Family Reunion - Day 3

July 1, 2010 - Day 3:

On the third day, Ben and Todd took some of their kids fishing in the morning. So Cory and I took some our kids for a walk down to the Henry's Fork River to find them.

Todd with his girls- Kristine and Zoe.

Connor, Rigdon, and Ethan checking out the water.

Making sure Rigdon doesn't fall in.

Ronin and Canyon were a little ancy so I took them to the other side of the bridge and walked around a little bit.

They decided that they wanted to hike to the top of the hill, so I let them. It didn't take them long at all.

Ronin and Canyon.

Rigdon loved throwing the rocks, this particular one landed directly on top of his head. It hurt, but Rigdon just laughed.

After a little bit, we headed back and passed Todd one more time before going back to the cabin.

Cory and Todd.

Todd was kind enough to let Connor hold the fishing pole for a few minutes.

Kristine and Zoe playing around with the worms. Nice.

FLOATING THE RIVER
After lunch, we all headed out to float the river for the afternoon. We all rented something a little different. Cory and Lisa decided to float on inner-tubes, me and Jed decided on two canoes for our family, while the Picketts and Palumbos rented a huge raft so that they could all fit on it together. My mom and dad stayed home to watch the littlest kids.

The Raft Company hauled everything for us up river. They said that floating the river usually took 2-3 hours.

Getting ready at the loading dock.

Jed and I had a little bit of trouble maneuvering our canoes in the beginning but caught on quickly. In my canoe was Connor and Carson while Jed took Aubrey and Ronin. The beginning of the ride was fun for everyone but soon the wind kicked up and began to make it very difficult to float the river. The wind would actually push our floats/canoes upstream or push us to the river shoreline.

We quickly found out that deciding to take canoes instead of rafts was a smart choice. They were easier to maneuver and so eventually we were able to make it all the was down the river. It was quite the work-out paddling and fighting against the wind. However, we didn't have it nearly as bad as the others. Cory ended up basically having to walk the inner-tubes down the river. The Picketts and Palumbo's raft couldn't make any headway and were stuck for awhile, having trouble getting the raft to go. It took them almost an hour longer. They all came back frustrated and glad the ride was over.

The wind pushed our canoes onto the river edges a few times. This particular time we just got out and took a break, so I took a few photos of the kids.

The kids had fun pretending to be Lord of Rings' characters who were being chased by the evil Orks. The boys told me that I was Arwin and they were Aragon and Legolas.

Connor and Carson.

We raced our canoes the rest of the way...Jed's "crew" won.
Once we had landed the canoes, the boys decided to play in the water for a little while.

Ronin got in too but the water was really cold so he didn't stay in very long.

Trying to get warm on the dock.

A RELAXING EVENING

The rest of the evening was just relaxing at the cabin.

 Our kids: Connor, Ronin, Aubrey and Rigdon.

LISA'S BIRTHDAY
We also celebrated Lisa's birthday after dinner. We sang happy birthday and Brooklyn helped her blow out the candles. Then we devoured the cake as quickly as it was cut.

The rest of the night, the kids played in the forest and the adults sat around talking. I took some photos:

Lot's of Rigdon pictures comin' up.

Rigdon and Canyon playing and throwing the rocks and dirt.

Jed and Aubrey practicing a little bit of martial arts.

Ronin spent most of his time whacking the trees with a stick.

Later on that night, we started a fire again and cooked up some more smores.

Carl and Drewe.

Drewe working on her marshmellow.

Jed and Ronin.

Jed.

Aubrey enjoying her smore.

My mom, Judy.

Nice, Cory.

My dad, Carl.

Family Reunion - Day 1 and 2

June 29, 2010- Day 1:After we went to the temple, we all returned to pack our belongings and then headed straight to Island Park National Forest for our family Reunion. My mom and dad had rented a large cabin for four days as a Christmas gift to all of us kids.

The first day we spent getting ourselves unpacked and checking out the cabin. What a nice cabin we stayed in! However, our family was big enough that the Picketts stayed at a relative's cabin close by so that we could all fit comfortably in the main cabin. We've definitely grown over the years!

