Lake Arrowhead and Madi's birthday celebration

Back in March, our ward had a dinner/auction fundraiser to raise money for girls camp and scout camp. One of the auction items Spencer bid on was a 3 night get-a-way up at our Bishop's Lake house at Lake Arrowhead. Spencer ended up being the top bidder! We knew we wanted to go this summer, but weren't sure when. Then as we were contemplating where to go for Madi's birthday weekend, this seemed like the perfect idea! The kids had no idea where we were taking them and we had fun keeping it a secret.

We left early Thursday morning, June 26th. After driving an hour 45 min. south we started winding up a huge mountain. It was fun to hear the kids guessing as to where they thought we might be going. A couple months back the girls had been begging to go to the snow. so we had them convinced we were headed to snow country! They were both relieved when it ended up not being snow though!

On the drive up - I had to snap a picture of our birthday girl wearing one of her creations! I love how she made her own birthday hat and insisted on wearing it the entire drive!

What an incredible weekend we had! The first highlight was just exploring our Bishop's cabin - the game room, foosball, air hockey, karyoke, bedrooms with 2 sets of bunk beds, huge decks on every level, secret hiding places, tetherball, and horse shoes just to name a few!!

They couldn't sit still long enough for me to take a non-blurry picture. They were WAY too excited!

The views were incredible!

We had some friends join us for our first night. We hiked part way around the lake, then Amy made an incredible dinner for us. Friday morning we got up early to play on the lake. We paddle boarded, kayaked, swam, and just enjoyed relaxing in the glorious sunshine and beautiful surroundings!

Our friends left by noon, giving us the rest of the afternoon and evening on Friday to ourselves.

It was nice to have some quiet family time. We drove into town for dinner.

Then back to the cabin to enjoy a beautiful evening!

Talk about living the life! Those chairs were super comfy - the perfect place to curl up with a good book and fall asleep (usually how it works with me)! Cal was contemplating sleeping outside for the night!

Saturday was Madi's birthday!!! Spencer and I spent Friday night decorating and getting everything ready for the big day!

For Madi's birthday breakfast she got pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream! 

And of course I had her blow out a candle and make a wish!

Leftover pancakes with strawberries for everyone else!

Then Madi opened a couple presents . . .

A necklace from Elle and Cal:

Madi got a bunch of cool stuff from her piano teacher (sweetest lady ever) who had given Madi a present after her lesson on Tuesday but Madi chose to wait until her birthday to open.

Gram and Papa had sent a card which Madi opened up while they listened on speaker phone:

Madi could not believe how much money was inside - more than she's ever had in her entire life! She counted it over and over again. She's going to bring her money to Utah and go shopping with Gram and Papa when we see them next week!

 

I love that the card was just as important to her as the money! My parents are always sweet and write long thoughtful messages!

Madi was so touched by all her gifts that she immediately grabbed the first thing closest to paper that she could find (a paper towel), and started writing thank you's. I was very impressed with Madi's desire to thank everyone. And actually, the day after we got home, Madi wrote long, thoughtful thank you's all on her own and mailed them out that day!

Saturday morning around 10am Madi got some surprise visitors! Grandpa Al, Boppi, Uncle Shaun, Eric, and Tyler came up to join us for the night and help celebrate Madi's birthday! After giving them a quick tour, we packed up lunches and headed down to the lake!

I was looking forward to trying out the little white kayak! But then Cal kept trying to grab the paddle from me while singing, "Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream . . . "

Eric on the paddle board, with Boppi and Grandpa Al coming up behind Calvin and I on the kayak:

Calvin ended up not napping up at the house, so I brought him back down to the lake where he promptly feel asleep in Boppi's arms:

Madi got brave and tried out the paddle board!

Spencer and I headed up early afternoon to get Madi's birthday dinner and cake going. While everyone else got an another hour or two to play and relax!

Madi requested lasagna for her birthday dinner which we served with salad, watermelon, and french bread.

After dinner we sent Madi downstairs while we brought out her present that Shaun had driven up for us:

A "big kid" bike - Madi was excited to try it out! She's growing up way too fast!

Then Madi opened presents from Boppi & Grandpa Al and her cousins . . .

After presents it was time for the birthday cake reveal!! Birthday cakes have always been a big deal for our kids and Spencer and I always try to make whatever they ask for or whatever it is they are interested in. Madi requested a lamb cake - so lamb cake she got! Thank goodness for my creative, cake decorating husband! I couldn't do birthdays without him!

It was a happy birthday for this sweet little 7 year old! She chose to soak in a bubble bath to wrap up a perfect day!

Sunday morning Grandpa Al got up and cooked up waffles, bacon, and eggs before we headed out on a hike. 

Unfortunately, the hike ended up being a bust for my crew. It was a pretty warm morning and the only thing our kids seemed to know how to do was complain. Madi insisted she had a stomach ache, had to go the bathroom, and looked like she was going to pass out from heat exhaustion. Once Madi and Spencer left, Elle wanted to head back too, but Calvin wanted to keep going. I was torn between two crying kids and thought it best for us not to slow the rest of the gang down. So everyone else went on ahead while I tried to get Elle and Calvin back to the cabin. Calvin cried/ threw tantrums the entire way home while Elle complained every step of the way. I tried my best to stay calm, but lost it somewhere on those 200 steps back up to the cabin. While carrying fit throwing Calvin over my shoulder I hauled up those stairs, completely ticked off, while Elle, with a tear streaked face tried her hardest to keep up. We all went into time out to cool off and calm down when we got home. Thankfully I've got a semi happy picture (and our only family picture the entire trip) from the beginning of the hike to remember that we all started out happy!

After naps and quiet time we all made it to the 2:30pm sacrament meeting at the local ward there in town. Then we headed back to clean up, pack up, and head for home. Our Lake Arrowhead trip will be remembered with fondness. We're so grateful to our Bishop and Sister Parry for trusting up with their gorgeous lake house!  Bishop says we can use it whenever we want, so hopefully there will be another trip or two up to Lake Arrowhead in the future! Our girls were great about writing thank you's as soon as they got home - had to document them: