Epic Summer Vacation Part 1 - Family Reunion

We started off on our epic summer vacation by driving to Gallup, New Mexico. Aubrey lost her very first tooth in the hotel and she was so proud. She showed it to everyone that asked and asked me to put it on Facebook so everyone else could see.

We took a few pictures while waiting for breakfast because the lobby seats had high backs that made for cool back drops. The girls liked playing on the designer tables that looked like Grandpa's bongos. 

As we traveled, we stopped at a couple of places to try geo-caching. It was so much fun. Right before the entrance to the Grand Canyon, which was our first stop of the day, we followed a trail to our first geo-caching spot. The girls were so excited when they found the spot and dug out the container. We added our names and reburied it. It was so exciting! 

The Grand Canyon was amazing. We had never been before. There were a lot of people, but the view was breathtaking. I took a ton of pictures, but here are a few of our favorites.  

I loved how you could see the vastness of the canyon and view in this selfie. 

That night, we made it to our hotel site which was a lot of little cabins together outside of Panguitch, Utah. We were staying there along with Grandma and Grandpa, Paul and Melody and family, and a lot of my cousins and Aunts and Uncles. We met as a smaller family reunion at a campground for dinner. This first night was the mini-family reunions so it was just my Grandma Willes and all of her kids, grandkids, and great grandkids. My girls loved meeting and playing with their second cousins. Tessa and Aubrey each found girls that were close to their age and they ran off and played all night long. Abby and I played volleyball and some of my cousins came out to play with us as well, which was a lot of fun. 

We hadn't seen Paul and Melody in months, so it was fun to catch up with them too. Melody had to be silly in our selfie picture. 

My dad's sister, Linda, has three girls and a boy, opposite from my family of three boys and a girl. We were the closest cousins on my dad's side growing up. Here's a picture of my girls with my cousin's kids. They didn't take long getting acquainted and having the best time together. I love getting together for extended family reunions. 

The main family reunion was held on Saturday. It was for all the descendants of Earl and Eva Marshall who were my Grandma Willes' parents. We had reunion shirts and Grandma Willes' family was royal blue. Here's a picture of my girls with Rebecca in front of our cabin hotel and of the girls in front of my great-grandparents home in Panguitch, where my Grandma grew up.

We took another picture in front of the house with all of Grandma Willes' family that was available that first morning before we toured the house. My dad remembers going their for Christmas and other holidays and playing with his cousins in the backyard.

After a Boy Scout pancake breakfast, we walked around downtown Panguitch waiting for their Pioneer Day parade to start. We found this monument/park that told the story of Panguitch pioneers who had walked on deep snow by using quilts. Some people even stopped to tell us stories of their own ancestors who were apart of that group. It was really cool.

My Grandma and her brother, Don, were in the parade as the Grand Marshalls. Everyone from the reunion got to walk in the parade with them if we wanted to. The girls and I walked the last half of the parade. It was fun waving to everyone and tossing candy.

Tessa loved this green sports car, so we took a picture with the driver while they waited to move along in the parade. At the very end of the parade, the fire trucks stopped and just started spraying water up into the air. The kids thought it was the best thing ever as they got soaked and ran after each fire truck trying to get in the line of water-fire.

My great-grandpa Earl Marshall was a pharmacist and this was his store. One of my relatives is still the pharmacist there today. My older brother, Paul, is a pharmacist and knew that that profession ran in our family. There were displays inside this drug store that had items from my great-grandpa's original drug store. It was so cool to see. Abby bought a huge metal volleyball player for her bedroom from this store. She and Tyler thought it was too awesome to pass up.

We had the majority of the meals and activities at the stake center in town. Here's our family with the Marshall Reunion sign. 

I tried to take one picture of the entire group. There were so many of us there. They also took a picture of all the 1st generation cousins. So my grandma and her brother Don are sitting in front and my dad with all of his cousins are standing behind them.

Here's a picture of our entire family reunion with all the different colored shirts. One color for each of Earl and Eva's children and their descendants.

We also took pictures of each family branch. Here are all the royal blues of Grandma Barbara Willes' family.

