July was filled with many happenings but the highlight had to have been our family reunion in West Yellowstone. Arriving on Monday and Tuesday of the second week in July, all 27 of us spent 4 glorious days together in a most beautiful setting. Each day we tried to do one major activity as a family. Wednesday, we went into Yellowstone Park and drove the lower scenic loop, seeing all the amazing geysers there. The scenery is almost unreal....like you are on another planet. We totally loved every minute of our time in the park including waiting for Old Faithful to erupt, having a picnic lunch along the way, and walking the many wooden trails to see the sights. At the upper falls, most of the family took a hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone to see the lower falls. It was switch backs down to stairs that numbered about 300. The grandchildren were troopers as most made it on their own all the way down and up again.
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| Several of the grandchildren gathered around Todd and Kailee at one of many geysers seen this day |
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| Old Faithful finally erupting - an amazing sight |
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| Waiting for Old Faithful to erupt |
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| The upper falls in Yellowstone - such powerful energy in nature |
On Thursday, most of the group drove to Gardiner to raft the Yellowstone river. It was an all day affair and became a highlight of the trip. Jaiden kept yelling, each time his boat hit some rapids, 'This is the most fun I've ever had!' Everyone went rafting except Grace, Nathan, Katie and myself. Nathan was too young and Grace is afraid of water in her face. Katie and I took them over to the Grizzly/Wolf Exhibit where we were able to see live bears and wolves. Grace later went back, hid food for the bears, and then watched them find it. We had fun but certainly not the adventure the rest of the family had.
Grace and Nathan watching the bears find food
On Friday, except for the 4 of us who went golfing, most of the family stayed around the condo to swim or walk the town until our 5 o'clock hayride/cookout at the Parade Guest Ranch. The ranch was only a 15 minute drive from our condos which was great after the long drives of the days before. Once we got there, we boarded a tractor pulled wagon and rode about 20 minutes to a lake. Here we were greeted with the aroma of barbecued steaks and the sounds of music being sung by a local singer. Our family livened up things when we started dancing with each other to the music. Soon our delightful dinner was served. We had a choice of steak or chicken as well as beans, potato salad, watermelon, and a brownie. We enjoyed our food and more entertainment and then it was time to get back on the wagon for our ride home to the ranch. A super fun night.
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| Swimming was a fun thing to do when we were at the condos |
On Friday, the grandchildren also started decorating their pillowcases. They drew their favorite activities as a reminder of our
2015 family reunion in Yellowstone
Saturday was our official family golf day. Most of Jon's family, Todd, and Dad got up very early to drive the 30 minutes for 9 holes of golf at the Island Park Resort. The rest of us stayed home for more sleep and sourdough waffles. We decided to have an early afternoon dinner so Ryan's and Jon's families, as well as Todd and Kailee, could start for home by late afternoon. We were sad to see families leave but everyone had to be home for the Monday workday. The Westovers stayed one more night so, together, we went to a movie (Minions) and then to dinner at a 50's diner type restaurant. It was great to spend some one on one time with their family.
Sunday, all but one of the Westover's left by 6 am. We kept Maggie with us so she could spend a week at our home in Heber. We went to church and then packed the car and headed for home ourselves. Todd and Kailee met us at home with a tri tip dinner ready for us to enjoy.
One of the highlights of our reunion were our nightly devotionals. At the end of each day, we would gather in Ryan's condo for a spiritual thought and prayer. The nightly messages were each based on a different song from the movie, 'Frozen.' Our reunion theme was "Just Chillin' in Yellowstone." On our t-shirts was a picture of Olaf, the snowman from 'Frozen,' chilling in the sunshine....hence the use of the songs from Frozen. Each family took a turn, showed the video clip of the song from the movie and gave an incredible message based the song's message. Each night we looked forward to what would be said as well as the nightly treats. We know this was a valuable experience when one of Ryan's children, when asked by her other grandparents what her favorite part of the week had been, responded, 'The nightly devotionals.' We will continue this tradition at every family reunion in the future, for sure.
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| At Lagoon |
Our week with Maggie was fun. It was her time to spend with Grandpa and Grandma for her 12 year old birthday, which she had while we were in Russia. While she was here, we bought material for a quilt which she cut out, sewed together and tied before the week was over. We also took Maggie and Braydon to Lagoon, a tradition for our 12 year old grandchildren's celebrations. They thoroughly enjoyed the rides as well as the water slides. During the week, besides going to a movie and out to dinner or lunch several times, we enjoyed going to the Hale Centre Theater performance of 'The Little Mermaid.' It was an amazing production which we all loved. Before we knew it, though, Monday had arrived and we put Maggie on the airplane to fly home.
Maggie making her quilt, her new haircut, and at the production of Disney's
The Little Mermaid
July was full of guests and activities. On the first of July, Kim Sorenson and three of her children as well as Deon and Gary and two of their other grandchildren came to stay the week with us. Kim's Aspen attended BYU's Especially for Youth during the week and the rest of us played. On Tuesday, Paul and I picked up Jon's boy's and took them to dinner and to Jaiden's school performance.
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| Braydon trying on a hat from a sports store |
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| Gavin sitting on a child's toy |
We went to Chuck Wagon buffet for dinner and afterwards went to the mall. We had a few extra minutes so we sent the boys on a scavenger hunt in the mall. They had to take a picture trying on a hat, sitting on a child's toy, collecting a packet of ketchup, and riding the escalator. They were in two teams and Gavin and Braydon won easily. Jaron and Jaiden couldn't find a packet of ketchup. It was a fun way to fill a few minutes before it was time for Jaiden's school performance.
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| Jaiden was a miner in his school's productions depicting the early history of the West |
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| The beautiful Payson temple |
On Thursday, we picked up Jon's boys again so they could spend the rest of the week with us. We definitely had a houseful but everyone had a great time together. We enjoyed an afternoon at an extreme trampoline place, an outdoor play, a 4th of July parade, a movie, swimming, and lots of eating. We all had a great week. The Fullers and Sorensons left Sunday morning and Jon came by that evening to pick up his boys. He and Mindi and her family had spent the week in Missouri for Mindi's grandmother's funeral....hence the reason we were privileged to have the boys with us over the 4th of July weekend.
Jaiden loved crossing the suspended stepping stones while Jaron was constantly doing double and single flips into the foam pit. Gavin's favorite thing to do was playing dodge ball while jumping on the trampolines. It was no surprise that Braydon spent lots of his time shooting baskets as he jumped off a ledge onto a trampoline. It was fun to watch these boys have so much fun.
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On the fourth of July, we lit off fireworks, ate s'mores, and watched fireworks exploding all over the valley as we sat on a neighbor's trampoline which overlooked the whole valley.
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The very next weekend, July 11th, (and just before leaving for our family reuninon) we hosted a wedding reception in our backyard for Parker Davis and his bride, Haley. Paul spent the whole week perfecting the yard just in time for a hail storm to hit and make a mess of the annuals and the flower beds. Luckily we had a day to spruce every thing up in time for the wedding. We served barbecued pork sandwiches, salad, chips, watermelon and ice cream cones for a real picnic party experience. It was a fun evening for all who attended.
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| Todd and Kailee's new home |
Other happenings this month included Todd and Kailee buying a home in Lehi which meant they would be moving out of our home by mid August. They decided to put their other home in Lehi up for sale so we spent several days in that home's backyard weeding and edging and cutting back bushes. Our goal was to get it back as close to its original glory as possible. The yard was an absolute disaster after 3 years of renters. Our last visit to that home was the last Tuesday of the month.....just before our family started arriving for Jon's wedding. And that's next month's highlight.
