Swings and slides

Kolton loves to swing... what a surprise I know. He is so adorable. We went to a kitchen exchange and he loved it.
I had to wedge a blanket around him to help him stay upright.
But he is a growing boy!
At playgroup one of his admirers wanted to hold him. She is so sweet with him and always wants to "pet" him. So cute!
We took advantage of the heat and Kate set up a new slide and pool in the front yard while Brian was at gun club. The kids loved it.
Weeeeee
There were plenty of contraptions inside the house to keep the babies entertained.

The end

We were very sad to see our family reunion come to an end. It felt too short, too fast, too over. I'm really grateful that we have the opportunity to get together every other year so that the cousins can play and the parents can hang out. Also, it was kind of everyone to come to us since we had the newest baby. Cami had matching t shirts made for her family and they were cute!!!
Plus, the fam willingly posed for lots of cameras! Cami made delicious cafe rio style pork salads for dinner the last night.
And Danielle enjoyed some more cherries.
Nic and Karla got cake and ice cream in honor of both Logan's and Jared's upcoming birthdays. I didn't hear a word of complaint.
The following morning we got up and had a big family picture taken by the amazingly talented KayLynne Kroshus. Then we attended Stake conference and gave everyone the big sendoff. It was sad, but what a wonderful time we had together.
We were surprisingly coordinated considering we didn't plan on getting a big family shoot.... well with the exception of dad who showed up in a blue suit!!! Oh well. It cements him as the distinguished oldest generation of the photo :)

Tahoe

Day three was spent at my favorite place on earth. It was wonderful. The kids played and played and played some more. In fact, when asked what their favorite day was they unanimously agreed Tahoe day was the best. Danielle ate her weight in sand.

And Ekco spent roughly 11 minutes out of the water. Xiana prides herself on her ability to "swim" with arm floaties. She can't actually swim, though I think she will be easy to teach as she naturally kicks her legs and uses her arms to get around. Ekco is a good little swimmer already.
This was Kolton's first time in Tahoe. I expected him to freak out, but he surprised me. He didn't even flinch at the icy water. Still, he spent the majority of the day in his tent on the sand. Daddy hung out with him quite a bit which was nice for me.
He sure was cute out there!!!
The girls stuck together at the lake too while the boys ventured a little farther, were a little braver, and got a little more burned.
There was a lot of sand castle building, and floating on tubes. I am so impressed with how well all the boys can swim. The lessons have really paid off.
I meant to get a picture of each family, but I fell short!
nap time with daddy. I'm pretty sure they both slept.
We brought cherries and Danielle thought they were delicious.
I believe this castle was complete with a mote.
What a fun and relaxing way to spend the day. The kids got on their rafts and then held on to each other to stay together.
It was a beautiful day, and I got to swim out to the buoys 3 times!!!
I always think there is something poetic about the back of people in front of water.
This little man was such a trooper and won the award for the cutest 3 month old on a raft.
He fell asleep on the raft as did Danielle. I said it was soothing!!

