June 2023 - Reunion

Sunday 6/18

Trudi's family arrived this afternoon . . . via Allegiant Air..

Trudi & Cora sitting by the window

Morgan, Charlotte & Wyatt in the row just behind Trudi & Cora.

 Steve picked them up, having to battle some crazy traffic at the airport.

Despite all the traffic, they made it to Star about an hour and a half after they landed.

They were tired and . . . .

glad to finally arrive at our house.

a few random pictures from their first day at Grandma & Grandpa's

Morgan drawing dinosaurs on the chalkboards

Cora loves our swing

Cora, Charlotte, Morgan, Wyatt playing in the back yard - ON THE GRASS (they don't have any grass at their house in Arizona.

Morgan just relaxing

Cora lining up all the My Little Ponies

Goodnight - It was still light outside, but these kids were TIRED and ready to go to bed. It only took them a few minutes to fall asleep.

Monday 6/19

It was a cold & rainy day today with a high temperature of . . . .

57 degrees

The kids got brave enough to go outside a couple of times in between the rain. They wore some of our fleece jackets that were, as you can see, way too big for them but still, they kept them warm.

They found things to do inside where it was much warmer

this Twister game provided . . . .

lots of laughs and  . . . .

Cora got this "rainbow ribbon" in her mailbox today and was so excited (There is an episode of Dora that has a rainbow ribbon in it). She played with it ALL DAY ! and, she has gotten pretty good at twirling it.

Tuesday 6/20

It is a little bit warmer today but still very cold - mid 60's

Morgan doing cartwheels . . . . in the sunny part of the yard

Charlotte picking tiny plums

Wyatt pulling down some limbs so Morgan could reach the plums and pick them

Playing the "Disney Trivia" game.  

Morgan and Grandpa playing "Trouble"

The Lansford kids are excited to see their Utah cousins

Charlotte and Morgan braving the cold while waiting for Kevin's family to arrive

They are coming . . .  here they come !!

Connor (back side of car), Lani, Shea, Crew, Sydney

Everyone just hanging out after dinner . . . .

Morgan (on floor), Connor, Crew, Wyatt

Sydney, Lani & Charlotte, Shea and Morgan

Kevin & Steve watching a little Baseball (College World Series)

Sydney & Shea playing with magnetic dolls

Crew, Lani, Morgan, Connor & Wyatt playing "Reign of Dragoness"

Cora - Trailblazer cheerleader

Charlotte passing out dessert

Sydney and Charlotte enjoying dessert

Morgan and Shea

Crew, Connor & Wyatt

Kevin and Sydney playing "Find it First"

Sleeping arrangements 

Charlotte (foreground), Wyatt (Sofa), Morgan (right) Connor (middle) & Crew (left). Sydney & Shea were upstairs with Kevin and Lani

Wednesday 6/21

Debbi flew in this morning !

Morgan, Shea, Lani, Kevin going for a walk. Morgan & Shea on their scooters.

Charlotte & Sydney checking out their mailboxes

Charlotte & Sydney playing "Find it First"

Connor just kicking back

Wyatt & Crew

Sydney & Charlotte "caught on camera" 

Shea, Morgan, Charlotte & Sydney, caught on camera . . . . again !

The three Amigos 

Crew, Wyatt & Connor

Shea

Morgan

Charlotte, Sydney & Shea at the Post Office

Shea finds Bubbles in her mailbox !

Playing "Super Smash Bros" on  Switch

Backyard Game . . . .

Burrito !!

Connor teaching everyone how to play the Burrito Game

Duel between Wyatt & Connor

Connor won that one!

Crew and Connor

Other team players are having fun watching a Duel

 

Crew's turn to Duel with Wyatt

Morgan and Shea playing Donkey Kong

Just getting started on a fun game of Skull King

Debbi, Crew, Wyatt, Kevin, Connor, Lani

Sydney & Charlotte popped some popcorn and are watching Brave !

Aunt Debbi is an expert at French braiding so she got talked into

doing Sydney's and . . . .

Charlotte's hair

Cute girls - front view

and back view

Debbi is twirling the Rainbow Ribbon around Shea - so FUN

It looked like so much fun that Cora wanted someone to twirl a ribbon around her

This evening we went to Matt's house for dinner and FUN !

At first we Gathered together 

Sienna, Jetta & Lani (on sofa)

Crew, Morgan, Shea, Sydney (by Lani & playing with Tucker the dog)

Debbi, Wyatt and Charlotte with Diesel the dog

Connor and Kevin played a game of pool, then . . . .

