Brian Head Family Reunion - Day 1

FYI - I have 119 pictures just from day 1 alone. Be prepared for lots of pictures, maybe not so much typing. Last week we went to Brian Head (a ski resort in southern Utah) for a family reunion with Jared's mom's side of the family. Her siblings and dad live in San Diego so they drove here for this. They rented this really big cabin that sleeps 26 people and has 3 kitchens. It was really nice and if you needed some alone time it was easy to find some. Note: a reminder that these smalls pictures on the blog just don't do the pictures justice. You should really click on some to see the beauty or fun of them.

The first day we woke up and Alyvia (Halle's cousin) and Halle got in the indoor hot tub. It was warm like a bath, not hot like a hot tub should be. It was perfect for them. They had fun splashing around.

I love this picture of Alyvia that I got. The light is reflecting perfectly onto her.

Then it was time to get ready for the day. The night before they found this butterfly outside and it still hadn't flown away. We tried to kindly take pictures of it. It didn't fly well and occasionally tried to get away until we put it on Halle's flower on her head. Then it just sat still as ever.

We finally left the butterfly alone and headed out for some site seeing. There were some lookouts just up the road so we stopped at a few of them.

She really didn't want to take any pictures, see the sad face?

She tried to please me with this quick cheeser.

I tried to get more pictures, but she just wasn't having any of it. Don't I look pleased?

Ryker found this awsome picture spot in the trees where the sun was hitting the spot perfectly. So then we decided we should take lots of pictures there.

This is Ryker:

Then it was time for the next lookout...and more pictures of course.

Janae and Keria (sorry, again, for the bad spelling) did a good job entertaining Halle in the car.

Vivian decided to look like a rock star.

On the way back to the cabin for nap time we saw a deer.

After nap time it was time for a birthday party! It was to celebrate Halle's birthday, Justin's, and Jory's (though he wasn't able to make it in time).

Here is everyone sitting together.

We watched a video from Cancun where Joan, Janae, and Janine (sorry if that's spelled wrong) got to spend time with dolphins. Janae was a pro, Janine and Joan were just hilarious to watch. Joan even thought so herself.

Then we played a game where you had to guess what name or profession was written on your back. Kristie thought she was pretty funny (she's the one that came up with the names).

Halle got her nails painted by Janae while we played the name game.

Then we played a game where you had to suck through a straw and collect as many skittles as possible. We did a few rounds of that, but we don't know who won because everyone ate their skittles between rounds.

Grandpa (Great Grandpa!) even played.

Our last game was a game we play every Christmas Eve at Joan's house. She reads a story about Johnny Right and the Right family and every time she says right or left you pass the presents. Everyone ends up with a present and still exchanges at the end, but it's fun. I think Halle ended up with more than she should have though...

Then we ate and it was time for cake and ice cream. Halle gets a little shy when people sing to her, but she did a great job blowing out the candles. She got some cool presents from Aunt Janine like walkie talkies, a new dress, and books.

This is Halle's great grandpa. We love him dearly and always cherish the time we get to spend with him since we only see him once or twice a year. I was so proud of her the whole weekend because she wasn't nervous around any of the family, even though a few of them hadn't seen her since she was born. So, that was day 1. Look forward to days 2 and 3, as well as lots of other random pictures and some from Halle's Mickey birthday party we had today.

Serenity

Joy

Fear

Our favorite bird, who has a nest in our tree with baby robins, hates me. Whenever I try to refill the humming bird nectar she attacks me. What a good mommy.

This is Jared. I am almost obsessed with getting the perfect picture of one of our humming birds. I am not quite there yet, but there are still some pretty good ones. You need to click on them to get the full beauty of these little birds.

Camera Happy

More pictures for you. Excited? Last night we were playing with the sugar gliders and got some really cute pictures. I'm sure you can't tell the difference between the three so I'll be sure to attach their names to the pictures.

We'll start with Stitch. He's the baby of Lola and Gizmo. You can tell he's Stitch because he always looks like he's lifting up his eyes which creates the look of little wrinkles over his eyes.

