Utah Family Reunion 2014

Have you ever had those things you really want to blog about but just never get to?  That has happened to me a lot.. including some big trips we have taken.  I have decided that occasionally on Thursday's I am going to do a Throw Back Thursday and share those things that got missed.

Today we are rewinding to Summer of 2014!

If you have followed me for a while you know every summer we have a big family reunion in Utah with Eric's side of the family (Our past Utah Trips).  In 2014 my family planned a reunion in Yellowstone, which ended up interfering with the Utah trip, but on our way to Yellowstone and on our way back we stopped in to see the family in Utah.  This trip was totally different from past years, but still fun.

Road Trip!
There are actually two other kids back there somewhere

When we finally made it to Utah, we spent our first full day at the Kids Museum at Thanksgiving Point, definitely a very fun place if you have kids!

Eric's little sister lived in Utah too at this time (now both of his sisters do), so they were able to join us in the fun, including matching shirts for the girl cousins!

They of course had to dress up.

For family night, we each wrote something that we liked about each person, or something they were good at; then everyone had a poster with all of those nice thoughts.

We also saw the Air Show at the Hill Airfare base.
It was hot, but it was definitely worth it, especially seeing the Blackbird show, it was insane what stunts and maneuvers they pulled!

Love this picture of Eric and his Dad, they really are best friends.
Then all too soon it was time for us to leave and head to Yellowstone.  We had an amazing time there (which don't worry will have it's own Throw Back Thursday posts), and on our way back to California, we stopped again in Utah for a few more days.
We made it back to Utah on the 4th of July. 

Cousins with matching shirts

Since we had just been up in Wyoming, we had to bring some big fireworks with us. Eric put on a show for the whole neighborhood.

Waiting for it to get dark

Even though it wasn't our usual Utah trip, we had a wonderful time and love being able to spend time with family.  
Do you have a yearly trip you take? 

July in December: Utah Trip Part 3

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!   I will be sharing the final part of our Utah trip today (see Part 1 here and Part 2 here), and then will be back Thursday for the final part of the Review Extravaganza 2013!  If you haven't linked up at all yet, you can just jump in and recap the entire year.; also don't forget to share your goals or wishes for 2014 as part of your recap.

Thursday

Thursday morning Glenn and Melidee watched the kids while the rest of the grownups went to the temple, much less eventful then the time my water broke there.  Then we all went into Salt Lake.  We ate lunch at the cafe in the Joseph Smith Building and then toured Temple Square.  If you ever go to Utah, I definitely recommend seeing Temple Square.

Not only are the grounds so beautiful, but there is the visitors center with beautiful artwork, the statue of the Savior, interactive videos and so much more.


Right across the street is the Church history museum and on the top floor there is an awesome FREE kids museum.  It is pretty small but they kids love it.

That evening my in-laws neighborhood was having a walk-about.  Basically you could go around and meet your neighbors and people would be sitting in their driveways with treats to share.  Throughout the week, Melidee helped the kids each make their own giant puppet that they then wore for the walk about.   It was quite the thing to see and they were definitely the hit of the event.



We ended the night with the family games.  Melidee sent each family a game/riddle type thing that each family learned and then shared it with the group.

During the trip we also had tastings this year.  We had a fudge tasting, an exotic fruit trusting,


a root beer tasting (think wine tasting), and a blind-carmel tasting.

Raelynn spilled some of her root beer and couldn't waste it

It was so fun and we voted and determined our favorite root beers and caramels (the root beers are in winning order from left to right).

Friday

Friday we took our annual trip to the Miller Motor Speedway for some awesome go-kart racing.  Lucas was actually old enough to drive this year but opted not too, as these go-karts go fast and you can crash (happened to me a few years back).
The kids all watched and cheered the grownups on.   The zip-line chairs were not working but there was a free rock climbing wall.  Alex loved it and kept going again and again.

Lined up in birth order

Friday night Glenn and Melidee watched all the kids again while the rest of us went out for sushi at Icihbans Sushi, awesome sushi place in downtown Salt Lake and was actually the first place I ever really had sushi; which made it a perfect spot for Todd and Rachel's first real sushi experience.
Oh and the umbrella's I told you about, that we got as part of the Christmas in July, family pictures were needed with them of course.
Saturday Saturday it was time to say goodbye.  
Quinn and Ryder added their handprints to the wall this year, as they all get to when they are 3. Yes they are all pink, started when a certain oldest grandchild (cough-Lucas) used to have the favorite color of pink.
We ate at Cafe Rio  and tried Sam's slack line.  It was actually quite difficult and I couldn't stay up without holding on to someone.   Melidee was by far the best at it of anyone.  It is always sad to say goodbye. It was such a wonderful trip and I am so grateful for all that my in-laws do to make it so fun every year. 

