The boys' birthday and Deep Creek Lake

We were invited to spend the weekend in a house near Deep Creek Lake in Maryland with 3 other families. It was about a 3 hour drive and was so worth it. We drove up on Friday on the boys' birthday (Can you believe they are already 7!? Where has the time gone?). They were only allowed to open one present before we left (the present from Aunt Angie and Uncle Billy since I knew it would be good for the car ride). They got them Boogie Boards (not to be confused with the kind you use in the water) which are LCD screens that you can write on with a stylus and erase, similar to a Magnadoodle. They love them.

We were the first family to get to the house but the Gibbons showed up about 15 minutes after us. After exploring the house and letting the kids play for awhile, we took our family to the lake to swim. It was a bit cooler and while the water wasn't too cold, it was freezing as soon as you got out. It was breezy too which didn't help. We swam for about an hour and then headed home. I was in charge of dinner on Friday and made a big pot of spaghetti and some garlic bread. After dinner we had cake and ice cream and sang happy birthday to the boys. Then they finally got to open all their presents - all things Legos and Star Wars. The poor boys had to wait the whole weekend before the could play with their Legos at home.

The 3 other men carpooled together after work and finally arrived Friday night around the kids' bedtime. They finished off the spaghetti and then the grown-ups played. We stayed up chatting and playing some games, including Word on the Street and Reverse Charades. As much as I hate playing charades it was rather fun acting things out as a team with all the other ladies in the group.

On Saturday we all got up and had an amazing breakfast of French toast, with homemade syrups, fruit, and sausage. We then went on a beautiful hike to Swallow Falls. After the hike we headed home for lunch. It was naptime at this point so us ladies went out to an Amish bakery. We all laughed when the sweet Amish girl at the cash register asked us if we all had different husbands. I honestly think she thought we might be polygamists and we were all sister wives.

When we got back we all headed out to the beach for some swimming and paddle boarding. We rented 2 paddle boards and shared them between the 4 families over a couple of hours. Aaron was a natural of course. I really didn't want to do it and then finally got up the nerve to give it a try. I never did fall down and I could see it being enjoyable once you get the hang of it. It was a little freaky at first. It's weird feeling like you are standing on water and almost gave me the same feeling as being afraid of heights.

Once back at the house we had yummy tacos for dinner and roasted smores in the fire pit. The kids all had so much fun playing together. Between all 4 families there was a total of 12 kids in the house! After getting them all in bed the adults stayed up again chatting and playing Scattergories. It was such a fun weekend.

We think it's hilarious that it looks like Noah is eating Eli's marshmallow. Perfect timing!

Sadly we ended the weekend on a bad note. Aaron came down with a stomach virus as well as a couple of the other kids from the group. They must have caught something swimming in the lake. We got home in time for church. Aaron stayed home and the kids and I just went to Sacrament meeting. I was so tired from several late nights and 3 straight mornings of early wake ups. The kids were so excited they were getting up 2 hours earlier than normal.

Monday we woke up after some insane family drama the night before. We were so distracted by everything that I didn't realize it was our anniversary until I noticed the reminder on Facebook around 10 or 11 in the morning. I called Aaron and we both just laughed. Happy 9 years to us! We celebrated by taking the kids with us out to Bob Evans for dinner (the kids had coupons in their Library coupon books from the summer reading program). I then proceeded to lie down with Sarah and fall asleep for the night at 9:30. We are so romantic! We'll make sure not to forgot our 10 year anniversary next year!