Hegerhorst Family Reunion

Thursday, July 24th Steve picked me up from work at about 1pm and we headed up to Idaho for our Hegerhorst Family Reunion.  Since the activities started Friday morning at 8am we wanted to make sure we were there in time.  We got to my parent's place in time for dinner and so did Daron, Anna and Dexter.  Pauline was there the day before.  Daron brought his camper, which they slept in, and Dexter stayed in mom/dad's camper.  Daron put a tent out in the front yard which many of the kids slept in.  Anna and Chris slept downstairs in the living room, Pauline upstairs w/ her kids and Steve and I downstairs in a room.  After putting Nyles to bed that night I listened to my Tax class lecture, in order to stay caught up.

Friday morning we headed over to the Dam for breakfast.  Mark and Marla were in charge this year so they cooked the breakfast and got all the food ready.  After breakfast we played games.  We brought our badminton game, which was a lot of fun.  Thankfully Steve picked up four more rackets so more people were able to play.  We also played a little Frisbee and Family Feud.  It was fun!

All of Mark and Marla's girls were there:  Katie, Becky, Margie and Emily.

My dad also took people out on the boat to go fishing.  

Steve took Nyles and Pauline took Charlotte, they even caught some fish!

Nyles loves being on the boat w/ Grandpa :)

Nyles thought it was fun to see the fish in the live well also.

While having lunch up there Barbara and her kids showed up.  Nyles was getting pretty tired by this time so we took him home for a nap.  Ironically a very LARGE group of Army people showed up at the Dam also and basically took over the whole park, so that wasn't cool.  While Nyles slept I worked on my Tax class quizzes.  Not exactly what I wanted to do on vacation, but I HAD to study.  We started our class the week we went up to Bear Lake, so both times driving in the car I tried to study.  Since we didn't have Internet access at Bear Lake I had to make up a lot of quizzes.  I was able to get some done so that made me feel better.

That night we went over to Mark and Marla's for dinner.  We had a BBQ then had our family auction to raise money for the next family reunion.  It was a lot of fun spending time w/ one another.

Dexter holding Nyles

Daron and Wade

The family

Getting ready for the auction

 Dakota, Sophie and Nyles petting Katie's dog Rupert.  

Mark running the auction

Harold and Grandma trying to see if they won

Grandma showing off her beautiful hat and gloves she won

After dinner we went back home and put Nyles to bed.  I stayed w/ him while Steve and everyone went over to Grandma's for fireworks.  They went well other than it started a small fire, and Uncle Rick fell and cut his legs and hands on some barbwire while trying to go out to the field to put it out.  Luckily Steve was there to help and made sure he was ok.

Saturday we decided to head home mid-morning.  Pauline and Chris also headed home since Ezra wasn't feeling well and hadn't been sleeping very well.  We let Nyles play outside w/ the trucks while I helped cleaned up inside.  We then packed up a lunch and left.  We made it home in good time.  Nyles did great.

That night it rained hard!  

Nyles loves to watch the lightning and says "thunder, thunder"

It was another fun family vacation.  Our side of the family was all there minus Rose and her girls.  Maybe next time.  Thanks for the good times!  We'll have to do it again soon.

Bear Lake Family Vacation

On Thursday, July 17th we headed up to Bear Lake for the McGrath Family Reunion.  We of course went to the dentist beforehand, since I had the day off.  We left in the afternoon and got up there in good time.  We stopped in Logan to get some gas and a pizza for dinner from Papa Murphy's.  After we got there we unpacked, ate, went to the beach for a while to let Nyles play, and then got a Raspberry Shake on the way home.  Though it took 20 minutes to get our shake, it was totally worth it :)

Nyles excited to be at Bear Lake again

We had a great view!

Last year we stayed down by the lighthouse

At the Lake finally!

Nyles playing in the water

On our way back from the beach, time for bed soon

After we got home w/ our shakes, we gave Nyles a bath and got him to bed.  Luckily in our room there was a large closet and we were able to put Nyles port-a-crib in there.  For some reason he has a hard time sleeping if he sees us; he thinks it's time to play.  So this way he was still in our room but couldn't see us and would go to sleep.  Kim got up there shortly after we got there w/ her mom and kids.  Steve ran over to their campsite and helped them set up their tents.  He then met Dave/Joann at the KOA and showed them where our townhouse was that we rented together.  Jeff showed up the same time they did and got settled in.  After we got everything unpacked we all headed to bed.

The next morning we had a beautiful sunrise from our balcony.  It was a beautiful morning!  Nyles was up at 6am as soon as the sun was shinning through.  He was excited to go out and play of course.  We also saw some Rockchucks in the place in front of ours.  Nyles thought it was fun to watch them.

