Last of Summer: Visitors and 3 More Reunions

This summer I was in charge of 3 reunions (Lybbert Reunion, 10 Year Class Reuion, and Mahuika Reunion-25 people at our house), plus two baby showers, among having other house guests and everything else that summer entails.  I'm going to try and sum it up in this one post, so I don't have to keep doing summer posts.

My best friend Candace came to stay with us for 5 days in July.  She lives in Tennessee while her husband goes to law school, and I wish so much she could live closer.  Her husband had to stay back for work, but her and Laura kept us company.  Every day her daughter would appear with an adorable dress, bloomers, and hair bow.  All made my Candice....I started feeling bad about my crafty skills the longer they were here, but luckily Candice made me my own hair pieces to tie me over until I can figure it out on my own.

I have lots and lots of memories with Candice that start in middle school. We were roommates in college a couple of times, and have always kept in close touch.  I wouldn't even pick a wedding date until I knew what day she was coming home from her mission, but once I picked the date she decided to extend for 6 weeks so she couldn't even make the date that was picked just for her.  Don't worry Candice I've forgiven you. :)  I wrote Candice every single week of her mission.  Now that's dedication!

Next up in our summer of craziness was my 10 year class reunion.  I went to a small school, but I haven't hardly kept in touch with anyone even though I went to school with most of them for 13 years.  It was really fun to see everyone, and felt like yesterday we were all together.  I hear some people say they hate their 10 year reunion, but we actually really enjoyed mine, and Kyle did too, which is always a plus when the spouse can feel comfortable.  I wish that everyone could have made it because there were lots of people that couldn't come.  Here are some of us at the reunion...

 
This was the second year we did the Casper Reunion at my parents place.  It's always fun to get together with the Casper family.  I just wish more of my older cousins could make it who live away.  Next year???  I dominated the handstand water competition, but I got smoked in the swimming competition by my aunt (so much for all that triathlon training!).

All the cousins who could make it this year.  There are 51 cousins total.

These two fed each other, pretty cute!  Don't you love Louesa's blone curls?  I used to have hair exactly like that.

Last but not least was the Mahuika Reunion which I volunteered to be in charge of and host.  Not sure what I was thinking offering to host 21 (25 including us) out of town guests for an entire week, but I'm glad we offered because we had a lot of fun.  The weather was perfect the whole week, and we jammed a lot of activities in.  We had people sleeping in closets, on floors, and in the laundry room, but each family had a room.  5 of the adults who don't have children or aren't married, stayed at Kyle's cousins house, but people still showered and did all of the activities at our place.  I actually didn't take very many pictures because we had an in-house photographer (sis-in-law's boyfriend) who took all of our family pictures and lots of reunion pics.  It was nice to not have to worry about taking all the pictures, but my pictures don't show everything we did.  Oh well.  

Thursday and Friday: Everyone arrived
Saturday: Swimming and BBQ at my parents
Sunday: Church and family pictures
Monday: Moses Lake Aquatic Center
Tuesday: Jet Skiing on the river
Wednesday: Relay Races at Park and Float Yakima River
Thursday: Departures

Man, I Love This Kid

Preppy is so stinking cool, it's hard to believe sometimes.  He is happiest with food in his mouth and in his hands.  We had our carpets cleaned last week, so now I'm having to break his heart when I don't let him walk around as freely with food.  Preston has learned to fight back with Michael, which is actually pretty funny to watch, but now I'm having to break up fights.  Preppy can actually make Michael cry, which is kind of a refreshing change.  The boys are also really starting to play well together now that Preston is walking and interacting on Michael's level more.  They love to be outside together in our gravel pit.  A few weeks ago Preston learned to crawl up our play structure, which is pretty scary for me (he fell off head first one day while we were videoing his new trick).  He loves more than anything to climb up the swing set, it's pretty cute.  Preston is also a big boy. He has lost his baby fat, but his limbs are all very long.  He wears a size 7 shoes...no joke.  Hard to believe his feet are that big!   He is allergic to something but I'm not sure what it is yet, I've narrowed it down to soy milk, eggs, or dairy, but whatever it is gives him a bad rash on his face.  I'm putting him back on rice milk to see what happens.

Look at the size of those feet!  (food in each hand, and mouth full)

The Many Faces of Potty Training

Potty training Michael is not for wimps.  It's a full time job that's for sure.  He still hasn't figured out to tell me when he needs to go, or maybe he's just being stubborn.  Nonetheless, it's been lots of work, lots of tears, lots of bribery and treats, and lots of really good reactions on my part when he goes.  I make a great cheering section.  Every time I put him on the toilet I see the middle face, and the last face...which is the face he makes EVERY single time he goes to the bathroom.  It's hilarious.  He always jumps off (sometimes to quickly) and wants to hug, clap, jump and get excited.  He has spent many many hours on the toilet the last couple of weeks.  I'm looking forward to when he can tell me he needs to go.  When people tell me it was so easy to potty train their children, I'm baffled.  I can't even imagine!

Love this kid.  He is full of funny stuff right now.  I really do love every stage of my children's life.  I don't always love everything about those stages (potty training, temper tantrums, biting), but I'll take the bad with all the good.

Priest Lake

Priest Lake is our favorite place to go.  I've been going there since I was a baby, and so it's fun to now take my babies to the same place.  The first summer that Kyle and I were dating, I took him to Priest Lake with my family and that pretty much sealed the deal for us (on the way home on the airplane I told him that I'd call him my boyfriend, haha).  The weather isn't always perfect, but the location is.  I was very worried about Michael taking naps, but for the first time in his life, he found a quiet spot all by himself (I think he did it three times), and went to sleep on his own.  Amazing.  Getting him to sleep at night was NOT the same experience.  We had to lock him in our room or hold him down while he screamed.  Not fun, but we made it work.  The boys both had lots of fun, and Michael still asks if we can go to Priest Lake.  My sister Candace and her family came from Texas, so all of the grandkids were there.  It was just the girls on this trip because my brothers were at school and on a mission.  Next year hopefully we can all be together!

Too many pictures?  Probably, but I couldn't narrow it down!