Hayes Family Reunion 2014

We just got back from our Hayes Family Reunion in Duck Crick (Creek), UT.  We keep talking about what a great time we had.  Lest I forget some of the details, a load of pictures with captions:

We're on our way.  So dang early in the morning.

This is how Graham road trips: Feet up on the driver seat like it's his own personal ottoman, and he pointed/squealed at every truck we passed.

I reached back to tickle him, and another typical Graham move: he just grabbed my thumb to give it a good gnawing. 

Michelle put together a bomb treasure hunt for the kids.  The pot o' gold at the end was a big tub of candy and animal masks for everyone.  Jude was sleep deprived and either whimpering, crying, or giving the stink eye oh about 70% of the trip, so I was not surprised when he looked at the mask with disdain (even on a good day he doesn't like things stuck tight to his face or head).  Here's good old dad trying to convince him how fun it is to be a puppy. I love Jeff.

Last spring, we had an Eaton Family Reunion in this same cabin, and Jude and Ian had a merry old time chucking cans of Coke Zero off the deck.  This year it was Graham's turn to hurl things off; there's Jude's boot at the bottom, and I spy with my little eye my flip-flopped foot and Graham's incriminated Batman (TM) boot.

Uncle Justin is the best teddy bear around.  Graham was obsessed with his tickle fests, and I had the best time driving with him and Angie to a hike.  Justin is happy, friendly, loves to tease and joke around, and it had been a long time since I'd had a good conversation with him. We love the Lewis fam!

Bryce Canyon Glory!  Jude: "Daddy.  Don't go down there."  "Ok, Jude."

This gave me anxiety.

There was a big tub of toys.  Jude was incensed that there were no trains in there.  How dare they.  HA!  But he improvised, fell in love with a toy doctor kit, and then there was this gross motor skills toy meant for an infant that pretty much all the kids played with and adored. ???

See?  Here's Graham having his millionth go at it.  And he's holding his extreeeeemely healthy smoothie made by Aunt Erica; he had 3 servings.  This was nice because I think at that point everyone else had thrown healthy eating out the door.

Graham found flashlight.  Score.

Graham totally posing for Aunt Michelle -- hilarious!

I would use this for my Christmas Card.  Thanks for this gem, Michelle!

When Jude wasn't with Lizzie Bear, he was asking (whining) for Lizzie Bear.

I am obsessed with this little imp.

And all too quickly it was time to go home. In parting, I shall inform you of the blow out diaper that rendered Graham's onesie unwearable.  Nothing gives me more delight as a mother than wandering around Whiskey Pete's gas station food mart waiting for Jeff to finish his potty break, holding your tot that's only wearing a diaper, and trying to keep your 3-year-old close at hand.  Until next time, Hayes fam!

 

 

 

Eaton Family Reunion 2013

Over Memorial Day weekend, the Eaton family had its first Family Reunion in Duck Creek (Crick?), Utah.  It was strange that we've arrived at this phase of life, but it was so much fun, I'm glad we're here. Here are some pics:

I always catch Harry giving Sarah the most adoring looks.  Loooove is a many splendored thiiiiiing.  This is how they can often be found: sharing a couch and reading.

Classic mom.

Ian's presence turned Jude into a much more independent tike.  Usually Jude wants me to be in his line of vision at all times.  After this family reunion, he's much more comfortable to go play in the backyard or at the park without me at his heels.  They had so much fun throwing things off this deck to the ground (or parked cars) below (like about 7 cans of Coke Zero and tons of Hot Wheels), riding their cars, sliding, and engaging in other forms of mischief.

I had a box full of jewelry I hadn't opened in about 3 years, so I brought it and let my nieces Sadie and Julia have at it.  Who's their favorite aunt now??  Holler!

Of course we dibble dabbled in hair and nails.  Kacie's blonde hair is inspiring me to lighten mine....
Also I did some bomb manicures and pedicures on Sadie and Julia (also why I'm the favorite aunt -- holler!).

Cozy naps.  I could go for one right now.

We had a brief run with Family Olympics.  I was "in charge" and hacked 2 events from my SIL Angie from my OTHER family's Family Reunion in St. Jorge last summer.  Yes, only 2 events.  And they were the only ones involving food.  But the wood floor in the cabin would've resulted in some broken angles (and beyond) if we'd done a gunny sack race, and also, I'm lazy (or tired and busy). 

