Family Fun

(Warning: Lots of pictures)

Last week, we had family visiting from all over and it was so much fun! My sister Lorinda and her family came from Oregon. Jeannie and her family came from Las Vegas and Scott and his family came all the way from Alabama. My parents house sure was one mad house with close to a dozen of my nieces and nephews running about (not to mention our own little lady-bug causing a ruckus), but it was such a blast.



We started off our activities by visiting the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. Olivia had so much fun just running around with all of her cousins. I don't think that she was as interested in the Dinosaurs as she was in playing with her cousins. She certainly had no problems voicing her opinions toward that big set of teeth in the background of this picture. It was quite funny that she was so oblivious to the size of the shark and just seemed bent on talking it down. Above all, though, it was nice to see her interact with her cousins, especially McKenna. Mckenna was just so much fun for Olivia to play with.







On Friday, the first, we went to the Logan city fireworks to celebrate the 4th of July. I was excited for Olivia to see the Fireworks, but a little nervous that she would be scared by the noise. Considering the magnitude of the show, it took her a while to get used to the fireworks, but once she realized that we weren't going to put her down she began to relax just enough to allow herself to watch the show. I must say it was a spectacular show indeed.



On Saturday we got to see our niece, Mckenna, get baptized. It is just so weird for me to remember her as a newborn baby and now to see her growing up to be such a beautiful young lady. We are so proud of her. After the baptism, we had a luncheon at Mack Park. Olivia had a lot of fun running around with her cousins once again and playing on the play ground.



On Sunday we all packed up and left to go camping up St. Charles canyon. When we pulled into our campground, our cars were swarmed by thousands of mosquitoes even before we got out. In fact, the people who got there before us, didn't even dare to get out of their cars because they didn't have any bug spray. Thankfully, Frankie had the gumption to race out and grab our bug spray out of our trunk. It was nice to have that spray to keep the bugs at bay while we set up camp and got a fire going. Man! There were a ton of bugs!





Monday, the 4th, was spent on Rendezvous Beach at Bear Lake beach. My parents rented some wave runners for everyone to enjoy and even though I was feeling quite pregnant, I even managed to jump on for a ride with Frankie. The day started off really gloomy and a little cold, but there were still people daring the cold water to play on those wave runners. In the late afternoon, the weather really changed and became warm, almost hot, which made it even more fun for everyone in the water. All in all, I must say that it was a fun day. We then we went back to camp to enjoy a delicious dutch oven dinner.











Tuesday morning, we all broke camp and headed up to Minnatonka cave to enjoy walking up and down 444 stairs. (All together it was 888 stairs.) I really had to pace myself for this one. Poor Frankie had to deal with a little girl who just wasn't too happy to be sitting in her baby backpack. She kept jumping up and down and kicking him in the back. Other than that, it was a fun experience. Our guide even pointed out a few bats that were sleeping in the cave. We all had a blast, but it sure was nice to get home to a nice hot shower.







The rest of the week was just spent spending time together as a family, going to the park, the zoo and playing games. It was so much fun for all of us, especially Olivia. It's sad cause she is now going through grandma and grandpa withdrawals. Every time we go out to our car she starts chanting "mama, papa" thinking that she gets to go and play with them. It was so much fun, but also sad to see everyone leave. I don't know when it will happen again, but I can't wait until we can all get together again.