When Families Gather II

But wait there's more. When Families Gather I was all Spencer's photos. These are my photos of the gathering.  There was lots of crafting by cute "little relatives" (see WFG I for "little relatives" reference)

 There were watermelons to paint as Emily demonstrates.

 Birdhouses to paint and decorate.  As shown by Kaitlyn.

 Kindra & Korbie show that even big kids like to craft.

Everyone loves to craft--even Des!

 Some even cuter "little relatives" and well, Cooper (cute in his own St. Bernard way).

Kindra once again showing off her color combos!

 If you are sensing a trend with the headbands--there was one.  Yes, it was one of the crafting options (even I made one).  I believe that Gordon made his himself.  I know I saw him braiding fabric...

  This is too show that Beckett truly did still love Spencer (see WFG I).  They spent some real quality time at the beach.  Though Spencer did say it was hard to get all that sand off his hairy legs.

I love this exchange between Spencer & Becket!

 Even the "men" participated in the game playing.  This was an all men card game.  I believe there were two that happened.  We refuse to talk about the same card game that involved 10 year old Dillon gleefully beating everyone the first time he played.  :-)

Lincoln contemplating some roasted hotdogs.  This was days before the incident with the swing.  We hope he is not emotionally scarred by his visit with the family and will be back next year!

 This was our home away from home.  It was super to be able to sleep in the cabins and have the lodge to meet late into the evening.  We could make as much noise as we wanted into the night and not get tormented by thousands of bugs.  It was perfect.

 I threw this in just because Spencer deserves it!

More fun in the Sand!

Though not the best picture (Desi would kill me for using the ones of her) this shows the fun tire swing we found at the edge of the lake.  Lacey's husband Mike was really good at launching the kids from high up in the air and into the lake.

It truly was as awesome few days!  (Read on in When Families Gather I)

When Families Gather I

Our Vaden family members recently gathered (okay it was the 4th of July and I am a little slow--but it's still July so that is recent).  We met up at Alturas Lake which nestled in the beautiful Sawtooth Mountain range in Idaho (about 50 miles east of Sun Valley.  We had reserved the Cabin Creek compound which consists of 7 smaller cabins around a larger lodge.  It was a perfect location. In my mind a perfect combination of Redfish Lake and Wildhorse Canyon where we have gathered as a family in the past.  Our family, the Chandlers got there on the evening of the 4th and stayed in the caretakers cabin with Roberta & Celiac.  The next day we moved into our won cabin (Nephi as I recall--yes, the compound is owned by the Mormon church so all the cabins have church related names) and proceeded to have a wonderful time.

We met new family members.  This is my brother-in-law Gordon Olson holding his latest grandbaby who's name just happens to be Vaden!  It is so awesome to be able to gather with family and reconnect.  Since we are up here and they are all (mostly) in Idaho we generally only get to see them about once a year.  So I in particular enjoy getting together.

 This is me proving I still have it at 50!

 Tucker loved all the little 2nd cousins.  He loves little kids anyway and the little relatives in particular.  He made a bond with little TJ when we went out waterskiing.

 Another "little relative" (not sure if they are 2nd cousins, 1st cousins once removed or what to my kids--they are great neices & nephews to me).  This is little Micah who loves being on the boat!

 This cutie-patootie Beckett who came to visit us last summer and loved me.  This summer not so much really.  Though he did have a particular fondness for Spencer!  (Who also loves the "little relatives")

 This proves that I really still do have it--even at 50!  Maybe not the best form, but what can you expect of a person who only waterskis about once a year (maybe)!

 It's not a fluke!

 Dennis still has it too!  So much so he has to prove it by being a ham (nothing unusual there)!

 Lots of games were played in the Lodge.  The favorite of the boys was Jenga and some alternative version they named Super Jenga.

 The last day we took a family photo.  This didn't turn out so bad (and believe me we are not generally a really photogenic crowd--for various reasons).  It's hard to get a good one.

I am truly greatful to my sister Roberta for taking this on and making it happen.  It's harder without mom there to bind us all together, but it so important for us to continue to make the effort.  It is what she would want.  I for one am totally looking forward to next year at the same venue with the same people I love!

Half a Century

Yes, I recently celebrated a milestone birthday!  That would be my 50th.  Amazing isn't it.  It is to me.  I got a 4 day celebration actually.  They decorated my desk at work.  The nifty 50 glasses were worn all day Friday as well as the groovy 50 badge I am sporting in the first picture which is from the fun party Dennis threw for me Saturday night at his parents' house.

