Family Reunion

We had a fun-filled week of Family Reunion-ing in St. George during one of the worst heat waves in the history of ever.  Let's just say, we didn't really go outside unless the activity involved water.

For me, one of the best things about this reunion was that my kids were old enough to remember their cousins they don't see very often, and they all had a great time playing together.  My kids had 1st cousins, 1st cousins once removed, and 2nd cousins their age at the reunion.  (I had to Google that just now to make sure I got it right.  There was a helpful diagram here on Wikipedia.  As Michael Scott says, Wikipedia is where you get "the best possible information.")

Anyway, here are some highlights from the week.  Be prepared for a photo barrage.

Cousin Fun

Pool Time

 

Mary Poppins at Tuacahn

We managed to have a good time in spite of the persistent heat during this outdoor

evening performance.  (Still hot 2 hours after sunset?  Oy vey.)  We especially loved

seeing Mary Poppins fly around the theater and Bert tap dancing upside down.

 

Minute to Win It Games

 

Fourth of July

We drove to Springdale and spent a few hours hanging out at the Virgin River.

We had a picnic lunch then just played in the water for a while.  It was great to

just get outside and enjoy nature.  Ben and Andy even found a hike on the other

side of the river.  See if you can spot them in one of the pictures below.

Cat's Birthday

Cat had a big birthday during the reunion - she turned 8 and was baptized!

I'll write more about that in the next post but I wanted to include a picture here.

After the baptism we went to see "Monsters University" with a bunch of cousins, etc.

Then we all enjoyed a pizza dinner.

Looking back at my pictures, there were some big things I don't have any pictures of.  We did a photo scavenger hunt (ironic that I don't have any pictures of that, right?) which was a lot of fun.  I was on a team with my Uncle Reed and a bunch of kids so it was a bit crazy running all over St. George finding random items on our list, but we had a great time.  Cat and I went tubing down the Virgin River with a big group one day, which was beautiful.  It was a bit frustrating that the water level was very low, so we kept getting beached on rocks and had to repeatedly get ourselves and the kids un-stuck, but it was still neat.  And my very favorite memory from the week was the night I spent just talking with my mom, sister, brother, and new SIL as we reminisced about crazy things we (mostly my brother) did as kids.  I wish we could do that more often.