What Matters Most... Part Two!

After all of the fun on Thursday I didn't know how we were going to out do that fro Friday.

But we tried! :)

We started off meeting in Waterton and going hiking to Bertha Falls.  It's a nice simple hike that even the little kids could do and my SIL Brittany did it 2 days before having their 4th baby! :)

We had lunch at one of the camp kitchens by the lake and then split up and did a bunch of different activities.  Some went shopping other to Cameron Lake and other rented the pedal bike or scooter.

Matt and I and some of the cousins ended up at the spray park they have and it was hilarious to watch the kids run through the freezing glacier water!  Maitland loved it and just kept going back for more!  Of course no trip to Waterton is complete without stopping for Ice Cream!  So most of us did that too.  We then headed to my grandparents ranch near Cardston to have a wiener roast for dinner and more games.

We had a great time sitting around the fire until the rain decided to join in the fun...it only lasted for a few minutes and then we were good to go again.  We finished dinner and then had a pinata for the kids to whack apart.  As always anything with candy was a "hit"...lame joke...sorry.  After that the rain really did start again and for quite some time so most people packed up and headed home.  Those staying at the ranch and few others went up to the house to visit for a bit and got to see a beautiful double rainbow stretch all the over the ranch.  It was the perfect end to a great day.

Saturday had us all back in Cardston for the 50th Anniversary party.  It was great to be able to celebrate my grandparents and all that they have done for all of our family.  They are such great people and deserve a party in their honor! :)  We all got a little silly with the program and had lots of fun laughing at/with each other.  We also presented my grandparents with a family tree that we had made and framed of all of their posterity.  It turned out beautifully and I was thrilled with the end result.

That was the end of the reunion...and I was sad to have it end.  I love my family and really do believe that it matters most. I am a firm believer that time spent with family is never time wasted.  I hope that everyone had a good time and was able to feel the love we have for them by all of the work we put into planning and putting on the reunion.  I am so thankful that everyone took the time out of their lives to come and participate.  It was great and well worth all of the time and effort!!  I love you all and can't wait until we get to do this again...except someone else gets to do the planning! ;)

Waterton when we arrived in the morning...I love this place! :)

Sadie and Emalia hiking to Bertha Falls.

My cousin Jordan caught one of the gophers that were hanging around the camp kitchen!
Crazy kid!! That baseball mitt was not clean after the fact... yuck!

 

Teyah, Liisa, Chase, Cole and Kyle riding one of the bikes.

 

Maitland stunned at how cold the water was at the spray park...but he went back or more!

 

Teyah and Emalia running through the water rainbow.

 

Wiener roast at the ranch camp spot.  

 

Pinata fun!

 Katelyn the family photographer...I stole most of these pictures off of her facebook...

THANKS KATELYN!!!!

Double rainbow at the ranch after the reunion!

 Our families contribution to the program at the 50th wedding party.

Grandpa Hartley had a ranch e-i-e-i-o... it was kind of lame! haha

 This is a copy of the family tree we commissioned.  It might be my favorite thing ever.  I love it.

What matters most... part One

This past week has been one of the busiest and most tiring of my life.

My Mom and her children were in charge of planning and putting on a family reunion for her

parents and siblings and their families.

I was so excited for the opportunity to plan all of the activities and get the chance to see and spend a few days with all of our extended family that live in the States and those we don't get to see very often that live a little closer as well.  My grandparents also happened to be having their 50th wedding anniversary 

and both of their 80th birthdays this year as well.  So it all worked out to do the reunion and celebrate those mile stones at one time.

We were able to rent the Pavan Park area for the first day and it was perfect!

It is an enclosed area with playgrounds and big open lawns and a huge covered patio area

and a nice kitchen and washroom facilities.  

I highly recommend it and would rent it again in a heart beat.

It was super hot the first day (about 31 degrees) and I was so glad for the shade of the patio!

We started off the day with some mix and mingle games.  Bingo, animal sound sort out and "where do I belong" (you have everyone line up tallest to shortest, alphabetically, by birthdays...etc).

