To say we had a wonderful time at Lake Tahoe would be a complete understatement...we had a spectacular, fabulous, enjoyable, memorable, meaningful time at Lake Tahoe and are so glad we did everything we needed to make it there! With the Monsen-Whitehouse family spread out across five different states we just don't get to see each other enough and these five days together in the same house was just what we needed.
The drive there went very smoothly considering we are a little rusty at the ol' road tripping game and had a one month old. Our expectations were low, therefore we exceeded them when we got on the road 30 minutes ahead of schedule and only had to stop a handful of times during the 8 hour drive. There was a bit of this going on with Mae-
My arm was falling asleep from holding her hand, but it calmed her down so it was worth the sacrifice.
And a pit stop with the Egans is always fun! We were sad they weren't scheduled for lunch at that same time, but some races with Wells and Utah Jazz talk with Uncle Merit tide us over until we made it to Tahoe.
After 8ish hours we made it to our gorgeous cabin and soaked up being together with cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles that we hadn't been with for several months...some of them over a year!
~Meeting Clara for the first time~
It was pretty special to have these two sweet, brand new babes at the cabin together for everyone to oogle and oggle over! It was the perfect way for Mae to meet the amazing family she is now a part of.
When everyone was finally there we had a BLAST catching up with each other and playing some games. The highlight of the knight was KBB-
Brian is "King" in this picture and everyone else is trying to move up the ranks by blowing the ping pong ball away from their edge of the table...it was freaking hilarious. If you ever need a good laugh with a group of people, play this game!
The next day we got up, packed lunches and went straight to
Nevada Beach for a day on the water. It took a while to get all 29 of us there, but once we got there we had an awesome set up and had a fabulous day!
The inflatable paddle boards were the biggest success! We all had such a fun time trying them and Thad was a pro by the end of the trip. We are so grateful for awesome grandparents that think of awesome things...
And cuddle our sweet babies so we could have some hands free time!
To say this girl is a beach bum (or babe? or both?), is an understatement. She loves everything that comes along with beach life, including submerging herself into the sand whenever she could!
These guys aren't too far behind in the their love of the beach and the submerging of their bodies into the warm sand.
And this perfect little baby girl just did lots and lots of sleeping while the lake side breeze blew across her face for hours. She is absolute perfection.
What an incredible day on the beach we had with some of our most favorite people! Other than all the adults' feet being raw from the large grain sand, the day was pretty much perfection.
The evening was spent enjoying each other and the beautiful mountains and forest that surrounded us-
After a fun breakfast together the next morning-
We skipped the sand and went for a hike, er, stroll on the Tahoe Keys trail-
We were supposed to go on a more popular hike, but we got a late start and hit some traffic and luckily we have the coolest family in the world that just goes with the flow and makes the best of me and Brian over thinking stuff.
That evening we went to a beautiful park before getting some delicious ice cream that had been recommended by some friends-
We couldn't skip a whole day without getting in the water, so even though it was getting pretty chilly we found a beach close to our cabin and enjoyed an hour or so of the evening there-
Sitting out on the deck each evening with these two faces was a special treat-
The next day was another beach day and we drove about 20 minutes to get to
Sand Harbor beach this time and we are so glad we did! The sand was much softer, we were closer to the water and just overall liked our set up much more.
In the evening the waves really picked up and the kids were able to body surf and "surf" on the paddle boards with the help of dads and uncles. It almost felt like we were at the ocean!
That night Uncle Merit was so awesome to play NBA 2K19 with Thad-
I am so grateful for awesome people like Merit that make my kids feel valued and I love that Thad and Merit have a special connection over the Utah Jazz and basketball in general, it makes me so happy!
And Mae got some cuddle time with Aunt Kelli that she had been missing since Kelli left Ohio a few weeks earlier-
The next morning Grandma Teresa, Grandpa Russ, Thad and Trevor went straight back to Sand Hollow bright and early and snagged us another perfect spot on the beach.
Thad became a pro on the paddle board and had so much fun being the only one on the smooth water that morning.
The rest of us trickled in throughout the morning and had another spectacular day on the beach!
What a gorgeous, perfect day we had with our awesome family!
That night we all went back and got the perfect family photo in our matching shirts that Aunt Kelsie designed. She is so talented and we are so glad Grandma and Grandpa did something so special for us to remember this trip!
And before we knew it, the last night of our trip had come and none of us wanted it to end! I love that time with this family never gets old.
These three cuties gave the biggest goodbye group hug-
(and Eve made sure her sucker didn't get in Casen's hair)
And these two cuties got to have lunch together on the drive home and were just the cutest-
What an amazing trip we had with an amazing family! It sure fills up our cups when we are able to spend uninterrupted time with each other and how fun it is for our kids to get to know each other while living miles apart.
Thank you for everything, Grandma Teresa and Grandpa Russ!
