Family Reunion

I am so grateful for the cabin and the memories made there! We missed so many of the family that couldn't make it. We were afraid it would be rainy the whole time, but fortunately, the weather held out for us. The sun was out and it was beautiful. Here is some of the adventures this year:

The swing is always popular with the kids. Poor Keira got whacked with a baseball bat when she walked up behind Thomas playing, so she has a nice cut on her eyebrow.

Several of us rode on the 4 wheelers

and the razor

 Ceryn and Teara put a lot of work into the activities this year for a CSI investigation. Someone at the cabin committed a crime, and we had to collect evidence at each crime scene. Each team had jobs, such as a photographer, sketch artist, team captain, evidence collector. One scene had footprints

 Steve was my team's sketch artist

Jordyn collected a blood sample from a bloody bat

 We found a skeleton by the creek

 Jen is holding an index card with hair taped to it

 A rope tangled on a branch

Cleaning up the crime scene by the creek so they wouldn't have to go back

After many guesses of who the murderer was (many said me and Keira, Jen, or Matt and Abi), it turned out to be Keli. She was guilty and didn't even know it

 Kevin took me for a ride on a very rocky trail to Dead Lake- with Jacob and Jay following on the 4 wheelers. It was so fun!

And the lake was beautiful! (Not sure why they call it dead lake)

 Lots of congratulations were given to Uncle Kevin as he had just proposed to Carolyn before we got there! We are so excited for this upcoming wedding in April!

 Love you, Jen

 Several fun games of Scramball. The kids ended up forming their own team and played for hours. We also played our traditional water balloon volleyball and regular volleyball. Fun, Fun!

My sweet Keira

 And all the gang that was there

Until next year, cabin...

To the family, hopefully we will see you all at Kristin's wedding!:)

A Festive Fourth

We hope everyone had fun with their 4th of July celebrations! We are blessed to live in this country and to have the freedoms we enjoy! And we were lucky t have Becky, Aubrey, and Parker with us to join in on our activities.

Natalie found a super yummy festive drink on Pinterest, sporting red, white, and blue in mason jars

 And who wouldn't love a festive red, white, and blue snack with strawberries, blueberries, and angel food cake drizzled with white chocolate? Yum!

We had several activities to keep the kids busy:

Eating donuts on a string...always fun to watch

Painting a "Proud to be an American" picture

Of course, Thomas's had to include Sonic the Hedgehog

 We let them cool off with the slip n slide and baby pool. We also played a little game of water balloon volleyball. It proved to be a dangerous game with little Parker running around our feet...I ran him over once. Poor guy!

Had a BBQ, unfortunately Andy and Natalie weren't able to stay for that

At night, we played glow-in-the-dark bowling (camera flash doesn't do it justice...it was a neat idea-glow sticks in partially water-filled soda bottles. Natalie put a lot of thought into this holiday fun. Thanks!)

And later, we went to Provo to watch the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire. Some day I would love to see that, but I loved watching the fireworks and amazingly enough, the traffic back home was not horrible! :) It was a fun day and a good time with family!

This is a picture from Thomas's last day of baseball. He is sure improving and was super proud to get another trophy! Way to go Thomas!

Bonding with Becky in Boston

I have wanted to go to Boston and see all the fun historical sites ever since Jared and Brittany were there doing all sorts of fun outings. Well, I didn't make it there then, but I had the opportunity to go this summer. Becky and Joel were so wonderful taking me all around, being my tour guide and taxi:) I had so much fun, and it was a great review on my U.S. History.

Thursday was a beautiful day and perfect for a lot of walking. The first thing Becky had me do was read the children's book "Make Way For Ducklings," which the setting was taken in Boston and talked about the Swan Boats and the ducks finding a home in the Public Gardens. That way, I would know the significance of riding on the Swan Boat. 

 Then we went and found the Mallard Ducks from the book...a favorite for the kids. 

