family reunion staycation
My family typically gets together every other year for a big family vacation. In 2010 we went to Florida; in 2011 & 2012 everyone came to Utah for weddings; in 2013 we went to Branson, Missouri; and in 2015 the adults went on a Mediterranean cruise (best. trip. ever!). It's important to us to stay close, so we all make it a priority to be there.
This year, four out of the six families live in Utah, so we decided to try a stay-cation. After all, our numbers are getting pretty big (12 adults, 11 children + 4 babies), so a lot of travel or big activities can be overwhelming!
The week before the reunion, all the moms and kids got to town, so we did a few things together, like swimming and the circus.
About a week before the reunion, all the girls who were here (which ended up being everyone except Anya) went to dinner and an event together. The event was a talk thing put on by one of my favorite podcasters -- Jody Moore. It was fun to do that with so many of the women I love!
Here's a quick breakdown of what we did. The reunion officially started on Monday evening, so not everyone was there for the beginning things.
Sunday: Brandon blessed Parker in church; then we went to a luncheon at Bramy's house afterward.
Monday: Family pictures. This happened right at Ada's bedtime, so her meltdown was a treat! Poor little girl :(
Tuesday (4th of July): Family baseball game at the park. First with everyone, then Mom took all the kids over to the play area of the park and the rest of the adults played a few innings -- "in-laws vs. outlaws" 😂 The in-laws creamed, btw. This isn't a family tradition of ours or anything -- it was actually the first time we've ever done it. It was lots of fun though, until someone got a little too competitive for my taste haha :) Then that evening, everyone came over to our house for a BBQ. We also made fancy s'mores in our fire pit (various cookies/crackers, various chocolates, and various marshmallow flavors).
Wednesday: We went up to Park City. We hit a farmer's market where we tried a few tasty foods and convinced my mom to buy some yummy syrup for french toast the next morning 😋 Some people got in the pool that evening, but Russ and I didn't because Ada was napping. That night, most of the boys watched a movie while most of the girls played a game (only most because our rooms weren't as close as we hoped they'd be, and people weren't comfortable leaving their kids at that distance). As soon as the movie and games were over, we went to join the faraway family for some chatting.
Thursday: Grandma and Grandpa (Mom and Dad) watched all four babies and allowed the rest of us to ride the ski lift and alpine slide! It was lots of fun :) That afternoon we all went swimming. That evening, the boys stayed with the kids (and watched a movie once the kids were all asleep) while the girls went shopping :) I wasn't super in the mood to shop at first (I was so tired and I haven't loved shopping for a while now), but in every store, we all (6) went into a big dressing room to try on our finds and it was just so fun and funny, so I got in the shopping mood. It was pretty crazy how the same shirt looked so different on different bodies!
Friday: We checked out of the hotel and went out to breakfast at a place in PC that my parents love -- Squatters. I got eggs Benedict, and they were SO GOOD. The scones and chocolate chip pancakes were also good. That afternoon we just kind of hung out back at my parents' house. That evening, the boys went to Top Golf while the girls took care of the kids. All the girls and kids went out for dinner (at this burger place that my mom had gift cards for, but which is about 20 minutes away from their house), but I stayed home so I could put Ada to bed on time. She didn't get nearly enough sleep throughout the vacation, so I preserved her naps and bedtime whenever possible. Then that evening we maybe played games, I think.
Saturday: I think we just hung out and played games for the first part of the day. Then that afternoon, we got babysitters and all the adults went to the temple for a sealing session and then out to dinner.
Sunday: Michael blessed Lydia in church and we had a luncheon afterward. We played more games that afternoon.
We also had a family devotional every evening -- a short one with the kids and then a more in-depth one after the kids had gone to bed. Each couple was in charge of one night.
On our night, I compared Nephi and Laman/Lemuel. They all came from the same family, town, and background, yet Nephi was righteous and humble while Laman and Lemuel were wicked and proud. I talked about how our circumstances don't determine our righteousness; we determine our righteousness with the choices we make. We are in complete control of how we act in our lives, so we have to decide how it is we want to act. I got the idea from this podcast I love, but I loved how the scriptures totally backed it up!
