The first SM Marshall Reunion

We had our first official Marshall reunion this summer! And it was a blast. These two being the oldest and the founders of this part of the family, they worked with all of us to choose a location and find a great cabin for us all to stay in. We went to Breckenridge, CO, and couldn't have asked for a more ideal location. Fabulous weather, lots to do. It was great.

 We stayed for 5 days and during that time were actually really bad about taking group photos. It is a little sad that we didn't plan ahead, since there were always some factors of people missing in a group this size. Here we are- just the girls before church... and the amazing view that we had to enjoy during the trip.

 And a lot of grandkids. The only one that didn't come on the trip was Cheyenne, but we are missing at least two others from this photo.

 Finn hanging out with his Vatti on the porch.

 Aside from all of our time just enjoying the great outdoors, we also had a talent show and a dance party night, complete with strobe like and glow sticks. It was awesome entertainment.

 We did plenty of squeezing into cars to head off on our adventures.

 Some of the kids and Vatti before our first hike, which started out dry and ended up very wet. A lot of the big kids got really far ahead with Uncle Duane and Tio, so I got in my first trail run trying to catch up to them to tell them everyone else had turned around in the pouring rain. We were all feeling the altitude difference for sure.

 Caleb's little hiking buddy, who took a couple of minutes to walk with me.

 My hiking buddy, this guy got passed around a lot to save our backs.

 Wyatt trying to keep dry... Not sure why someone was wearing a cardigan on a hike? He says he thought it was going to be more of a walk.

 The last of the Marshall stragglers. Kaylee leading the way.

When we all arrived at the cabin, Kaylee gave Caleb the nickname of "Harry" first for the reason of his insane beard and as an afterthought for his forehead scar. I think by the beginning of the second day all of the kids were calling him "Harry," and asking him to make up names for them.

 With cool and sometimes wet weather, we enjoyed the hot tub quite a bit. 

The under 12 crowd.

 Duane and I put together some reunion shirts and everyone loved them. We attracted a lot of attention wearing them the day we went out shopping on Main Street. And we got to explain to some of our kids what it means to be a "Loose Cannon." (the wording was all Duane's idea, I just worked on the design.)

 Wyatt tried to convince me to buy him these $20 shades. Even his cuteness didn't make it worth that price.

 He isn't easy to see with my great phone camera, but in the driveway is the little red fox that the Red Fox Lodge is named for. Not sure exactly where he lives, but we saw him hanging out and coming close several times throughout our stay.

I loved seeing all of the kids just running around having a great time and "exploring" the mountains.

 This was the view from my bedroom. And that happens to be the peak that Caleb and I climbed. It really was a picturesque place to stay.

Happy Birthday Dear Wyatt

What a crazy year for this wild man. Wyatt turned 3 last week. He has reached a moment of being the nicest and the meanest kid all in the same breath. He really keeps us on our toes, and keeps me laughing and crying all at the same time. He still really loves his blanket and milk. And he is becoming a pro at moving on from the world of diapers and onto bigger and better things. He was beyond excited for his birthday this year and went around singing "Happy Birthday Dear Wyatt" all day that day and almost every day since.

He loves telling people that he is three now, even if he hasn't quite mastered holding up the right number of fingers.

He really wanted a Star Wars birthday and told everyone who would listen that he was having one. Since he is easy to please when it comes to new and exciting things, this resulted in a blue frosting cake with a few new Star Wars characters on top of it. He used one of his favorite word to describe it- "Perfect!"

Blowing out the candles... it did take two tries.

And he also loved all of his presents and has been having fun playing with them.

Wyatt and Finn got one great big gift for their birthdays that has been fun for everyone... a climbing dome. It is one piece of playground equipment that we should get a lot of use out of and still fits in the fenced portion of our yard. The boys and all of their cousins have been greatly enjoying it.

SoftTennisBall

One night we had a dinner at a park in Utah county. It happened to have an empty softball field next to it, so Uncle Rich and the kids quickly created a game with the equipment they had on hand... a couple of tennis racquets and tennis ball. It quickly became a game of Soft-Tennis-Ball.

Finn just loved crawling around in the dirt trying to find garbage to eat.

 The teams were Kids vs. Adults, and the adults all had to bat lefty.

 Tatum just kept stealing the balls and running around.

 Jaren somehow got on base with a racquet still in hand.

I love how it looks like Rachel is pulling a Babe Ruth and calling out her hit, but really I think she is pointing instructions at someone.

 Plenty of action on base. They played until the rain started to come down.

Bridal Veil Falls

With the Cardon family in town we decided to get outside in a brief spurt and headed to Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon. I hadn't been there in years, and it is changed a lot. All of the kids had a great time wading and climbing up the falls and in the stream. It was a nice summer evening.

 Jaren and Wyatt were up to some trouble. Especially once they realized they were allowed to play in the water and get wet.

 There were plenty of rocks for them to throw into the water. However, we ended up having to put a stop to that pretty quickly since it was much too crowded to have rocks flying in random directions.

 Mals, Gavin and Henry had a blast climbing as high as they could up the falls and then looking for fool's gold. They had a pretty good team when it comes to adventuring.

 Mallory showing Gavin a very interesting rock.

 Grandma and Papa tried to follow the water crew around, and did some observing from the rocks.

Not sure who Papa and Wyatt were watching when this picture was taken, but they seem super interested.

Happy First Birthday Finn!

My cute baby, Finn, has turned 1. I can hardly believe it has been a year. What a whirlwind we have had. We are very blessed that he is such a great fourth kid, and he is usually happy as long as he can be around his brothers. He loves to sleep and sometimes loves to eat, and while he isn't walking yet, he is into everything and often causing trouble. He fits right in with our group. We really love him.

 We celebrated Finn's birthday with some of the Cardon family that was still in town. Finn loved having everyone around, but what he didn't love was the cake. He was afraid to have it to close to him, and then he touched the frosting and almost had a panic attack. He also didn't eat a single bite. He refused to touch it, much less put it in his mouth.

This was his expression before he started to cry to get away from the cake.

 He did very much enjoy opening his presents and then playing with them. The bags and wrapping were very exciting too.

 Finn has also decided to declare himself to be the baby of the family. His one year stats have him weighing almost 3 lbs less than his lightest brother. Though he is just as tall as everyone else.

25lbs 2oz

31 inches