A Big Reunion, Maren's 13th Birthday and Father's Day

The week after school got out, we headed down to St. George for a much anticipated family reunion with my parents and all of my siblings.  We were a little excited.

 One of the things we were most excited for was meeting this sweetie for the first time!  Our newest niece, Amelia.  Oh, she was sweet.

 In St. George, we stayed in my friend's mom's rental home.  It was big enough for our huge 

family-31 of us were there!  Each family had our own room and bathroom, and there was an in home movie theater, a huge kitchen, lots of tv's, a pool table and shuffleboard, access to swimming pools and pickle ball and volleyball courts.  We had so much fun.  I wish everyone could have seen the reaction of all the kids when they walked in.  It was hilarious!  Lots of screaming and running and general happiness and awe.  That first night there, my sisters and mom and I all went to Tuacahn, to see Cinderella.  So much fun!  

The next morning we got up and went hiking with everyone.  It is St. George, so it was hot!  But it was a fun hike, with some Petroglyphs at the end.  Very cool!

  We swam every day we were there.  The kids couldn't get enough of this pool.

 Dustin and I took the older girls to the St. George Temple to do Baptisms for the Dead.  It was neat.  

  We got a huge cake to celebrate all the many birthdays happening in our family this month.

We played some serious pickle ball.  Dustin and I won the tournament, if you were curious.  Not to brag, or anything.

 The husbands went on a bike ride one early morning.  There were no injuries on their ride, so it felt like a success.  The injury came later that day, when Finn (a nephew) was kicked in the head and got a concussion, while a cousin was doing an awesome flip onto a beanbag.  Poor boy!

We couldn't get enough of this baby.  We haven't had a new baby around for a while, and we made up for it!

 The adults went to dinner one night.  We had so much fun talking and laughing and eating a lot of pizza!

 The day we left, we took some family pictures, and even recreated an old family favorite: all of us stacked on top of each other.  Of course, that was 32 years ago, and we've gained a little weight since then, and there was some real worry about some of us either breaking our backs, or being squished as flat as a pancake, so we used the couch as a prop, and Jen was the only one who got squished as flat as a pancake (and me, a little).

 We said goodbye to Chad and Rosa (who flew home to Seattle), and the rest of us went back to Cedar for the remainder of the weekend.  We went to a Pow Wow that night.

The next day was Maren's 13th birthday, so we did a quick celebration.  We love Maren!  She brings a lot of sweet emotions to our house.  She is loving, happy, funny and loves to laugh.  She is great with kids, and it shows when the kids in the ward come up and give her hugs because she is their babysitter.  She is an awesome student, is organized and plays a mean baritone.  And piano.  She is amazing! 

We hurried from Maren's party to another party.  My Grandma Losee is turning 91 this year!  She is a trooper!  It was fun to see my extended family and give Grandma a hug.

The next day we went to my parent's property in Brian Head.  I love that we have this mountain retreat!  Mountains are my happy place.

 We hurried home on Tuesday to check on our sick dog (she ended up being fine, but she was pretty sick for our neighbors, who were watching her).  We brought our cousin, Liam, with us for a few days, until the rest of his family came up our way.  The kids had so much fun together!  

Any time you can play in the mud, it is a good day.

 We played at the park, in the creek.

 The boys worked hard while they were together.  They did chores for me, so that they could buy supplies for a lemonade stand and earn money...

 So that they could buy matching outfits!  How cute is this??  I don't know why this was so much fun for me.  Maybe because we haven't matched anyone for a long time.  Plus, they worked so hard! 

 The week ended with the rest of Monica's family coming to stay and Father's Day!  We love Dustin!  He is the best!  And we love our family and the fun time we've had with them!