Reunion 2011- Take 1

We look forward to my Kitchen Family reunion every summer every year. It's always a bit (okay A LOT) of chaos, but SO MUCH FUN TOO!
This year we did a repeat location. In 2006 we stayed and played in Gatlinburg, TN and we loved it so much that we decided to go back this year. One of the big draws are the huge family-sized cabins you can rent. The first year we got an 8-bedroom one for everyone + 2 sets of grandparents, but since we've expanded significantly in the past 5 years (2 new spouses and 8 new grandkids) we needed to stretch out a bit. So we got a 4-bedroom cabin for my siblings and their spouses who have kids, and then a littler 3-bedroom one 20 yards away for the no-kids group. We now officially total 14 adults and 14 grandkids. CRAZY! I love this picture- the women cooking and eating in the kitchen, the men in the back corner...

...playing board games. (Jessica gets counted as one of the men since she kicked their trash in nearly every game.)

Where are the kids? They're in the basement!!! Okay so you can't blame them for spending almost every waking moment that we were there, in the basement. This basement rocked! A full surround-sound theatre room, an air hockey table, a pool table, another TV with cable, 2 full-sized arcade games and lots of room for toys. It was so nice to hear loud yells of joy coming from the basement but not really hear from them much other than that.

Baby Jillian was the exception. She didn't venture into the basement but instead just sacked out anywhere she could find a floor. I need a child like this- so cute, female, and sleeps, sleeps, sleeps.

There were a few problems with these cabins. The first was the garbage. You were supposed to leave it outside every morning and it would be picked up. Unfortunately the local black bears were aware of this arrangement and came by every morning (and sometimes in the afternoons) to sample our leftovers. We even loaded up an SUV with all the guys and their loads of trash and sent them off to find a trash bin. No luck! So it all came back and the bears got their feast.

It probably didn't help that we used the picnic table in the gazebos to feed the kids and they tend to drop a few things. The last problem with the cabins were these crazy huge, the size of my index finger long hornets. Apparently they grow that big on years when there are cicadas. And the cicadas were in full force and so were these hornets. Bizarre to see them carry full cicadas back to their nests to eat them.

We all arrived at various times on Saturday and then Sunday morning went to the local ward together. Unfortunately the internet hadn't been updated and we ended up in a spanish branch- really fun for me and a few others, Ethan included, but not so much the rest.

We played games and settled in the rest of the day and when the kids were finally going stir-crazy, the men took them on a walk way-way-way down the mountain and then back up.

The littlest kids slept in the parent's rooms and then the rest slept in basements. Ethan and Isaac were in heaven getting to talk and giggle and play with their cousins until we finally made them go to sleep. The adults enjoyed random movies, games, and some good family history books.

So nice to find a place big enough that we could stretch out and be comfortable but also all be together for meals and hanging out time.

Isaac's Soccer Team

Sorry I can't figure out how to turn this the right way in blogger and it was too cute to not include. Isaac was hilarious to watch in soccer. Not so much interested in playing, but definitely wanted to be part of the team and wanted to play with the other kids- even if a ball wasn't involved.

The End of Swim Meets

All things must come to an end (you noticed I didn't say good :) The swim practices were good, the friends were fun, races at the meets were fun, but BOY were they long and tricky trying to entertain a 1 and 3 year old near a pool they couldn't get into for 3+ hours every week!
As luck would have it, I didn't have to entertain them for Ethan's last meet since we got there and got all set up and Miles promptly threw up. LOVELY! So we missed the meet. Taylor, Grams, Barb and Clint stayed to cheer him on though! (and entertain him with iphones :)


Taylor took a panoramic picture of the meet just so you can see how crazy full the pool area is. Of course it's fenced in and everyone wants to be there and needs their own space, it's just a lot squishy- especially for little brothers.

Ethan getting ready for his first race.

Ready to take off. His final time in the 25 meter backstroke was 33 seconds and in freestyle it was 45. Apparently he takes after Taylor who also naturally took to the backstroke.

Ethan loved his swim practices and swim meets and can't wait for next summer!

More fireworks! More Holidays! Yeah Pioneers!

I admit it, I used to roll my eyes in church every year when "pioneer day" rolled around and every lesson was on pioneers. They don't really mean much when you're a kid and definitely not when you live far away from Utah.
But now I see a different side of celebrating Pioneer day- and that would be one more repeat of the 4th of July every year. More fireworks, more family, more days off work- thank you for being a state holiday- just more fun.
Grams found us some extra tickets to the REAL soccer game so we could all go together. The game was fabulous 4-0 win (with just a little help from a dive by our player that got the other team a red card ejection, eh you win some you lose some).
The best part of the night though was getting to lay down on the field and watch the AMAZING fireworks. Seriously BEST show I have EVER seen!!!

And of course we can't just have 1 night of fireworks. We need to repeat the driveway fireworks which luckily the neighbors put on this time so we just got to bring our chairs and watch instead of buying and setting off. We LOVE have 5 boys right next door and their fabulous parents as friends.

To Yakima we will go

Every since I realized that I truly would be living in Utah the rest of my life and not on the East coast as I'd planned, I've been trying (not so subtly) to recruit my siblings and their families to move here. Utah rocks! And it would be even better if we could get a big group of us close together. But since no one is currently buying into my plan, we have to see my fam when we can. And since my sister Kelli and her husband Dana live just 11 hours away in Yakima, Washington, we decided it was high time we went and saw them and their beautiful state.
We tried to spend as much time outside as possible wearing out our kids so they wouldn't tear apart their apartment. This wooden play area was PERFECT! Seriously old school great!
Tire swings.

