LeBaron Reunion - 2014

Last week was the LeBaron reunion in Utah. We camped up in the mountains about an hour from Park City, Utah. 

We pulled our trailer to Utah and had a day and a half to play in SLC before heading up into the mountains. We arrived Monday afternoon and checked into an RV park in SLC. Then we went to pick up Grandma and Grandpa LeBaron. We went to a fun sporting goods store then we took them out to dinner with us. 

After dinner we took them back to our trailer with us so we could play games. It was so HOT in SLC. The temperature on our car read 112 when we left the RV park to go pick up Grandma and Grandpa. Luckily our trailer has a great air conditioner. We played some cards, ate treats and had fun visiting the them. 

Kia loved having Grandpa visit.

When we took them back to their place they asked Brooklyn to play the piano that they have in one of their dinning rooms. Brooklyn didn't have any music with her. But she is amazing and has a lot of her music memorized. So she played for a good half hour for them. 

Tuesday afternoon we headed up into the mountains. Luckily where we were camping it was cooler then in SLC. Here is a funny picture of Shane and Steve moving a tent from one campsite to another!

One of Steve's brothers (Jeff) decided that grandma and grandpa had to come and join us at the reunion. They love camping but since mom's stroke a few years ago and dads health it just makes camping really hard for them. But Jeff was determined. So he arrived at the campsite a day before grandma and grandpa did so he could prepare for them. Before he left to go camping he got on Craig's List and found two motorized jazzy chairs for mom and dad so that they could move around the campsites more easily. He got a great deal on them. We were all so excited for grandma and grandpa to come. The grandkids were especially excited to see them use their new motorized chairs. Grandma LeBaron with her jazzy new wheels!

Grandpa LeBaron with his jazzy new wheels! 

Look at the faces of those adorable grandkids! They were just excited about the jazzy chairs as Grandma and Grandpa were.

Jeff and Sue brought a huge two room tent for Grandma and Grandpa. They brought a regular bed from home and added taller legs to it so that Grandma could get in and out of bed easily. 

Inside the tent they had a separate room with a small table that had a computer so that Grandma could watch movies at night if her leg cramps kept her from sleeping. They also brought a porta-potty and built it up on a block of wood so that it was the right height for Grandma. 

Jeff and Sue did a great job providing a 5 star hotel suite for Grandma and Grandpa. They were so happy to be with us and everything worked out great.  

One morning Steve decided to get up early and make homemade scones for his mom and dad and anyone else who wanted to join us for breakfast. The recipe he uses is his mom's. She used to make them all the time when her kids were still living at home Steve made the scones totally by hand. No electric mixers! They tasted so so good.

Getting ready for some delicious scones.

Grandma enjoying a scone her son Ralphy made for her!

We had lots of campfires together. One night Steve's Brother Brad played his guitar for us.

Allysa also played a few songs for the kids to sing too.  

We took Kia with us. She was so good and had a great time with all the little cousins. She especially liked chasing all the tiny chipmunks that ran through camp.

I had fun playing games with some of the nieces and nephews.

Steve enjoyed playing horseshoes with his brothers.

The night our family was in charge of dinner we made dutch oven brownies for dessert and served them with vanilla ice cream. Here are Steve and Brooklyn making the brownies. 

One night after dinner we played the "whipped cream" game with them. Looks like Steve wasn't so lucky! He missed his mouth and the whipped cream ended up on his glasses!

Steve's brother Shane decided it would be funny to take the can of whipped cream and decorate Grandpa LeBaron's face! 

He was such a good sport! The kids loved it and laughed and laughed!

We went to the lake every day to play and cool off. Here are Steve and I kayaking.

 Enjoying the lake.

Across the lake from the beach we were using was a rope swing. All the older cousins and uncles had fun jumping into the lake. It's about a 25 to 35 foot drop! Crazy high! Here is Brooklyn jumping!

Brooklyn jumping.

She did it! Several times! Crazy girl!

