Bear Lake Family Reunion

Every year my Dad's family gets together for the "Bear Lake Family Reunion." It's usually a week in August - Monday thru Thursday, but people have started going earlier on Saturday and Sunday and some even go on Friday. Anyway, so you get the idea that it's about a week long adventure! A couple months ago we just decided we weren't going to go because of taking time off work, gas prices, other reunions, etc... But about a week or so ago I just felt that Kason would LOVE playing in the water and would just enjoy being up there. Last year he was 8 months old and not really old enough to enjoy it. This year, he's a year older (obviously! haha!), is walking, and is so curious about everything! So we decided to go up Saturday night and camp in our tent and head back home Sunday. Thank you to my aunt Sue for letting us put our tent on your spot at the last minute!!!

So, on Saturday, we drove up to Bear Lake, ate lunch at the famous La Bous, then headed to the camp ground. We changed into our swim suits and went down to the lake but when we got down there I realized I forgot the towels in our bag! So about 10 minutes later we went back up to the campsite and decided to put up our tent. After we got "organized" we headed back down to the lake and had LOTS of fun...

Mommy and Kason playing in the sand

Kason doesn't quite know how to use the shovel so after a while he just grabbed the sand and put it in the bucket

Daddy and Kason playing with the little boat

I think Kason was about ready to fall asleep!

I don't think Kason likes his new life jacket!!! Poor kid - that thing looks so uncomfortable!

Later that night, we decided to get some pizza and I don't think that was a very smart idea! It was the last day of "Raspberry Days" and there were so many people EVERYWHERE!!! It took us 2 hours to get our pizza and it was hard keeping Kason entertained for so long (the only nap he had was the 20 minute car ride to the pizza place so he wasn't very happy!). After we finally got our pizza and each of us eating a slice, we boxed up our pizza and left!

After a long and exhausting day, it was time for bed. Kason went to sleep right away and we were all sleeping great till about 3:30am! It started to rain then the wind picked up - it was loud and very strong! Kason slept through the whole thing! I was very surprised he didn't wake up. Our tent held on pretty good though. It leaked just a little but we survived the night - haha!

On Sunday we just packed up our stuff, hung out with family, and we left at about 2:00. It was a FUN but CRAZY trip! We were all definitely ready for our own beds last night! Kason slept all night long (lately he's been waking up just needing his binki, or stays awake for 2-3 hours!) so it was VERY nice to get a great nights sleep!!!

Good old "Micky Dee's"

Yesterday my sister-in-law, Beth, picked us up and we went to McDonalds for lunch - mainly for the "play place" for the kids. This was Kason's first experience with a play place! He LOVED it! He was too little to climb around in the tubes by himself, but he loved walking around the whole place. His cousin, Mason (the one I watch), would chase him and Kason just giggled and squeeled with delight. Maybe in a few months he'll be able to do the tubes and slides by himself???

That's my arm trying to get Kason to crawl in there and stand up. He didn't quite know what to think about it all!
"This is AWESOME!!!"

Playing outside

I took some pictures of Kason playing outside today and had to share some of them. He found the chalk and decided to try to draw with them - just lines but he was having fun with it! Then he climbed on his castle and had to take a break for a minute and smile for mommy. The little video is of him grabbing dirt in his tiny little hands and moving it to another place. He was doing this for a while when I decided he was being too cute so I had to tape him! If you listen closely he says, "oh no!" twice and it's the cutest thing. Besides "mommy" and "daddy" it seemed like his first words were, "oh man!" Now he's moved onto "oh no!" I'm telling you, he makes us laugh every day!!!

24th of July Weekend

This past weekend we went to our first Family Reunion of the summer. Thursday morning (the 24th) we drove down to Cedar Mountain (Cedar City) and met up with Shawn's immediate family - his Grandma, parents, and 7 of 8 siblings - a total of 32 people! We had dinner and played a couple games, then everyone - except for Shawn, Kason, and I and Shawn's Sister Donna and 2 of her kids (we camped on the mountain) - went back to Shawn's parents to sleep (in Enterprise - about an hour or so from the mountain).

This was a rare sight to see with Kason! He wanted to be running around everywhere but he did pretty good sitting on his Great-Grandma's lap!
For dinner, we had navajo tacos and homemade ice cream for desert. Shawn took a turn at cranking the ice cream machine and Kason wanted to help as well.
Kason taking his turn at hitting the pinata.
I just loved the face Kason was giving me - "Do you mind, Mom? I'm trying to drive here!"

Friday (the 25th) we drove to Shawn's parents and spent the day doing fun stuff around their house. Later that night we had a hot dog roast and smores.

Kason riding on the 4-wheeler with Beth (Shawn's sister) and her 2 kids, Skyler and Terryn.It was REALLY nice to have nieces that were old enough to watch Kason! These two, Sydnie and E'owyn, LOVED to chase after him. They are sitting on Grandpa's tractor.

Shawn decided it would be fun to take Kason for a ride on the motorcycle! I thought he was CRAZY, but Kason seemed to like it.

Saturday (the 26th) was the day of the HUGE Terry Reunion. Shawn's Dad has 11 siblings (or maybe there's 11 all together - I forgot) and they all get together once a year at their Ranch. There were at least 150 people there! I also got to celebrate my Birthday on this day! I am now 28 years old - geeze, I feel old, but I guess it's all a part of life, huh! It was a good day at the ranch and I had a fun birthday too.

Kason LOVED this swing! He would have stayed in it all day.

OOOHH!! One happy - HA! Kason's not so happy at the moment - little family!

So there's our weekend in a nutshell! We had lots of fun, ate lots of food, didn't get much sleep, and are happy to be home!

4th of July

I've been wanting to take Kason to a movie for a long time now - just to see how he would do. Friday morning we woke up and I said to Shawn, "Let's go to a movie." Shawn was a little hesitant but gave in haha!!! We went to the mall and decided to go to WALL-E. Kason did pretty well for a little while then he just got antsy and wanted to climb all over the seats. I thought it was a cute movie but I think Kason couldn't "connect" with the robots and I think an hour and a half was just too long for him at this time. I really wanted to take him to Kung Fu Panda so maybe next time...

Later that night, we went to Shawn's sister, BethAnna's house for fireworks. We tried to give Kason a sparkler to hold, but he wouldn't hold the stick - he wanted the sparklie part!!!

Shawn put him on Terryn's bike and he LOVED being on it! It was little big for him but he still had fun being pushed around on it (we went to Walmart on Saturday and found the tiniest bike! It was so cute! It fit Kason perfectly so we may have to go get it - HAHA!!!). He also found Skyler's scooter and tried riding that as well.
This last picture was taken on Sunday. I have the weirdest son but I love him to death. He always finds a way to make us laugh! We had the sliding door open to our porch so he could walk in and out. Well I guess he was thirsty because he walks inside to get his sippy cup of milk then walks outside and lays on the ground and drinks away! I guess the concrete ground is comfier than the carpet?!?!