The kids found things to entertain themselves and one of my cousins took this picture while my kids played with their second cousins, making up their own games to have fun. 

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There was a talent show so my dad put together a percussion piece called Kawf Dooda Code. It's a body percussion number where everyone makes sounds like they're sick, but to musical rhythms. It's hilarious and so cool. Abby and I did a part together and performed with Paul and Joseph, Mom and Dad, and my cousin Bree and her mom, my Aunt Linda. Everyone loved it. My dad played his steel drum too. It was so fun. Some of the kids performed songs or dance routines, so Aubrey was a little upset with me that she didn't get to do some gymnastics, but enjoyed watching everyone perform.

There were a lot of planned activities and crafts for the kids. I helped with some of those to keep the kids entertained. They got to color, fingerpaint, make crowns, snakes, and rockets. Tyler and Abby went fishing with some of the older kids while I stayed with the other three girls while they shot off their rockets. I think Tessa's rocket was one of the rockets that flew the highest into the air.

My dad's cousin who lives in Panguitch owns some horses, so we spent some time at their house letting the girls ride the horses and ponies. My girls were super excited to get to ride horses. Abby missed it since she was fishing and was a little sad about it. I took a lot of pictures and videos of the girls as they each took turns on each of the horses. Here's one picture of each girl on a horse.

Even Taryn had a great time and was not scared to try the bigger horses and take multiple turns because she thought it was so much fun.

On Sunday, we went to church at a branch near Panguitch Lake. The church building was surrounded by these beautiful flowers. After church, before changing for lunch, I tried taking some pretty pictures of the girls, but the sun was so bright. Besides their squinty eyes, I loved the pictures and the bright colors of the flowers and their dresses.

Another cousin owned a cabin near the lake and church, so we stopped there to change clothes and have lunch. The kids played around the huge yard. We were there with my first cousins, so these kids are all second cousins, but they loved playing together and getting to know each other better.

We also pulled out some home videos and pictures of my grandparents when they were first married and when my dad and Aunt were just babies. It was so cool to see. We loved seeing some video of my grandpa Black. He was usually taking the videos, so you don't see him much. He died when my dad was eight years old, so my dad and Aunt were loving the videos and pictures that had him in them. Here we all are surrounding my Grandma as we watched the videos.

Before leaving the lake and Panguitch, Tyler wanted one more go at fishing. The girls hung around and played while Tyler fished. We didn't catch anything, but the scenery and view were beautiful.

Tyler and I had to take a picture on our last day with Corbin Allred. His wife is one of my second cousins. He was the emcee for our talent show, and is known in the LDS world for his acting. He's in movies like Saints and Soldiers, which I loved. He is now a Paramedic EMT in Oregon, but we had to take a picture to show all of our friends back home. :)

As we left Panguitch to head our separate ways (us up to the Provo area, and my parents and Paul and Melody to Las Vegas), we stopped by Bryce Canyon which wasn't very far from where we were. We had never been and it was so cool to see another huge canyon and national park. We had to do a little climbing, but the kids were good sports and the view was definitely worth the climb.

Here's our family at one of the lookout points.

And here's a picture of me and Tyler.

And one of just the girls. The canyon was so pretty and so amazing.

As we walked back down along the rim, we took some more pictures. Here's some of me with the girls and Tyler with the girls.

I love this picture of Tyler and Taryn because their smiles are so good. I LOVE Tyler's smile in this picture. It's so genuine and how I think of him all the time. One of my all-time favorites!

After saying our goodbyes to my family, we finished our journey up to the Provo area to spend some time with Tyler's family. As we drove through the pretty Utah landscape, we stopped at one more river to try fishing. So far, Tyler had not caught any fish. But luckily, this time, we hit the jackpot. Within minutes Tyler had caught a few fish and released them back into the stream. They were catching so easily that each girl took a turn and caught fish too!

I think the final count was 15 or more fish caught with each girl catching at least three fish each. They each took a turn and I was able to get pictures one round and videos the next round.

They had so much fun and didn't even mind holding up the fish they proudly caught. It was so much fun to watch them all. They were all having so much fun.

