FAMILY REUNION--PARK CITY--July 10-13, 2011

We truly had a wonderful family reunion this summer.  It really went without a hitch!!  Whew.  We were able to have everyone there, except for Heather, Ryan and their kids because we didn't plan early enough for Ryan to schedule his vacation in July.  We surely missed them. (I guess that was a hitch.)  


Anyway, Camille got on the internet and found us an amazing house in Park City that was more than enough room for all of us.  With so many of our families having to travel so far, Park City just made sense because of the short drive from SLC, a reservoir where we could boat and just fun things to do in Park City.

With a little help from several of us taking pictures, here is some of the things we did:

The beautiful home, which also had a three-car garage.  

This was a panoramic view of Park City from the house.

Before we could even get all of our belonging in the house, the kids (and Doug) found the big jacuzzi!

 We really have to thank Camille for getting us there in the first place, AND for having us organized each day with food, fun and activities!!!  Here's her fun chart she hung on the wall.

FOOD:
We had wonderful food; everyone helped prepare and provide on their assigned day.

We had such delicious meals!

We discovered one of Hillary's hidden talents--breaking two eggs at one time--something she learned when she baked bread at Great Harvest.








We surely enjoyed having Sabe and Brian join us this year.  I love this picture of Sabe.


We had treats,...


...treats...

...and more treats...

--maybe a little TOO many treats!!!

GAMES:

We played the funnest game--The Celebrity Game (or Name Game) where each person writes down three famous people's names on a small piece of paper and puts it in a big bowl.  Each team then tries to describe one of those people's names to their team by drawing a paper at a time.  You go through the papers three times--the first time you act out something about that person, or use as many words as you want to describe them; the second time you can still act but just use two words; and the third time you can't use any words but just act out.  We had a blast!

Even Channing had a great time!

We also played Rummikub,...

...Blokus...

...and pool.

BOATING:
Boating is such a fun thing for an entire family to do.  Even though the water was really high this year at Jordanelle so that we didn't have a beach and the water was a little cold, we still had a great time.

Thanks to the boat drivers (Matt and Tom) for making the boating so much fun.  I didn't get a picture of Matt driving.

Tom was so great getting in the water and helping some of the young boys gets up on kneeboards and skiis!

This two-person tube was one of the presents our kids got us for Christmas, which made it comfortable for the kids without them getting wet.

One of the funnest things the kids did was play in the dirt while the older kids and adults were on the boat!!!!

They got pretty creative--Izzy made a garden with packed dirt and weeds.

It was great to see everyone having a good time and just enjoying hanging out with family.

I even went on the tube!!

Hillary took time out to read her book.

And then, of course, more food.

We're so glad that Rita was able to join us.  She is truly just like one of the family and is always serving us and helping take care of the kids.  She just loves them and they her.

Since the water was pretty cool, Adelyn was brave and jumped in with her father,...

...as well as Garner!

When we got back to the house, some went hiking in the mountain just above the house.

Elsie picked some wild flowers and Hillary arranged them into a beautiful little bouquet.  Elsie is always picking flowers wherever she goes.

ARTS AND CRAFTS:

This was a real hit--Ashley showed the kids how to make pop-up cards.   We found out we had some pretty creative little artists in the family.

LOUNGING AROUND:
Just enjoying being all together.  It's not often this occurs with everyone living so far away.

ALPINE SLIDE AND COASTER:

We took time out to go into Park City to go on the Alpine Slide and Coaster.

You go up and down on the coasters.

Whereas on the Alpine Slide, you get on the ski lift that takes you to the top of the mountain...

...get on the slide and...

...slide to the bottom.

I stayed at the bottom so that I could hold the babies while their parents went on the slides, and they both fell asleep at the same time.

OUTLET STORES:

At the end of the reunion, we packed up, said this is where we want to come next summer (for four nights instead of three) and all of us went shopping at the outlet stores and ate lunch at Cafe Rio.  The end of a perfect reunion.

Thanks to all of you wonderful children and spouses and grandchildren for taking the time to gather together as a family.  Doug and I love you all so very much!  It thrills us that you enjoy being together and having the close friendships you have.  

And, Camille, thank you again for all of your planning, organizing and for just getting us together!
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Oh, and one more thing.  Jennifer took Andrea and Matt's family picture in downtown Park City.  You can see the rest of the pictures on her blog.