Holbrook Family Renion 2015

This is a little taste of what our family reunion in Park City looked like:

 *It seems like most days, we had something planned. Or at least, someone had a plan for the day, and we could choose to jump on and participate. One of the days, Bekah and Chris were planning to take their girls to the Hogle zoo for part of the day. Aleah wanted to go with her boys, and I wanted to take my girls. And Emily and Jennie came along, too. I got a big discount on entrance fees, because of our membership at the LA zoo. And we had a great time! It was a small zoo, a lot smaller than LA zoo. But I kind of liked that. It was easier to see the animals, and I thought it was more kid-friendly, too.*

 *There was a dinosaur exhibit at the zoo, with mechanical models of various dinosaurs strewn about the park. Brooke and I thought it was pretty cool. :)*

 * Enjoying our day at the zoo. Camille wasn't thrilled with the whole experience. She was pretty tired, and didn't take much of a nap while we were there. But luckily, she had plenty of people to hold and snuggle her and make her feel better. She and Brooke both crashed in the car about 5 minutes after we left. It was miraculous!*

*We spent a day at Deer Creek Lake, nearby where the resort was. Brian drove up to spend most of the day with us. We chatted and swam in the freezing lake; had a picnic lunch; Brian played a lot with Brooke, which she loved; we went out on Dad's canoe and also the jet-ski that Michael rented. Daniel took me out on the jet-ski, and it was so much fun! He taught me how to drive the thing, too, which I loved. He's pretty wonderful, I think. When we were all done at the lake, we drove back to Westgate Resort, had dinner with the whole family (we had dinner altogether every night; each married kid and their family was responsible for one night -- pretty good arrangement, I think), put our cherubs to bed, and then played games until Brian had to leave. It was nice that he took the time to come up and see us, and we enjoyed catching up with him.*

*We always do family pictures at our reunions, and this was picture day. Daniel had put a daisy in my hair for pictures, and Brooke had to pick one, too. My babies are delicious.*

*Brooke and Harrison really loved each other. They followed each other around and played together and it was really cute. Brooke really had such a fun time with all of her cousins, and they all seemed to really love spending time with her, too. They watched movies, colored, played with playdough, went out for walks. Brooke also really loved Uncle Michael. He took her out on a walk when we first got there, and even took her up and down the elevators, and he had her love ever since.*

*Daniel did a bunch of mountain biking, when he wasn't hanging out with us, of course. He liked going up with Michael and Damon. Bowman even drove up with his family to do some mountain biking with the boys. And I enjoyed hanging out with Stephanie and their cute kids. Bowman said Daniel's getting really good at mountain biking these days. I'm glad that Daniel has a fun hobby!*

*Great-Grandma Mitchell's 90th Birthday Bash! Saturday evening, a whole bunch of people met at a park nearer to SLC to celebrate Grandma's birthday (even though it was in June...). There were a ton of people I didn't know, a bunch of people I know only slightly well, and a handful of people I know pretty well. Brooke had a grand old time with all of the kids that showed up, playing on the playground and running around. And I'm sure Daniel loved catching up with all of his long, lost cousins. I, on the other hand, was a little uncomfortable. But it was still a nice evening, and a great chance to show Grandma we love her.*

*We did a whole lot of this ... swimming in the pool. Brooke went more than I did, with her aunts and cousins and Grandpa, of course. It was nice to go swimming with everyone and relax.*

*Brooke, doing playdough with her cousins*

Aside from what is shown here, I tried to workout every day ... and was fairly successful, too. I ran twice, and did zumba for most every other day with my sisters-in-law. Aleah had brought her zumba dvds, and they looked fun, so I jumped in a joined them in their workouts. I loved it! I didn't get as much reading done as I thought I would. The girls didn't end up napping as I hoped they would, mostly because we were doing so many other fun things and we just missed their naps. I didn't mind much, and I preferred spending that time with my family.

Wednesday morning, after I went on a long run, Mom, Dad, Aleah, Adam, Emily, Daniel and I went to the Salt Lake Temple to do sealings. I was glad to take the time to go, and we had a good time. But Aleah and I were both a little anxious to get back to our kids. I knew they were in good hands; not only were Jennie and Summer there to babysit, but Michelle and Bekah didn't have recommends and couldn't go, so they, I'm sure, did a lot of kid care. Still, I like being more in control of my kids' schedules and what they are up to. And I don't like that people let Camille watch tv. That bugs.

We played games every night. Since we were in 2 separate rooms, not super-close to each other, we usually had games going in each room, and people would just do what they wanted. It was pretty perfect. We would all wander around to the rooms, visiting, playing games. One night, we had a girls night, where we all congregated where Daniel, Adam, Emily, me, and the girls were staying. We had cookies and cookie dough, painted our nails, and watched Austenland. It was so much fun! Another night, Daniel and I sneaked away for a little mini date. We took a walk around the resort, and then went to the Adults Only pool to do a little hot-tubbing. It was lovely. Our last night there, Friday, after we did family pictures, Mom and Dad took all the Adults out to dinner, just at one of the restaurants at the resort. It was a nice break, going out with all the 'big kids', and we had a good time.

It was a practically perfect vacation! I loved it! And I was so sad when we had to come back home. It was so wonderful spending all that time with our family, and I really appreciate my in-laws for the sacrifices they make so that we can all get together like that. I think it's really important. And I think that as time goes on, it'll become even more important that we stick to our families.