Family Fun!

We just got back from a weekend of family fun with my Mom's side of the family. These people are good times. I'm particularly proud of myself because I packed and loaded up my four kids and spent the first night there without Brennan. I realize that's small potatoes for a lot of you readers, but it was kind of a big deal for me. Anyway, it all started with a delicious dinner at the park followed by some intense volleyball til dark.

Molly June

Abby and Lucy
Nate and Rex
Ben
Kids lined up for some fun kids' games

Molly, Anna and Lucy

Then it was off to the hotel where the real fun started -- getting tired-out-of-their-heads-but-super-hyper-kids to go to sleep while trying to keep them from totally melting down and disturbing other hotel guests. Fortunately, I had pretty good odds as Anna and Abby slept in my parents' room (thank you, Mom and Dad!!), but the boys proved themselves formidable foes. Around 11:00, victory, and a really cute scene. Both my boys have had a thing with hair. When they're tired or sad, they play with their own hair or even better, somebody elses.

Day 2 park

The next morning I took the kids for a morning swim in the hotel pool and then headed for another park for the days' activities. We played some serious kickball, softball, and water games. The highlight of our day was the return of our long lost Brennan who had spent an exciting few days with some young men from our ward. After wearing ourselves out at the park we had a fabulous dinner and then reconvened at the hotel for a lip sync. We crammed roughly 60 bodies in the conference room and rocked the house. Unbelievably fun. We had assigned each family to come up with one song. Every number was so cute and/of funny, but there were a couple of highlights. First off, my own dear sister, Eliza and her husband, Josh, were hilarious with my parents as air-guitarist and drummer. They performed the song, "Pop, Goes My Heart" from Music and Lyrics. Hilarious. Josh was less than enthusiastic about the whole thing, but once he got on our make-shift stage he let all his inhibitions go and let his 80's popstar totally out.

You've got to see that outfit in person to fully appreciate it.


My family doing "Please, Mr. Postman"
My Mom, her sister Sharon, and her sister Janis
My aunt Sharon and her 5 girls, my cousins

One of my cousin's daughters (Haley) stole the show with her song "Popular" from Wicked. Honestly, this girl was born to perform and nailed that performance. We were dying that an 8 year old could have that much charisma and showmanship. Amazing.

The other favorite was my cousin and her very large, studly, baseball player husband (Sara and Zach) singing "Breakin' Free" from High School Musical. I could not stop laughing, they totally mimicked the choreography and facial expressions and everything from the movie, but to see this big manly guy channeling Zac Efron was too much. So funny.

The best part was that 60 people, a large percentage of that young young kids, were totally enthralled for the entire duration of our show. Good times.

We finished off the night with another swim and then more bedtime battles. We checked out this morning and Brennan took the kids home except for Anna who got to go shopping with me with some of her birthday money. We're tired, but it was such a great time. Big shout out to Mom and Dad for planning and working so hard to make it such a success.