Stevens Family Reunion Day 1

Wednesday morning we took off at 6am to leave for the Stevens Family Reunion. We had a long day of driving, about 13 hours- plus a couple extra stops- and arrived at Tami & CJ's place about 8pm Wednesday night. Mom & Dad, Greg & Amy, and Nettie & kids were also there and we enjoyed dinner and visiting together.

Thursday morning we took off for our campsite in Seaside, Oregon. Tami reserved a great site for our family for a few days. It was awesome! We had our own little private 'island' area that easily fit all of our family's tents, supplies, etc. The campsite also had a lodge, showers & electricity, tennis courts, horseshoes, a swimming pool and arcade. Pretty plush camping if you ask me! I was loving the fact that the lodge had a microwave so I could warm up Emily's bottles at 6am. My main concern was rain, and although it was a little chilly- the temperature never topped 70- we didn't get rain. I was pretty happy about that.
The kids were so excited to see all their cousins and be able to run around and play together. The little ones were constantly entertained by all the fun surroundings. It's been about 5 years since we've been 'real' camping. I forgot how much I've missed it, and how fun it can be- especially when you're with family. This was Emily's first camping trip and she loved it. Being outside all day long is heaven for her.
I loved seeing the kids together. They were pretty creative with their games. One of the favorite activities was to go from tent to tent to tent. I think next time we need to just bring a giant tent that they can all sleep in and party in.
I got Jeff a tent for Father's Day a couple years ago, and this was the first time we've been able to use it. It worked great!
We had our room, the boys had their own little room, and Emily had her pack 'n play in a third little room. They were pretty excited about the set-up. They all slept pretty well which is a bonus- Emily did end up in our sleeping bag a couple mornings because she was cold, but I didn't mind because she still slept fine and she's just so cute.
Scott and Amanda brought a ladder-ball game that was a huge hit. There was usually some serious game going on at all times during the day. Jeff and Scott had their own little tournament going on throughout the reunion. These brothers sure have a good time together.
Amanda had some fun games for the kids the first day with prizes and everything. It was fun to watch them and they all had a fun time.
And it's always entertaining to watch the adult's rendition of "Minute to Win-It" trying to get cookies from their foreheads to their mouth. Tami and CJ were the ultimate winners.
Grandpa Stevens did a little crabbing throughout the trip and had some nice catches. We all enjoyed eating a little crab, but the kids especially loved watching Grandpa doing the crabbing and admiring the crabs he caught.
It wouldn't be a complete reunion without some sort of talent-show. We had a great program filled with singing, mini skits, funny songs, jokes, tricks, etc. After the talent show was over, Amanda, Gina and I were able to go for a nice 5.5 mile run along the boardwalk. It was beautiful! When we got back, the kids were in bed so we decided to take advantage of the swimming pool and hot tub. It felt great after the run and so nice to finish off the evening with a hot shower.

Tanner Family Reunion (4th and Last Day)

The last day of the Tanner Family Reunion was a pretty basic, laid-back day. Tom had to go back to work, Houston & Becca had some details to work out with their housing, Lacey had some work to do, etc. We had been so busy the previous few days though that it was nice to just enjoy some time around the house while we packed up, copied pictures of the trip etc.

Kristie did want to get some pictures of Lilah, so we did a little photo shoot around their house. Lilah is such a cute, and easy little subject that it wasn't hard to come up with tons of great pictures. She just smiles and laughs and really makes it easy. These were a few of my favorites.

After seeing how cute the pictures turned out, I thought it would be fun to try and do a few of Emily since I hadn't taken any since her 1st birthday. She wasn't quite as willing of a subject- I mostly chased her around trying to get her to hold still and look at the camera. I gave up after about 10 minutes, but I did get a couple I thought were cute. Maybe just because I think she's so cute. It definitely gets harder and harder to take pictures as kids get older.
I do love that I was able to capture Emily's funny little grin. She used to do this back when she was a baby, and every once in a while now she'll give her funny little crooked, squinty-eyed grin. I love it!

We had originally planned to leave Tuesday night to start another 13 hour drive to get to the Stevens Family reunion. We ended up getting talked into staying one more night and I'm glad we did. We were already tired from the previous couple of days and it gave us the chance to spend a little more time with everyone. Lacey gave me a haircut Tuesday night, and we played another round of games, and had fun just talking together. I loved the testimony meeting on Sunday, the fun family movies and memories that were shared, the games we played that made us laugh until we cried, and just the fun memories of being together. I love family reunions and wish they came along more than just once a year.

Tanner Family Reunion (Day 3) 4th of July

Monday was the 4th of July, and we started off the day bright and early by heading to the parade. Apparently everyone puts out blankets & chairs the night before to reserve their spot. We were walking around for a while and didn't know if we'd even get a spot- that is one crowded parade! And we were there an hour early! Luckily there was a really nice lady who let me know they had some family that wouldn't be able to make it and we could have their spot. It was perfect! We went early to save a spot for the rest of the family who came later.