Wyatt, Connor & Crew played a game of pool and . . . .

UNO

The kids loved the dogs and had fun playing with them.

Morgan and Tucker

Charlotte and Diesel

Shea and Morgan went around and around . . . 

 crawling through the dog door into the house then came back out and did it again and again.

The kids spent some time in Jen's Craft room

Connor, Crew & Wyatt ate their dinner at the craft tables

Shea, Sydney & Charlotte did some coloring and . . . .

Cora played with some "oldie but goodie" Fisher-Price toys.

Shea found Jen's toy closet and had fun with more Fisher-Price toys

Shea jumping from rock to rock in the back yard

Jen set up a game of Croquet so . . .  

 just about everyone got into the act and gave it a try.

Connor, Lani, Cora, Crew, Wyatt

Morgan

Crew & Wyatt and Lani & Kevin

Cora

Wyatt

Crew

Connor

They all finished by hitting the post with their ball

Cora moved this rocking chair so she could see her reflection in the window when she rocked.

Jetta bought this second hand trampoline 

Jetta, Sienna and Wyatt were putting it together.... then ....

Connor, Crew, Sydney and Shea (underneath) join in to help

(we heard rumors that Sienna did most the work - lol)

It was a tough job, but they got it done and these four crazy kids had fun jumping on it.

Charlotte, Sydney, Morgan & Shea

We finished the evening up sitting around the fire pit.

Jen put paper & wood in the fire ring so we could make s'mores.

The smoke drove a few people away for a little bit, but . . . .

They all came back as the fire started burning down.

Charlotte & Sydney enjoying the fire

 Once the flames died down and there were some nice coals, we started toasting the marshmallows - Cora & Crew

and making our s'mores - Morgan & Charlotte

Debbi went traditional and . . . .

Morgan went fancy !

Charlotte, Morgan, Cora & Trudi

Cora & Sienna

Jen, Sydney, Cora, Crew, Charlotte

Connor, Morgan, Shea, Wyatt  Tucker & Diesel

Debbi gave a double thumbs-up for a fun evening at the

Matt Waite House !!

Thursday 6/22

The Official beginning of our Reunion

We had a busy day. It began with . . . .

Gathering around the table for breakfast then . . . .

everyone going to Meridian for a fun time at Urban Air. 

We took Sooo many pictures it was hard to narrow it down.

The obstacle course/ball pit

Connor

Cora

Debbi & Sienna

Sienna, Debbi & Connor

Debbi . . . 

Debbi . . . .

Debbi . . . . oops! (Morgan too)

Morgan

Cora

Morgan

Florescent Mini Golf

Sienna, Connor, Charlotte, Wyatt, Crew, Sydney, Debbi, Morgan & Shea

The Climbing Hill

Shea, Cora, Charlotte, Sydney, Debbi, Morgan & Connor

Connor, Charlotte & Cora, Debbi, Sienna & Morgan

Connor & Sienna, Shea, Debbi, Morgan, Charlotte & Sydney

Dodgeball

Crew, Morgan, Wyatt & Shea

Shea, Sienna, Debbi & Kevin

Ropes Course

Crew

Sienna & Debbi

Wyatt, Debbi, Sienna & Connor

Connor, Sienna, Debbi & Wyatt

Giant slides

Cora

Climbing Walls & Pillars

Cora

Crew (Sydney & Shea watching)

Wyatt

Wyatt

Charlotte

Cora

Cora

Crew

Connor

Sydney

Sydney

Wyatt

Morgan

Morgan

Crew & Connor

Sydney

Charlotte

Morgan, Cora, Trudi & Shea

Shea & Morgan

Connor rings the bell !

Sienna & Connor 

Sienna & Connor- a race to the top !

Zip Line

Wyatt, Crew, Charlotte, Connor, Debbi & Sienna waiting in line

Charlotte

Charlotte

Sienna

Cora

Sydney

Wyatt

Debbi

Connor

Slam Dunk & Tumbling Runway

Connor, Wyatt & Sienna 

Wyatt checking out Kevin's Moves

Connor

Sienna

Trampolines

Crew, Debbi, Sienna, Wyatt, Connor racing

Who will be the first to finish?

Looks like Wyatt's out front

Kevin getting some air

Debbi also getting some air

Kevin & Debbi "meeting" - Sydney to the rescue

Sydney showing off !

