Bonding with the Sherrys

Although over the past several years we have spent many weekends with my family, each occasion has always been focused on a wedding or mission farewell or homecoming. As you can imagine is a bit on the stressful and very busy side. Last year we all determined to make the summer of 2010 the first Sherry Family Reunion. Between long distance traveling, new babies, and cross-country moves it took a great amount of determination to actually make this reunion happen.

We started our trek to Utah by staying the night and day with Birch's sister, Tavia and Vaughn's family near Boise. They were so sweet to take in our large family with just having a newborn join their family only a few weeks earlier.

Tavia had arranged for a super fun day for all of us. We started out at a great craft fair and then ended the afternoon at a fun little community pool.

Alysee and cousin Olivia loved going down the blowup slide.
We all enjoyed a tasty picnic lunch while being entertained with local musicians.
Off to the community pool--Chloe loved the zero depth pool.
Chloe bonding with cousin Macy.
Sweet Savannah's feet with her daddy's wedding ring.
Savannah was such a peaceful happy baby. Honestly, Tavia and Vaughn have five amazing kids. We had such a nice time with their family.

Next we all loaded in the mini-van and traveled to Bear Lake in Utah.

Here's the wild bunch of us! There were 29 8/9 of us all together (Aunti Laura was due to have her baby two weeks later). We were lucky to have my cousin Dean join us from Seattle.

Uncle Jared's family was so kind to offer their two four-wheelers for us to use. Boy, did we use them!! I even had a great time taking the kids for rides on the beach.
Coop is always in his element when there is shallow water and a skim board at hand.
Ami, Mommy, and Chloe going for a tube ride on the rocket.
Alysee and Isaac flying high on the four wheelers. Behind them is the amazing cabin we stayed in while at Bear Lake.
I think these two boys actually loved the four wheelers the most. They were in heaven having the freedom to just buzz wherever they wanted to go. They were very good about giving rides to the other littler cousins as well.
Have you seen a sexier nine month prego momma??!!!

A peach in the nude...what more could a girl want?
Alysee and Isaac ended up being two peas in a pod.
Tyler giving Isaac a ride.
My brother-in-law Jared introduced us to shore boarding. Birch is pulling Alex on the skim board.
Apparently it was pretty tough.
All the grandkids together - front row: Sage, Lucy, Chloe, Alysee, Coop, Tommy, Sofi; back row: Mila, Tyler, Lizzie, Alex, and Nate
Who needs a boat when Poppi is around?
Each night each family was in charge of an activity. Leah and Geoff put on a night of "Minute to Win It" games. We all had a blast!!! Here Alex is trying to get an oreo from his forehead to his mouth without using his hands. So funny!!
This one was called Junk In The Trunk and it was hilarious. I was sure that I would win with all my Tahitian dance moves that I learned while attending BYU-Hawaii. My mom killed us!!

Nate is very serious about everything he does...tubing is not exception. Check out his face.
Chloe spent HOURS digging in the sand.
And more hours doing this.

Tyler got up on the knee board for the first time.
This is what I did most of the time. I tried to stay out of the direct sun so my lips didn't blow up again. I was in love with being the Aunti and getting my fill of baby duty.
Poppi, Coop, and Nate had a little zerbert competition. The kids all have so much fun with Ami and Poppi.
Best of friends or worst enemies...Coop and Nate had just finished a big argument that ended in hugs.
Nothing like sitting in a warm pool of old water in a nasty poopy diaper...a slice of heaven.
Nate wasn't so sure that he wanted to try knee boarding at first.
He did it!!
There goes Alex!

The kids all loved all the boat time.

After four days of baking ourselves in the sun we headed to SLC and Mapleton:

We had a super fun night at Matt and Jessica's new house in SLC. I love this picture of Sofi because you can just tell that she thinks Alysee is so cool.
The next morning Alysee woke up to a beautifully decorated birthday table. Jessica had gone all out and had a rose for Alysee and Matt cooked up Alysee's favorite breakfast.
The beautiful 8 year old!
We spent the morning going around temple square. As always standing under the Christus statue is a favorite spot.

Here the kids are in front of the Salt Lake City temple.
What a surprise this was...Sofi and Tyler became fast buddies. For some reason Sofi decided that Tyler was one cool guy and latched on to him the whole week. Tyler was so kind and patient with her. I think he kind of liked being the #1 cousin.

We got caught in the this crazy rain storm while at the visitor center.
Then we were off to Mapleton, UT to spend a glorious couple of days at my sister Leah and Geoff's house. Alysee was treated to a fun birthday party.

Aunti Leah whipped up her famous cupcakes to celebrate.

Friday morning all the adults woke up early and did sealings at the Provo Temple. It was such a special experience to be with almost all the adults. I can't wait for next time when we don't have little babies and little brothers that sleep in so we can ALL be together. We were so grateful to my Grandma and Rudy for caring for all the kids so we could go.

Friday most of us all spent the day at Seven Peaks Water Park. We had a blast!! Chloe had the best time but was pretty worn out by the end of the day.
Look at Daddy go!
Ami did a fun competition with the kids to see who could eat their jello with the fastest without their hands. Nate loved every slurp.
Have you ever heard of an Eskimo Blanket? It's like a hand-held trampoline. Leah got some crazy pictures of the kids being flung into the air. I was a little nervous about all the skinny necks but the game ended with cheers of happiness.
The last night my mom and dad got all the grandkids together and had a little evening devotional. My dad talked with the kids about how Christ should be the light in their lives. They gave all the kids flashlights we remember to follow Christ's light. I sure love my parents!
Ahh...the last picture of the post...some of my very favorite women I know.

What a treat it was to spend a whole week with my family! I loved getting to know many of my in-laws and nieces and nephews better. It was so wonderful to be surrounded by such talented and special people. Here's to the next Sherry Reunion!!