The Rest of July

Once Monica and James got back from Europe, we headed down to Southern Utah for a Shurtz Family Reunion.  We fit in some bowling and repelling (while Nicole, Avery and I shopped for food in St. George) and then everyone spent 4 days at a cabin in Brian Head together.  There are 38 of us, so that was no easy feat!

We took lots of walks.

We did a candy jar guessing game.  It was a very popular game.

We tie dyed shirts on Wednesday night and then we all wore them on Thursday while we did a fun hike near Brian Head.  Southern Utah had had flash flooding during the weeks before we were there.  We finished our hike, just as the heavens opened and a major rainstorm hit, so we were wet, but glad to be out of that narrow canyon.

It rained most of the day after that, so we relaxed at the cabin the rest of the day.

Fish Pond--a Shurtz tradition (even though most of us are a little older...).

Friday we all went down to Cedar to a Funplex place where we rented out the theater and watched Incredibles and ate pizza with the whole family.  Afterward, we all had a credit to play laser tag and arcade games.  It was super fun!

This year is my parent's 50th Anniversary (in December) and since we were all together, we thought it would be the perfect time to celebrate.  We borrowed the church and when we got there, with all the rain, the church had flooded all down the hall and into the kitchen and some of the rooms, so we called my parents and they called their people and the carpets were being cleaned while we were setting up for the party.  We had a lovely dinner, a video presentation of their lives together, a cake cutting, games and speeches.  It was a fun time celebrating all the good they've done together in 50 years!

We headed back up to the cabin that night and the next morning before we checked out, we did a big family picture with everyone.  

Khalina's dog escaped to join our picture.

All the grandkids.

We left the cabin and went to eat lunch at Hermies in Cedar City and then headed home and we were home by that night.  It was a great week with family!