Utah trip: Part 2.6

Part two of our Utah trip was the whole point of spending millions upon millions of dollars to fly the 5 of us out there: my family reunion. This reunion consisted of my siblings, their kids, and of course, my mom. We found a house in Park City that was large enough to fit all of us, and all descended upon Park City on Monday late afternoon. It was a lovely time, the kids loved playing together, and I loved being with my brothers and sisters.
Here are a few miscellaneous photos from the week that didn't really fit into the other categories, or were forgotten. :)
Melissa took the little girls aside and helped them make some fabric flower hair clips. They had a great time. At our reunion last time, 4 years ago, everyone sat around on our laptops. This time, we all were on smart phones, iPads and iPods. Not really anything has changed, just the mode of delivery!

Some of the 1 year olds lined up eating.

We ate really well. We all took turns making meals, and everything turned out to be very delicious.

Between the boy cousins, there were 3 personal gaming devices. During most of the down time you could find the boys gathered in little clusters playing on these.

The house was a very nice space for us. The bedrooms fit most people's needs. The boys were able to sleep on the floor next to us, and Olivia eventually had a pack and play to sleep in on the other side of our bed. There was a little delay in getting her the bed though, since apparently someone had stolen the bed that was supposed to be there. It wasn't until the second afternoon that we finally had a place for her to sleep. Poor Jesse slept on the floor the first night!

Well, only one more vacation post to come! Almost finished!!!

Utah trip: part 2.5

Tuesday was our first full day at the house. That morning Amber's sister Layna came up to take some family pictures. We had to dodge rain here and there, and we had to keep 21 children happy, but in the end, hopefully there were a handful of good shots. I'll share those when I get them. :) here are a few behind the scenes shots.

After the photo shoot there were lollipops for everyone!

Olivia sure loves lollipops!

That evening we had Grandma Widdison come up with Aunt Shirley, Uncle Paul, and a few dozen cousins. (OK, maybe not that many!)

It was a full house!

Utah trip: Part 2.4

On Wednesday morning we all headed over to the Park City City Park for another rousing edition of the Crazy Olympics. Jonna majored in Recreation Management or something like that, so she does a great job of doing these fun little things for the kids. They started out with a little stretching. There were all sorts of races and relays- 3 legged race, sack races, crab walk, wheelbarrow, one challenge to get a garbage bag full of balloons from one point to another without carrying it, or letting it touch the ground. (The wind got in the way with that one!)

Taylor was such a sport to pair up with Graham for his own little 3 legged race, especially after Nate refused.

And it would be no fun if the adults didn't get in on the action.

(Do you see, that's me, waaaaaaay, in the back!)

After the games we had a little picnic lunch, complete with pudding, much to Olivia's enjoyment.

And then walked over to a little playground to let the kids play for a bit. Nate still talks about this sand digging toy, and how much he loved it!

And then there were a few games that wouldn't work outside due to the wind. We came back and did the William Tell challenge (blow q-tips through a straw to knock down a cup on someone's head.) As well as a race carrying cotton balls on spoons.

We ended the experience with a rousing edition of "Chicken Fat" (click for the song!)

How many of you did this in Elementary School? If I was a PE teacher, I'd totally have my kids do it today!!!! I don't care if it is an outdated gov't directive from the 60s.

Utah trip: part 2.3

The kids did quite a bit of swimming while there. There were 2 hot tubs at the house, and from what I understand, they were quite grody. But the kids didn't mind, and so when at first none of the parents were ready to go up to the real pool, they jumped into the hot tub.

We did make it up to the community pool several times. The first time up, all of the kids were jumping in, and Graham just jumped right in with them. Jesse said he thought for a second, do I take my shirt off before I jump in to save him? After that incident, Graham was not totally excited about the pool. But after that, we also made sure that he had on the swim vest that Chris and Amber brought for him to use. :)

There was also a little hot tub, so since the weather really was not up above the 80s we split our time between the pool and the hot tub. As usual, Olivia was a little fish when she was not napping, and got to go.

Glamour Shots by Deb

Here is the prize winning photo in case you were wondering :)

Utah Trip: part 2.2

On Wednesday night we had a White Elephant gift exchange. It is a tradition that has been going on for almost 10 years. It used to be every Christmas we'd try to do it, and then not so many people were living in the same spot, so now we just do it every time we get together. It is always a highlight of the trip.
i was the lucky #1. What an intriguing bag! It contained a much coveted Weight Belt belonging to Sir Lou. We tried to figure out who Sir Lou might have been, but so far have been unsuccessful. So if anyone out there in blogging land knows of a Sir Lou who may have been some sort of weight lifting/body building/wrestling champion, please, enlighten us! (This was eventually stolen from me, but don't worry, Jesse stole it back, so still took it home.)

Chris got this awesome hippo fountain for his back yard pond. Water shoots out of his nose. This was also eventually stolen. Dave and Jonna got to drive away with this beauty.

Matt got this camera. It works and even had a memory card!

Jonna got these slippers which my dad must have picked up in Africa at some point. The word was that they were not so comfortable.

Dave and Jonna also became the proud owners of this sign with the saying "The hand that gives, gathers" And for real, what an absurd saying!

This next gift has been around since the beginning of the White Elephant exchanges. They once belonged to Chris, who got them as a real Christmas present. They have belonged to almost all of us at this point.

Tim walked away with these gems. I don't know who in the world could have owned the Britney Spears movie???? :)

Amber got this beaut: Erin apparently, being from Idaho and all, knows how to get a sitting with "Glamour shots by Deb" I went home with this.

Rebecca got this wonderful treasure. I found this at a yard sale put on by the YW in the ward. I saw it and knew it was the perfect addition to the White Elephant treasures.

Utah Trip: Part 2.1

*Disclaimer, these events largely happen in opposite posting order, but when all is said and done, you should be able to read part 2 in it's entirety in order of how it happened.

Grandma brought books to read to the kids, which they all loved!

The Weather was pretty good for our entire trip. This rainbow came after the only big rainstorm while we were in Park City.

Nate can drink and play at the same time.

The 9 year old cousins

Anna and Nate, a year apart, but the only two middle cousins not part of a group.

The 3/4 year old cousins. (Caleb was not feeling great.)

The babies. They were not all excited about this.
Liv and Liz. :)

Geocaching. We took the kids for a little walk over to a local geocache. It was a micro one, meaning:

It was tiny! Sophie was the one who found it. a tiny little army guy attached to a tiny little tube that held the log in it. It was hanging in a tree!

We went over to the Park City Olympic Park a few times.

This is where the ski jump and bobsled competitions took place in 2002.

In the summer the Olympic team can practice ski jumps landing in a giant pool. It was fun to watch people try.

We then went on the Alpine Slide. Nate and Graham loved it!!!

The reunion was finished out with a trip to see Harry Potter 7.2 on Thursday evening. Rebecca's father generously got us tickets, and Dave, Jonna, Chris and Amber, the heroes of the night, stayed home with the kids. The next morning we packed up and headed out to our various destinations. For some, that was home, for us, it was an extra day to spend in Salt Lake.