Then we had a delicious lunch of taco in a bag (taco salad) and watermelon! Yummy!!

After lunch we were ready to play and had bounce houses, a water fight, art time, gak making, and lots of time to sit and visit.  For dinner we did beef on a bun and salads and it was all so good!!

After dinner my Mom had made up a ton of "prizes" to give away for coming to the reunion.

For example: who's the baldest (got a wig), who lost a tooth most recently (got toothpaste) and we had about 25 different things we did.  It was all for fun and silly.

After that I had put together a "Minute to Win It" game and split everyone into teams and had them compete to accomplish a variety of tasks in under a minute.  There was skittle sorting, dice stacking on a popsicle stick, oreo in the mouth, water bottle knock over with a tennis ball in tights among others.  It was fun to watch and see everyone trying so hard to out do the other teams.  After that it was time to clean up and head home because we had a big day planned for Friday in Waterton as well.

Here are pictures of a few of the things we did at Pavan.

 We started off with a Bingo game where we had to get signatures from different members

of the family that matched different criteria.  e.g.: In their 40's, wears contacts, been on an airplane

 Erin (my oldest sister) is good friends with a guy from Raymond who rents out bounce houses

so we got a couple of those for a good deal and they were a super hit with all ages!!

Maitland wouldn't come out once he got inside!  Stayed there for over an hour!

 

This one is called "King of the Hill" and you have to try and stay in the middle of the huge bubble...

it got a little rowdy at times and there were a few bumps and bruises and maybe a little blood too.

 

 Teyah made it to the top and stayed there!

 Maitland didn't really get the whole water fight thing but the cool water sure felt good to sit in!

 My BIL Corey won the "skittles in the a jar" guessing contest with a guess of 273

There were 267 in the jar...my cousin's husband Kieth had the worst guess with 1680! haha

 I just had to include this adorable picture of my sweet boy!  He was so good all day and made it

easy for me to do all of the activities I was in charge of and get meals ready.  Thanks for all 

of the help from all the family for taking turns helping me out while Matt was at work!!

We played Minute to Win It after dinner and it was impressive to see who could accomplish 

the tasks.  Above is my sister Liisa owning the dice stacking game!

This is my Aunt Paula, cousin Jordan and cousin Kieth using pizza boxes to "blow"

an egg across the floor...it was NOT easy!

 This is Uncle Jason working so hard and concentrating like mad to stack those dice! :)

This is my cousin Jared, my Mom (Bev) and my sister Erin getting ready for the 

skittles and straw test where you have to suck the skittle to the end of your straw and keep 

it there and run to the other side and drop it on another plate.

This is the birthday cake we had made for my grandparents 80th birthdays!

 It's amazing!

Life's full of surprises

So my niece Dakota graduated from High School last week.  My Mom and I are working on getting a quilt made for her to take to school with her when she heads off to the UofA in September.  Dakota came out to Macleod for a few days to help me with Maitland so that I can sew during the day and hopefully get the quilt all finished.  That was the plan for today except for a small mishap that got in the way of my sewing time...  

I feel really bad for Dakota.  Poor girl had to bring a bleeding and crying boy home to his Momma.  Maitland was over at my sisters playing and slipped going up her stairs into the kitchen and bit right through his bottom lip.  :(  Such a sad little face greeted me at the door when Dakota brought him back home.  We decided we better go get him checked at the ER to make sure he didn't need stitches or anything.  

 Here's my sweet boy with a fat lip and a blood covered Dakota at the ER.

He really didn't care that we were there and only cried when I had to hold him down so the Dr. could clean the wound and check to see if stitches were required.

I look terrible!  But Maitland is as cute as ever!!  

I wasn't planning on leaving the house at all today...that'll teach me!

Anyways, the Dr said that no stitches were necessary and gave us some antibiotics just in case of infection.

We survived our first ER visit that involved blood!!  

Let's hope that I don't have to deal with more crazy injuries in the future.

And don't worry Dakota we still trust you to babysit...are you busy Friday?!?! :)