Van Vleet Family Reunion

In July we headed to Aztec, CO for the 2nd Van Vleet Family Reunion. It was a blast. The drive their was very long for us - it was suppose to be an 8 hour drive an ended up a 11 hour drive but we arrived Thursday night and got the kids settled into the best room ever. There was enough room for all of us and Bret and I got spoiled with a king sized bed the first time ever in our life. Heaven. We stayed at a good friend's cabin and the scenery was gorgeous. Each morning we woke up around 6 with the sun and sat out on the deck watching the hummingbirds feed and battle for territories. Two of the days we got to go tubing and that was so much fun. My mom and sisters were awesome enough to take the kids to a cove to play while the rest of the adults playing on the tubes. The kids also got to ride the tubes once and they had so much fun! We also hiked the chimney rock ruins, learned some awesome stuff, and spent a day in beautiful Durango. One of the days Papa had a blast by starting a water fight that went for an hour or more and ended with everyone soaked to the bone. We laughed so hard. At night after the kids were in bed we would play games especially the last night - we laughed so hard playing taboo. It was a wonderful reunion and the first time in years that my whole family was together.

The way mornings should be spent - laying on the
deck watching hummingbirds, and just talkingTia and Cole

Double Trouble

hanging out in Durango

Tia with Aly

Papa with Aly

On the deck in the morning again

water fight

the three boy cousins

Lyle grilling us some yummy food

The initiator of the water fight - Papa

Aunt LuLu with Cole

Playing in the rocks looking for "dinosaur bones"

Swing Batter Batter

My hilarious niece Audrey - what a hoot

Papa and Aly

Drew taking me hostage during the water fight

Drew and the boys on the hike to chimney rock ruins

Chimney Rock and one other - every 17 years the moon
rises directly between these two stone pillars

Me on the tube with Keri

Katy and Keri on the tubes

Stick 'em up

Van Vleet Family Pictures

All my beautiful sisters
My whole amazing family

Papa and Nana with all of their current grandchildren

The three boys - Micah 4, Noah 6, Coulson 4

My gorgeous little sister with her hubby Lyle,
and my sweet niece Audrey 14 months

Nana with her girls - Alyson Jo 20 months, Audrey 14 months

All the brothers - Lyle, Andy, Bret

All of my siblings - left Jill, Katy, Andy, Erin, Keri

The whole family again

Papa with all his boys - Eli, Noah, Coulson, and Micah

Dinosaur Park with Grams and Cousins

In the month of June we had a special visit from Grams, Aunt Brooke, Uncle Mat, Riley and Austin. We all headed to the dinosaur park for a day of fun and roars. It was so much fun to walk around and see the different reactions of the 4 kids to the dinosaurs all over the park. Coulson would squeal with delight and then tell anyone who would listen what the name of that particular dinosaurs was, and Aly would run around roaring. We also spent time playing on the playground. Riley was so sweet and allowed Aly to pal around with him on the toys and the slides. She just adores him. It is so cute. They played so hard and then crashed on our way home. Thanks Grams for such a fun day!

Happy 4th of July

***Pictures to come***


Our fourth of July was AMAZING this year. We headed to Cherry Days in North Ogden and walked around the different booths. Both kids got to have their faces painted and just loved it. Later that night we got together with Bret's cousin Julie and her hubby Bryan for some all out celebrating. We had a BBQ, talked, laughed, and enjoyed surround sound fireworks - standing in their front yard after we had set off our own fireworks there were 8-9 different BIG firework shows go on at the same time. It was pretty awesome. The kids had a blast with their second cousins and we actually had to drag them to the car because they both wanted to stay the night. The only down part was that Aly fell off one of the toys and gave herself quite the little fat lip. It was a great way to celebrate such an amazing day.

My broken wrist...

So at the beginning of July I was invited to play on a good friends indoor soccer team. I was so excited and a little nervous - I had been looking for a team for a while, but I also knew that even though I was "in shape" I was not in soccer shape. Any of you who have played soccer know what I mean. That and the first game started at 11:30pm. But, I agreed and headed out. Well, I subbed in within the first 5 minutes of the game and found my self dizzy and winded so I stopped for a second to catch my breath. So I was just STANDING THERE, and my team mate kicked the ball and it hit my hand just right and broke my wrist. The rest of the night included a trip to the ER (thanks again to my sweet friend Sarah for the ride and staying with me all night), a VERY late night call to my sleeping husband to break the bad news to him (poor thing thought it was all a cruel joke, remember it was probably 2am when I called him), and arriving home with a HUGE splint from the middle of my fingers to just below my shoulder. Oh and the best part - it was my right wrist, I am right handed. Great. After that the fun began. I headed to the orthopedic surgeons to see if I needed surgery (thankfully no) and then I got my cast. Coulson picked out the colors (ahead of time before the appointment) and he picked red and blue. Seeing that it was the month of July I thought , why not? So I came home sporting a red cast with a blue candy cane style stripe. Cole was thrilled! So much so that that same night when he cut his foot he has to have it wrapped in red and blue stretch gauze just like moms! So cute. I managed to somehow sleepwalk into the wall the next night and that kinda hurt maybe just a little, but I also got to go tubing with it - I have a cool Dr. He cleared me to go water skiing with my cast on. Awesome. My sweet and amazing husband also did my hair for me for the ENTIRE 4 weeks because I couldn't reach my hair with the cast on. The rest is pretty much history.

Now that I have just a brace on I can slowly start to update my blog. Just so I don't forget some important things this is what is coming:

breaking my wrist
Van Vleet family reunion
trip to SLC / train adventures
4th of July/Cherry Days
Harrisville Heritage Days
random pictures
Aly's poor head


and just because it was cute:
Aly is potty training and went to the bathroom. I could hear her in the bathroom so I had Bret go check on her. She had sat on our stool and had gone potty, then grabbed the washcloth from the tub, dipped it into the toilet, and started "cleaning up" her mess. I just had to laugh.

Sorry for the delay...

It will just be a little bit longer without posts - I broke my right wrist a couple weeks ago and typing is quite the adventure... Stay with me. We have so much fun to post once my cast comes off!!

Maui - Part 3 Pictures

In the rainforest part of Maui. The Ioa Valley.

Pin Cushion Flower

The first church building in Maui. The first missionaries were George Q Cannon, and Joseph F. Smith.

These are coffee beans before anything is done to them.

I can't even tell you how yummy this panini was.
From the wonderful people at Who Cut the Cheese.

Wild Chickens. Everywhere. Need I say more?