Syddall Reunion 2013

Last weekend we attended our Syddall Family Reunion up Fairview Canyon. We've been camping in Fairview since the year Bill and I were married (maybe his family camped there before me, too...). 

25 years. We can drive through the campground areas and reminisce about dozens of spots from dozens of years past. I can vividly recall pictures of campouts over the years...
here's a few, just to illustrate my point:

It is a beautiful place.

This year, we took the dogs along. I was apprehensive about it, since they aren't really traveling dogs (I put them in their kennels just to go to the vet). They were both quite nervous as we embarked on our journey.

At the beginning of a campout is definitely the time to take pictures. Aren't these ladies beautiful?

We had EVERYTHING a good family reunion/campout needs:

√ Time to relax and visit

√ Cousins  √ Corn-on-the-cob

  √ Frogs

√ Close family togetherness while piling into vehicles to go fish

√ Catching fish

√ Four wheelin'

√ Reuniting Jack, Ava, and Conan (it is a family reunion, after all)

√ Relaxing in the air-conditioned comfort of Grandma and Grandpa's trailer when the temps soar

√ Glamping it up with mountain manicures

√ Hanging out with the dawgs

√ Playing Grandpa's awesome horseshoes bean bag game

√ More four wheelin'

√ Getting down and {dirty} - and not caring

√ Long walks

√ More fishing

√ Cousins

√ Have I mentioned fishing?

√ Cuddly Cousins

√ Filleted and grilled freshly caught fish (Austin's the pro)

√ Bubbles

√ Silly Minute-to-Win-It games

√ Rest and relaxation

√ Target shooting

√ Wheeling-on-four (just changing it up)

√ Volleyball

√ A beautiful location

√ A perfect campsite

√ S'mores around the campfire

√ More cuddly cousin time

√ The best camp grillmaster ever

√ Plenty of creepy bugs and mosquitos (24 bites on Cole's neck alone)

√ Building things out of sticks with cousins

√ And lots (and lots) of end-of-campout family group pictures 
(I know this is everybody's favorite part... right?):

√ Don't forget a few good photo bombs

And that's it. Like I said... EVERYTHING.

We sure missed this girl:

(Circa 2007)

She couldn't find a reasonable way to get there from Idaho without missing more school than she'd like.

Maybe next year.

On our way to and from the campout, we passed the area that burned last year, causing a last-minute relocation of the reunion. The mountainside looked like this for what seemed like miles. So sad.

Shi headed to Orem with Taylor and Lynnea to attend EFY on Monday, so Mar had more room to spread out with the dogs on the way home.

It was awesome.

The 4th.

It's kinda really sad when you have to look up posts from last year to remember what you did last year.

That is what a blog is good for.

Yesterday I asked Bill what we did in 2012 on the 4th.

"We were in Utah," was his response.

"Well, what did we do? Where in UT were we? Who were we with?"

Please, nobody get offended that I can't remember. I am not shy about the fact that my memory is a whole lotta hormonal ("Old Timers"?) mush.

I loved remembering as I reread the events of last year. 

Oh yes. That's right. How could I forget?

This year we were in CO. 

Parker, to be exact. 

Stage 2 fire ban = NO FIREWORKS. 

Period.

Since our ward shares our church building with two other wards (the only church building with a field and pavilion between the two Stakes it divides), and since 4th of July Ward Activities are a long-standing tradition for the wards sharing that particular building, all three rotate time-slots each year: 

8-11am, 11am-2pm, and 2-5pm. This year our ward had the late slot.

I didn't think I would like it, but in the end, it worked to our favor.

For one, Bill, Mar and I (Shi's at EFY this week) got to sleep in. That has become such a rarity around here.

We had attended a late(r) showing of The Lone Ranger Wednesday evening (we were worried it might get sold out - HA! there were maybe 50 people in the theater - loved the show, by the way), and had gone to bed quite late.

The other benefit was that it became cloudy and a-bit-overcast-with-a-pleasant-breeze halfway through the activity (the ward with the 11-2 slot said it was just plain hot for them). That was nice.

Although Mar is a YW now, she still wanted to do the bike parade (she missed it last year, you know).
This year they had all the kids name their bikes so they could announce them as they paraded around the parking lot. Mar chose Red, White, and Blue for YOU.

Bill, the biggest kid of all, rode his bike, The Black Fuse.
I was just grateful that he didn't fall off or crash while attempting some dynamic bike poses to impress the onlooking crowd (and he was too quick for me to nab a picture... bummer).

Then the traditional water fight began timidly with a few water balloons.

Bill was the recipient of the first BIG dump of the day (thank you, Bro. Braegger)...

I thought the bigger boys were funny, walking around with their buckets waiting for their ideal victim.

I also love how the little boys {love} playing with the bigger boys.

Mar and Bill both got drenched.

 I stayed in the designated "NO WATER ZONE" and still had a cup or two of water thrown at me, one smack dab at the camera I was holding. Luckily, my trusty old point-and-shoot still works. I just had to manually open and close the lens cover for a good 30 minutes, because the water made it stick a bit.

After the ward activity, we headed over the the Leaks for dinner and the itty bitty fireworks we could see from their deck of other towns and cities in the distance. We talked about how it was the perfect evening for fireworks, and thought our town should have gone ahead with their display (Colorado Springs even had fireworks, for goodness sake).

Watermelon and apple pie, hamburgers, dogs, and homemade ice cream.
That's it. 4 July 2013. Documented.

YC 2013 - Infinite Worth

Youth Conference this year was a little different: it was held locally (first time since we've lived in CO). The youth were assigned Host Families to stay with at night, and were grouped into larger Families (led by Day Leaders) for activities during the day.  I think the youth were a little skeptical about it all, but I have only heard positive comments from them since.

Bill and I were Day Leaders, and it was exhausting exciting and fun.

We had an awesome group of kids (although not a single one from our own ward), and it was great to get to know them. I was so impressed with how a random bunch of kids ranging in age from 14 to 17, attending different schools, with varying interests and maturity levels (shout-out to those 14-year-old boys who keep things lively), could come together and have a great time.

The first day each family had a guest with special needs. Our guest was Candice. She was very outgoing, talkative, and excited to be there. The kids loved her.

On occasion we would run into Shilo :-)

Our family: (back) Tyson, Bill, {me}, Josh, Candice, Tyra, Kendal, Matt; (middle) Tate, Grant, Lexi, Brittany, Oaklee, Monique, Lauren; (front) Ashley, Kiana.
(I'm not sure who thought this was a good place for some of the family photos... YUCK! Shi's family photos were taken in the sun, on the grass, with lovely trees in the background - they turned out much nicer. Taking note for future reference.)

(Shi and Chey's fam)

The conference was packed with great devotionals, workshops, food (I think I gained a good 5 pounds), and games. Bill attended the dance the first night (I went home to be with my orphaned Mar), and said it was probably better than most of the monthly multi-stake dances.

The final day of the conference was mainly workshops, a session of "Ask the Stake Presidency," and a testimony meeting. Mar had a swim meet that morning, so I went with her and Bill headed to YC. Other than an initial check-in and workshop rotation assignments, Bill said the the kids didn't stay in their family groups (which I was glad to hear, somewhat alleviating my feelings of guilt for skipping out). I have to admit, I had a meltdown Friday evening (I'm sure hormonally induced, in addition to a few too many hours spent in the blazing sun), and needed Saturday (AFTER the swim meet and it's 6 additional blazing-sun hours) to regroup and revive (including doing the laundry, which hadn't been done for a week and a half, and parenting my child that had been left home alone).

I loved being a part of it.
I really did.
We are blessed to have such amazing youth!