Sydney, Crew, Sienna, Connor, Wyatt, Shea

Cora, Wyatt & Charlotte

Shea, Sydney, Crew, Connor, Charlotte, Wyatt

Kevin chasing Morgan (and Shea... she was way ahead)

Morgan & Shea - best buds

Jousting Pit

Sydney waiting for her dad to get out of the pit

Crew & Kevin

Connor & Crew

Charlotte & Connor (crew in the pit)

Later, back at the house . . . .

Wyatt, Crew & Kevin picked more plums

We set the pool up - Cora, Morgan, Sydney & Shea were brave enough to get in !

Linda & Trudi got the potatoes in the oven so they would be ready for our Potato Bar dinner.

After dinner we officially opened the Reunion and

 had Family Home Evening

Linda introduced our Reunion Theme

Greet the Day with a Song, Make Others Happy, Serve Gladly

Debbi & Linda led everyone in a rousing chorus of . . . .

"If You're Happy and You Know it"

We played a fun game "Help Your Neighbor"

Team 1 - Jen, Trudi, Wyatt, Charlotte & Sienna

Team 2 - Grandpa, Connor, Sydney & Crew

Team 3 - Matt, Morgan, Debbi, Kevin, Shea & Lani

There was a traveling prize that Team 2 won. All the kids had fun as they followed the scavenger hunt clues to find the actual prize .... a large bag each of milky ways and snickers. There was enough to share with everyone.

After our game we sang Happy Birthday to Grandpa and gave him a Cornhole game as a group gift.

It was still light outside, so we all went outside to try a hand at tossing the beanbags.

Some of this crazy gang decided to play another game of Skull King, one of the favorites for our family.

Debbi, Crew, Lani, Wyatt, Sienna, Jen & Connor

there was Pie for dessert - too bad it was frozen SOLID!

Friday 6/23

 

We spent most of the day today at Lowell Lake.

Sienna (on top), Wyatt, Crew & Connor waiting to board Matt's boat

Crew, Sienna, Trudi, Cora, Kevin, Connor & Wyatt riding to the boat launch ramp

Once on the lake, Matt takes off

Trudi & Cora's hair blowing in the wind as Matt goes fast across the lake

out in the middle of the lake, we stop for some swimming

Wyatt, Crew & Connor

The water is REALLY COLD !

We get the multi-person tube and floater blown up 

Sienna give the boys some instruction 

Thumbs up for faster, Thumbs down for slower, Tap the top of your head for STOP!

Matt starts out with a fairly calm ride, then . . . .

he gets a bit crazy - Hang On !

Zipping over the wake, they get bounced around

it's now a pretty wild ride

they try to stay in the tube, but . . . .

Wyatt get's dumped out first then Connor

Leaving Crew (who was in the middle) the only one left in the tube.

Now it's Cora's turn. Wyatt & Kevin ride with her.

She LOVED her ride

Laughing the whole time

Kevin helping Cora out of the tube and on to the back of the boat.

Morgan, Trudi, Cora, Charlotte & Wyatt on the boat!

Kevin, Shea & Sydney on the boat

Now Shea and Morgan want a ride

Crew & Wyatt go with them

Once again, Matt starts with a pretty calm ride but . . . .

He can't resist speeding up just a little bit.

One jump over the wake and Crew signals - Thumbs down

It was a little bit scary for the little ones, but they did say it was fun!

Tubing is done so they tie it on top

Wyatt, Crew, Sydney, Charlotte & Sienna enjoying their time on the lake

Sienna is going to do some surfing . . . . The water is sooo COLD !

She is really good

Showing off some of her moves

She even did a 360 that we captured on video

Now it's Kevin's turn.

He did really well, getting up on the first try, every time

Falling is just part of the gig

Sienna drives the boat when her dad surfs

READY ?

Tossing the rope into the boat

riding up on the wake

kneeling down on the board

On The Beach

our camp site for the day

Cora, Grandpa, Trudi, Wyatt, Crew, Kevin, Lani, Debbi

(Sienna, Jen & Matt were taking care of the boat)

Charlotte, Shea, Morgan & Sydney

Sydney & Charlotte building a sand castle, complete with mote

 Crew in the lake, Connor in the boat

Cora

Sydney, Charlotte, Shea, Morgan, Crew, Wyatt, Connor, Cora playing on the beach

Shea & Morgan, Crew, Wyatt (in boat) Cora

Shea, Morgan, Sydney

We had Pizza for dinner - 5 extra large from Dominoes

After dinner we played two games 

One was "Who's That Baby" 

Morgan & Trudi were the winners. Their prize . . . . A money-filled baby bottle

Game #2 was "Ping Pong Bounce"

Bounce a ping pong ball into the cupcake tin and win CASH!

