Mommy for the Weekend!

This past weekend we had the Juchau (my grandma lott's side) family reunion. Jare and Lind went different directions for their reunions, so I got to be Ty-Ty's surrogate mommy for the weekend! Ty is one of the most easy going one year old!! Koby and I drove up to Logan late Thursday night so we wouldn't have to get up quite so early for Friday's events. Koby and Jare went golfing early Friday morning, while I made sure Ty was taken care of. Friday we went to Hyrum Dam (which is the smallest lake I have ever been boating on). Ty loved being on the beach and walking in the water. He kept trying to walk out further and further into the water. He went all the way up to his shoulders (don't worry, I made sure his head stayed above the water)! One highlight of the day was that Spence wake boarded!!! :) He doesn't usually wake board, he is a water rocket ridin' fool, so we were all very surprised to see him out there wake boarding! Ty, Ali, and I rode home with Grandma so we could get all cleaned up before we had dinner. Unfortunately Ty fell in the tub and got another bruise. (He got one at my mom's house on Thursday) I felt SO bad!! (Sorry, Lind! You probably think I'm the worst surrogate mom in the world) Saturday we started with a yummy breakfast and then hung out until it was time to go to Willow park for lunch and activities. We had fun playing games that my grandma and her siblings played growing up. We had a memory night later at my grandma's church and got to see and hear all the cousins and 2nd cousins updates! Sunday we drove up to Virginia, Idaho to go to my grandma's ward growing up. One of her friends growing up still lives there and said a lot of great things about the Juchau family! I got teary eyed on countless times as I witnessed the emotion on my grandma's face. We went and saw her house that she grew up in, which is now a barn. I can only imagine how hard it would be to see your childhood home so junkie. It still had some of the siding on that my grandma said they were all praying they would have enough money for when the salesman came to their door! We spent a good part of the day around Idaho seeing and hearing the wonderful childhood memories of my grandma!! I got to see my great-grandma's grave for the first time. She died on Koby and I's wedding day, so I missed the funeral because we were on our honeymoon. It was nice to kind of have some closure with her. We have had a fun month full of family times with both sides! We feel so grateful to be part of such wonderful heritage!

Some of the Many Bawden Traditions!

The month of July was basically family reunion month. Almost every weekend we were gone for a family function. The weekend after the 4th we rode up to Lava Hot Springs with Jen and Ruby for the Willard (Koby's Grandma Bawden's side) family reunion. The first night we went to dinner and then to the hot pots. The kids didn't like the hot pots very much, because they are not the fun splash pools, but I thought it was nice and relaxing! The next day we had breakfast with the whole family and then played games. First everyone made a paper airplane and we had a contest in age groups to see whose went the furthest. Rhonda made everyones airplanes because she had watched a show about it with the kids (I want to say it was Care Bears, but I'm not certain). Nate won his age group and was pretty happy about that!! After that they did three legged races. It was pretty entertaining to watch. One little boy was dragging his sister down the field to win, literally! After those races they had age group races just down the field. I just watched, but Koby had to get in on the action so he raced with the under 30 over 18 group. He came in second wearing flip-flops and tripping on his way over the finish line!! I wish I had a video of it, he slide for the longest time after he fell. Unfortunately he cut his arm, knee, and toe. After that we went back to our room to change for the pool! I have only ever been to Lava in the winter time, so it was fun to go to the cool pool.

We also slept out for the 24th of July parade as is tradition for the Bawden's. I stayed up ALL night reading a book. We had a good time as always, but really enjoyed the sleep we were able to catch up on after we got home!! I didn't take a single picture this year, guess it's not that unusual for me not to! It was weird nothing out of the ordinary happened this year, in years past someone walked in their sleep and stole my blanket, a cat fight happened right by me while I was sleeping, and the airbed went flat in the night. This year nothing! It was strange! Anyway in enjoy the pictures of Lava! :)