Hold on to your britches. There are 32 pics here. Maybe that's why I haven't blogged very well here on my family blog lately. I knew I had this big post to deal with. And yet, it still feels like only a tiny portion of this year's reunion story will get told. It was hard this year, dealing with two reunions on the same weekend. It meant missing some or all of our Cox Family Reunion. We compromised this year, going to Zen's family reunion on Friday, and our family's reunion on Saturday.
Not everyone is picture perfect, but this was the best overall shot of all of us on the beach at Bear Lake. I'm glad there were so many of us here! But I hope we get to spend more time together next year. I'm really excited that David and his family are planning on coming next summer. Wahoo!
It was all about the sand this year on the beach.
Sassy frass!
Two days before, Gil took Connor for a ride on the motorcycle on Zen's parents' farm. Of course, he wrecked it, and fortunately it was pretty minor, but I was constantly irritated with Gil and Zen every time I watched Connor hobble around on his injured foot. I'm not sure he's completely healed yet, but I don't know if it's due to an actual chronic injury, or he just got used to limping.
Again, no hot chicks allowed on the beach!
Don't you just want to squeeze his chunky thighs?!
Josh can always be counted on to get out some serious gear to help the kids with their sand castles.
I think Lily managed to get sand everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE.
Dani had a blast in the water all day, and a sunburn to prove it!
My coolio man, who also managed to lose his keys in the water. Oops!
Woohoo! Watch out!
This was pretty much Emma's opinion of deep water for most of the day, "Lemmee out! Lemmee out!"
Gil, goofin' off in the kids' tube.
The Montmeny's brought their turtle, whose name I think was Checkers, and he was very interesting to all the little boys, and some of the girls, too.
This was as close as Emma wanted to get to the water for most of the day.
Our headquarters on the beach, with the state flags from Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming represented. Maybe we can get a flag for David next year!!
Sand makes a lovely condiment.
Liz was definitely the Quilting Queen with her show-and-tell this year, a fabulous nursing quilt!
She was also working on a great quilt inspired by the children's book Barnyard Dance! by Sandra Boynton, a favorite at our house.
Pajammy to the left, pajammy to the right... oh, that's another book.
Mom organized a great lunch. This was probably the point where I threw in the towel on counting my calories. Mom also had wonderful jars of apricot jam to give away from the tree she planted eight years ago in honor of Hope. What luscious jam! We've gone through two jars already, and the third jar isn't going to last much longer, with the many grilled PB&J sandwiches the kids have fallen in love with this summer.
This was probably the last year of the quilt giveaway. All enthusiasm for handmaking quilts has died out. What should we do for next year? Maybe we should just have a big show-and-tell. Actually, I think that could be pretty fun! If you're not crafty, then make up a posterboard or some little presentation of activities that portray your own special kind of talents.
Connor had a blast out in the water, too, and had a matching sunburn just like Dani's. In fact, his sunburn made such an impression on him, that for weeks afterwards, he kept talking about how the sun was out to get everyone.
No, it's not a snowball, it's a sandball.
Tickle toes, tickle toes!
Sleepy Bennett. I think all the kids were feeling like this by the end of the day.
Zen and Dani finally coaxed Emma out into the water.
Dani is so awesome with little kids. I get compliments about her all the time at church, as people watch her with Connor, Emma, and Sam in sacrament meeting.
Miraculously, we had enough energy left after we got home, to clean out the van. Zen even vacuumed it out for me. Fifty gold stars for you!
Dani and Gil were less than enthused about cleaning up.
A little sidenote - Zen had to point out the evidence of my "lead foot." See, over the past ten years I've worn a hole through the car mat, and even through the carpet.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Bear Lake Reunion 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Dream Home Toy Room? Maybe Not
You know, in my dream home there is a BIG toy room, where all the kids' toys will live and the kids can go in there and mess it up to their hearts' content. But would that work, really?
After wallking through a pigsty for three or four days, I put my foot down and the kids and I cleaned the upstairs. Connor and Sam's room, also known as the toy room, often gets neglected, but I was tired of carefully stepping through the mess like it was a minefield. So, we put all the toys away in the right places and vacuumed the cracker crumbs off the carpet. See how clean and lovely it is? But did Connor want to set up his trains in there?
No, he hauled everything out to the hallway and main living area, where all the action is.
I think in my dream home, the toy room will have to merge with the tv room in one big living area, or I'm still going to find toys all over the house! Dang kids!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Four Months Old
Sweet baby Sammy, four months old yesterday. I kiss your little toes! Stay little just a little longer!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
I Pity His Kindergarden Teacher
The locker room, Connor's second day of swim lessons.
Connor started swim lessons this week. His first day was a disaster. He completely freaked out when his teacher insisted he put on goggles and put his face in the water to blow bubbles, and when she tried to carry him around the pool he started fighting with her, pinching and hitting her. When I picked him up (I wasn't there because they tell the parents to go away because they are a distraction), he was bawling his eyes out, and after I talked to his swim teachers, leading him away to the locker rooms, he was still so upset that he threw up on the tile. Thank goodness not in the pool. But good grief! That boy has a brick head, a will of iron. If he makes up his mind that he doesn't want to do something, it's very difficult to derail his train of thought.
I immediately formed a strategy, telling his teacher, who is a no-nonsense kind of gal, that I would bring Connor back to the pool later and work with him to get him ready for class the next day. So, that's what we did. I brought him back that afternoon, and we took things slow and easy, fitting a pair of goggles to his face and he sat on the steps while blowing bubbles in the water. He was resistant every step of the way, "No, I don't want to do that!" but I told him that there was no way he was getting to swim in the new awesome pool if he didn't go to swim lessons. Plus, I threatened to take away his Wii privileges. That almost always produces results.
Connor also got a lot of guff from his Dad, Gil, and Dani. "You hit your teacher?! That is sooo bad!" And everyone gave him a hard time to the point that he was rolling his eyes and holding up his hand, "Okay, I don't want to talk about it anymore!"
The next day went a lot better, almost a total 180, and he did what his teachers told him to do, for the most part. He's still a little resistant, but at least he's not freaking out and hitting people. The no-nonsense gal has taken up the lifeguard position on the sidelines, leaving Connor with the soft-talking-sooth-the-children swim teacher. Frankly, he needs someone to be firm with him, because he's so bull-headed, he's going to run right over a meek personality.
I'm kind of dreading kindergarden because we've had some interesting incidents with him in primary. Once, he was sitting out in the hall pouting because he didn't want to be in sharing time, and he watched until all five adults in the hallway weren't looking, and he snuck off from church and just walked home. We looked all over the church, under tables, in cabinets, and finally we figured out what happened to him. He was just sitting at home, watching tv. Just a few weeks ago, they were discussing birthdays in class, and he got so upset that it wasn't it his birthday yet, that he wound up hiding under the sinks in the bathroom. I had to go in and lay down the law before he'd go back to class. His poor teacher is the soft-spoken kind, and tries to talk him out of his stubbornness, but it hardly ever works. He needs a demonstration of consequences before he will change his train of thought. Sweet-talking and logic don't make a dent. He has to be diverted by an entirely new train of thought or be forced to turn.
His poor kindergarden teacher. I feel a lot of parent-teacher conferences coming my way. Frankly, a part of me is preparing to home school that kid. I don't know yet how bad it's going to be in the more-structured atmosphere of public school.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Pray For Us
1st drive by himself, legally.
His Dad got Gil his own set of keys, after he passed his driver's test yesterday and got his official license. Did Zen have to do that?
Yep, my insurance just went up $112 a month, A MONTH. That's a 130% increase. And that's if he doesn't do anything stupid.