1st row = $1, 2nd row = $2, 3rd row = $3

It was hard at first, but once they got the hang of it, Everyone was a winner !

Saturday 6/24

Today we had our Back Yard Olympics

Debbi, Shea & Charlotte

Banner and Scoreboard

SCOREKEEPER

Grandpa

1st = 5 points, 2nd = 3 points, 3rd = 1 point

TEAMS

Red Team: Shea, Charlotte, Sienna, Matt, Lani

Yellow Team: Morgan, Crew, Wyatt, Debbi, Jen

Blue Team: Sydney, Jetta, Connor, Trudi & Cora, Kevin

EVENTS

Fly Swatter Golf

Wyatt running back to his team

 

Solo Cup Stack

Charlotte, Shea, Lani, Matt, Sienna

Balloon Pop

giving instructions 

This is going to be fun!

Two lines (yellow ribbons)

"Younger" kids line and "Older" kids line

Kids line . . . .

and then there's "Cora's Line"

Yellow Team - 1st place

Jen, Crew, Wyatt, Morgan, Debbi

Bean Bag Toss

We turned the balloon boards around and now they are throwing bean bags at them!

Lani says "Right Here Charlotte" 

This was easy until we moved her to the "older kids" line - it got harder!

GO Debbi !

Ball Relay

pass the ball through your legs . . . .

run to the front of the line

CEREAL BOX PUZZLE

Cocoa Puffs, Honey Nut Cheerios & Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Checking out the scoreboard

Who are the Bronze, Silver & Gold Medal Winners

Bronze goes to the Yellow Team - Rolos

Silver goes to the Red Team - Hershey Kisses

Gold goes to the Blue Team - Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Congratulations to all the teams !!!

You are all amazing Olympians !

Tonight we had a gathering for our extended family.

We filled the pool with water balloons

The kids had a good "wet" time

water balloons and water rockets

Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Brother's, Sisters

Visiting and getting reacquainted 

The Ice Cream Sundae bar

was a big hit for both the "oldsters" and the "youngsters"

Other Saturday Activities

Cora LOVES blowing Bubbles

Playing with the Pop 'N Catch game

Debbi, Sydney, Shea, Charlotte, Morgan

Sienna & Jetta, Sydney & Debbi

Charlotte & Morgan

Sienna & Jetta

Matt filling cooler with ice from his ice machine

More swimming

Sydney, Charlotte, Shea, Morgan & Cora

Cora liked sitting/playing in the dirt while watching her Kindle

Our cooks, Lani & Jen making French Toast for Breakfast

 Shea & Trudi join the kitchen crew

Yum !

Jetta & Sienna playing Skip-bo

getting the balloons ready for the Olympics

Shea & Morgan are ready for the olympics to begin!

Sydney & Charlotte 

Wyatt, Crew, Jetta, Sienna, Jen & Connor playing one more game of Skull King

Sunday 6/25

Just about everyone made it to church. Linda was not only the organist, but played a Violin/Viola duet with her violin teacher. "Did You Think To Pray" It was the first time the family has heard her play. It wasn't perfect, but it sounded very nice

We had a nice ham dinner then the packing began.

Matt, Jen, Sienna & Jetta (not pictured here) started getting the trailer ready to go back to Jen's parent's house

We took Trudi & kids to the airport (via Kevin's car)

Wyatt, Charlotte, Trudi & Morgan, Cora

Cora didn't want to stop for pictures... she was ready to get on the plane

Away they go - we will miss them.

Monday 6/26

This morning Kevin's family got packed up and on the road

Sydney, Shea & Crew

It won't be long before Connor will be old enough to do this for REAL

Off they go . . . . Safe travels !

Our reunion has officially come to an end. Thank you all for coming... Hope everyone had a good time. Kevin's family helped us move furniture last night so that was a big help. Now JR is picking up the trailer and we are getting everything put back together, like folding up air mats, mailboxes and bedding. Now it's back to reality!

Our reunion wasn't completely free of problems. We had to make a few adjustments in our planned schedule and . . . .

The Air Conditioning went out, but Matt's friend graciously came out after working all day and got it up and running for us.

 Thank you Mike!

The GFI outlet in the garage (the line the freezer is on) went out. Matt came to the rescue and replaced it for us.

We had a wonderful week!