Cute wrinkles, huh?

(He's eating a pine nut.)

Look how much he's grown compared to almost exactly 3 years ago when he came out of Lola's pouch!

This is Lola, the momma. She's a skinny little thing, but she's always the first out to scarf the food no matter the time of day, so I'm not sure how she stays so thin. You can tell it's her because she's so thin and because she has this adorable black freckle on her right ear.

(You can see in this picture where Stitch got the wrinkles over his forehead. Lola has them too.)

A good picture of her cute black freckle.

This is Gizmo, the daddy. He was the first sugar glider addition to our family in December 2005. He was really lonely and would bark every night (yes, bark). We got him when we were in our married apartments (shh...animals weren't allowed). Because he was so sad we adopted Lola in February 2006. They were very happy together. And could also be loud...ahem...if you know what I mean...Stitch was created due to their noise. He's our fatso and the sweetest. He doesn't try to bite your finger off when you're giving him mealworms.

Sadly we didn't get many good pictures of him last night. You can tell from his man cleavage that he is much chubbier than the other two.

Note: Gizmo and Stitch are neutered, so there won't be any more sugar glider additions in our family. You don't want to know...let's just say Jared neutered Stitch himself.

We also took pictures of Halle of course.

We want to go get pictures for her third birthday and also get family pictures, but how do I bring myself to pay hundreds of dollars for pictures when this is what we get when we ask her to say Cheese?!? OF COURSE the pictures are cute, I won't argue with that, but not what I imagine hanging on my wall after paying a few hundred dollars. I'm sure I'll have more pictures soon. Lovin' the camera.

What's the magic word? and new camera pictures

Halle asked if she could watch a show. I said, "What's the magic word?" Of course I intended for her to say please. Instead she said, "Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse?" I couldn't resist those magic words and now she is watching Mickey Mouse Club House. At the beginning of every show he invites you to his club house and then he says, "Oh! I almost forgot. To get the clubhouse to appear we have to say the magic words." Of course those magic words are Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse. The things children learn.

Now for pictures from our new camera. Of course Halle had to take pictures since mommy was.

We walked to the park.

At the park Halle showed us all of her tricks from gymnastics on the bar (she goes backwards around the bar, then flips forward around the bar again).

Then we swung (?) on the swing together.

She decided she had to push mommy.

Then we headed home and cleaned out the dishwasher.

She always gets money for doing chores. She gave herself a raise and took three "moneys".

Before Halle woke up from her nap for all of the above stuff, I took pictures of the humming bird, the momma robin in her nest, and Rameses enjoying himself.

Rameses relaxed in the grass.

Then he gave himself a good back scratch.

Then it was time to go for a run and play.

See how happy it makes him? It's amazing how greyhounds smile so well. This is what he looks like when we get home every day.

Jared just took these pictures while I was blogging. You can't see it really, but this humming bird is this beautiful green. I think if you click on the picture it will bring up a really picture and then you can see the shiny green.

Not too often you see a humming bird just sitting on a limb.

We just really haven't been able to put the camera down. We are so please with our purchase. It's so nice to take lots of pictures really fast and then just delete those that don't work out. It was SO worth it!!!

Our recent purchase

We just got home from purchasing a new Nikon camera. Seriously, everyday since we went to Alaska in November and took over Erin's camera I've thought about how much I want one. I found this great deal for the Nikon D60 for $700 for the camera, a lens, second lens, bag, and memory card. We've thought about buying it even more because we always have humming birds in our yard and I really wanted a nice picture of them. We also have a mamma bird that built a nest in the tree. The battery is still charging, but the first thing I'll do is take pictures of the humming birds until Halle gets up. Then we'll probably go to the park and I'll take some pictures of the dogs running. Rameses also has this awesome smile, that actually looks like he's growling at you and I can't wait to get a picture of that. And of course I'll take pictures of Halle. So you can all look forward to some great pictures that I can hopefully post some time this weekend. I AM SO EXCITED!!!