The Larsen Family Reunion!!

We made it up to Midway and checked into our condos with the rest of the Gordon Larsen clan...you know all the usual suspects that we hang out with.

Luckily Grandpa got a photo of Iva in her cute get up because Mom sure didn't!

COUSINS!

We loaded back into the cars and headed to Double Grandma and Grandpa's pad to let the festivities begin. There was eating and lots of visiting.

Last year these three girlies were all still in their mommas' bellies! I think they are related...no one has hardly any hair!

Grandpa hitched up the pony cart for us! Boden even got to drive!

We stayed clear until the fireworks show on Memorial Hill which was impressive, but not as impressive as the large brush fires that started! They were very distracting!

The next day almost everybody headed off to the Uintas for a Larsen Family back packing extravaganza. There 25 people going! Iva and Mommy stayed back with Grandma and Marty and Hailey and the boys. We hung out with Double Grandma and Grandpa for a little bit before heading down the mountain to take the twins to the zoo!

I LOVED BACKPACKING. Or at least I loved the part when we got to camp. I played my heart out with Sophia, Savannah, Josie, Boden, Jett and Gideon. We hunted for salamanders and made dirt tacos. Don't forget the delicious smores!

You might notice in this last photo my smile looks a bit pained. Indeed I had been crying, but in my defense I had a pretty dang good reason for it. While Grandpa was doing some climbing, I was playing on the rocks below with my dad and Uncle Eric. Cara was there too. Well there was this AWESOME HUGE boulder that I just had to see if I could get on top. Now it was sheer on three sides so my dad really thought there was no way I could get up it. Turns out he was partially wrong. In about two minutes all three adults thought about checking on me but nobody said anything because they thought I wouldn't go high. NOPE. To their horror, some lady climbing above them suddenly yelled "HEY! Somebody help that kid!" which was quickly followed by my screaming. Uncle Eric got to me, not on the rock, but in the rocks below it. I had fallen head first. He fully expected me to be bleeding from my head at the very least. Dad was pretty sure something was going to be broken or that we would be visiting the ER at least. THANKFULLY none of those things happened. I am scraped up on my torso and arm and we have discovered that my noggin is a bit sore and bruised, but that's it. Not one bandaid needed. I cried a fair amount and kind of kept weeping for the rest of the hike out, but really can you blame me?

I know! We should go up north!

Hahaha! We like to get in our trusty white Prius, Mozzy, and get out of St. George. A lot. And this weekend the Larsen Family Reunion was happening in Midway for the Fourth of July.

In fact, we are in the car so much that Mommy almost made the crazy decision to KEEP DRIVING and head to Seattle with the Preslars and visit our Romney cousins. Crazy Mommy. That is a 20 hour drive. Iva is grateful she snapped back to her senses. However because the Preslars hopped in the car and left almost immediately after we arrived at their house it meant we had about 36 hours to play in SLC just as our little family.

So we went to the zoo. Duh.

And then we watched Lexi and played with the guinea pigs!

Iva even loved them...too much. She took a chunk of fur from poor Lulu.

The next morning we started out our Independence Day Celebrations by playing at Seven Peaks! We were really surprised by the smallish crowd. It definitely wasn't too crowded. We had a great time and probably would have stayed all day!

Not a great picture, but it's significant because it's Cara agreeing to go down the slides on the tube. She was so brave this trip! It was amazing.

And these pictures make me laugh because Mommy made me go down by myself and it ended up slightly disastrous. Here's a hint: that tube shouldn't be around my middle.

We eventually had to leave and go get ready for the Larsen Reunion! Mommy took some time to do our typical Fourth of July hair and then we headed up the mountain to Midway!

We just have too much fun!

Guest post by Mommy:

We really have a lot of fun in our little family. I have been feeling very grateful that I get to do silly things with my children and that they are well behaved and that my husband is employed. I feel a great need to thank my Heavenly Father and let Him know that I recognize this blissful part of the ride and I really am overwhelmed with gratitude.

I have braved the City Pool twice with just me and the girls. That's a big deal! Actually, we also rented out the city pool with our friends one night and it was a blast. Siena just goes up and down that hydro tube and jumps off the diving board with fervor. Cara has really been practicing her swimming skills and they are coming along! Check out her "Deadman's Float"! She kept doing it over and over.

We also took the time to tell the girls about one of their ancestors for Family Home Evening. Turns out, Miles Romney, their great great great grandpa, basically built St. George. I had no idea and I don't think Pete really did either. One of his most famous works is the St. George Tabernacle where he spent a year each on two spiral staircases. They are beautiful, but unfortunately the Tabernacle was closed when we ran down there. I took the girls back the next day but forgot my phone aka my camera!

One of the more silly things we have been doing is playing with a new app called Face Juggler. Isn't this picture awesome?!

Creepy....

Before:

After:

Love this one...

And of course one of our best....