Bryce Family Reunion 2009

The week before 4th of July we spent in Hannagan Meadow with my whole family. All my brothers and sisters were there with their respective spouses and kiddos. We had lots of fun and did our best to stay out of trouble.

On Monday we drove up going through New Mexico. It was a fun drive because Shane had never been that way before so we had fun seeing a new road. The kids did pretty good, even Logan managed to fall asleep after only 15 minutes of crying. We made it to the cabins my mom and dad had rented and all piled out of the car. The kids spent the next 4 days running back and forth from our cabin to my parents.

Here are a few highlights from our big adventure:

The Office: Andrew, Kiara and Avery built a fort out of sticks on Thursday. Aidan was inside and I asked him several times if he wanted to go out and help build the fort. He said no each time. Later that afternoon we were all outside and the girls didn't want Aidan in their fort and he was getting mad and wanting to knock it down. Of course we said he couldn't do that, so instead he walked over by the fire pit and proceeded to move some logs around to make an "office." Later when we went over to check it out he showed us his office complete with rock phone, log email and pine needle staples. After roasting marshmallows that evening his office turned into a resturant that served excellent pizza and ice cream.

Spotlighting: Every night some group of us went spotlighting. On the last night Grandma, Grandpa and Stephanie took all the grandkids (minus Dallen, Josiah and Logan). They had quite the time. Rowan was sitting on Stephanie's lap with his head and torso all the way out the window. Everytime they saw an animal all the kids turned on their flashlights and pointed them towards whatever they were looking at even though their flashlights didn't even reach out of the truck. At one point as they were driving down a road Aidan screamed "I saw something!!" My dad slammed on his brakes and they asked him what he saw. He said "a real piece of wood." So being a good grandpa my dad backed up and they spotlighted this piece of wood. He was very excited about his "real" piece of wood. In addition to the "real" wood they saw elk, baby elk and even a bobcat.

An Officinal Doctor: Aidan was talking to Andrew and informed Andrew that he was an officinal doctor. Andrew asked him if he had gone to school for 8 years. Aidan told him that he had gone to school for 9 years and not only that, but he was going to kindergarten next year! Whoo hoo, my kind of doctor!

Stephanie and the bear: Stephanie, Aaron and Carrie went on an end of the road trip and Stephanie had to get out of the car to clear a piece of wood off the road. Aaron got out to help her and they heard rustling in the woods. When they looked up they saw a bear heading for them. They take off running back to the truck yelling at Carrie to get back in the car. As they are running Stephanie falls and twists her ankle. Luckily they scared the bear just as much as it scared them and everyone made it back safe with only a twisted ankle to show for it.

Super gigante marshmallows: Before leaving for camping we stopped at Bashas to get milk. In there they had "super gigante" marshmallows which were marshmallows 4 or 5 times the size of regular marshmallows. We couldn't pass them up and took some up to the cabin with us. They were a big hit with the kids, though they took a long time to roast. Shane and Andrew even made smores with them ending up with a huge ring of marshmallow all the way around their graham crackers. We also had smores with pink marshmallows and rolos. Carrie even showed us how to put a hershey kiss inside a roasted marshmallow for even more yumminess.

Fishing for "Real" fish: We went fishing at Big Lake on Wednesday. The kids had fun casting into the lake over and over even without hooks. Only Carrie and Aaron caught anything during the day but later that afternoon all the adults minus grandma and grandpa and us went to the river to try again. Everyone managed to catch something on that trip and Andrew even brought his back to the cabin to cook and eat. Aidan tried some and told Andrew it tasted like real fish. I think Andrew was glad to know he didn't catch a fake fish.

Water Fight: When we got home the reunion got to continue since Elizabeth and Andrew came down to Pima too. On Saturday Carrie and Aaron decided we needed to have a water fight. We got out our old baby pool and my mom and Elizabeth got water squirters and water bombs to facilitate this fight. The kids thought this was wonderful. They sat in the pool and squirted their aunts and uncles, grandma and grandpa and mommy! I wasn't planning on being involved, but Aaron kind of dragged me into it. After a while my dad even came out. He grabbed the hose and was "watering the grass" by spraying all of us. Then he masterminded a plan to get my mom. On the count of 3 everyone, including the grandkids, ran and sprayed grandma. Needless to say grandma was very surprised and got completely drenched. After that the chairs on the porch weren't base anymore!

All in all it was an awesome week. We had fun being able to all hang out with no one having to run off to work or other responsibilities. Shane and I were glad we could play games at night and not be the only ones who had to go home to take care of kids. We just stuck all the kids in one side, closed the door and played games on the other side. Thanks to my mom and dad for setting it all up and being such a great mom and dad that we wanted to all get together!!