Cabin at Panguitch Lake

My Grandma, sisters, some of my nieces (Janae, Katie, Lyla), and one of my nephews (Tyler) took a trip to the family cabin up at Panguitch Lake in Utah. My Grandmother owns the cabin and it is a favorite spot for many of my family members. Growing up, we used to spend time there every summer. It has become a place of many memories and is one I still love to go to. We wish it was a little bit closer to us. 

On the drive down, I had Grandma and Sarah in my car, along with Ellen and Summer. Not too far outside of Beaver, Summer and Ellen both began to have breakdowns from being in the car. Summer was becoming unreasonable and kept crying and often yelling "I stuckit." Translation: I'm stuck. I was driving and trying to help Sarah translate and know what to do. During all this noise, Grandma carefully pretended none of it was happening and continued to tell me her stories. I proceeded to ignore most of her stories (good thing I've heard them all before) while I was trying to drive and referee in the back. Just minutes before out stop in Beaver, Summer had just about had it and yelled at Sarah: "I stuck it. No one loves you!" I'm not sure if she meant "No one loves me" or actually did mean "no one loves you," but it was totally out of the blue and funny. I'm not sure where she came up with it, but don't worry Sarah, we all love you, even if Summer claims otherwise. And to think I briefly thought about driving all the way to New York. 

At the cabin we did all the normal cabin things: played some games, did some puzzles, walked around "the block," had s'mores every night, read, took naps, stayed up late, attempted to fish, and did crafts. 

Katie, Summer, & Lyla Painting

Sarah being an awesome Aunt. 

We also went on a hike one evening, which reminded me why we don't go on hikes very often with our small children. Once again, Summer was tired and was starting to freak out about going on our hike with Sarah. Sorry, Sarah. I promise, she really does love you. You just happen to be the best scapegoat on our trip. :) Anyway, Summer didn't seem to be able to pick up her feet and tripped on just about every other step. You think I am exaggerating? I promise I'm not. Anyway, we were in the middle of trading holding my hand to holding Melissa's hand and in the half second it took to transfer hands, she tripped, fell, and got a scraped bloody knee. She then didn't want to walk after that. Also, it was chilly and she wouldn't wear her coat. We never made it to our destination and Melissa, Katie, and I turned back early with Summer and Ellen since Summer was a wreak. I had to carry her almost the entire way back and she wouldn't let anyone else carry her. Ellen, on the other hand, loved every minute of it. When we made it back to the cars, Melissa asked Summer if she had fun. Summer claimed she did. I didn't believe her. 

On our hike. This was as far as we made it. 

We also took a few trips to get ice cream. The first day we kept talking about going to go get ice cream and Grandma kept asking if we were going to go. We decided to wait to go until Summer woke from her nap. About 15 minutes before she got up, Grandma asked if we wanted to go. As soon as Summer was up and we were ready to go, we told Grandma and she declared that she was going to stay up and that we should have fun. We couldn't decide if she was trying to get rid of us or if she just forgot-Grandma rarely passes up an ice cream run. Now the next day was rainy almost all day and we needed an outing, so we decided to go get ice cream. This time Grandma came with us, got her self a Coke and the rest of us got ice cream. Just minutes after finishing the ice cream, she wandered over to us and said "Do you want some ice cream? Lets get some ice cream." She bought herself and ice cream cone and then we let her buy us some french fries to share. Summer decided Grandma's ice cream looked delicious, so Grandma gave it to her, and then went and bought herself some more. Move to day number three when we are one our way home, and we stop to buy some lunch. Grandma once again insisted on buying us all ice cream. No one complained too much. Apparently, she also tried to buy everyone ice cream at the next stop an hour later, but I did not witness that invite. In summary, we went to ice cream three times in three days, and Grandma would have taken us more if we had let her. 

Getting ice cream at the store. Round one, day two. 

Getting ice cream: round two, day two. 

Overall, we had a great time. Summer was nicknamed "The Dictator," which was very appropriate since she felt everything needed to be done exactly how she wanted it done. If she wasn't having fun, no one should have any fun. Grandma also spent as much time holding Ellen as possible. She was at about the worst age possible for the cabin-crawling and eating everything on the floor. She survived and probably now has a better immune system because of it. Anyway, I love spending time with my sisters and we love being with my Grandma at the cabin!

Summer discovered the "need" for a hiking stick.

Summer's reunion shirt is now her paint shirt. She spent a very long time by herself painting her wooden heart over and over. It took a long time to dry...

Ellen & Scooter. They were good friends when Scooter wasn't whacking her with his tail.

Eating S'mores.

Oh, we also saw a couple of Bald Eagles. Pretty cool, huh? We watched this one fly around for quite a while, saw him scoop a fish out of the lake, and the dropped it. We then saw him join another one in a tree further off.