Overall, the trip was pretty chaotic. There were lots of kids and lots of babies, and that made for lots of noise and messes. With so much chaos, it was also more difficult to really have quality time to connect with individual people. However, I still enjoyed having time to be together and I'm still glad we make the effort to make it happen. But if I'm being honest, I was pretty excited when we talked about switching to alternating every other family trip to be just adults from now on 😂
This year, four out of the six families live in Utah, so we decided to try a stay-cation. After all, our numbers are getting pretty big (12 adults, 11 children + 4 babies), so a lot of travel or big activities can be overwhelming!
The week before the reunion, all the moms and kids got to town, so we did a few things together, like swimming and the circus.
About a week before the reunion, all the girls who were here (which ended up being everyone except Anya) went to dinner and an event together. The event was a talk thing put on by one of my favorite podcasters -- Jody Moore. It was fun to do that with so many of the women I love!
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| rachel (&lydia), brooke, me, jody, amy (&parker), mom |
Sunday: Brandon blessed Parker in church; then we went to a luncheon at Bramy's house afterward.
Monday: Family pictures. This happened right at Ada's bedtime, so her meltdown was a treat! Poor little girl :(
 |
| photography by Melanie Paxton |
Tuesday (4th of July): Family baseball game at the park. First with everyone, then Mom took all the kids over to the play area of the park and the rest of the adults played a few innings -- "in-laws vs. outlaws" 😂 The in-laws creamed, btw. This isn't a family tradition of ours or anything -- it was actually the first time we've ever done it. It was lots of fun though, until someone got a little too competitive for my taste haha :) Then that evening, everyone came over to our house for a BBQ. We also made fancy s'mores in our fire pit (various cookies/crackers, various chocolates, and various marshmallow flavors).
Wednesday: We went up to Park City. We hit a farmer's market where we tried a few tasty foods and convinced my mom to buy some yummy syrup for french toast the next morning 😋 Some people got in the pool that evening, but Russ and I didn't because Ada was napping. That night, most of the boys watched a movie while most of the girls played a game (only most because our rooms weren't as close as we hoped they'd be, and people weren't comfortable leaving their kids at that distance). As soon as the movie and games were over, we went to join the faraway family for some chatting.
Thursday: Grandma and Grandpa (Mom and Dad) watched all four babies and allowed the rest of us to ride the ski lift and alpine slide! It was lots of fun :) That afternoon we all went swimming. That evening, the boys stayed with the kids (and watched a movie once the kids were all asleep) while the girls went shopping :) I wasn't super in the mood to shop at first (I was so tired and I haven't loved shopping for a while now), but in every store, we all (6) went into a big dressing room to try on our finds and it was just so fun and funny, so I got in the shopping mood. It was pretty crazy how the same shirt looked so different on different bodies!
Friday: We checked out of the hotel and went out to breakfast at a place in PC that my parents love -- Squatters. I got eggs Benedict, and they were SO GOOD. The scones and chocolate chip pancakes were also good. That afternoon we just kind of hung out back at my parents' house. That evening, the boys went to Top Golf while the girls took care of the kids. All the girls and kids went out for dinner (at this burger place that my mom had gift cards for, but which is about 20 minutes away from their house), but I stayed home so I could put Ada to bed on time. She didn't get nearly enough sleep throughout the vacation, so I preserved her naps and bedtime whenever possible. Then that evening we maybe played games, I think.
Saturday: I think we just hung out and played games for the first part of the day. Then that afternoon, we got babysitters and all the adults went to the temple for a sealing session and then out to dinner.
Sunday: Michael blessed Lydia in church and we had a luncheon afterward. We played more games that afternoon.
We also had a family devotional every evening -- a short one with the kids and then a more in-depth one after the kids had gone to bed. Each couple was in charge of one night.
On our night, I compared Nephi and Laman/Lemuel. They all came from the same family, town, and background, yet Nephi was righteous and humble while Laman and Lemuel were wicked and proud. I talked about how our circumstances don't determine our righteousness; we determine our righteousness with the choices we make. We are in complete control of how we act in our lives, so we have to decide how it is we want to act. I got the idea from this podcast I love, but I loved how the scriptures totally backed it up!
 |
| grandma and grandpa and all the grandchildren! (minus two sleeping babies -- beth & lydia) |
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