Eventually, some bad weather moved in or else we would have stayed longer. It quickly got cloudy and started to rain and when things started falling off the high cliff that was right next to us, we decided to quickly get back to the van before larger items starting falling from the cliff. Besides our quick departure, it was so much fun and such a great way to start our epic family vacation.

Our Summer 2017

Besides our big 2-week family vacation that we took at the end of July, here are a few highlights from our summer. We started off the summer by taking a quick trip over to Tucson, Arizona for the Tucson temple open house. Tyler was going there for Scout Camp and decided to get tickets for all the scouts to see the temple on their way to the campsite. Audrey and I followed along with all the kids so we could go through the open house with them. 

We were shuttled from a church parking lot to the temple and Taryn said it was her first time a bus! 

We loved walking through the temple and talking to the kids about eternal families and Heavenly Father's plan. I love how the temples are designed to include features from the local cultures, so the Tucson temple has a dome on the top like some of that city's historical buildings. I thought that was pretty cool. Here's a picture of the kids after we finished walking through and also a picture of the Scouts with the temple behind them.

I've still been playing volleyball twice a week at church and love it so much. This summer Abby joined me when she wasn't at another camp. We take pictures every once in awhile, so here was the latest one. 

Our pool sadly had a lot of issues this summer. While Tyler was away at Scout Camp the pool pump died. Tyler ordered new parts, replaced them himself, and then we had to wait to get the water clear and swimable again. Luckily, the girls were able to swim at the Kasallis house and with new slides, who wouldn't want to? It took Taryn quite a few swim trips to work up the courage to go down the slide herself. She even had to wear a floatie every time she went down the slide because she was too scared even though she knows how to swim without floaties. We also visited a lot of splash parks that have recently been built in our city. The girls and I went across town to the east side to find a splash park that we heard was awesome with its own little slides. The girls had a blast and I took some of the best pictures there because the day was so sunny and beautiful. 

One day while Tyler was still at camp, we were able to go to Peter Piper Pizza for a patient appreciation day for Aubrey's orthodontist. The girls had fun playing and we took a picture with their orthodontist signs to post on social media for advertisement. We didn't win any of the raffles, so the girls were sad (they were raffling off fidget spinners that the girls are obsessed with!), but we got lunch, games, and a few goodies. It was still fun. They only allowed four people per patient, so Abby got to spend the day with Grandma and Grandpa. We had lots of playdates, especially while Dad and Abby were gone during their camps. Here's Taryn with her friend Presley when they had a fashion show for the moms. So cute! 

Speaking of fidget spinners, I was not going to purchase any for the girls, but after Tessa got a homemade one from a friend who made it from Legos, they spent the next couple days making their very own fidget spinners using our Legos. It was pretty creative. 

Tyler needed a current picture of his family to send to his optometry school who were getting their 10-year reunion together. So after church one day while we were all wearing coordinating colors, we took a picture. Everyone looked so cute even though Taryn didn't get her eyes open. It was the best one of the bunch. 

On Sam Kasallis's birthday, we joined their family to go see Despicable Me 3 in the theaters. They had displays out for pictures; and we even ran into a minion as we walked to the theater. The girls thought that was pretty awesome. 

For the 4th of July, we drove down to San Antonio to visit Scott and his family. Abby is obsessed with Nadia who is obsessed with Abby. Nadia apparently talks about "Abby" all the time and even gets sad when Chloe's friend Gabby comes over because she thinks they're talking abut Abby. Nadia's starting to smile more freely now as she gets more comfortable with everyone, so Abby takes pictures every time they are together. It's so cute. 

Right before we showed up, Scott and Nevla had been placed with Nadia's birth sister. So with three kids under 2, we pretty much just hung around their house, held babies, and played games while we visited. The girls were able to swim in their blow up pool in the backyard and we took some walks to their neighborhood pool and playground. 

We did venture out to the Bass Pro Shop one day and took Chloe with us. I love how they have such fun picture spots and we seem to take pictures at the same ones every time we go. So here are the most current ones.

