On the last night, something very strange and unexpected happened. My cousin Brian was shooting off two-liter bottles in the backyard with a launcher he had brought, trying to make it over the roof. And instead of scolding us, Grandpa Wayne was amused and hung out to watch the show. Some relatives hypothesized that he's less uptight because reunions aren't at his house anymore, but he was still making sure everybody kept food off the carpet and was concerned about proper vacuuming. So that doesn't explain it. Besides, why would he be relaxed about shooting plastic bottles at a building he was renting? I don't know what was going on...maybe it was a full moon. That always causes people to act strangely. But this man smiled. And then he laughed! Two things I can count on one hand that I have witnessed before.
Brian is prepping the next bottle at this point to try again after adjusting his angle and pressure to achieve correct trajectory.
Observing the person on the balcony who was filming Brian's attempt.
Houston, we have lift off!
(I like how Shad and Grandpa Wayne have matching expressions in these pictures.)
Looks like it's going to make it!
Success!
Brian is celebrating.
The balcony people are celebrating. I missed the launch, but honestly, I got the better show. I'll see the launch video later.
Minute to Win It games
{Katie, Ellie, Aimie, Ellie}
{Bryson, Camden, Tommy, Austin, Jesse, William}
Samson loved the orange frisbee!
I love this face!
{Parker, Grace, Lynne, Katie Martin, Dancy}
Thora was upset (no surprise) and Momma Lisa was comforting her.
Samson and Tommy
Samson and Eleanor
{Aimie, Ellie, Katie}
{Sam, Katie, Ellie, Grandma Jayne, Aimie, Ellie}
{The Katies}
There's a happy one!
Katie and Emmie hatched a plan to try to prank people with oreos. They scraped out the cream and filled it with toothpaste and gum. I was so proud! I corrected Katie's technique and told her that next time she needs to make sure the toothpaste and gum are WHITE instead of green and pink. No one was really buying it. Here she is trying to prank William.
William knows there's something wrong with this cookie.
But he tried it anyway.
Dancy knew it was a prank cookie, but volunteered as tribute.
This post precedes the Stewart Falls post. My bad.
Not pictured: all the wallyball played in between every activity. Super exhausting to go from a hike to wallyball, break for dinner, and back to wallyball, but it's also really fun!
Uncle Tyler hung a sheet from a balcony to put on an outdoor movie night showing Lego Batman for the kids. The rest of us enjoyed a quiet night inside playing games and hearing ourselves talk.
Thora was playing in the racquetball court with Tommy and her headband got knocked off. It's metal, so we thought it'd be more durable, but there went a kitty ear! She was devastated. But then the next day she told me that if I couldn't fix it, it'd still be okay to wear as a "oomicorn" headband.
And still happy to play in the gym!
{Thora and Austin}
Tommy was so excited any time adults weren't playing in the gym and he could have a chance!
"When she was good, she was very good indeed!"
Wednesday, Amber wanted to get out and see Utah things she had never seen. She asked me about Provo, so I planned a little tour for her with my very limited, never lived there knowledge. We saw the Provo City Center temple, waved to BYU as we drove by, saw the Provo temple, and walked to the Missionary Training Center. That morning Samson was feeling clingy to me, so I opted to bring him with us instead of leaving him behind for Mom to babysit. Shad was out with most of the males and Amanda (Woot! Guy's day plus Amanda!) shooting.
Provo City Center temple.
Provo temple and Amber
I'm so glad we brought Samson with us. He enjoyed the individual time with me, swinging as we walked because there were two adults, and seeing "his" temples. He still talks about how Amber took him to see his temples.
View from the Provo temple.
Checkin out the MTC.
While we were playing Codenames, Vivian ran up to Ally with her mouth full and hand full of M&Ms. Ally, irritated that her two-year-old kept managing to get candy, said, "Gimme those!" and swiped them from Viv's hand into her own mouth. Almost immediately, Ally cried out, "Ugh! This one's a marble!" Ahh, parenthood!
Awesome treats every night! Someone made popcorn balls!
Uncle Michael and Aunt Angie brought an ice shaver and snow cone syrups, so we had snow cones every night. My kids loved that I really let them have a vacation. Every time they came to me to ask if they could have something, do something, stay up late, I told them to stop asking and just be on vacation. Home rules are out the window. If your cousins are doing it and it's not stupid or dangerous, go ahead. If your cousins are eating it, go ahead. If your cousins are staying up late playing Kick the Can and Ghost in the Graveyard, you better get your butt out there and play because when else will you get the chance?
Dancy and Grace, best buddies. They played Barbies one day and staged a double wedding.
Samson and Grace
{Thora and Ellie}
The backyard view. All I wanted to do was hike straight up that mountain and call it Curahee. But apparently it's private land. Because you can OWN a mountain.