Dinners

Dinners were a pretty serious event around here. Mom and Dad set up many tables outside in order to accommodate all of the family. Without and persuasion, the boys sat at one table, the girls at another, and the adults at a third. It's interesting how we pair off even as young children. Every meal was delicious and it was so much fun to eat together as a family. Most days this was our only opportunity to get to talk to one another.
The girl table...
The boy table...
And the adult table. I'm sure there were many years where my parents and siblings feared there would only be a boy table. Our family is boy strong.
The second day trip of our reunion was Wild Waters. I didn't take many pictures, but this was a must have. My dad is WILD at water parks. He loves them. He is like a little kid on Christmas constantly going up and down the slides. This was a fun trip for me too because I actually had people (mom) there to hold the baby while I went down a slide or two. This slide, however, I opted out of because last time I got such bad whiplash. That didn't stop dad. He even went on it twice despite the fact that he looked like a crash test dummie with his head dragging behind his body. Even writing this makes me chuckle at how hysterical it was. The next slide we went on was a body slide and he had strained the muscles in his neck so dramatically that he couldn't hold his head up on the slide. He got to the bottom after me and I watched in horror as he looked like a dead fish drowning in a few inches of water... that is until he stood up laughing so hard he was crying. Then I joined in and couldn't stop laughing for the rest of the day. The image is burned into my mind. It was funny. there was a woman standing by who commented that she was considering going on that slide, but wasn't anymore!
It's hard to appreciate the angle of this slide from the pictures, but it's steep!
Brian must have really strong neck muscles because he went on this slide again and again and never once snapped his neck. He kept saying, just hold your head up....easy for him to say!
Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
Because Ekco loves all things water she had an absolute blast! I fondly remember my days spent at Wild Waters when I was a 10-year-old girl. She even grew braver and went on some slides unlike last year. She is definitely growing up.
Xiana was her usual water bunny fearlessly sliding self.
She must have gone on the tube slide 100 times! She had such fun playing with Anna and Nicole and Eva, but when they refused to continue to go on the slide, she just went right on by herself.
That night for dinner Larissa utilized our garden making a cucumber salad and sauteed zucchini and squash. Another delicious meal!

The great race

That evening Nic and Karla had Mexican food catered and it was amazing. We teased them about being Californified because they had a caterer, but it was marvelous. Plus, we ate leftovers the rest of the reunion!
The guacamole and salsa were delish! La fuente! Bon apetite... oh wait, that's the wrong language!
Promptly after dinner Brian and I came up with some games so we headed to the park. We had 3 different races and opted to organize each race by gender. We let the girls go first. The initial race was the shoe race. Each contestant has to remove their shoes and line up on the starting line. Brian then took the bag of shoes to the finish line where they were to find and put shoes on before racing back to the starting line.
There may have been a male interference of the girls' shoes... But they still had a good time.
The boys followed where Jared, without shoes, had an unfair advantage.
To be perfectly honest I can't remember who won either race... I think Nicole won the girls and Zachary won the boys....
Next they had to squeeze a ball between their knees and try to walk without dropping it. Brian had to continually move the finish line closer. Otherwise this would have taken all night.
Every time one of them would get remotely close, they would drop the ball and have to start over.
Finally they discovered hopping...
Which led to a very speedy boy's race.
of pure hopping!
The final race for the kids was a 3 legged race. At the starting line, I was feeling a bit sorry for poor little Xiana and Jared. They are so little and didn't stand a fighting chance. I coached Xiana and told her to count one two one two in order to step in sequence. I think Jared thought I was crazy because he looked at me like I was speaking a different language. The race was on...
And putt putt putt said Little Red. This was a classic tortoise and a hare tale. The bigger girls kept falling and falling while the two little ones steadily gained on them.
Everyone was hooting and hollering and the kids were hysterically laughing as they feel down again and again...
While Jared and Xiana acted like they always walked with their legs tied together. Not only did they win, but they made it look effortless. Who would have though? It was hysterical!
Next up were the boys. Again, I thought it an unfair pairing for Ammon and Zachary to be together due to their vast height difference...
But once again, they went against all odds...
And took the gold!
The only adult race was the egg toss. We let the older kids participate as well. Perhaps we shouldn't have! It was a night for the underdogs. Ekco and Noah ended up beating us all. This was no small feat either. The final toss was substantially far away from each other. They were so proud. It was darling!
Brian claims I hurled the egg at him. Fortunately, neither of us got creamed by an egg.
I can't say that everyone was so lucky!
Some of the eggs were amazingly strong and bounced rather than cracking.
It was a rip roaring good time and we brought medals for all... and whistles which I am happy to report stayed at the park.
It was a fun night, until someone locked my keys in my car (not mentioning any names). That was a bummer since we do not have a spare. The boys attempted to break in for a while but were unsuccessful in doing so. We called a locksmith just in time for Brian to get it open. My dad was kind enough to pay the fellow half his charge for all his hard work.
That's pretty much how I felt!
And Zachary got the worst of the egg... by far. What a wonderful time spent with family. I daresay EVERYONE had a great time!