Sunday, August 10, 2008

Family Reunion



Well it has been a fun summer. We were able to have a family reunion up at Yellowstone National Park. When I was trying to figure out how many people were with us, it took me a good 10 minutes to get some kind of count. I thought I had the number straight until I figured out that I did not count a whole family so I had to recount. We had 45 people with us. Did I get everyone? Email me if I missed you. Talk about a BIG FAMILY. Top that! We have had this all planned for quite some time. Did it all live up to our expectations? stopping at every gas station on the way up to Yellowstone, Mosquitos and 20 bottles of OFF, feeding and cleaning up for an army, enough people in our family to sink the boat to Jenny Lake, dirt everywhere, disturbing the peace, kids running around like wild animals, the joy of many opinionated people in our family, a powerful thunderstorm, sleeping on the hard ground, trying to fit everyone in the few vehicles we had, and a long drive (and for some a long plane ride also).

The things we loved about our family reunion:

*Elk, Deers and Bears (oh my!)
*pictures, pictures and more pictures
*Ryan's slide show
*Old Faithful
*Campfire with smores
*Swimming and boating in Yellowstone and Jenny Lake
*Dutch Oven Cooking
*A little bit of Grace (Grace's baby blessing in the campground at Colter Bay)
*Justin's art work during the trip
*a $3.00 shower at Colter Bay
*Madeline practicing her music on the way up for her July 24th Tabernacle Choir Concert with Donny and Marie
*visiting Jackson Hole, Wyoming
*two $8.00 cake mixes from the grocery store for peach cobbler (Yum!) Thanks Dave!
*phone and internet services in Evanston, Wyoming to be able to call our Stake President back after several attempts to reach us
*Family from all over the country
Georgia
Connecticut
Arkansas
Utah
Idaho
Nevada
California
PRICELESS!!!!!!!!







Hike at Jenny Lake




Dad getting dinner ready



The kids in Jackson Hole, Wyoming



The kids at Old Faithful



Boating in front of the Grand Tetons

3 comments:

Lisa R.D. said...

Great recap of a fun and crazy time!

Ja Sto said...

I can't wait to do it all again next year!!! Same place, same time, everyone is coming again. haha.

Jake

Lauren said...

I felt so bad that we never got a chance to talk much at the reunion ... it was SO crazy! (and especially with me in my cabin half the time) But after reading your great list of the highlights (and "glossing over" the lowlights :o) I realized, wow! There were 45 people there - we're all lucky we could come home and say it was a good time! I am volunteering our house for the next reunion - we can put up tents in the woods , still have a fire and s'mores, see plenty of wildlife, AND have free showers! It was fun to see you (even if we didn't get to catch up like I had hoped) We miss you guys!
Lauren