Family Reunion 2010

Every two years we try and get my whole family together for a little trip.  This was round 3.  Unfortunately we didn’t totally succeed in getting everyone here, my oldest brother Braden and his family couldn’t swing it this time, and we really missed them.  The rest of us were there though and it was good times.   For starters we went to one of my all time very favorite places in the world.  It’s beautiful, it’s cool, there’s water and sand and a huge lawn.  I know it doesn’t sound like much, but I promise it’s everything. 

enjoying the lawn

These two are never seen apart.  They are the cutest busiest little pair.

We left Saturday morning and arrived early that afternoon.  We went straight to the beach.  Joshy was loving the sand - both playing in it as well as shoving chubby little fistfuls of it into his mouth. 

It was wonderful.  After getting our fill of the beach (literally for some) we headed back to our condos where Josh and Liza served up a delicious dinner.   After dinner we drove to a nearby town for a rodeo.  This was a major highlight for us.  Brennan and I just love these random, small town affairs.  They even let all the kids try their hand at getting a ribbon off a calf’s tail, along with about 100 other kids.  Things like that just don’t happen in bigger cities.  It was fabulous!  Another highlight of the rodeo was the Mutton Bustin’ event, which consisted of watching 5 through I think 10 year olds come out of the gate riding a big old lamb and holding on for dear life.  Amazing.

This is the calf chasing event which our kids are in.  They let a calf out with a ribbon tied to his tail and these kids all go for it.  That calf was amazingly agile and fast, kids were diving all over the place, but one finally prevailed.

Some of our group caught a ride back to our cars.  It wasn’t raining, my camera got a little dusty.

Once we got the kids to sleep the adults gathered for some chatting and laughing.  Good times.

Sunday morning we got up and off to church.   After that we changed, ate lunch and loaded up for a drive up to another lake we could walk around.  It was a long and bumpy ride but totally worth it, it was stunningly beautiful.

and before long, this started happening:

The water was freezing, but oh so inviting.  So clear you could see everything.

Joshy getting a taste of the local flavor :)

It was a great way to spend our Sunday afternoon.  We came home to a yummy dinner by Ryan and Macy followed by our traditional talent show.   We had everything from a Neil Diamond impersonation (guess who) to some impressive grape catching in the mouth.  Great stuff.

Monday morning Rebecca whipped up a major breakfast and we headed out to the beach.  We rented some jet skis and had a blast.  Davis and Melissa fed us a great lunch and then had to leave to get back to New York.  The wind kicked up and a storm rolled in and forced us out a little early.  We scrambled back to our condos with all our stuff and the storm rolled right over and we had a beautiful evening.  Mom and Dad served dinner and we played some “Minute to Win It” games.  Brennan and my parents stayed behind with sleeping kids while the rest of us went for shakes. 

Tuesday we packed up and drove to the city my parents’ were married in on our way home.  They celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary the weekend before so we decided we’d stop at the Temple they were married and surprise them with a photo book.  We compiled some highlight pictures throughout the last 40 years along with a letter from each of us.  They were completely surprised.

We parted from there and went our separate ways very tired and very happy.  The kids could not be cuter little cousin buddies who are fortunate to have some of the worlds’ greatest uncles, aunts and grandparents.  We feel extremely blessed to so thoroughly enjoy our family.