Willard Family Reunion

My Mom and Dad were in charge of my Mom's family reunion this year.  They asked that, if possible, we could all come help.  John and two of the boys weren't able to come with me--Zander and Ian had Baseball, but I took the rest of the kids and went. I was a little nervous to go camping by myself, but  I'm so glad we did!  It was great to see family, and the kids loved camping.  They were good helpers and listened to my rules about the tent.  We camped by Flaming Gorge near Vernal, Utah.  It was beautiful!  There was a little stream that ran through the campground that the kids loved to go throw rocks in.

Micah picked me a cute little purple flower.  He asked me to put it behind my ear. :) Cute kid!

So I did. :)

On one of our walks, the kids found a caterpillar and let it crawl around on their hands.  Micah was nervous to do it, and I didn't think he would, but he jumped right in when one of his cousins handed it to him.

My 3 little buddies. :)  They tagged along pretty regularly wherever I went.  We had a great time!

There weren't many bugs or mosquitos at the campground, but the moths were out of control!  Expecially at the bathroom at night.  We would put our hoods (or hands) over our heads and just run in or out of the bathroom if you had to go.  It was ridiculous!  The pictures I took don't even come close to doing it justice.  There were hundreds of them!

Had to get a picture of the kids in the tent. Crazy sleepers!

We went on lots of walks around the campground.  It was nice because the entire campground was reserved for our family. Morgan came with us--I think this is the only picture I got of her.  She was having too much fun with her extended family cousins to hang around with Mom too much. :)  Just how it should be!

We did many activities.  Morgan was able to run the river with Grandpa.  I stayed behind in camp with the rest of the kids.  While those who ran the river were gone, my sister Adrienne had come up with some things for the kids to do.  She had pool noodles cut in half that the kids had to use to get the beach ball through the goal.  Micah, Eli, and Gunner had a great time with this game.  It was right up their alley.  Unfortunately, the beach ball didn't last as long as they wanted it to.

 The kids also drew googley eye pictures.  This was so fun to see what they came up with.  They were all so creative!

 Micah drew himself and John--with big brains because they are so smart. :)

 Eli drew some monsters.

 My niece, Rian, drew a unicorn!

 My cousin's daughter, Sophie, drew her family.

 Adrienne brought a matching game--it took up a whole table!  Micah thought that was so cool!

 The kids had a lot of fun with this target tarp Adrienne made.  They not only used it as a target, but at one point it was their fort with fun windows!  

While the kids were playing, the women were even able to get a craft done--family subway art in vinyl on a tile.  My Uncle Randy spent an hour or more playing with Micah and Eli.  They were having a blast sword fighting!  Uncle Randy thanked me for letting them play--he said it was the most fun he's had in a long time! Lol

 We had some great meals--including Dad's Dutch oven.  Sooo good! :)

 After the family auction, my mom had a game to play.  She had taken a bunch of small items and wound them up in a ball of tape.  One player would roll the dice until they got doubles and the person behind you got to unwrap and keep whatever they could get out of the tape ball.  It was so much fun!

 The kids especially enjoyed this game.  It was amazing how quickly someone would roll doubles before you got anything out!  I think we went around the circle of the entire family at least 3 times!

It was so much fun to get to see everyone.  In addition to my mom, 4 of her sisters and some of their families were able to attend. Mark and Marla (and all four of their girls), Keith and Roberta (and two of their girls), Bonnie and Randy (and her son Kraig), and Patsy and her husband Larry were able to attend. My sisters Jennie and Adrienne were able to come with their families, and my brothers, Garrett and Jordan even made an appearance with their other halves one night.We had so much fun, and I'm so glad I went! June 27-29, 2013.