 Here we are on the bridge overlooking the pond which we took the boat ride. There's an island in the background where the Mallard Ducks found there home in the book.

Here we are at Acorn Street

The famous George Washington statue (I saw a lot of statues, monuments, and houses so if I get any of these mixed up, Becky, Jared...someone will have to correct me:)

Then we started our walk along the Freedom Trail. Thank goodness for a nice day and 2 well behaved kids. Aubrey and Parker did amazing! I thought all this was interesting but I'm sure being dragged to various old buildings and tours all day (and week) couldn't have been too exciting for the youngens. 

 Along this trail marks several places significant to the U.S. and the American Revolution.

(If you can't read it, it says: Site of the Boston Massacre)

 Old State House: Boston Massacre by this building

 We got cannolis at Mike's Pastries. Yum! See Parker eyeballing them?:)

 Old North Church where Paul Revere had the lantern signals set in the windows:

"One if by land, and two if by sea; and I on the opposite shore will be."-Paul Revere's Ride

I took a tour of Paul Revere's House

Here's the State Capitol Building

There was so much to see on the Freedom Trail. We got good exercise in our walking all day, right up till we picked up Joel from work and then they took me to Regina's Pizza-THE pizza place in Boston. 

I loved it!

 

 Becky took me to see Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's House, which was also George Washington's Headquarters. I took a tour of it and you could see how Longfellow honored Washington and wanted to know this was his home as he left a picture of him in every room in the house. Beautiful. 

Becky took me to their favorite Japanese restaurant called Wagamamma's for lunch, which I loved, and we walked around Harvard Square for a bit.

 On Joel's Day off, he drove us to Newport, Rhode Island where Becky and I took a tour through the Breaker's Mansion while Joel waited with the kids. So kind. This was the summer home of the Vanderbelt family (he was Pres. of the NY Central Railroad system in 1880s). Amazing! It is huge, and very ornate and elegant... in an Italian Renaissance style.

We stopped by the beach for a bit. Sooo windy, but pretty!

This is from a tower at a cemetery in Boston. Such a gorgeous view...I would love to see it in the Fall! I've discovered I love the cemeteries in Boston.

Another house I toured was Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House (Little Women's home). I found the similarities and differences between the life of the real Alcott's and those from book/movie interesting. I still feel Jo should have married Laurie, but Louisa May never desired to be married and was hesitant enough having to marry off Jo-which portrayed her, so she did it in an unexpected way. And her father was never in the war, but she was a nurse in it. And Laurie didn't really become part of the March family. Some things I never knew. A lot of tours on this trip, but I found them all interesting.

We visited the cemetery where these famous writers are buried: Henry Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, and Ralph Waldo Emerson

 Here we are standing on the Old North Bridge in Concord where shots were taken at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. "A shot heard 'round the world." The site of the first American victory in the war 

This is the side of the bridge the Colonial "Militia" was on

Walden Pond-very peaceful and beautiful. No swimming today, though, much to Aubrey's dismay. It was a bit too overcast for that

Henry D. Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond

And I of course had to touch the toe of the statue at Harvard University... for good luck, I guess. It's a beautiful campus. 

Boston was so fun! The roads are busy and make no sense to me. So many crazy drivers and, of course, no parking. I had a great time seeing all the sites! I also went to the Shake Shack (a big hamburger place there now), got some hot chocolate at some big place there, I can't remember, and went through the Boston Temple. I wish I could have seen the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill but ran out of days to do things. Becky and Joel were so wonderful to take me everywhere. Thank you! I had a great time with my sister! It was funny seeing all the people in her ward do double-takes as they think for a moment I might be Becky. Everyone says we look so much a like, and sometimes we get asked if we're twins:) The Presiding Bishop, Elder Davies (gave a talk in the last conference), was at their sacrament meeting and bore his testimony. He was in Boston for his daughter's wedding. Pretty neat.

I'm so glad I was able to take this much needed and welcomed vacation!