The Lyon's Den

4th of July weekend we had a family reunion with my side of the family. We had a great time and it was a good distraction for me a lot of the time. We went to Soda Springs which is about an hour and a half east of here; up in the mountains. We mainly did a lot of hanging out, but had some games in there too. Our family reunions kind of remind of the movie Dan in Real Life. Except I couldn't convince everyone to go outside and do Yoga. We did however stand in a circle holding hands, passing a hula hoop all the way around without ever letting go of eachother. When the music stopped, whoever had the hula hoop on their person got to go eat dinner. Thanks for the idea Donna; it worked great! My dad made a homemade rocket launcher and each family had to design a rocket and we timed them. Ours didn't get the fastest but it was still good fun. They occasionally launched Water balloons too. :) One of the two houses was right on the lake and had a trampoline in the backyard that the boys loved playing on. At night we would sometimes play games or watch a movie and just relax. On the morning of the 4th most of us went to a parade in Truckee. Candy was thrown, the kids got free necklaces and stickers and we all got sprayed by squirt guns and a hose from a fire truck. Oh and I can't forget about our talent show. My family along with my brother Jared's family did a dance to Cotton Eyed Joe. It was hilarious and great fun. It was so nice to be able to hang out with family and laugh a lot. I can't wait until we have our next one; which I'm sure will have even more family members by the time it happens. At the reunion we learned of at least one more addition that will be coming to the family. Congrats Josh and Courtney!
I want to thank Jared and Debbie for coming and supporting me; and staying for such a long time. I know that had to of been difficult to be away from their home for so long but it meant so much to me. It was so great of them constantly checking on me and doing anything I needed from them; including Debbie making me rolls one day because it was the only thing that sounded good. My boys, especially Kelman, will miss their cousin Hannah. He was just telling me today how much he loves her. And I will miss that "not so" little Ben!!! He always made me smile. Thanks again guys!!

Kelman feeding his newest cousin Lacey

Our Cotton Eyed Joe dance

Brechin playing darts with his cousin Jackson

Carter and Brechin jumping on one of the bunk beds in the loft. They were also chucking books out the window, which was three stories high.

The whole family. We had to draw stick figures on our backs for each member of our own family.