After what seemed like a very long drive (it was 5 hours), we finally made it to Utah, and just in time for dinner. The kids were so happy to run around and be wild in the backyard. At some point, Kendall was climbing the tree, and a little cousin (who shall remain un-named) started throwing apples at people. None of the adults, caught up in conversation, noticed until Kendall came running to me because this cousin had thrown an apple at her nose. Meanwhile, while I was checking her nose, I got hit in the eye by an apple. I wanted to cuss so badly! For real! It hurt AF! My eye was watering for like 10 minutes. Just the one eye. Couldn't stop it. Fortunately, while I was cussing under my breath, and after I told the cousin in my calm, but mean voice, to drop the remaining apples, the older cousins went to get his parents and he got in trouble for throwing the apple at Kendall, who was still crying. I didn't have it in me to get him into more trouble by telling his parents I had been hit, too. Why am I writing about this? It does seem super silly now, but, like I said, it hurt AF.
This is what happens when your nieces get a hold of your phone...
I am always amazed at the beautiful sights of Utah.
The following day, we headed to Park City where Dave and his family joined us. The Alpine Slide was a success, even if the lines were ridiculous (like 1 to 1-1/2 hour). Since I was limited with Alexis, I stood in line a lot to save these other guys some time. Fun... Lily was super nice, though, and held Alexis for a while so that I could go on a ride with all the kiddos. Billy, of course, held her a few times, too. The kids loved all the rides, but I was mostly impressed with Taylor on the rope course. He rocked it! I swear he must be part-monkey. And the highlight of it all? Kendall lost a tooth! We made sure to keep it safe so that the tooth fairy could come visit her that night while she slept on the top bunker in a bedroom with 4 other kids. Yes, that must have been pretty tricky for the tooth fairy to be that sneaky. By the time we left, Alexis was pooped, even though she had taken a nap on me earlier. I mean, she stayed asleep while I changed a poopy diaper. That NEVER happens. She twists and turns, and attempts to wiggle or stand, every single time. It sure made it easier.
Dinner time with 15 kids and 10 adults was fun! Dave and Carissa made dinner the first night (Hawaiian), we made breakfast the morning of the 4th (crepes), Bill and Ruby made sandwiches for lunch, and Paul and LeiLani made dinner (Chinese). On the day of the departure, Lily and Marcus made breakfast (pancakes and sausages). It was a lot of work to cook for that many people, but, believe me or not, I tripled my recipe and only had 1 crepe extra! Pretty well calculated. And I had actually left some batter, thinking that my pile of crepes was already humongous, but I ended up having to use it to make 6 more crepes, and had the extra 1 left.
Between the hot tub, the pool table, the tv, and of course, just being with cousins, the kids had a blast!
The parade of the 4th was really fun, although it was super hot. Like, almost Arizona-hot, but humid. My hair did not like that.
We took advantage of this time to get some pictures of the whole family. I'm actually still waiting on some of those pictures, but this is what I have so far. Alexis did surprisingly awesome being held by Grandma. And then in the cousins' shots, I'm actually behind her, down the hill, holding her and making sure she didn't fall back. LOL
Thanks for Paul and LeiLani. They planned some super fun Minute-to-Win-it games. The kids all had a blast, and the adults, too. And yes, that is Billy going against me in a race to move cotton balls from one plate to another using our nose covered in vaseline. He won :-( I couldn't get the cotton balls to come off my nose. I was blowing my nose at first, then I started using the border of the plate, but by the time I had figure this out, it was too little too late.
Our 4th of July family picture! Kendall wasn't in the mood for pictures since leaving Arizona, so most of the Vegas and Park City pictures show her frowning. I can only shake my head, but I know someday I will laugh at this. She won't...
This picture is kinda funny. I had put Taylor in time-out for pushing Koa, who is 4 years younger than him. Everybody that witnessed it said Koa had been super annoying and was asking for it. To me, that didn't justify his action, so I told him to sit by the stair and chill. Next thing I see is Eli going over to sit by Taylor and keep him company. And then Ashlyn joined as well. Cute cousins...!
This one cracks me up, too. Spencer would make this Weeee sound with his arms raised up, and every time he did it, Alexis would reach out to him and hug him. It was the cutest thing, ever. I wish someone would have caught it on video.
Grandma played Peek-a-boo with Alexis, and she loved the attention.
The 4th of July fireworks were pretty cool, but the view of Park City at night was even better. Too bad the kids missed it. They thought the glow sticks were more fun and battled with them during the entire show.
This one cracks me up, too. Teenagers... *sigh*
On the last morning, we had Grandma and Grandpa lead the group in some exercises. It was silly and totally hilarious. Kendall is pictured here giving the "This is stupid, I'm not doing this. I don't want to embarrass myself like all of you, fools" look.
Back in Provo we went to see Despicable me 3. Going to the movie theater with 25 people is quite an experience!
The kids were a lot more into the fireworks back at Grandma and Grandpa's house. They were the bomb! And some were... not exactly legal... at least not in Utah. Those were the best. Although one did go shooting into the neighbor's yard, and while we were looking to make sure it didn't start a fire, another one came shooting right at us. One hit Ashlyn's leg, another hit Billy's leg, and I'm pretty sure one was coming to my chair, but I jumped out of that chair so fast to rescue Alexis and myself, that I'm not exactly sure what happened. Fortunately no one else was hurt. But I can see why these were illegal.
We took the opportunity to quickly stop by the Provo City Temple. The building caught on fire some years ago, and it is nice to see it as a temple now.
We had a great time and are already talking about the next reunion, hopefully next year. It's so fun to have some many cousins, and especially for Logan and Taylor who were born the same year as Charlie and Kai. 4 boys, 5 months apart. You can't ask for anything better. Poor Kendall doesn't have any girls her age, but the older girls did a great job including her into their activities, even if Kendall didn't always think so and went off pouting in a room.
And now for the rental house, which was totally sick! And I mean that in a good way. Everybody had their own room (except for the 5 cousins, Kai, Luke, Charlie, Logan, and Kendall) who slept in the bunk bed bedroom, by choice. And everybody had their own bathroom attached to the bedroom. The dining table sat 18 people, the hot tub could have fit at least 10 adults (we didn't try), and the kitchen was banging. The whole house was just huge. 3 floors and you could have got lost in it. It was perfect for our family.
