We had the best time this year at the Gardner family reunion. We rented a house up in Jeremy Ranch (close to Park City) for a week and it was a blast!
On Saturday, we all arrived and had pizza for dinner. We played some games, had a devotional and then Ryan and I went home that night to get ready for Wesley's blessing the next day.
Sunday was Wesley's blessing. We had a little brunch before church for all our family that was in town and then Wesley's blessing. (More on that
here.) That night we ha dinner at the house in Park City and played games. Scott and Vivian gave a great FHE lesson on temples and then off to bed.
Grandma with Leah and Rylee
Emry, Cael, Jackson, and Gavin at the kid's table
Monday and Tuesday we spent at Rock Port Lake. We rented a speed boat and did some tubing and wake boarding. Emry ended up being pretty terrified of the boat (probably had to do with the fact that she didn't get any real nap from Sunday to Tuesday). She only rode it twice: the first time, she screamed the whole time and then the second time, she semi-enjoyed it. I had a fun time wake boarding. Even though I hadn't gone in like 4 years, I was able to get up on the first try and even go in and out of the wake pretty well. We also enjoyed some pretty awesome tubing. Ryan did a roll on the tube, which was pretty sweet! I love just hanging out on the lake.
Emry at the lake with her yummy drink
Wesley slept a lot at the lake, which was really nice because it ended up being pretty windy with sand everywhere. So mostly he hung out in his car seat.
Cael, Gavin, Emry, Jackson, and Brooke on the water weenie. We took the Gavin and Jacks out on a little trip on the water weenie (really slow) and when we were like 100 feet off the shore, the boat was going too slow, and so we all fell in the water. It was pretty comical but also scared the crap out of the kids.
More yummy drinks
Taking a little nap at the beach
On Wednesday, the boys went golfing in the morning so we took the kids to the park and hung out at the house. When the boys got back, all the girls went shopping at the outlets. It was a very relaxing day after the two days of lake, which was really nice.
Here are the older cousins at the park
On Thursday, we got up and headed to hike Stewart Falls up Provo Canyon. I did this hike like 5 times in college and loved it. It always seemed to be a short, easy hike. Well taking a bunch of kids under the age of 4 made it seem pretty long. It was pretty fun and a great bonding activity. On the way home, we stopped at the famous shake place in Heber and then headed back to the house to relax and take a nap.
Most of the gang before the hike. Everyone kept commenting on how many cardinal fans there were on the trail. There were a lot of us!!
Emry on Uncle Brandon's shoulders
Me and Wesley hiking along
Wesley hanging out at the waterfall
I was smart and brought the umbrella to keep the sun off Wesley (and me) while we were at the waterfall
Every night someone was in charge of a devotional and then we had scripture and prayer as a family. This is Ryan and Emry reading scriptures on the phone.
Thursday night we pulled out a pinata a friend gave me for Emry's second birthday that I forgot to use. We thought it would be fun for the kids to do the pinata. They had a blast!
After Emry and Jackson had a turn, Cael was up and broke the pinata on his first swing!
Way to go Cael!!
On Friday we spent the day in Park City doing the alpine slide and coaster. It was pretty fun. The coaster is pretty fast. It's my favorite. Ryan took Emry on the alpine slide. She did fine riding up the chair lift with us but as soon as we got in the line to go down the slide she started screaming bloody murder. She didn't stop until they started going and then she was totally fine going down the whole time. Again, she had no nap that day. Let's just say, we love nap time :D
After the alpine slides, we went to lunch and then that night we went bowling with the whole family. It was a lot of fun! Then we played some games and off to bed we went.
Vivian with Emry, Jacks, and Leah. We took turns watching the kids while the other adults went on the ride.
Ryan on the coaster
Me on the coaster
They also had little kid rides that the kids did. There was a merry go round, this planes ride, and a train ride. They loved it!
We got her on the plane when she starts throwing a fit because she meant she wanted to go on the train. So we got off the planes and went on the train instead. We had some rough days without naps...
On Saturday, we woke up, packed the car, and headed home. We had so much fun with all our family and can't wait for next year. These trips are always filled withe fun and it's a great time for Emry to become better friends with her cousins.