The morning of the 4th of July, Scott and Nevla's neighborhood HOA was hosting a BBQ, so we walked over, had food from a food truck, and the big girls got to play on the water slides and at the park. We love spending time with family. 

Another summer adventure was when I let the girls have their very own Cupcake Wars. Abby and Taryn competed against Tessa and Aubrey and they both made different cupcakes that they baked and decorated themselves. I was supposed to be a judge, but it was too hard deciding between my own children and both cupcakes were really delicious. We had fun posting pictures on Facebook as the Cupcake Wars went down. 

Here are the final product pictures. Abby and Taryn made vanilla cupcakes with a strawberry jam filling and strawberry vanilla frosting. Tessa and Aubrey made red velvet cupcakes with a milk chocolate center and vanilla frosting. We even made some mini cupcakes so the Kasallis's could taste one of each and put in their votes. It was pretty fun.

This is Aubrey with Clare from our ward. They like to come over and play games with us; and the girls love playing with Clare. She's obsessed with Moana so they'd watch the movie at our house and my girls would share their Moana toys for Clare to play with. Aubrey loves being the babysitter and is great with all babies. This picture was too cute not to keep and post about.

We had our annual dress-like-a-cow day for free food at chic-fil-a this summer. We saw a lot of friends there that day, so it was fun for the girls to see their friends and not be the only ones dressed up like cows.

We spent one evening this summer on a full-city search for Blue Bell ice cream. When we were with Scott and Nevla, they had found a new flavor, Groom's Cake, and it became our family favorite. After a friend found the ice cream at an Albertson's in our town and brought it to us, we decided to go on a search to buy more. We drove to three different Albertson's looking for Groom's Cake ice cream, but never found any. But the girls had fun playing in the store's shopping carts and racing down the aisles while we searched all the freezers. Such fun memories! Tessa decided she wants to play the violin in her 5th grade orchestra. I would have loved to talk her into playing the bass like Abby. (They only have to bring it home once a week, not very many people pick the bass, and you pay a yearly fee instead of a monthly rental fee.) However, with Tessa's tiny frame, I just couldn't justify making her play a huge instrument, and she really wanted to try the violin. So before the end of summer, we rented a violin from a friend in the ward and Tessa was able to start getting familiar with it. There are different sizes of violins depending on the player's size and Tessa had to rent a 1/4 size violin. It's so tiny! My cute little Tessa. I love her so much!

The week before we left for our summer vacation, Audrey's sister and family was in town visiting for Sam's baptism. Our kids love to all play together. The night before we left, they were celebrating a birthday so we were able to participate and the kids all had a go at the Batman pinata. It was fun hanging out with them, swimming, and playing. We even made plans to see them in Utah since they were going to be home by the time we were going to be staying in their same town. So fun!

Our final summer adventure before school started was a Chihuahua baseball game. My parents had been wanting to go, so we found a night that worked and all went together. We sat in two separate rows since we got some tickets from a friend, but the girls had fun switching between sitting by us and by Grandma and Grandpa. 

We were very close to the field along the first base side and there were signs everywhere talking about the "fly ball zone" and to beware of fast-flying balls. The girls were a little nervous, but I told them that Dad would protect them. At one point a foul ball was tossed into the stands by a player, and Tyler reached out and caught it with his bare hand right in front of me and the girls. It was awesome! The girls loved taking turns holding the ball.

Near the end of the game, the girls had decided to sit with Grandma and Grandpa which was closer to the field and a worker came over to ask if Tessa and Aubrey wanted to participate in one of their middle of an inning games. They got to play musical chairs on the field! It was so fun to see. Tessa was so nervous and cried the whole inning leading up to it because she wanted to do it, but didn't want to be in front of all those people. But she went out there and did it. I was so proud of her. There were four girls; Tessa got out second and Aubrey won! It was so fun to see them on the big screen. They didn't win anything though which was one of my reasons to try and talk Tessa into doing it, so I felt bad about that, but she was happy once it was all over. These were the best pictures I got from behind the camera man. One with all the girls while the announcer introduced them and one with Aubrey shaking his hand after winning. It was a great end to the summer!