Saturday, July 26, 2014

Family Reunion 2014

For this year's M. family reunion we met at Red Canyon. Some of us brought campers while others stayed in cabins close to the campsite. It was really comfortable and nice.
 
Day One: Everyone arrived Sunday afternoon. The cousins enjoyed being together, we played a few games, planned our activities, and stayed up late talking and being together.
 
Day Two: After breakfast, we headed out on the lake. We found a beach for the kids to play on while some of us were out on the boat. It was a full day of swimming, playing in the sand, and spending time on the water.
 


 Porter's first time tubing! He loved it! Brooke also tubed with some cousins, but she was on a different boat so we didn't get any pictures.


 Osprey nest:

 Cousin S. is one of the older cousins but is so great to play with the younger ones. He built a mud "hot tub" for Brooke and cousin J.

 
 Brooke and cousin J. out in the water.

 Hanging out on the beach with Aunt Steph
 Porter and Honey (aka: grandma)
 Some of the cousins relaxing on top of Pinch's big white boat.
 Cousin K. and Brooke making plans

 Porter and J.
 Brooke was such a good swimmer! We are so proud of her abilities.

 Brooke gets a pep talk from Dad and Uncle Zac before she attempts to water ski. It was mildly disastrous (we weren't quite ready when the boat took off and the boat kind of jerked her and it scared her--making this her only attempt--probably for the rest of the year.) But everyone still clapped and cheered and she felt good afterwards. We made sure to tell Brooke how great she did and hopefully we have a better experience next time she tries.

 Porter had at least 5 little mommies who doted on him the entire trip. Once he fell off the picnic table and before I could even walk over, several girl cousins flocked to him to pick him up and make sure he was okay. Porter with one of his caretakers, cousin A.

 Honey always brings craft supplies to all of our reunions and Brooke was in heaven. We could hardly tear her away.

 Porter and cousin J and Pinch (aka grandpa)
 Day Three: We rented rafts and did a float trip down the river. I knew from the beginning that I wasn't going to be rafting through any rapids. At first I was going to keep Porter with me too, but Blake assured me he'd be fine in the raft so he ended up going down with the rest of the cousins.


 Four hours later, I met the rafts as they came in. Everyone had a great time and Porter even fell asleep for the last 45 minutes of the trip.


 One of Brooke's arts and crafts: a homemade bow
 We love our cousins! (about half of them weren't around for this picture)

Day Four: We woke up and hand a great breakfast at the lodge and everyone said their goodbyes. We had a great time and always look forward to the next time we can all get together.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Lakin' It

This boy and his trucks...

 And his cupcakes...
 And eating some fresh spinach from our garden
 Brooke has been begging since the beginning of summer to go to the beach at the lake. I don't dare take the kids by myself, so on one of Blake's recent days off we packed a picnic and off we went.




 Blake and the kids gave each other mud baths
 And just to prove that I was actually there too...


Sunday, July 13, 2014

July Happenings

It's hard to believe that July is half over. We've spent our days trying to survive the heat and getting ready for holidays and family reunions. I usually treat myself to a dirty diet coke almost everyday. I figure that's my reward for making it through another day at home :) Sonic makes the best one, but I don't always get down there. Making them at home is just as good and I'm pretty sure I'll never be able to drink just a regular diet coke again.
 Porter loved the 4th of July parade this year. He was transfixed with all the trucks and loved the sirens.

 Fireworks were more iffy for both the kids. They didn't mind them if they were further away, but some people were shooting ariel ones off in the field behind where were were sitting and they were going off right above us. They were super loud and Brooke was petrified of the ash falling on us. Blake had just finished giving Brooke a lecture on how they couldn't hurt us when a big piece from the body of the firework landed right in Blake's lap!


 Moving on after the 4th, I found this classified in the paper one day.
 Pretty much every afternoon the kids get wet. This little set up has kept them both very entertained this summer.






Happy Summer!