So we did a donut eating contest, one round with the big kids (Sam, Sadie, and Julia), and one with little kids (Jude and Ian).  We picked up the donuts in Cedar City right before we went up the mountain to Duck Creek, and since we were close to the end of the drive and the kids were getting cranky, Jeff offered to run in and get them while we kept the kids contained in the car.  He came out with a box of very fancy and glorious donuts, and since there were some without holes and thus couldn't be strung up, the adults had their own "contest" after.  And when I say "contest" I mean we enjoyed them without any strings attached.  And in true Eaton girl fashion, about each of those donuts were siphoned away at until they were gone.  Because things don't have as many calories when you only cut a piece off every 7-20 minutes.  The other event was blowing bubbles with frozen Bazooka gum.  Kris won that one -- the prize was the rest of the bag of Bazooka :).  

Sam won this event.  He's a 10 year old boy with a 6'6" dad and 5'10" mom.  His scarfing skills are well-honed.

I love my Sadie girl.

Cameron, if I had a nickel for every time you pulled this face in a picture last-minute, I'd buy a house in Bermuda and only let you visit if you promised to never pull this face in a picture ever again.

Jammy time.  And then Jeff and I can sit down time, because bedtime is just around the river bend.

Donut Eating Contest for the little kids: hilarious and cute.  They were thrilled at what was before them, puzzled for its presentation, and then annoyed that it made life difficult.  Cheating quickly happened and obviously no one cared.

Your donut ship will come in, my child.  

I never had to look very far for someone to hold and entertain G while I had to go do _____.

I always felt bad for Elizabeth's kids being so much older than any other cousins, because they'd get so bored at reunions.  Actually, all of the big kids are very good with babies and Jude, and they give such sweet attention, they never acted bored or put out.

Twins!  And I have to give props to Aunt E: Jude woke up anywhere between 5:30 (so 4:30 California time) and 6:00 each morning.  Since all 4 of us were in the same room, he'd wake up and be like, "Oh YES!  There's mom and dad; they can't hide now!  Party time!"  And since he'd wake up Graham if I let him cry for any amount of time, I had to appease him.  Each morning when Elizabeth heard my pitter patterings in the main room, instead of barking to keep it down from her own room (which would've been fair/understandable), she'd mosey on up to help me.  She'd help me put on movies, get breakfast for Jude, bring me a Diet Coke, etc.  If it were me I'd have taken the sleep :).  Thanks Elizabeth!  And also, then we got more time to talk.

Mom, J, and Kacie post-church.  We went to a local Branch which was so highly attended that day we were put in an "overflow room" down the hall from the chapel with the meeting coming through the intercom.  We were all dying laughing during every hymn because the organist was playing like a death march and every time we'd finish a verse, we'd realize everyone else in the chapel was at least a line behind us. 

Who wouldn't want this guy fighting Orange County fires??  (That's his career plan -- and I think based on this picture alone he could get a job at any station he pleases.)

I could not love him more.

Motherhood looks good on you, Sar!

And here's the whole kit and caboodle!  A bunch of people I love to love.  Until next time!  And thanks, Reynolds Fam, for letting us use your awesome cabin!

Kauai III

Ha!  You thought I was done with Hawaii.

Just a few more thoughts and a video of Jude eating his 1st Birthday Cake.  

Some extra things I loved about this vacation:

• I loved getting out of bed in the morning and, upon surveying the piles of sheets and blankets, turning my back and walking out the bedroom door in search of breakfast goods.  Having the bedroom and bathroom cleaned by magical Hotel Fairies was something I thoroughly appreciated.  
• Jeff vacations hard core.  I can't help but be swept up in his Vacation-to-the-Death mentality.
• When Jeff and I were dating we went to his jacuzzi at least 4 times a week.  With Bryan and Amber there, we could all take shifts and get reacquainted with those bubbling tubs of chlorine.  Heaven!

Our baby turned 1!  Besides partying hard we told him about 5,000 times he was a 1 year old. My mind was flooded with memories of his birth.  I couldn't really make Jude's cake, although I would've loved to (especially considering Hawaii's cruel prices).  We got this gelato cake for a whopping $30.  Here is a clip of him enjoying it -- be still my heart:

Kauai II

THE BEACH

Giving Jude's legs some taste of the ocean; he liked it ok but preferred the pool.

