Aspen Grove 2015

We went straight from one reunion to another. After bear lake, we drove straight on down to Aspen Grove family camp in the Provo canyon for the Mures family reunion with my mom's side of the family. And it was even better than just that because the Leiningers came to AG too! It's crazy that our families get along so well that they voluntarily attend family reunions together--and that's another huge thing to be grateful for. Everyone gets along and loves seeing each other. So we had a great week with all the Myres cousins and Dane and Graham got to see all their aunts and uncles. It was really fun but also really exhausting to take care of these two the whole time... And Dane was almost overwhelmed with all the attention from dozens and dozens of Myres cousins and friends. It was a little over stimulating at times for him. But we had a great time nonetheless and I'm glad we did it. We are missing some pictures here--we blessed Graham on the Sunday we were there but I only got pictures on our nice camera instead of my phone so I'll have to post those later.

Graham and Cora got to meet--two cousins born less than two weeks apart!

Dane and auntie bee.

Dane loved the frontier village for the kids.

Another family reunion shirt for Graham!

Maddie, Zach, Dane, and lily in the swings together.

My mom and dad with their two little grand babies. Mealtimes were always a juggle with everyone taking turns helping Dane and holding a baby. Luckily we had lots of people who wanted to help!

WE LOVE UNCLE TROY!

Seriously, he's such a favorite. We have to go visit him in Denmark sometime.

Eating snow cones together.

Best day ever... Riding on the train!

I think this is just the cutest picture I have ever seen. Zach with his moustach and Dane with blue snow cone all over his face, on the train together... Could life get any better?

A very informal four generation shot with my mom, g and g Myres, and me and Graham.

Superhero day for superman and two Spider-Men!

Cute Ethan with his own superman shirt.

Three sisters just hanging out.

A posse of Leiningers!

Saying good-bye to Troy and Sarah as they left on their much-delayed honeymoon.

The ping-pong doubles championship teams... With me and Camille the winners of all Aspen grove! The competition was fierce but we destroyed them all!

Walking around with his hands in his pockets all week. So cute.

Graham and grandma.

Three guys just hanging out.

Best moment--when Cosmo came!

Grandma reading books before bed.

I won this ice cream sundae for memorizing the whole The Living Christ. I deserved this!

Dancing at the family dance with Dane before he melted down and had to go to bed.

Our family picture for the wall there..

And after we left Aspen grove we got to go to the airport to pick up elder dallin Murphy coming back from his mission in the Dominican Republic! So happy! We also celebrated grandpa murphy's 80th birthday, but I didn't get any pictures on my phone. And 

We spent the weekend in Orem at g and g murphys' house. We wanted to go on a hike so we went to bridal veil falls.. Shortest "hike" ever. But still fun!

Dane's "funny face" he was doing all weekend.

The boys with their great grandma and great grandpa Murphy. So cute!

All the murphys! Just missing Brandon in Miami.

Great grandpa Murphy.

Saying good-bye to Kurt and Callie--to Callie for a year and a half before she leaves for her mission to Washington. We will MISS you Callie!

It was a long and exhausting and really really fun two weeks of reunions and family time. So glad we got to do all of this even with Tommy's limited time off.

Leininger partay

We had the very good fortune this summer to get to go to Bear Lake for our Leininger family reunion. We had the best time! It was such a fun reunion and it seemed like basically everything went so smoothly for everyone. We stayed in a cabin with a gorgeous view overlooking the lake and spent most of our time on the lake and playing games around the house. It was a very relaxing week with a lot of good conversation and activities for everyone. 

We got to Utah a few days before the reunion to be there for Troy and Sarah's wedding dinner and for the Fourth of July. It was such a relief to get there finally and to get to spend the holiday with family. This is not a complete post of pics of everything, but just whatever I have on my phone right now.

Graham got to meet his grandpa and great-grandma Merrill for the first time!

Leif and Joel are our cousins who Dane absolutely LOVES. They were so sweet with him and with Graham, always saying, "I just love Graham so much! He is so cuuuute!" We sure love them.

We had an awesome bbq and birthday party for Zach, who turned 3 on the 4th. 

While we were singing happy birthday to zach, Dane buried his face in zach's cake. Whoops...

The Sevy and Leininger boys... All wearing their plaid for church on Sunday!

This was the view from the balcony of our cabin. So relaxing!

Roasting marshmallows for s'mores and these four cousins all wearing Denmark shirts.

Dane loved playing at the lake! He spent seriously all day sooo happy digging in the sand and wading in the shallow water by the shore.

We loved our Leininger shirts!

Cute baby.

A Leininger favorite tradition... Marshmallow gun wars! We got so into it this year... Girls- 2, boys- 2. 

Dane even got to ride on the tube behind the boat with tommy!

HELLO cute boy! Graham didn't love being on the lake with all the wind and it being kind of cold, but he was a good boy.

Riding in the kayak.

All nine Leininger siblings together... So much fun.

This Leininger family is one of the biggest blessings of my life. I always feel so dang lucky to have the nicest and most fun in-laws of anyone I know! And it's just an added bonus to get to spend time together in a beautiful place like bear lake. Can't wait for the next reunion in 2017 (or earlier!).

Driving to Utah

We were totally crazy this year and decided to DRIVE to Utah for our family reunions. It was a total cost-saving measure and in the end, it might work out to be worth it--but driving some 60 total hours in our car with a toddler and infant has been seriously tough. We sadly have about a third of those hours left still to do when we drive back from California... But I'm trying not to think about that. I have some tips for anyone crazy enough to do the same thing:

• Overprepare. Bring too many snacks, toys, books, movies. You will not regret it. The DVD player is your friend. Buy toys at the dollar store and wrap them up like presents for desperate moments.

• Stop often for short breaks and take at least 2 long breaks to let kids run around. Don't stop just to eat at fast food and then hop back in the car. Let them stretch out.

• Nighttime is a great time to drive--if your kids will fall asleep. If they won't, it stinks.

• Try to plan at least one fun thing to do that makes the drive feel less like drudgery and more like an adventure.

• if you are about to lose it, stop and get out. Or just stop for the night. Getting an extra two hours in won't be worth it if you've lost your sanity.

We took two and a half days to drive from Dallas to Ogden, starting Wednesday night and getting there Friday afternoon, right in time for Troy's wedding dinner. Because Graham is such a wild card in the car, we had to have one of us sitting in the back next to him to put his pacifier in and get Dane his toys and movies. This basically meant that Tommy and I didn't get to do anything fun to entertain ourselves, but it's surprising how little that matters when all you want is to prevent the screaming.

Leaving home, so excited.

So happy watching his shows! Anything goes on a day full of driving!

Giant sticker book for the win.

Stop for a picnic dinner and running break in Monticello, Utah.

So happy to be out of the car...

Fun hike in Arches National Park after spending the night in Moab. It was a really tough hike to do with two little kids, but really fun.

We did it!

Really, I don't know if we are converted to only driving instead of flying (although it definitely saved us money). We are probably just in an especially hard stage with a baby. But we survived!