July in December: Utah Trip Part 2

Last week I told you that I forgot to ever share our annual family reunion Utah trip, so I am doing a July in December thing.  You can read Part 1 here, now for part two: Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday we actually split part of the day from the group and hung out with my brother and his family.   His in-laws live in the area and have some jet-skis and were nice enough to take us all up to  Pineview Lake for a fun day of swimming, beach playing and jet-skiing.

My kids kept asking where the waves where and they thought it was funny that they could see the end of the water.  We had to explain several times, this was a lake not the ocean.  Alex and Kensington had so much fun just floating around in the water.  We kept having to call after them to come back closer to the shore.

Lucas liked the jet-skis as long as they were going pretty slow.  Alex was more brave and Ryder didn't want to ride them at all.  In fact he didn't even go into the water until the very end.

We had to hurry back for our Christmas in July (see totally works that I am doing these posts now).  My MIL had the table decorated all Christmasy and the kids ate their Christmas meal of ham, rolls and green beans.  Then we sent them all down to watch a Christmas movie while the grown ups had King Crab legs. It was awesome!
After dinner, Raelynn read a Christmas story and then there were lots of presents to share.  Each kid was able to pick a present that they opened which had enough things in it to share one with everyone. and everyone also got an umbrella (more about those later) Of course if it is "Christmas" you need Christmas treats.  Sugar cookies for the kids to decorate to be exact. Wednesday
We added a new designation to our week with a trip to Cowabunga Bay.  It is a mini water park not far my from in-laws.  The kids had such a great time.  The four oldest (Lucas, Kate, Ethan and Alex) all braved all of the water slides; while the younger ones had a great time at the smaller slides and the lazy river. It was so much fun and we managed to not lose anyone with the 5 adults and 7 kids.  (Rachel stayed home with baby Cooper). 

Alex really did have more fun than she looks- she was just having attitude at the moment

We ended the night with a yummy dinner at Dickey's BBQ.  
Come back tomorrow and I will wrap up the final few days of our trip.  Also- you have until Wednesday (yes Christmas) to link up with week 3 of the Review Extravaganza. 

July in December: Utah Trip Part 1

We have all heard of Christmas in July... so how about July in December?  For some reason, I never blogged about our annual trip to Utah.  I have blogged about it every year since I have been blogging, including the trip where the bounce house blew over, and of course the trip when Ryder was born 8 weeks early!  I am about to get the last year of my blog printed...so here ya go, some July in December


We started off the trip running-- literally while Raelynn (Eric's older sister) entertained the kids with freeze tag, Red Rover and duck duck goose.  I tagged along and took pictures of course.

Kids at this age playing duck duck goose are quite obnoxious funny, saying all sorts of random things and going around and around the circle before finally picking someone.

Ryder is absent from the group shots as he got upset about not winning tired of playing and went back inside.

The kids really did have so much fun together.  I love that the cousins are so close in age.  Lucas is the oldest (was 8 at the time, down to Cooper who was not yet one).  There literally is at least one kid every year.  The older two boys would play together, while the girls would make "Girls Only Clubs" and the Ryder and Quinn were best buds always playing together.  Poor little Cooper was just too young to really get in on the fun yet.

But that's okay as I had fun playing with Cooper

Rachel turned 30 this year, and in this side of the family that means the 30th Birthday video, which have gotten bigger and better every year.  Rachel's was a musical, as she is definitely the singer of the family.  The video is all about the fact that she is "losing her youth" and we are all searching for it, trying to help her stay young.  We had all been working on this video for the past year and this week got to all watch it together. 

Sunday night we also had a talent show:

Lucas was the MC, Ryder told jokes, Quinn recited a poem, my FIL juggled, Ethan played a piano duet with his mom then a solo, Kate played some piano solos, Alex showed off her artwork and Madeline danced.

On Monday we swam at the Rec Center; the oldest ones went down the water slide almost the entire time.  We had Pizza the The Pie and had family home evening and a donut bar (decorate your own donut) for dessert. 

We really do pack the activities in.  Next week I will tell you about Tuesday & Wednesday, and then conclude with Thursday-Saturday of the trip.

Speaking of remembering, don't forget to link up with week 3 of the Review Extravaganza!