June 30, 2010 -Day 2:On the morning of the second day, most of the group left to go on a walk in the forest. I had just gotten out of the shower and wasn't ready to go and so I stayed behind with Rigdon. Once I was dressed, Jed, me, and Rigdon went to John Sacks cabin that was built in 1930's by the 4'11'' German immigrant who made the cabin and all of its furnishings by hand. He built it right by one of the most beautiful springs I've ever seen. I would love to live there!

Jed and Rigdon at the beginning of the walkway to the cabin.
Inside the cabin
Aubrey on the walkway (she came the next day.)

Aubrey with her daddy.

Me and Rigdon on an outlook over the spring.

I love my little boy!

Loved looking at this spring.

The pathway to the cabin.



Planting a kiss smack dab on Daddy. We love Ridgon's sweet, little kisses!



TIME FOR PAINTBALL!
After lunch, the adults (aside from my mom and Penni) went and played a few hours of paintball games in the forest. It was so much fun, other than constantly getting hit by the paintballs. Man, they can really hurt!

From left: Todd, Carl, Lisa, Cory, Jed, Jodi, Ben, Mindy
My sister, Jodi, filling up her hopper with paintballs.

Cory and my dad getting their guns ready to go.

Just us girls!!!!!! Yeah, we're tough too!

The boys...except for Todd, he hadn't shown up just yet.

Todd showing up and ready to play.

My hubby.

The games were a lot of fun. However, I got hit a lot! A few days later I counted a total of 10 round bruises on my legs, stomach, back, and shoulders. I got hit in the head a couple of times too and ended up with a nice goosebump courtesy of my brother-in-law, Ben. :)

Later that day when we were done paintballing, Ronin kept hounding me to get in the cabin's hot tub. I finally said yes and so here he is with his grandpa.

Happy kid.

Rigdon was pretty curious about it too.

Rigdon and Ethan playing together outside.

I love this photo of Rigdon and his cousin, Canyon. Apparently, sticks make great stick horses!

Although it looks a little funny from the front, this time it's Rigdon and one of his other cousins, Ethan.

My nephew, Canyon.

Ethan and Canyon going for a little camera time.

The cabin also had some fun swing sets for the kids. Here's Carson.

Rigdon in the two-seater. I remember playing on one of these when I was a kid.

Ethan and Rigdon on the two-seater swing.

Ben pushing Canyon.

Connor with his cousin, Briggs.

Lot's of card games were also played during our stay.

Aubrey is definitely a daddy's girl.

A NIGHT AT MACK'S INN PLAYMILL THEATERLater on in the evening, we headed to the Mack's Inn Playmill Theater just down the road. Most of us just walked.

Here at the Playhouse Theater. Got a few photos of the kids before it started. Pictured here is Carson, Ronin, and Rigdon.

Our group waiting for the play.

The play we watched was "Pirates of the CAR-RIB-EEE-AN." My favorite character was the Jack the Pirate. He was great to watch.

Later on in the show, those with birthdays were invited to come up...so Lisa and my nephew, Carson, got to go up on stage.

At the end, Jack the Pirate was kind enough to let us get a photo of him. He was so crazy!

Later that night we had a campfire in our awesome pit and cooked up some delicious smores. Yummmmmm!

Connor working on his marshmallows.

Ronin loves fire!

It began to rain again (it had rained off and on during the time we were there) and so we all sat down on the porch area and enjoyed one another's company. Here's my sister, Penni, and her hubby, Todd.

Jodi and Ben with Connor and Carson working the fire.

Rigdon trying to blow out the fire. I was trying to figure out why he thought he needed to do this and it occurred to me that the only time he's been exposed to fire was for birthday parties. And what do you do at birthday parties? You blow out the candles and matches! So for Rigdon, it made perfect sense to try and blow out this fire.

Giving it all he's got....that's one big lit candle!

Later that night, Jodi, Ben, Penni, Todd, me and Jed all did some hot-tubbing for a little while. Let's just say that the conversation was very entertaining and enlightening. Huh, Jodi! (wink, wink)