Reunion Time

The first weekend in August we had a fun family reunion with my dad's side of the family. We do these reunions every two years, and this is the ninth one! Kind of hard to believe, but the family has sure grown and changed in that time. It is wonderful for my grandparents to get all of their posterity together. This year my parents were in charge, so I tried to help out with as much as I could. (Like the T-shirt designs, food, activities, etc.) It was a fun three days.
The first day we went up Big Cottonwood Canyon and enjoyed some delicious dutch oven dinners and campfire memories. The kids loved running around climbing on rocks and chasing "pot guts" or ground squirrels.
Dutch ovens take a while to cook, so in the meantime, Cole and Elijah (my brother Jed's son,) chowed down on the snacks we brought. Yeah...Cole didn't eat any dinner. He had a nice balanced diet of Cheetos, Twizzlers, and then topped off later with a couple of S'mores. Here are my mom and dad with all the delectable dishes we made. Everything turned out well (we had done a trial run dinner a couple weeks beforehand to try out the recipes!) I think there weren't too many leftovers even though we fed a crowd of 50 or so!
And my fabulous pastry-chef sister Annie made some rockin' dutch oven strawberry peach crisp and chocolate-cherry cobbler. (Mind you, no cake mix used, she is authentic! Yum!)
We all enjoyed chatting and catching up with each other.
Yes, I was there :)
The kids loved roasting marshmallows. Here my brother Nelson teaches Lexie the fine art of mallow roasting.
And Gavin thought it was lots of fun too.
The next day of the reunion we had a fun-filled boating day at Jordanelle Reservoir. There were 3 boats, some jet skis, and lots of fun on the beach, too. The toddlers loved the sand, so did Uncle Nate (Annie's husband.)
Our awesome friend Jared lent us his boat for the day. We had a wonderful time cruising around in it. Gavin thought it was the coolest thing ever that Dad let him drive!
At one point all the babies on board fell asleep. Here's my mom holding Chloe, Annie holding Ella, and me holding Cole.
There were tons of fun things to do, but since the water was a bit choppy, the tube ended up being our favorite toy for the day. Danny spent lots of time trying to launch either Jed, Joyce, or Nelson off!
And my mom wanted to make sure she did NOT get launched, so Annie and Nate decided to ham it up out there!
Here is Annie's cute family: Annie, Ella, and Nate. So cute to have these little bitty babies in life jackets!
Elijah was even brave enough to go out on the tube! Lexie had fun riding along a few times, too. Gavin was not sure he liked the tube, maybe next year!
After the lake activities, we had dinner at my grandparents' house and had an impromptu talent show hosted my my little cousin Heather. Here's my mom with her two baby girl grandbabies.
And here's my brother Jed's talent: a cartwheel! Go, Jed!The last day of the reunion we had a fabulous brunch at my grandparents (my Granny is an awesome cook!) And spent time writing all the missionaries in the family while the kids played on the blowup water slide.We headed to the park for fun relay games the rest of the day.
My aunt Mindy tackled my brother Nelson after he bombed her with water balloons! (It was hilarious.)
Danny was a good sport to keep the two-year olds entertained! They didn't seem to get tired of being pulled around in the wagon.
We had a fun obstacle course, too. Here's Annie after climbing through a box.
And my mom hula hooping!
After dinner, we finished off the reunion with silly skits by each family. Here was our family's, it was pretty funny to watch.
And to remember the family at this stage, here are my grandparents with their great grandchildren and their two youngest grandchildren. It's a special time for them.
And my family is growing too! Here are my parents with their grandchildren. (This picture is almost outdated, as they will have one more any day!)
And my family (minus my brother Luke, on a mission to Florida.) Front row: Chloe with Joyce, Elijah with Jed, Lexie, Nelson, Gavin, Nate, Ella, and Annie. Back row: Bonnie, Danny, Cole, my dad, and my mom. The reunion ended up working out really well, and it was so fun to get together with all my family again.