Family Reunion

Every other year, Greg's family (actually Greg's Dad's siblings and families) has a reunion.  It is huge!  There are well over 100 people there, and even Greg doesn't know who everyone is.  This year, it was held at BYU Timp Lodge by Sundance.  There is a big lodge.  The upper level is just full of beds, and the lower level is a huge room with a kitchen, bathrooms, a pool table, and a ping-pong table.  I had to stay for a baptism last Thursday night, but Greg took Austin and Macy up.  Paige and I joined them on Friday.  The kids had a blast.  They rented a big, blow-up, bouncy, air trampoline.  They also created some small sandboxes for the really little ones.  We also played a little volleyball (Greg did it while holding Paige part of the time), and I took Greg on in ping pong (our own Olympic games - except I did not wear the two piece swimsuit for volleyball, although Greg did show up in his USA speedo).  

But, the biggest hit of the reunion by far was the giant slip-n-slide.  It was complete insanity.  It was this huge piece of heavy plastic, and they held two hoses up at the top.  The kids absolutely loved it!  Everyone was going pretty fast, but those teenage boys just flew down.  You can see Mark behind Macy in the first picture.  He was going so fast that he would have run her over, so he just scooped her up and held onto her until the end.  Look at Austin (in the middle of the splash in the second picture)!  How dry do you think he kept that cast?!?  Oh well...How could I possibly keep him away from the fun.  He squealed with delight all the way down every time.  When the kids got to the bottom, they ran up as fast as they could to go down again.  Eventually, the slide got a big hole in the middle and the fun was over.  But, thanks to Uncle Mike who spent 3 hours filling water balloons, they ended with a water balloon launcher.  The kids (and their dads) had fun aiming at the teenagers, and the teenagers had a blast trying to "catch" them.  Seriously...A couple of hours of heaven for these kids.  It was so much fun to watch them have such a great time.  

Here is Paige, completely content to just watch the fun:

This is Macy's own outfit after church on Sunday.  Aunt Edna had tons of crafts to keep the kids busy in between outdoor fun.  Macy made this cute little visor, and they had beads for necklaces and bracelets, and beads that melted together to make different designs.  Macy also developed a bit of a crush on one of Greg's cousin's sons.  His name is Stephen (and I didn't get a picture).  Stephen was a teenager and so adorable with all the little kids.  He gave them piggyback rides, teased them, helped them with their crafts (he made Macy a beaded gecko key chain), and I often saw him with kids sitting on his feet while he walked around pretending that they were lost.  It was really adorable.  I think all of the teenagers at the reunion were so great!  Anyway...When Macy was saying her prayers last Saturday night, she said, "Please bless Stephen that he will be safe."   
For those of you that don't already know, my Little Miss Mace is a little on the kooky side.  She has some very strange rituals.  I think I've mentioned it before, but she likes to put things on her pinkie finger while she sucks her thumb.  She has used magnetic, plastic letters and numbers in the past (8, 6, B, S - A shape that makes a hole perfect for her pinkie).  We used to frantically search the house at bedtime because she was asking for "Her Number."  She also uses the toddler spoons.  But, she generally puts them under her chin while sucking her thumb.  If she doesn't have a spoon, she sits on my lap, puts her thumb in her mouth, and puts her arm under my chin.  A little cookoo crazy!

Good thing she's so darn cute that we keep her around - idiosyncrasies and all!