ITS ALwAys a riot at OUR HOUSE!

Can you tell...its reunion time at our house?...what's a reunion without food galore?!...Last week we had our 1st Annual "D. Wilkerson" Reunion! Dayna planned it all and she did an outstanding job. The festivities began at 7:00pm on Friday when we started up the grill~

 ...and Jack cooked us up some awesome burgers...

we ate and ate and ate...but somehow the food never disappeared, guess that goes with "reunion time"...there is never a shortage of the "goods".

 After dinner we chatted, had a spontaneous water fight (instigated by Kim and Cam), played around and relaxed.

Dayna and Cam demonstrated their amazing skills on the trampoline...the rest of us didn't tempt such feats of bravery, we sat on the sidelines and observed...cheering them on of course, but not participating. 

After some R&R we broke up into teams and went on a "photo scavenger hunt" (apologies to anyone out there in our little town that saw us laying in the road, jumping out of trees, climbing fences, hanging upside down at the playground and kissing light poles....we really are normal and sane, even if we are a little "corky" and odd at times...ya gotta love us anyway!) 

We had a blast! Everyone participated and laughed and got crazy...yes, even though most of us are grown up....we can still let our hair down and have a smashing good time!!! 

MY team lost...but only by a lack of a few pictures. When it came right down to it, it didn't matter who won or lost because both teams had a heck of a fun time.

Dayna could not have planned a more fun reunion! I think that everyone should have a "reunion" with their kids...take a few days off and just get down and crazy and have a good time...we are probably a little more crazy than most families, but hey...its just the way we are!

After our scavenger hunt, we played a few night games...

and then roasted marshmallows and made smores over our back yard bonfire. Todd danced with the cat, we caught marshmallows on fire and got ready for our "back yard campout"...in a TENT no less.  

The campout started with 6 of us in the tent at 11pm...AND it ended at 4:00am with only 3 of us left slumbering in the tent...everyone else had some excuse or another (I still love you 3 slackers though) to come inside and "find a softer place to sleep"...I happened to be one of the BRAVE SOULS that suffered the hard ground and cold morning air. I didn't sleep the best, but it was fun none-the-less. Morning came with the chirping of birds, the rise of the sun and the cold air coming in through our thin little tent....and we were ready to start another day of FUN IN THE SUN!...

.........to be continued...watch and see what we did on day 2 of the reunion~

Time flies...it always has and always will~

I am always amazed at how fast time flies. It seems like only yesterday that I was a teenager and living at home with my parents, tanning on the roof or our double wide trailer. It was only yesterday that I had my first baby, and started my own little family...it was only yesterday that I had 6 children living under my own roof, fighting and squabbling as I played referee...where does the time go? I remember when Deron and I got married, some of the "older generation" told me that "it won't be long and we will be celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary"...sure enough, time flies on the wings of lightning and last week Deron and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary, we are well on our way.

Deron and I have always tried to make our Anniversary a "special day"~ because our wedding day was a special day and the beginning of our lives together, I think that it should always be celebrated!! In the past we've celebrated by going on exciting "anniversary vacations"...we've gone on a cruise to Mexico, an elaborate trip to Hawaii, an exciting trip to Seattle Washington...we had a great little 3 day get away in Park City, one in Salt Lake and another one in Cedar City. BUT...The past several years we have just been able to take small day trips...mainly the kind that you take just to get away for a few hours and "reconnect".

This year was a "kill 2 birds with one stone" kind of trip. On Friday (the day before our anniversary) we had an appointment for our car to get the AC fixed (a BIG HAVE TO as far as we were concerned, it was still under warranty so that made it even more of a HAVE TO!!). It was the only time we could get it fixed so we thought that we would make a weekend of it and do something for our anniversary too. We spent the day in Salt Lake waiting (for 6 1/2 hours I might add) for the car to be fixed. While doing so we hung out at the Mall and walked around a bit, we had lunch....and dinner too (thought we might as well use our waiting time wisely and continue to "kill 2 birds with 1 stone"). At that point the car was finally finished, we called the dealership currier service and they picked us up and brought us back to the dealership where we jumped in our vehicle and headed out of Salt Lake. It was nice just spending the entire day with my honey bun...talking, laughing, eating and reminiscing about the past 23 years....so "waiting" for the car wasn't a total waste of time...we had a lot to reminisce about, we've had alot happen in our 23 years of marriage and it was fun to look back on all thats gone on in our lives and make plans for our futures together.  

We couldn't think of anything that we REALLY wanted to do in Salt Lake (yes, I know there is a TON TO DO...but we just weren't in the mood for any of it)...so we spent the night in Heber (no laughing please...it was great, we even drove around all the back roads and got to know the place better...there is a lot more to see than you could even imagine!) and then headed up to Mirror Lake on Saturday morning to spend the day lounging around and to have a picnic.

If you haven't ever been, you should take a drive up to Mirror Lake. Its gorgeous, both the ride up as well as the Lake itself.