 This next picture is of me and Peg.  Peg is one of my BFF Scrabble buddies.  She and her husband came to the party.  So did my other BFF Scrabble buddy Michelle.  They are two awesome ladies that I am thankful to have as friends.  My friend Dana from work also came with her husband.  I am lucky to have some really great women as friends in my life.

 Here are the nifty 50 glasses.  My sister-in-law Kacee gave me a bag full of anti-aging stuff.  It was pretty funny.  Most people who didn't really know me couldn't believe I was actually 50.  So I am not sure what I would do with the anti-aging stuff.  (Ha ha)  All of the Chandler clan came for my party as well as Dennis' uncle & aunt from California and his aunt from Bremerton.  It was a fun party

 I got four bouquets of flowers that night.  They are all absolutely gorgeous as you can see below.  I also got a hanging plant which I will try really hard not go kill as I am a noted plant killer.  We had a family celebration on Sunday, my actual birthday (May 27).  I got treated with some awesome presents from Dennis and kids.

On Monday we were going to play golf, but the weather and slow play decided us against it.  Instead we went to see Salmon Fishing in Yemen at the dollar theater (sweet movie by the way).  Not a bad way to celebrate 50 years of life.  So how does it feel to be 1/2 a century old one might ask?  Not any different than it did the day before I was 50.

Spring Break SD

We are just finishing up spring break here.  Yes, I know it's pretty late in the year.  I guess that is okay because it made things less crowded in San Diego where we went for a few days of the break.

 These pictures are in no particular order.  Mostly because blogspot changed their template for creating a blog and I will have to figure out how it works.  San Diego just happens to be where Dennis went to boot camp back in the day so of course we had to stop there.  We were able to get on the base, walk through the museum and take this fun photo with a drill instructor in training.

 There was a nice pool at the hotel where were were staying and some fun times were had in the pool and the hot tub.  Cooper could of course spend all day there, but we didn't.  Mostly it was in the late afternoon.  They had a cool fireplace at one end so after dark you could sit by the fireplace and relax and still be warm even though you were wet.

 One day we took a drive up North and just happened to notice that the Torrey Pines golf course was not too far away.  Of course we had to stop there so Dennis could get a hat and pose for this awesome picture.  We watched a couple of really bad golfing groups tee off from the first tee which goes right towards the ocean.  (No, we did not play--no golf of any kind was played on this trip--shocking I know)

 Cooper, Spencer & I got tattoos.  They were henna of course, but it was still fun.  I got a lizard, Cooper got a Chinese symbol for energetic (I think) and Spencer got an anchor.  There is still a little residue of my lizard on my ankle.

 If you go to a place with a beach, you do have to at least dip your toes in the water--which I did.  It was a little chilly the first two days so we only wandered the beach.  We did not sunbathe.

We visited the Mormon Battalion visitor's center which is in San Diego (because there is where the battalion finally ended up after 2000 miles).  We did the "tour" which was a video/interactive kind of thing, kind of like the talking pictures in Harry Potter.  Too hard to explain, but it was interesting a fun.  We were the only people in our group so Cooper got to be the guinea pig for dressing up like one of the battalion members.  You can see he is thrilled.

 Unlike every where else we went where they take your picture in front of something and expect you to pay for the picture at some point, the visitor's center gave us the picture for free AND sent a jpg to my e-mail.  Now how cool is that.  Everywhere else we went and I do mean everywhere they take your picture and you have to pay!

 We visited the zoo of course and it was pretty cool.  Lots of walking and really great weather.  It is a huge zoo.

 And of course we also visited SeaWorld.  It was pretty awesome as well.  That was actually on the first day we were there.  Cooper & I both got wet on rides and Spencer got a really good (bad) sunburn (that he is still trying to recover from)

 The last day we visted the USS Midway which is stationed in San Diego bay.  It is pretty amazing.  I don't think I could ever be in the Navy and live in such closed quarters.  You could walk all around the ship and we took a tour of the crow's nest.

 We also visited Balboa park which is where the zoo is located but we did them on two separate days.  They have all these really cool buildings that were built specifically for the 1935 International Exhibition.  They are very ornate and interesting.

 There is also an artist colony (for lack of a better word) there in Balboa park.  They have there own little studios.  It's a little bit like Pike Place but without the fish and produce--plus I think the artists actually work in their studios.  it was pretty cool.

 

 This is the view from Sunset Cliffs which were just north of where we were staying and naturally we went to watch the sun set.  All and all it was a pretty awesome trip.