Swiftly he crammed handfuls of sand into his cute mouth.  It had a kitty litter effect on his diapers that he didn't love.

Jude learned about jealousy on this trip.  He's never been upset by other babies; he loves to be social.  But Violet apparently wears the threat of "as long as she's around no one will ever love me!!!"  No matter who was holding him, if she was within eye shot, he started screaming and lunging for the person holding her.  It made us laugh because he'd never rejected me before this, he's never been a competitive one, and we could see the wheels turning in his little head. "I must be the only baby, it must be ME!!!"

Living.

Family Pictures.  More on these below.  But there was this little section roped off to the right because it apparently had been at one time the plot of land for a temple that was destroyed.  So stay away and KAPU.

Note to self: Next time, if you want to take family pictures on vacation, do it at the beginning BEFORE you gorge on food for a week.

Jude was either snuggling for no apparent reason or wriggling to be free from our arms.  About 4 seconds after this picture we set him down and he got ahold of some chicken poop.  Let your imagination run riot as to how we reacted.

Love my baby.  The flights may have been a bit stressful, but once we got there Jude was a DREAM.  I was nervous that, like in Palo Alto in the fall and the Utah part of Christmas, he wouldn't sleep and neither would I.  The island calmed him with pixie dust or something, because he slept 12 hours a night and 2 naps during the day like he does at home.  We couldn't believe it.  This trip got me feeling all gutsy and ready for the big league trips.  

Jeff dunking his face and blowing bubbles had Jude in stitches.  Major father-son time.

I think we'll be at our pool a lot this summer.

The Grand Canyon of Hawaii

Violet and Bryan on our hike -- they were fantastic travel buddies.  We shared a 2 bedroom condo, and it was great to put the babies down and have the common room to hang out in, talk, and watch TV.  We also could babysit for each other so each couple could go get some ice cream, bring food back, soak in the jacuzi, etc.  

We hiked along the Napali Coast, which was amazing.  We wanted to take a boat ride alongside to see it from the other perspective but they were all a 4-6 hour affair, no babies allowed.

Just a baby in nature.

Hammocks!!

The spouting horn

One eventide the 3 of us went to watch the sunset.  It was incredible and I'll never forget sharing it with my 2 best boys.

Jude's first lesson of Economics: Scarcity.  I could just see him thinking, "Wha???  The chickens...they-they-they STOLE my CRACKERS!!!"

Jude loves Amber.

As previously mentioned, we ate out.  A LOT.  We didn't really mean to, it just happened.  So we got fat and friendly.

Caught this.  He is so cute.

I was depressed to lose this uninterrupted family time when we were back.  We enjoyed every minute, and I really mean it!

Amber did all the research beforehand and we got to benefit.  The last morning we went to the hotel next door for the top rated breakfast on the island.  The big crowd pleaser is the (get ready) lemon pineapple souffle pancakes.  Are you kidding me??  Unfortunately with all the eating we'd been doing, and how full we constantly felt, yikes.  They brought out these gigantic plates and they were amazing, but we couldn't quite finish them all.  Jude lived it up, whacking the utensils against the table.  

Giving some kisses

So sad to be going home.  We also were so sad to have overshot the amount of time we'd need to return the rental car, etc., and had tons of free time.  Jude decided to be an extreme hooligan during that time.

When I think of this trip, I sort of have to think of Whitney Houston's death too.  While we'd all watch tv at night or during breakfast, it was ROUND THE CLOCK reporting.  It was so another one of those celebrity free-for-all competitions of "NO ONE is more sad than ME about this!!!  I haven't stopped crying since it happened!" which would be fine if it weren't for the fact that they're saying all these things to get attention and industry credibility.  Clearly if you're heartbroken over Whitney Houston's death, you must have been close to her and therefore wildly talented and successful.  I thought it was horrible and sort of hilarious, the statements musicians of little consequence were making. It's like trying to cry the hardest at Girl's Camp.

He slept really well on the flight home.  Ironically, he remained knocked out for the landing announcements, the landing itself, when the engines turned off, unloading all our stuff, but then he screamed the whole drive home from the San Diego airport.