Family Reunions

We got back yesterday from a family reunion swing. First, we drove to Bear Lake in Utah for Joe's extended family reunion and then to the Lake Tahoe area for my parents' reunion. We had a great time although we were very happy to be home after 10 days away. We all got lots of sun and swimming time and of course the best part was to be with family. It was fun to be back with Joe's family again after moving away from Utah and all of my siblings and their families made it to our reunion so that was really nice, too. I didn't get too many pictures but here are some:

Bear Lake

Three beach bums (Natalie is saying "hi" to Joelle)

I like these pictures

We had a sand castle contest with some pretty impressive results

Unfortunately, Joe's castle wasn't working out so they decided to bury him instead. Here he is as a muscular merman with our friend Simon from Tanzania who came with us to the reunion.
Covered in sand
Tahoe

Posing by the pool

Brave enough to go down the little waterslide by herself. She had a blast and it kept her busy for quite awhile.

Cute girl

Natalie enjoyed running around with a ball she found.

Me water-skiing! Don't be too impressed...it took me about 7 seven tries to finally get up. :)

Sadly, our camera ran out of battery right after I skied so we didn't get any shots of the girls and Joe. After I came in from skiing, Natalie said she wanted to get in the water. She was only wearing a swim diaper and a life vest since she had pooped on her swimsuit but she still loved the freezing cold Lake Tahoe water! She sat on a big yellow board the boat pulled while I held on behind her. She was so cute and kept clapping for herself. Afterwards, she kept saying "had fun, boat!" Of course this convinced Elizabeth that she wanted to go, too. After an initial bad reaction to the cold water, she had a good time on the board, too, with Daddy behind her and even wanted to go faster. After that Joe water-skied.

Here is Natalie and her cousin Josh waiting to take family pictures. My dad got some of our little family that I can hopefully post soon.

While we were eating dinner and taking family pictures, this was going on right behind the place we stayed in. It's a Kenny Loggins concert on the driving range! Unfortunately, (or fortunately) the refreshment tent was blocking the stage. I've given you a sampling of what we heard that night on my playlist. You're welcome. :)

After the concert, we found out that his entourage was staying in the unit next to us so we peeked over the fence to get a good look at Mr. Danger Zone himself. Here's Joe with Natalie (not looking too impressed) and Kenny Loggins in the black shirt:

We had so much fun spending time with family. We can't wait for our next chance to see you all!