Nyles looking at all the boats in the water; he loves boats!

 Nyles and Steve enjoying the sunrise

Enjoying some time w/ Grandpa, watching the lawn get moved

After breakfast we met up w/ Jeff and Kim and their family and went over to the beach together.
Before we left we blew up a giant inner-tube and put on the top of Dave's car to take to the beach.

It kept trying to fly off on the way over, but it was worth it to play w/ it on the beach.

 Nyles playing in the sand again

Trying to get the inner-tube to work

Taking a snack break

Steve pulling Nyles and Cameron in the inner-tube.

Nyles thought it was soooo much fun!
He kept saying "boat, boat."

We went home for lunch and so Nyles could take a nap.  

While we were gone some wind came and blew down our canopies.
Jeff/Kim stayed at the beach when we left so since they'd been their long enough, they left shortly after we got back.

Joann and Dave enjoying the beach w/ their sun umbrellas.
Oh cute! ;)

Nyles playing on the "boat." w/ a Mermaid :)

 Cute little toes covered in sand

Showing Grandma his sand

Playing w/ daddy in the sand

Stacie, Phil, London, and Conor showed up late in the afternoon.  They were actually going to come up Thursday afternoon but Phil and London weren't feeling well.  After a short time London was complaining she wasn't feeling well, so they decided they'd better take her all the way home again that night.  Phil wasn't feeling the best himself so he took London home.

 Nyles fell asleep on the way home, w/ his pretzels in his hand

 He was soooo tired!

For dinner that night we got together at the KOA for tacos.  By this time Carrie had showed up also.  Melanie ended up coming up a little later.  We ate around their campsite, then headed back to put Nyles to bed.  The next morning Nyles got up at 6:30am.  We ate breakfast then got packet up to go to the beach again.  Everyone met up over there and set up their canopies.

Nyles and Conor playing on another "boat"

Ryan's dad brought up his boat and took people out to try wake boarding and whatnot.  In order for them to figure out where we were we all held up some towels and things to get their attention.  Eventually they saw us and brought the boat in closer.  You can't get too close though since the water is so shallow, so people had to go out a ways to get on the boat.

Nyles and Conor taking a snack break

Stacie, Dave, Joann and Alexa

Nyles, Conor and Lynsie just playing in the water/sand

Olivia and Nyles

Our canopy line up

Lynsie, Conor, Dave, Alexa, Steve, Cameron and Melanie

Melanie and Noah playing in the sand

Nyles eating some Mexican cookies

The towels Dave/Joann gave to the grand-kids w/ their name on it, so cute

Chandler wasn't feeling too well....

Nyles and Conor weren't sure what to think of him

 The four youngest grandkids:

Nyles, Lynsie, Alexa and Conor, all born in 2012

 Stacie, Nyles, Kim and I

Now w/ the all the kids and Steve in the background

Conor, Stacie, Nyles, Kim, Alexa, and I

 Nyles checking out the view again

Nyles thought it was fun to see his refection in the cupboard knobs

Like father like son.....STEVE!

Alexa and Nyles deciding who gets to play w/ the truck.

We got together at Jeff/Kim's campsite for a spaghetti dinner Saturday night and S'mores

Nyles had to see inside their tent

Nyles and Conor attacking Steve

 

After dinner the kids started to get pretty tired....so we went to bed shortly after

This is the closet Nyles slept in....plenty of room :)

The next morning we pretty much packed up and left.  Since Stacie stayed w/ Conor the whole time and had their stuff we offered to take it home for them, instead of having Phil drive all the way up and then back in one day. 

Conor and Nyles hanging out while we finished loading up the cars

 Dave and Joann put Conor and Stacie in their car, then Steve and I essentially took all Stacie's stuff, our stuff, and most of Dave/Joanns.  When we got down to Stacie's house we unpacked all her stuff, and gave Dave back their stuff.  It was pretty incredible all the stuff we fit in our car.

This is our Edge on the way back from the beach.  You can't see it very well but my dad built a storage rack to fit in our hitch.   It ended up being VERY useful bringing all the stuff back.  We put Stacie's tent, cooler and firewood out there.

 The view from the top of the canyon before going down to Bear Lake.

We stopped there for a few minutes waiting for Dave/Joann to catch up to us (they had to get gas)

Overall it was a GREAT trip. It was nice spending time w/ the family, the Lake was awesome, and the weather was fantastic!  The kids all had fun and I think we all enjoyed ourselves.  We will definitely go back again next year! ;)

Click here for the Shutterfly Photobook I created.