Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Allen Reunion

We had another really fun Allen reunion at Old Greenwood just after the 4th.  We missed Matt, Melissa, Andrew, Ivy and Emily but we had a good time. Here are some of the highlights. We joined Chris and Lisa and family for a fun hike after church on Sunday.
The kids loved this "warped wall":
The whole group:
And this log:
We had another great morning at the Reno temple with our biggest group yet: 
Joe, Lisa and Kelli stayed out with the younger kids:
Golf!
We had a fun day at Lake Tahoe. Looking for crawdads:
We didn't go on the boat this year because we had to run to make it to our parasailing appointment! It was a lot of fun! Some of us liked it better than others but we all did it. The boys were nervous--Eli, the most--but we were proud of them for doing it anyway. Joe went with the girls and I went with the boys. 
Excited to go up: 
Getting their toes dipped in the lake:
Mom and the boys' turn:
The guy that was helping actually didn't loop one of Eli's legs through the strap the right way. Thankfully I noticed this and pointed it out. The main guy driving the boat noticed, too, and made sure to tell the guys a few times until he got it. He was about to send him up that way! That didn't help Eli's start. But, he calmed down a few minutes into the ride and had fun at the top. Nate was funny--he refused to admit that it was amazing up there and said, "I've been this high up lots of times."
After that, we met cousins for what's becoming our annual Char Pit lunch.
Delicious!
We enjoyed lots of gorgeous walks in the evening. 
Spotting a deer:
Chris took this but I loved it so I'm stealing it:
Of course we had lots of cousin time at the pool. 
I never seem to take any pictures but this year they had a lot of fun playing a fun game with a ball where you have to throw it to each other in a circle and if you drop it or miss, you're out. It was very intense.
Us moms got out one night to get some ice cream and chat. I love these women!
We had another lake day, this time at Donner Lake. We were trying to find a dog-friendly spot for Jack and finally found one. We rented a jetski, kayak and paddle board and had a lot of fun playing there for the day.
Eli could have stayed in the kayak forever and got quite a few turns.
We also floated down the Truckee River one morning:
That was tons of fun and I'm glad we did it. We had fun racing and stopping to play.
Lizzie kind of slipped but she was OK, luckily.
Of course we loved just eating dinner with everyone and hanging out talking. Those are the best times. 
Cousins arm-wrestling:
Family pictures:
Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids:
Until next year, Greenwood!

Friday, September 7, 2018

Another School Year Done

We finished another school year around these parts. Eli had a great year of preschool with his teacher Miss Mariah. He loved it and learned a lot, too. I got to come in and help take school pictures with the portrait mode on Joe's phone. They turned out pretty cute:
Crazy kids.
His teacher did a really cute graduation program.
Natalie had her 6th-grade awards ceremony. We were so proud when she got the citizenship award for her class:
Her and her good friends Izzy & Mulan:
I loved this picture her teacher sent to me of them at Science Camp:
Natalie had a great time there.
I loved these school pictures from this year:
Nate had a great year finishing it out at Parkmont. By the end of the year, he'd come around a little bit and didn't miss Cabrillo quite so much. 
We threw a last-day-of-school potluck at a local park and had a pretty good turnout. Mari took this picture of us and cute Elle:
Yay for Summer!