But some definite highlights of the summer were our family reunions at Springhaven Lodge with the Ellis' and a few days in Yellowstone with the Schneiber/Allan side of my family.
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| The whole Ellis crew (with a picture of Spencer who was still in Portugal) |
In Springhaven we had fun catching up with all of the great family members we hadn't seen since last summer. We spent time playing games (of course), cooking, watching Twilight III (most of the boys chose not to participate in this for some strange reason), and relaxing.
This summer's reunion was a KK/Stan child and spouse year, which means most of Rob's siblings got a week vacation from the normal parenting routine. We did have 3 little ones join the party though: Teairsa (below) didn't have a good place to stay for the week so Mark and Aup brought her along, and Cosette and Nora were too little to stay without mom. We loved having them there!
After our week at Springhaven, Rob and I drove up to Yellowstone to catch the tail-end of my dad's family's reunion.
I hadn't seen most of my aunts, uncles, or cousins on that side of the family since we've been married, so I couldn't believe how grown-up all of my little cousins have become. It was so much fun to reconnect and get to know everyone again. We sung crazy campfire songs, had an incredible talent show, and played a great game of scrabble.
We also lucked out and had absolutely perfect weather, so we had to try to see as much of the HUGE (or "massive, massive, massive") park as we could find time for.
Luckily some of the wildlife cooperated and came to us! This bison caused a little bit of a traffic jam but we didn't mind because we got front row seats. Those animals are proof that you can be incredibly funny looking AND incredibly cool....so the next time you're having one of those days, just think of the buffalo and remind yourself that you're not really doing all that badly. :)
We didn't get a picture with our camera of the entire crew together, but we did get one my family all together for the last time before Erik left on his mission.
WHAT A GREAT SUMMER!!!!!!
