Family Pictures

I love this picture of us. Even though it isn't the greatest as far as everyone being dressed nicely and fixed up, it just shows that we can be who we are around each other. Two of my sisters had just got back from the pool and had their makeup smeared and their hair air-dried, etc. I wasn't wearing any make-up either since we were going to swim later and everybody was a bit rough-looking since we had been camping for 4 days, but still beautiful and a great picture!

All 7 of us siblings with our kids and my parents-only missing one nephew!

Mel and Ben with their cute twins: Ana and Emily

Around the Campfire

The big dome where we sometimes ate and gathered for games/stories one night

Eric and brother-in-law ,Aaron. Eric and I have been friends with Aaron for many, many years!

Sitting around the fire with our dutch ovens.  Everyone made something in a dutch oven for the last dinner

Two of the other dome rooms where people slept

I think Alex was playing Frisbee, Mike carrying out his dutch oven chicken

Hanging around the campsite getting our dutch ovens ready, pool in the background

Eric and my brother Joel

Some of my favorite times of the reunion were just sitting around talking about old stories and playing games as well as just sitting around the campfire at night.  I love my family and we always have a wonderful time together.  Even though it was a very long 26-hour trip, and we travelled about the same amount of days as we stayed, it was worth it to be with family!

Cousin Fun

Here the kids entertaining the babies and listening to music on the Kindle Fire

Alex seeing how Orin likes being up in a tree



Kadie and Tessa with younger cousin Ashlyn. They hung out quite a bit



Abby so proud to be holding her baby brother

Secret Place

When we were younger, we probably all liked to find that "secret place" where just we knew about and we could hang out without anyone bothering us. I remember many of those places through the years growing up.  I still like those places. :)

Anyway, Tessa and her dear cousin, Kadie, (only 2 1/2 months apart in age), found their secret place at the campsite. They went down a backwoods trail by the river and found this little place with kind of a waterfall that they liked to go and hang out. They convinced my sister and I to eventually go down with them and wanted me to take pictures. Brenda and I got our legs all scratched up by brush and stuff going down the trail, but the girls didn't mind, they loved that spot.

Kadie and Tessa in their secret place



A picture through the trees of the waterfall



A picture from their secret place looking at the waterfall

Sadly, we had to tell them that they couldn't go to their secret place anymore because the younger kids were following them and it was dangerous for the little ones to be down close to the water without supervision, but it was fun for them while it lasted.  And these sweet-natured girls were good sports.

Story time

My parents gave these three little girls sets of books for their upcoming birthdays. I think Avery was born 3 days before the twins. As their parents were reading them the books, I thought it was so cute, so I got some pictures!

More of Idaho...CSI and Planetarium Thursday

On Thursday, our 2nd full day in Idaho, we went to visit the College of Southern Idaho(CSI)art and history museum and exhibits. I thought it was quite fascinating. My favorite part was the mammoth. That thing was HUGE! I guess I didn't realize how big they really were. This was a full replica of the skeleton found in Utah. I found it very interesting to read about the mammoths and where they had been found. After some browsing around the exhibits for awhile, we went outside and ate our sack lunches under some shade. It was a beautiful day. It made me miss the cooler temperatures of Idaho! We had a great lunch and rest and then headed back in for a show on stars in the planetarium. I have always been interested in stars and constellations, so I really enjoyed the show. I especially enjoyed the part where the director showed us the night sky that night and pointed out stars and constellations we could find and how to locate them in relation to other things. I think it was the next night that some of us found those constellations. That was fun! And the kids and I have looked a few times since too! After heading back to the campsite, we made a dinner of spaghetti. We had a great time socializing, swimming, and just sitting around the campfire! We brought three small tents. The girls both took one each and slept with their cousin friend. Alex and Jarem wanted to sleep in the big dome.

Tessa and cousin Kadie outside the Museum at CSI

The huge mammoth in the museum

Katie next to the mammoth just to give an idea of the size

Apparently Alex wasn't as interested in the museum as the rest of us

Jesikah and Hayley fascinated yet grossed out by mammoth dung

Another picture with the dung

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Painting of Shoshone Falls: a very good depiction I thought

Twin Falls canyon painting

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Having our sack lunches outside CSI under the shade of a tree

A few of the boys taking a rest on the grass after lunch

More rest time: Mike feeding the baby while napping.

Picnic time!

This was the giant dome/meeting area as well as a little of the fire pit

Alex with his little buddy, Orin.  Orin just loved being with Alex.

Eric and I's tent

The top of our tent on the inside

Copy Cat

I thought I was done with the reunion posts, but then I went to my sister, Candace's blog, and I knew I needed to steal a bunch of her pictures for my book.  She seemed to get a lot of great ones, so I am going to add those here.  It seemed she got better pictures of the ones I was trying for.  It could be that I was working with my phone for pictures! I have got to do something about my camera!! I miss it so much!  I like hers with Orin and Alex much better too.

Jesikah, Hayley, and Avery

I like this angle with everyone's hands in the air

Jarem's buddy Jaydon both stopped here instead of continuing to the top

"Top club"

RaTray, Austin, and Mom, finding a place to stop too

Dutch oven cook-off (after everyone had eaten). We had cheesy potatoes, corn, 2 types of BBQ chicken, and cornbread. We also had an appetizer with shrimp and peach cobbler and ice cream for dessert. (Peach cobbler is still in the fire in the pic).  Brenda was doing a cherry cobbler but it wasn't turning out so she doubled the butter and it was just blue and soupy. :)

Eric and I

Eating dinner

Cousins 1

Cousins 2 (I have to laugh at Bryce and Avery in the back everytime I look at this picture)

Jarem and Ashlyn

Better picture of the domes

Jesikah and BFF Hayley

3 amigos

3 Amigos + 1 (Ashleyn couldn't decide whether she should stick with the girls or the ones her age)

Tessa and her sweet cousin friend, Kadie.  They were really sweet to all the little kids

Alex and Orin both smiling

Alex and Orin again

James and RaTray-the only childless couple left.  Probably seeing all the kids at the reunion might have made them want to wait a while longer. :)

Grandma and Eli.  Eli became known as the runaway boy because he was always being brought back from the pool area or parking lot. 

Candace and Aaron

Kids playing Frisbee

Brenda and I

Mike and MJ with baby Sam