Family Reunion

Living in Las Vegas, it is hard to make it to my family reunion in Utah, especially since it involves almost a week of camping. Thanks to our kind family, we made it this year! Last year was the first time I had ever missed the reunion in my life and I was pretty sad about it. Uncle Kelly and Aunt Lisa were so kind and volunteered to drive their trailer to our campsite and set it up for us, then come back when we were done and take it back to their house. It was a very generous offer that we declined last year, but decided to accept this year. My parents were kind enough to get all of our food for us. Between Kelly & Lisa and my parents, we had it pretty easy!

We arrived at Fairview Canyon on Wednesday afternoon and were greeted with a nice hail storm. It rained and hailed all that day and also Thursday morning. The boys were pretty miserable! It was muddy and they were cooped up in the trailer. By Thursday evening things started to dry out and they started enjoying themselves.


Kelly was also kind enough to let us use his four-wheeler. Eric took us all on rides. I used to be brave and love to drive our four-wheelers when I was growing up. Now I have no desire to drive them. I'm content to ride with Eric.




Kyler had a great time playing with all of his cousins! There were so many kids around and it was fun to see them interact.





Kadin entertained himself by going in and out and in and out and in and out of the trailer. He also quite enjoyed all of the toys that Hillari brought for the kids.



Both boys had a good time playing in the trailer. Kyler liked to climb in the pack and play with Kadin and play with him. It was fun to see them get along for such a long period of time. They also liked to climb the ladder to the bunk bed. It made me a little nervous to watch Kadin do it, but he is a monkey and wants to do everything his brother does.



We did the traditional reunion things including walks to the trough, the patriotic program (put on by Clint and always AMAZING), the auction, and campfires. Kyler enjoyed the campfires and roasting marshmallows. Kadin wasn't quite as impressed with the fire. When we could get close enough to feel the warmth, he would make a funny face and say "hot!"

Here we are sitting around the fire. It doesn't look like it though, we must have started early that night.



Roasting marshmallows


Kadin decided he was ready to head down to the fire so he grabbed a chair (not even one of our chairs) and started going.


Food at the reunion always tastes so much better than that same food does at home. I don't know why that is, but it is true. Breakfast is my favorite meal there. All of the men cook bacon, eggs, and pancakes on big stoves. I wish I would have taken pictures of them cooking, but I didn't. The food area at the reunion is covered by the biggest tarp you will ever see. Everyone puts their tables underneath and we have a good time eating, visiting, doing crafts, and playing games under the tarps.


There is always an organized kids craft and ladies craft. Kyler made a cute patriotic shaker.


The ladies craft was a cute journal. Tiff (not pictured) and Whitney ended up making mine for me while I helped Kyler with his craft and then visited.


A lot of the kids had glow sticks so there ended up being a glow stick sword fight. That was right up Kyler's ally. He had a great time running around sword fighting all of the other kids. I would say that was the highlight of the trip for him.


We always have an auction to help raise funds for the reunion. Kyler wasn't paying very close attention (he was playing with Tiffy's DS) so I didn't think he really knew what was going on, but then the gummy bugs were pulled out and he said "Mom, can you start saying some money?" I thought that was cutest thing in the world and I would have bid $10 to get those darn gummy bugs for him if I had to. Luckily I didn't have to go that high :)


Here are my cute boys sitting by the fire enjoying their gummy snakes purchased at the auction.


We had such a great time! We are so thankful to our generous family for helping us! We wouldn't have made it without Kelly & Lisa and my parents. Thank you all! It meant a lot to us to be able to be there!