 Its peaceful (lots of people but surprisingly quiet) and so pretty. If you like to fish, it has great fishing right off of the shore. People bring their dogs on leashes and just hang out at the lake all day. There is a walking path that goes around the entire lake, which is a beautiful walk, especially right now with all of the flowers in bloom and the greens so vibrant. Its defiantly worth the drive.

We hung out in a little clearing just past the walking path and back in the trees for most of the day, picnicking and reading

...Deron napped

and then napped some more...

while I (because I have a very difficult time "just sitting and do NOtHING for very long")

 ...walked around the forest and took pictures while I waited for him to wake up so that we could go for a walk around the lake...you can't go there and NOT walk around the lake...it's a "must DO" kind of thing. Its not hard, the lake isn't that big and you get to see the entire lake from all the different views. SOOOO... after Deron woke up we took a leisurely walk around.

We decided that Mirror Lake is one of our most favorite places maybe because it's so peaceful...or maybe just because it's one of those places that helps you appreciate all of the beauty in the world.

And then to top it off...we saw a moose on the way back down from the canyon...it was awesome!

We had a great day...didn't spend a ton of money...weren't gone for long...but had a wonderful time. Being married to my best friend for 23 years couldn't be any better...can't wait for the next 23 and what they might bring!

Lounging at the Lake!

Every year we try to go up to Starvation Lake AT LEAST a couple of times...again with the craziness of our summer life...it's only happened once (so far). Todd and Dana invited us to go up one evening for a "hot dog roast" and some good old fashioned "down time".

We had a great, relaxing time.  We cooked hot dogs, ate smores, chased cups as the wind whisked them away and..... caught ants on fire~ 

....(sorry if you are an ant lover....we are not...therefore they were unwanted guests and we DESTROYED THEM....moral of the story, make sure you are invited to our parties before you come crawling around and hauling our food off *wink*).

There is something so relaxing about hanging out at the Lake watching the waves roll in the water, watching other people out on boats and jet ski's (wishing I were out there too) and feeling the breeze in my hair. I love it and wished that I could do it more often.

Halle played down in the sand and made sand sculptures....which is also one of my favorite things to do at the beach as well.

Its nice to just get away even if it's only for an hour or two...especially when its with some of my favorite people.

Note to self: MaKe TiMe to DO IT MORE OFTEN!

What did you do in the summer time...when all the grass was green?

Every summer since my kids were (quite a bit) younger and ALL still living under our roof, I've tried to make fun summer memories for them. I think that it stems from my childhood...those years of me going back to school in the fall, and having my teachers ask me to write an essay on "What I did this Summer".

 Every year I was sad (and sometimes even a little mad) because I didn't get to write about fun stuff like going to Disneyland, going boating or on week long trips...it was usually things like, "I weeded the garden, pulled some weeds in the flower beds, fed the sheep and pigs, gathered eggs, saw a snake while I was picking strawberries, picked green beans, picked apricots from our 3 apricot trees, made jam, canned tomatoes...oh and pulled some MORE WEEDS." Very seldom did we do anything fun or out of the ordinary when I was young. I appreciate that I was taught to work and I appreciate that I now know how to work hard without turning my nose up at it. I know that my parents did the best they could. We didn't grow up with alot of money and they did what they could for us living out in the country on a farm. We made our own kind fun ( I loved my childhood and wouldn't trade it for anything), but it just didn't seem "fun enough to write an essay about." I wanted to write about the "fun" kind of things that all my friends got to write about. Summer is supposed to be exciting and packed full of fun, although there has to be a little (sometimes alot) work in there too...thats part of it, I certainly agree 100% and I thoroughly understand that because my children have to work hard too...just like I did. BUT when I had children I knew that I wanted to make things a little more interesting and exciting for them during the summer. I didn't want them to have to go back to school and write essays with nothing exciting or even "out of the ordinary" to write about. SO... I have always tried to take my kids on "field trips"  a couple of times a month during their summer vacation.

 In the past we have gone hiking, to the zoo, to amusement parks, to the dinosaur museum, swimming at the pool, picnics at the lake...sometimes we've had an afternoon of watching a DVD and eating popcorn...playing night games, just something to break up the monotony of the hot summer days.

THIS YEAR however has been ALOT different...with days, running into weeks, of daily doctor visits for Cameron, we haven't had any time to "field trip". I feel like a failure as a mom and a ruiner of summer! The other day Halle was asking me if we were ever going to go on a field trip, I assured her that we were...(now just when to find a day is the question!). After dealing with my guilt and frustration of not having "field trip" days yet, and having summer more than half over...I told Halle that if she wanted to, we would give her a "make over"

...wax her eyebrows, do her make up...you know, all the fun girly stuff. 

She was excited and we had fun doing something different for a few hours. 

Hopefully SOON, VERY SOON, we can go on a field trip or 2  or even 5, before school starts back up....I think I like the trips as much as the kids do.