Tate, Landon and Tanner all jumped together using the same rope! CRAZY!

Brooklyn and Jenna waiting on the hill for their turn on the rope swing.

 One of Steve's brothers (Chad) made a smaller/shorter rope swing. Steve didn't do the bigger swing because he didn't want to take a chance of hurting his back. But he did this smaller swing and enjoyed it. 

 

Weee......

 

Chad brought his compound bows and we did a little shooting.

 

Brooklyn with Ryan.

 

Before we left Saturday night to head home we took a family picture. There were only 16 missing from this picture. It was so fun to have most of the family there for the reunion. We had a great time. It's wonderful to be a part of such an amazing family. 

Smith Reunion - 2014

In early July we had the Smith Reunion up in Island Park, Idaho at Jon and Julie's cabin on the Snake River. As part of our reunion we celebrated my parents 80th birthdays and their 60th wedding anniversary. 

On our drive to Island Park we saw lots of beautiful rainbows. Here is a double rainbow.

Check out that sky! Beautiful!

This was our view from the cabin. It's so beautiful there. 

We rode the go-cart and...

we rode the motorcycles

Brooklyn even rode the motorcycles.

One day we went shooting guns,

Brooklyn taking a turn shooting the pistol

Steve brought his bows and arrows and had fun shooting them. 

Steve helping Erika with the bow and arrow.

Steve helping Lexi too.

We floated the river almost everyday.

Getting ready to float.

Mackenzie and Ian were able to join us for a few days near the end of the reunion. Here we are getting ready to float the river AGAIN!

Brooklyn found this snake while floating the river. 

 One day we went horseback riding.

Brooklyn on her horse.

Me and my cowboy!

Brooklyn feeding the horses.

 Here is one of the guides that was with us on our ride. If you look closely at the picture you'll see that Steve has some serious strawberries and scratches on his face and arms. As we were getting ready to go out on the trail Steve's video camera that he had clipped to his backpack came un-clipped and fell to the ground and spooked his horse. The horse took off running and bucking. Watching this happen was so scary like it was all happening in slow motion. Steve pulled back on the reins and the horse reared back on to his back feet.  Steve realized that the horse wasn't going to stop so he rolled off the side of the horse and fell to the ground. I was so worried that the horse was going to step on him or worse that he'd hurt his back. Steve lied on the ground for a while until he felt ok and then got up. He had some scratches on his face and arms but his back felt ok. What a miracle he wasn't hurt any worse. This experience really shook the family as we all watched it happened. But we did have a great time out on the trial after we got over the initial shock of Steve's crazy horse. And they did give Steve a different horse thank goodness. 

Group picture after we went horseback riding. Grandma Smith wasn't able to go with us because she was sick that day.

Uncle Steve filmed a bunch of videos with all the younger cousins. He is making a movie for them. The BLOB 4

 Here are Jack and Lexi moving the "Blob" (blue jello)!

Uncle Steve and the kids making props for their movie.

More movie filming!

One night the little kids asked Uncle Steve to come sit at their table for dinner. He felt honored sitting at the "kids" table!

Mackenzie taking a turn riding the motorcycles.

Grandma and Grandpa Smith with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. There were only two grandchildren missing from this picture. Kyle is on a mission in New Zealand and Michael had just started his new job so he wasn't able to come.

The night we celebrated my parents 60th wedding anniversary and 80th birthdays we made hand cranked homemade ice cream. Here is Lexi taking a turn cranking.

Grandpa Smith and Riley testing out the ice cream. 

 On the 4th of July we drove to Yellowstone and watched the play "Beauty and the Beast" at the Playmill Theatre. It was excellent. As is tradition after the play we all went to get ice cream. 

 The last day we took some family pictures. Not everyone in the family was there but most of us were. What an awesome family to be a part of. 

 I love this picture of some of the older cousins.

 We had such a fun week spending time together. We feel so blessed to be a part of such an amazing family.