pedaled. We thought it would be this easy, casual ride, but let me tell you, that thing was a workout! There were a few times when I thought we wouldn't make it up a hill. Look at my little sis front left, 8 months pregnant and pedaling away like a champ!
We had so much fun at Bear Lake just talking and laughing. Oh, and did I mention the talking? You can just imagine when five girls get together.

The last night we spent at my sister's beautiful home in Preston, Idaho. And this was the view from her back deck:
I was a little obsessed with taking pictures of the view. As much as I love my Texas, we just don't get those kind of views. I arrived home yesterday to the cloying humidity and 100 degree weather, but most importantly, to the waiting arms of my husband and child. I had never been away from Ellie for more than a night before and I really missed the little monster. She insisted on holding my hand the whole way home, almost breaking my arm off as I stretched it from the front seat to the back. And as a bonus welcome home gift, Ellie woke up at 5:30 this morning (that's 4:30 Utah time). It's good to be home.