REUNION!

We planned our trip to Colorado around Andy's Family Reunion.

We've missed the family get-togethers the last few years (one in Utah because Andy was leaving for his Japan deployment, and one last year in California because we were in the process of moving to Virginia), so we were going to do everything we could to make it to this one.  Unfortunately it happened to fall in July, when my mom was off in the South Pacific doing nursing work with LDS Humanitarian services for the Navy, so we weren't able to spend any time with her while we were in Colorado.

But it was wonderful to be able to spend time with Andy's family together.

I think this was the first that all 8 of the kids' families were represented since our wedding, 10 years ago.  This time the only person we were missing was Nathan, who was stuck working in Korea.

Allison planned most of the trip, and we all met up at a cabin near Richfield, Utah for a long weekend. 

She was usually hard at work!

With that many people there (22 kids and 17 adults) it was kind of a tight squeeze, but we all made it work.

We even packed along our camping gear and hauled it across the country.  I think this was the first time I'd slept in a tent in 5 years!  Amazing.

We had a great weekend and really enjoyed catching up with members of our family, some of whom we haven't seen in years, and some of the kids we hadn't even met yet!

All of the family were so great, pitching in to help cook and clean, plan activites, bring along crafts for the kids and so many other things.

Here are just a few tidbits (with a few longer posts to follow):

Kim set up a tie-dye extravaganza.  Everybody brought some item of clothing (mostly shirts) to dye, and Kim provided the supplies, expertise, time and effort getting it done.  And it was quite the project!  At least two full days in the making, but everyone had a lot of fun with it.
Here's Ashton in her final project:

Steve set up an outdoor movie night for the kids the first night.

They watched Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which thrilled Cayden to no end.

Grandma Jean and Tina snatching a few moments of peace.

I spent a lot of time chasing after this little girl and trying to keep her out of trouble!

The cabin had plenty of play areas for the kids, and they made the most of them all!

The boys (or MEN) spent a good few hours throwing around rocks and making a dam for this stream.  This actually quite entertained a lot of the kids as well.

Cayden "fell" into the pool that it created a few times.  Really I think he just wanted to go swimming!

Sunday night each family was in charge of provided a spiritual thought.

This is Steve's family acting out a skit from the scriptures, very entertaining!

The Thwaits family shared their musical talents.

The adults and kids alike were entertained by the cabin's decor.

This definitely added to the rugged appeal of the cabin!

Who wouldn't want a mountain lion staring down at them?

We had such a great time and are so lucky to be a part of this family.