Castle towers with slides and hidden staircases.

Tire swings for all 3 boys. How long has it been since you've seen one of these???

And we loved the little adult gazebo rest area complete with shade and benches.

Okay and the view wasn't too hard to look at either. Yep dad, that's a bike path in the picture there. I know you're drooling. And since we were in fertile growing areas we had to stop at a farm and pick blueberries. See how many berries are in my bucket? Yep, that would be a big, fat ZERO since someone -ahem- wouldn't stop eating them.

Taylor and Ethan hard at work. Seriously though, how beautiful is it there?

Dana was nice enough to teach Isaac how to find and pick the really good ones.

Which wasn't really hard since there's were millions of ripe berries. So I showed Miles and let him go to town picking and eating and picking and eating and only occasionally stealing from my bucket.

Okay, so even with his picking he still couldn't resist raiding my bucket. Can you blame him?

Isaac got in on the chowing action too.

Ethan ate a few but was much more interesting in competing to see who filled their bucket the most. He hasn't inherited any of that Kitchen competitiveness has he?

The whole group hard at work.

Of course when even the big boys stop picking at start eating and even start trying to catch berries in their mouths, you know you've had just about as much fun as you can handle for one evening.

We only spent 3 days with Kelli and Dana but it was SO NICE. Nice to see them, nice to be away from dishes, and cooking, and laundry, and checking the internet and all the normal daily things that consume our lives. Just nice to hang out and be with family. We broke the drive into 2 half-days each way which worked marvelously with the boys. Ethan and Isaac were entertained by an endless supply of movies and Miles, well, he found the snack back and helped himself to more sugar than I care to admit. Yep, he's double fisting the suckers. Oh well, he's happy and entertained and honestly didn't cry once the whole way up and back. Now that's a miracle- a mostly quiet (except for the sound of movies and suckers) 22 hours in the car with a 6, 3, and 1 year old.

Thanks for letting us visit! We can't wait to see you in 2 weeks!

July 4th Weekend with the Cousins

One of the best parts of living in Salt Lake is having family so close. And because both Taylor's parents and his mom's father live here, we get to see Taylor's aunts and uncles and cousins everytime they come to visit. His cousins are actually more like my kid's cousins since Taylor's 30 and they're 11, 14 and 16. And my boys LOVE them.
They are from California where setting off your own fireworks is illegal so they almost always try to visit over the 4th so they can set some off here.
Launching parachutes is a daytime favorite. Russ sets them all off.
And Isabella and Sophia help my boys find them.

We swim, we go to movies, we eat big family dinners, we bowl, but everyone's favorite is sitting out in the driveway EVERY night to set off LOTS of fireworks. And aerial fireworks are legal now so the show has gotten much better.

Of course our kids normally go to bed at 7:30 and it's not really dark until 9:30 so we've got a good amount of time to kill before starting the show.

Ethan and Isaac have no problem performing scooter "tricks" for everyone.

Miles was at first VERY afraid of the fireworks. We're talking freaking out, clawing his way up me like a cat. And even when we were inside he'd do the same thing everytime he heard a boom. Luckily Taylor is very patient and helped him work through his fears. Apparently saying "boom" everytime you hear a boom makes it all better.

And while it's entertaining to watch Ethan and Isaac ride scooter, thankfully we had a better option. When Taylor's parents redid their pool a few years ago, they also added a gas firepit. WE LOVE IT!!! No need to leave your own backyard to have a semi-authentic camping experience. Or even better, just roast your mallows out back and then sleep in your own cozy bed.

Did someone like his smores? Yes he did!

Perfect for waiting until just the right amount of darkness has arrived.

Let the show begin!

No driveway fireworks would be complete without inviting the neighbors. Here's the 2 Ethan Wallace's.

And just for a little more entertainment we went to the local 4th of July street fair. Couldn't pass up the giant balloon swords.

Our cute licorice samurai- Sophia and Ethan.

And the highlight of the weekend is always the buffet and fireworks at the local country club. Mack and Sam and Barb and Clint came in town for the weekend and my brother Jeff and Jessica also came up. My kids were so outnumbered by loving and fun aunts and uncles they couldn't choose between them and just went from one horsey ride to the next.

So nice to have family close.

And of course once it got too dark to horse around we pulled out the glow sticks. This is Isaac's vogue pose.

Milo kind of has a crush on Jessica. Can you blame him?

Here's the whole group.

Who knew our camera has a fireworks setting???

Pretty cool, and no flash to disturb others!

After a late night of fireworks we were only up for a little swimming. Everyone else had the same idea. Isabella, Miles, and Isaac.

Mack and Sam are the best aunts/uncles to have in the pool.

Honestly, who else helps you slam dunk?

Of course Miles only last a little while since he has 0% body fat.

Without my kids swarming him for just one moment Mack had to try out the shark himself.

But of course my kids noticed and then begged for their own turns.

And since we're still working on our taking turns skills, Mack and Sam were kind enough to help them both balance and ride.

One of the easiest, funnest weekends we've had all year! Can't wait for Christmas when we'll all be together again!