Emily was actually a little scared by all the noise and commotion going on. She sat there sucking her fingers and preferred to be sitting in someone's lap.

This was definitely one of my favorite parade entries- a whole marching fleet of storm troopers followed by a big Star Wars themed float. I didn't get a great picture of the float, but we all thought it was awesome!
A partial group shot. I love how Emily sneezed right as I was taking the picture.

Kristie was amazing and ran a 10K early Monday morning. It was a tough course with quite a few hills, but she still managed to pull off a 41 minute 10k, that's like a 6:35 pace on a difficult course. She is amazing!

Emily was happy to see Grandma and Grandpa and quickly retreated to their laps as the loud firetrucks were going by. I don't think she loved the parade as much as the boys did. We stayed for a couple hours, but it started to get pretty hot so we left before it was over.
After getting some lunch, packing some extra food, and getting ready, we headed off to 7 Peaks to enjoy the rest of the 4th of July. It ended up being a perfect day to go- nice and warm, but not too sunny, and not too crowded. The kids loved it!
Emily was still our little water baby and loved being in the water. She thought it was so fun to jump off the wall to Jeff.

Sisters

All the Tanner girls

At one point, after we had been at the park for a few hours, we were sitting around in our spot talking. I looked over at Emily and she was totally just sitting there, eyes closed, head back, soaking up the sun. It was so cute- she literally sat there just like this for about 5 minutes, which is a long time for a little girl who loves to be active. I thought it was adorable.
We also had a little time to have some fun with the tubes. Human Ring Toss, and jumping through the tube provided some fun entertainment for a little while.
We also found the tubes useful for keeping the babies occupied. It didn't keep them contained for long, but it sure kept their interest.

We packed some food in coolers and enjoyed a late lunch after some swimming. It was so fun to have Becca's brother Thomas come and spend the afternoon with us- he is such a fun guy.

These two were fun to watch. They liked to run around together and share food with each other.
Matthew and Grandpa on the lazy river. I'm still not sure exactly how many times they went around together. All I know is that they had a blast and it was hard to get Matthew out of the water. How do you like his Dora life jacket? It was the only one left. Fortunately he likes Dora enough he didn't mind that it was purple.
Later on that evening after we got back from a long day of swimming, Kristie & Tom's neighborhood had a potluck BBQ and fireworks show. It was raining off and on, so they put the fireworks on sooner than planned, but it was still fun to see them. We also had more entertainment while we waited. Jumping makes for some cool action shots.

We did have a few fireworks of our own afterwards. This has to be one of my favorite pictures ever. Emily was so excited by the sparklers that she would just scream. It was hilarious. She had a blast and loved seeing all the fireworks.

It was definitely a fun and memorable 4th of July.

Tanner Family Reunion (Day 2)

Sunday was a pretty laid back day for the second day of the family reunion. We did have church at 9am that was a little rough after our late night Saturday, but we made it in time and survived. After church we enjoyed a yummy lunch together and just hanging around.

Mom and Dad just returned from a trip to Nauvoo, IL with Grandma and Grandpa Tanner and the Greens and brought back some fun little things for everyone. My mom found these adorable little bonnets for the girls. I couldn't get enough!
Emily and Lilah looked so adorable. It almost made me wish we lived in a time where they really would have to wear them...almost.
Of course, the bonnets only lasted about 5 minutes before both girls were pulling madly trying to get the strange contraptions off, but we did manage to snap a few pictures before they succeeded.
The boys on the other hand, were more than happy to pose for pictures with their fun new toy. They got a brass covered wagon that was also a pencil sharpener. I love how Matthew couldn't even take his eyes off his wagon for one picture.
Mom and Dad brought a bunch of old family movies to watch. It was fun to just sit around watching and laughing at the old movies. They always seem to bring the most embarrassing ones... Oh well, I guess I'm glad everyone could have some good laughs at my expense...


Later on that afternoon, we decided to try and attempt some family pictures since we were all together for the first time in a long time and probably for a long time. While we were getting things set up, the girls entertained themselves with a bucket full of rollie-pollies that Matthew had caught. I was fine as long as Emily didn't try to eat them or feed them to Lilah. I did have to stop her from both actions a couple times.
Family pictures get harder as the group gets bigger, but I think we ended up with some decent ones. Mom wanted everyone in red, white, and blue to go along with the 4th of July. It was a fun color combo. The main family picture was at the top of the post, and we had some fun others as well.

I love Matthew's #1 in this picture.

I tried to get a few shots of individual families as well.

Cole with his 'future wife'

Siblings

Our family was last to go, and you know how kids are if you try to take pictures for more than 5 minutes. Needless to say, I wasn't expecting much. But when expectations are low, you're usually just happy to have everyone in the picture. :)

Lacey is such a bad example to Emily! :)

And it was fun to snap a few pictures of Lacey... not only is she beautiful, she's a great model and so nice to put up with me and my silly requests. :)