Pearson Family Reunion

Every year my Uncle Dennis plans an amazing family reunion for my mom's side of the family (my aunts, uncles, cousins, and cousin's kids.) They are always so much fun, and this year was no exception. Every year until this year the reunion was at the park near where my mom and her siblings grew up. This year they decided to do something different. The reunion was at Pineview Reservoir. They rented a pontoon boat that they had a tube with and 2 wave runners. And of course, just the water was enough to keep the kids busy.

First we made sure everyone had life-jackets (that fit perfectly of course), and Andrew was happy to demonstrate the perfect fit.

My girls started out just playing in the lake, just in the water and the mud.

When the wave-runner came back in Paul hopped on with Kaylee and went out for a ride, then came back and dropped off Kaylee and went out riding on his own. He was trying to see just how much he could do on the wave-runner he was trying to flip it over. He didn't succeed in flipping the wave runner, but he had TONS of fun.

There was also the pontoon boat, as well as the tube being pulled behind the boat. The kids all loved going out on the boat!

A few people (who didn't like the smell of the lake, and the temperature by the lake) hung out in the pavilion where it wasn't quite so hot.

After everyone was done playing with the boats and they had to be returned it was time for dinner. We had a catered dinner: ribs, chicken, potatoes, corn on the cob, the works. It was delicious!

Flashback Friday

This is my favorite picture of Gabby and Marla. They are so cute on the slide on the play set in my parent's backyard. This picture was taken in May 2009. Kaylee and Gabby love visiting Grandma and Papa's house, and playing with Marla.

Weekly Review - July 4-10

Sunday, July 4 - For the 4th of July my whole family came over to my parent's house for a BBQ. Brenda and Kaylee made homemade Root Beer and Kaylee had so much fun stirring the dry ice into the root beer. (Check out my other post with a video of her stirring the root beer...very entertaining.)

Monday, July 5 - Since Independence Day was on a Sunday this year we did most of our festivities on Monday. Marla put out her slip n' slide, and kiddie pool; the kids helped Papa make homemade ice cream, we had ribs for dinner, and then finished our day with a fireworks show put on by Paul.

Tuesday, July 6 - My mom bought new chairs at Ikea and Gabby loved the packaging from the chairs. She used 2 cardboard strips as ski's to ski around the house. We stopped her from trying downhill skiing on the stairs, but she had lots of fun cross-house skiing.

Wednesday, July 7 - My friend Nicola invited us to go swimming with them at a pool near their house. It was so much fun seeing them again. After we were done swimming we headed over to Arctic Circle for some treats.

Thursday, July 8 - I took Falkor to see the groomer for the first time. He really needed a good haircut, and he looks much better (and so much smaller without all the fluff).

Friday, July 9 - We went to This is the Place Heritage Park for the free family fun day. The kids did crafts, rode the train, got old-fashion pictures, and played.

Saturday, July 10 - I started out my day bright and early with my little sister Brenda. We went and picked up our Bountiful Baskets from the pick-up location. It's a laundry basket (or 2 of the small round laundry baskets) full of fruits and veggies for $15. It's pretty awesome. After I got back from picking up our basket Paul went to help his brother Chris work on his new house. Then I went to my sis-in-law Jess' baby shower and my little sister Marla took Kaylee and Gabby to the Days of '47 Pioneer Day Horse Parade.

Days of '47 Horse Parade

Yesterday I went to my sister-in-law's baby shower, and while I was gone to the baby shower my little sister Marla and her former roommate took Kaylee and Gabby to the Pioneer Day Horse Parade in Sandy. They met up with Wendy, Spencer, and Roman and watched 500 horses in the parade. Gabby ended up with puffy red eyes, and a stuffy nose, and not very pleasant with her allergies. It looked like they had fun from the pictures that Wendy was nice enough to send me though. After the parade Marla and Tiffany took the girls to lunch at the mall, and let them go on the carousel before heading back home.

This is the Place Park - Family Fun Day

On Friday we went to This is the Place Heritage Park for their annual fun day as part of the days of '47, Pioneer days events. We went to the family fun day last year, but this year was way more jam packed with crowds of people than last year! It was spread out more across the park, but not really that much better organized. We spent 4 hours there and didn't really feel like we did much because of how long it took getting around.

Right as we went through the main gate into the park was the craft pavilion. We met up with Wendy, Roman, Reagan, and her girls at the craft area. Kaylee and Gabby had fun making crafts even though it was insanely crowded. They excavated dinosaur eggs, painted little boxes, made a butterfly magnet, and bags to keep all their stuff in.

The kids were ready to spend to whole day in the craft pavilion. There was really only one thing that could get them away...the train.

They didn't tell us as we got ON the train that we would have to get OFF at every stop and if we wanted to get back on at that stop we would have to go to the back of that line to get back on (there were 5 train stops). At the first stop was a pioneer home with bounce house toys behind it. The lines took forever and the kids (and me) got sick of waiting so we went and got some popsicles, went through the pioneer house, and got back in line to get on the train to the next stop.

At the next stop we went into the general store and then Reagan and Wendy saw a sign for old fashion pictures. So, we decided to go ahead and get old fashion pictures taken. While I was waiting for Kaylee and Gabby's turn I snapped a few pictures of my own.

By the time we were done with pictures Wendy (who is 8-1/2 months pregnant) was really ready to go. We took the kids to the playground for a few minutes before heading out.

Flashback Friday

Shortly after Paul and I got married in February 2002, I thought it would be fun to set up my new brother-in-law David with my little sister Brenda. It turned out to be an interesting (and somewhat entertaining) date. I'm just sad that I only got to hear about it, and not actually be there. Anyway, I don't remember what dance this was for, but since it was around Valentine's day it makes me think Sweethearts or something. Needless to say, they didn't hit it off, and there was no second date. Brenda got married and moved to Taylorsville. David went on a mission to California, and then joined the Army.