'Tis the Season for Family Reunions

On to the next reunion! We spent 2 1/2 days at a reunion for my side of the family, but this time it involved my grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.

Day 1 (July 7th)

Dave and my brother, Scott, drove up to Hyrum Reservoir early in the morning. Us women and Doug drove up later. We ate lunch, played in the water, and rode in the ski boats. Taylor even rode behind a boat in one of those "water banana" thingys. I wish I had brought my camera on that ride.

My aunt Melva, sister Laurel, Grandma, and aunt Karen.


After the lake we drove a few miles to Paradise, Utah. We stayed at a "lodge" designed for family reunions. It had 8 rooms (all with their own bathroom) in the basement and the top floor was a large room with a kitchen attached. The aunts and uncles slept in the rooms and the rest of us were in tents out on the grass. As a child I loved camping...any kind. But now, this is my kind of camping. In a tent on grass and only feet away from air conditioning, a shower, electricity, and flushing toilets. Don't get me wrong, I am still willing to "rough it" in the dirt, but this was especially great while taking care of small children.
The view was gorgeous!

Day 2 (July 8th)

We mostly ate and played games. My uncle, Paul and his wife, Karen, prepared a "Survivor" challenge for all of us to play. We threw baseballs at terra cotta dishes, ate nasty baby food, put together puzzles, balanced a ball on poles, and played a fun water game. (I didn't take any pictures, but I am hoping to get some from my brother.) They put a lot of work into it and it was tons of fun! After dinner we watched "Over the Hedge" and stayed up talking until 2 AM.

Day 3 (July 9th)

This is always a sad morning...saying goodbye. It's usually a quick goodbye, if at all. People just seem to pack up and disappear. We always say that it ends too quickly. We just seem to get going and it's over. We pulled the kids out of bed, ate breakfast, packed up, said our goodbyes and drove home. It's all over. Sigh...until next year.

One last picture with the cousins from Oregon.

Derek loves his great-grandma (my dad's mom). When he saw her he said "I didn't know she was going to be here!" He looked at her like she was a celebrity. He thinks she is just the greatest. She always sends a card on his birthday and makes the neatest handmade Christmas gifts. She's a loving grandma to all!