Utah Visit

We learned early in our marriage that limited vacation days meant we would alternate visits to see extended family. We prefer to spend Christmas at home, so we switch off ever other summer taking our family to Utah or California. This was a "California year" but we couldn't pass up a rare opportunity to get together with 85+of the world's finest Willardsons for a reunion in Utah. Aaron's Aunt Laurie is a Van Slooten cousin and had the opportunity to use her extended family's cabin in Charleston, Utah (Midway) for a few days.  This place was the ideal setting for a large family reunion! Whoever designed the cabin really had accommodations for a large crowd in mind, because we actually all fit in r

Plus the views were breathtaking. Utah does summer right. It was gorgeous, dry, cool in the evenings, and did I mention dry? No humidity! Being outside and not immediately drenched in sweat was a nice perk!

Pictured below (in no order): 

-Jeff and Laurie Willardson Family 

--Jeff, Wendy, Ryan, Audrey, Drue, and Holland

--Tyler

--Kristin, Adam and baby Jeffrey Youngberg

--Jenny and Taylor Rose

--Matt (undoubtedly my all time favorite of all the Willardsons and I have no shame in saying so. We bonded over Mario 10 years ago and he's been the favorite ever since)

Missing Brooke, Dave and kids as they welcomed new baby Max

-Rob and Lynda Willardson Family

--Jared, Ashley, Mattisse, Audran, and Ethan

--John, Julia, Hanna, Abby, Ella, and Claire

--Aaron, Meg, Reese, Quincy, Corbin, Soren, and Sloane

--Janae, Steve, Madeline, Preston, Sophia, and Henry Low

--Jana, Scott, Jackson and Avery Schauss

Tom and Valle Willardson Family:

--Drue 

--Roy, Kelly, Max, Mia, and Van

--Kate, (missing Rob), Tommy and Drue (my second favorite of all Willardsons, and Aaron's definite favorite. We may have tried to bring him home in our suitcase. 

--Colin, Dre, Sofia, and Curtis

-Karen and Steve Reeder Family

--Mike, Christy, Tate, Grant, and Spencer

--James and Erin and their 3 girls 

--Laura, husband, and girls 

--(Missing David and family)

-Bruce and Stacy Willardson Family

--Jack, (Missing Chase and Shannon and baby.) 

--Taylor, Katie and Stella

--Cole

 

There was a lot of quality time spent with daddy fishing and playing games

Cousin time (Reese and Abby) Abby is such a sweet girl and good example for my girls. Love her! 

Naps (Rob, Jeff, Bruce)

Corbin slept right through our trip to Pizzeria Limone. Only a person who has not been sucker punched/jumped on by a kid can sleep like this. Look how safe he feels. I used to sleep like this. Now I curl up into a self preserving cocoon...

Nappers beware! When Roy woke up, he refused to believe it was me, and blamed Colin for the mustache. 

Sloane vs the plate of spaghetti. 

Colin brought beanboozled for each family to play. Tommy's near puke gag face was awesome! "Someone (gag) someone get me (gag) a cup!" Hahaha

 There was an indoor bball court/gym and assorted games in the basement, like pool, air hockey, foosball, and shuffleboard table. The kids loved it all! There were a playhouse under the stairs and 2 stories of tube slides to play on. Loads of cousin playtime. 

And a movie theater room! 

The kitchen actually seated most of us! This house was so well designed and had big families in mind. 

Bruce and Stacy were so cute with little Jack. I only took about 15 pics at the cabin all weekend, and this was one of them. Too sweet!

I call this pic Drue vs Drue. We tried to get big Drue to get in on the pillow fight donut would be Drue vs Drue vs Drue, but he wasn't into it. 

One morning, the guys went golfing and I got to take some of the girls (plus Soren) out to breakfast at kneaders. We sure love these girls! 

Other adventures: free slurpees on 7-11

Driving past the Lehi Roller Mills:

Me: look kids! This is where they made a classic 80's movie called, "Footloose" 

Reese: was is filmed in black and white? 

We took the kids to walk around the BYU campus.  

I was lucky to have a quick visit with one of favorite people. I still get choked up when I think about how much I miss her. It's completely irrational, I know. But I just hate that she lives far away and still fight the urge to randomly stop by her house for spontaneous fun when I'm driving through woods creek. At least she's in Utah so we can see each other occasionally and I refuse to stop willing her to move back to Ar. Some friendships are just meant to last forever! 

Sloane displayed her typical anti-anyone-but-Mama antics, but randomly took to a few people (from a comfortable distance): cousin Tyler, and grandpa Rob. Just about everyone else got the stink eye. 

And of course we already miss Grandma Lynda like crazy. It's never enough time but they had so much fun together. 

The trip home was long, had bad turbulence, and a 3+ hour layover in Vegas. Thankfully, my sweet kids were awesome travelers and handled it all really well! There aren't many dull moments in my life lately, But I really love adventures with this little crew.  We are a good team and I enjoy being with them. Go go Willy Summertime!