The Best Week of the Year! (Part 1)

We just got back from our bi-annual Sutherland family reunion. I think this one was the best one we've ever had!

We arrived on Saturday afternoon to get all settled in our condos. The condos were super nice and spacious this time, which was awesome considering we are now 8 people! Caitlin and Billy were in Vail (about an hour away) celebrating their one year anniversary, so they didn't meet up with us until Sunday at church. They had quite an eventful anniversary. In the evening, we hung out and played games. So fun!

On Sunday, after church, it was our turn to make dinner for the whole crew (each family takes a turn to provide dinner for everyone...about 30 of us). We made spaghetti! We also picked up Dallin and his dog Jose in Denver on Sunday night. I hardly slept that night because I was worried about Dallin. He slept with Jose down in the parking garage in our van because dogs weren't allowed at the resort. 

On Monday, the planned activity was mountain biking. This turned out to not be serious mountain biking where you go up to the top of the ski lift and bike down, which is what we're used to. The van came a picked everyone up and drove them a distance from town to ride back on the most beautiful bike path I have ever seen.

Here they are in the van heading out...

That's Derek way up ahead.

Seriously, it's so beautiful, I now want to live in Colorado!

Monday was kind of a hard day for me. Dallin was dirty (hadn't showered in more than a month) and we had Jose, his dog. Jose couldn't be kenneled until he had his shots and the first available appointment with a vet was late in the afternoon. Oh, and Dallin had a serious staff infection on his leg that he needed to treat every day. After we saw the vet, we were able to get Jose to a kennel for the week, and Dallin could come up to the room and shower. Monday was also our assigned Family Home Evening Day (each family takes a turn doing family home evening each night...this year it was on how the Book of Mormon can help our families.) I was emotionally spent and felt like crying the whole time, but it went well. We focused on knowing who we are...we are sons and daughters of God. And if we know that, our purpose in life becomes clear. I'm grateful for the kids and Mark who prepared well and presented some good thoughts.

Tuesday was ATV day! I chose not to go, but everyone else in our family went and had an awesome time!!

Gearin up to go!

 To go over land...

 And sea! I think this is Billy driving...Caitlin is protecting her broken wrist :(.

 Cody...cowabunga!

Our crew! (minus Mark, Dallin, and Jayce)

 The whole gang!

This is on the way home...just a little bushed.

 Wednesday was white water rafting day!! I was so excited for this! I have always wanted to do this and have never had the chance. When I got up to wake the kids up, this is what it looked like.... Just had to share!

We took a bus from the resort in Breckenridge about an hour up to the Arkansas river at a town called Buena Vista. I was nervous about Jayce falling out of the boat, especially after they gave us the safety talk. Luckily we didn't need to use any of the directions given for if we fall out of the boat. Or if the boat flips. Thankfully. We just had a super fun day.

In this boat is Dallin, Derek, Grandpa, Jeremy, Kenny, and Cody. Our boat is behind them. You can see cute little Jayce!

I just had to include this picture...look at Grandpa's face!! Love it!!

Just look at the smiles on their faces!!

Jayce looks a little nervous as we hit that rapid...

Greg, Colin, Andrew, Martha, Lauren, and Blake

I think this was the most fun thing I've ever done in my life. I know that sounds like an exaggeration, but it isn't. It was a little bit of work, but a whole lot of fun...my favorite thing work + fun!

On Thursday we were scheduled to go to the Fun Park. I had some things to do, so I went up later. This was up a gondola ride, at the base of a ski resort.

Getting ready to ride the roller coaster thingy...

This is Kenny on the alpine slide...

...and Kim.

 Cody riding up the lift to the alpine slide.

 Love this picture of these two :)

This was a trampoline jumpy thingy. They pulled you up way high. Serious air! Cody -

 Jayce -

 Billy

 And a super awesome climbing wall...or pole, rather.

  

Stay tuned for the rest of Thursday....  Thursday night was a chuck wagon dinner where Grandpa was the star of the show! You won't want to miss it! (Can you tell we had SO much fun!!)

Rabbit Trap

Mark is obsessed with getting rid of the bunnies in our yard. I think they're cute, but I agree they are eating our plants and killing our grass and wreaking havoc out there! Jayce wanted to get in on the action and devised a plan.

So, he would lure the bunnies down by having them follow a trail of carrots...

Still following...

 And then, when they got to the jackpot, he would turn on the hose full blast and get em!!

Okay, so there are some minor flaws in his plan, but he was very excited about it so we didn't have the heart to point them out. 

Mark wants a paint ball gun or an air soft gun to shoot them. We have been spending an inordinate amount of money on various "rabbit scram" products and we don't think they're working. The inhumane gun might be our only option. That, or give up on our fruit trees and yard. Nope. I'm considering the guns.

Wacky Wednesday - Whale of an Adventure

The Varsity scouts in our ward have been preparing for their high adventure activity for many months. The plan was three boats would sail from San Diego to Catalina with about 20 people. They would camp on Catalina island and snorkel and kayak and then return by sailboat on Friday night. And so all three boats took off - the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.


This is loading up -

Brother Holland and Cutler up front.

The sun setting around Point Loma.

Beautiful sunset pics.

Derek and Cody on the boat. They both still look happy. But before long, Cody got seriously sea sick. Derek was mildly sea sick. Mark was fine because he had the patch thingy.

 Kevin Young, Derek Hunsaker, Brent Haws, Michael and Mikael were on this boat until...

...One of the boats broke down, so six people had to bail from the sailing portion. Four boys (including Derek and Cody) volunteered to go home. I picked them all up early in the morning hours (1 a.m.) on Wednesday. In the morning (well, the afternoon) I drove the four boys up to Long Beach to catch a ferry over to the island so they could still have their adventure, just without sailing there.

It was quite an adventure getting to Long Beach! It was a long drive, and I had to go over two HUGE bridges that totally freaked me out! It is a shipyard the size I have never seen before! Finally we arrived at the ferry dock.

 The boys didn't seem to be stressed at all. I was.

 They are ready to start having fun! We were hoping no one got sick, and luckily, they didn't.

 All thumbs up from Derek. It's all good!

 And they were off!!

They arrived home late Friday night (after being picked up in Long Beach from the Peterson's). They were tired and sunburnt. And, being boys, they are very short on the details, but I'm still pumping them with questions :).

Lake Elsinore Storm Game!!

The Padres have a feeder team in Lake Elsinore. I can't remember if they are a Single A team or a Triple A team. But it was a very nice stadium and we were sitting on the front row. Derek said the seats were "Awesome!" which is a lot coming from Derek.

 And the cutest engaged couple I know!! Travis and Cami joined us! They are so fun!

They had this ridiculous green guy as a mascot. I think he has a name...oh, I think it was Thunder. It was just strange, actually. But fun at the same time :).

I love summer for lots of reasons, not the least of which is being able to go to or watch lots of baseball games. This minor league game was actually more fun to watch than the Padres.

Water Fun!

Summer time is so fun. Jayce loves playing with all things water. 

He had a friend over one day and they did the slip n slide, until it broke. But it was only $9.99 and we've used it for two summers, so I'd say we got our money's worth.

 Cami, Travis' fiance is teaching Jayce swim lessons. Here he is learning to dive. 

 She's a great teacher!

 After swim lessons, Tyler was kind enough to play in the pool with Jayce. (Sorry, blurry picture.)

For one lesson, Derek and Cody came with us. Jayce wasn't as interested in listening to Cami as he was in playing with his brothers. 

And, finally, one day Brother Haws let us and the Hansen's come over to swim. Oh, we had the Taylor-Jensen kids, too. We gave that pool so much action! It was such a fun day!