Rogers Family Reunion

July 1st - 4th

The very next day after we went to Lagoon, Spencer and I cleaned up my parents house (they were coming home that night), packed up our stuff and headed for Pocatello, Idaho for the Rogers Family Reunion.  

The Rogers family consists of Spencer's mom's siblings - Aunt Pam, her husband, Uncle Kim and Uncle Ken and his wife, Aunt Delmi - and their kids and grandkids.

I feel like we had 500 family reunions this summer, but we didn't waste a single second at any of them!  And what's a family reunion without a family dance?

The Boot-Scootin' Boogy

Grandpa dancing with his girls - Brianna and Jayden

After the dance on Friday night, everyone combined their fireworks and we had a great show!  I was a little worried about how Maggie would deal with the pops and crackles of it all, but she actually seemed to really enjoy it.

Betsy and Brielle

Maggie enjoying the show.

Cute Jordan was cheering and jumping up and down with excitement with all the fireworks going off.  It was really cute.

The show ended with everyone getting their chance to wave around some sparklers.  

Saturday was full of games fun for everyone.  This slide kept the kids busy for hours!

While Brianna didn't do any sliding down the slide, she cheered happily for each person as they came zooming down.  We got a kick out of it!

As usual, Maggie was a perfect little angel.  

When the weather got a little warmer that day, everyone headed to the university, where Betsy (and helpers) had set up this gigantic water slide.

Measuring over 100 feet long, there was quite the line of family wanting to take their turn racing down the hill.

As the day went on, everyone got more and more creative in getting down the hill.

Spencer even helped Addison get down on while standing on her feet.

This was really cute to see all three of the VanRoosendaal kids gathered around Maggie.  She loves all the attention.

That night we went up the mountain to look at some property owned by the Johnson brothers.  This was the sunset that greeted us.  It was absolutely gorgeous!

On Sunday morning church was at 8:30 in the morning.  I didn't think we'd made it that early... but we even got there on time!  I was so proud!  Poor Maggie didn't get to eat before we left though - so I had to feed her during sacrament meeting.  We hadn't been there long before Jessica (Spencer's cousin) and her daughter, Clair, joined us.  Clair is only a couple weeks older than Maggie and the two of the are adorable together.  So we just had to have a little photo shoot with the two of them.

It was so easy to get Clair to smile, but Maggie was being a bit stingy with her smiles because she was a little too distracted with Clair sitting the same chair.

That afternoon was spent playing games and talking with everyone.  This was my favorite game that happened.  These boys were adorable and I loved the idea of them playing chess at such a young age.  I'm not sure that they REALLY knew what was going on, but they thought their moves out and made it look like they were pretty smart.

Later that night, we had a talent show.  Maggie's talent with Daddy was one of the favorites :)

Tatianna playing the flute with her grandpa, Uncle Ken, accompanying

Jamie playing for her girls, Corinne and Paige, on the violins.  They did so well!  I love little girls on the violin!

Spencer serenading the crowd

Probably the favorite of the night was Vivian teaching everyone a dance that she taught to her 2 year old dance class.  I loved it!

Uncle Kim, Aunt Delmi and Uncle Ken doing Vivian's dance.  It was perfect!

One night here as I was getting ready for bed, Maggie got a crazy burst of excitement.  So I took a couple videos of her.  

This was one of the most fun weekends we've had all summer.  We love our Roger's cousins and loved the chance we had to see all those that came.  It's just so great to be surrounded by family and by people who will always love you no matter what.  We are so blessed to have such large families because the love that comes with them exceeds their size ten fold, and we are so grateful for that.  I know reunions are hard to put together, but I'm grateful that there are people willing to put the work into them because it is so worth it.  Thank you to everyone who helped out with this reunion and every reunion we've been to this summer.  We love you all and have loved the time we've been able to spend with you!

Strickland Family Fun

During the week that I watched my siblings it just so happened that all of the Strickland siblings were in town for a fun family reunion.  It was so much fun to get to be a part of it and join them in some of their activities.  

June 27, 2011

The first activity of the reunion was roller hockey at Classic Skating in Orem.  This is by far, one of Spencer's most favorite things in the world.  It would be a rare occasion indeed for Spencer to miss an opportunity to play roller hockey with his family.  He just couldn't handle missing all that fun!

Sadie even gave it a try.  She didn't last long while hockey was actually going, but she enjoyed a little time on the floor when the game was over.

Maggie even got a ride.  We had a lot of fun!

Unfortunately, Spencer had to work a couple days during the week, so we didn't get to be there for every day of the reunion, but on Wednesday, June 29th we had the opportunity to join back up with the fam for dinner and the family dance!

Cute Madi giving little Clayton a ride on her chair

How low can ya go?

Natalie was definitely the winner here.  She can go LOW!

I love my cute baby - even when she's covered in slobber   :)

Jerry and Marilyn dancing

Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy.  The Strickland Family Dance 

Maggie taking a break from the sweat with Grandpa

Boy vs. Girls Dance

The girls won - considering they actually had choreography

I love this picture of Landon!  He looked so tired.

About halfway through the dance we lost most of the guys to this.  They just couldn't stay away.

Samantha, Rachel and Will joined me in cheering on the volleyball players.

These girls were SO cute with Maggie!  I just love them!

Aunt Bridgette is making sure that she stays the favorite aunt around these parts.  It was so fun to see all the kids following her up and down the driveway so that they could get a ride down the hill on the wagon with her.  I loved it!

The next day, June 30, the entire family went to Lagoon.  Sadie, Sydnee and Korbin joined us too.  It was so much fun!  I hadn't been to Lagoon for 7 or 8 years - so it was fun to go back.

Coming off Cliff Hanger.  Sadie promised us that we wouldn't get wet - but we all came off completely soaked.

Spencer sat out with Maggie while we went the first time, and then he jumped on the next one alone.  This was his ride.  I'm not sure how it was we actually believe Sadie when she said we wouldn't get wet.  Look at this water... of course it's gonna get you!

The Sky Scraper.  One of only two rides Maggie was allowed to go on.

Sydnee didn't think she was gonna be in this picture.  Oops :)

Maggie was so much fun at Lagoon.  She was so good too!  She's always been a good baby, but she continues to surprise me.

What a cute baby!  

This was the second ride that Maggie got to take this day.  The train!  In fact, the whole family, like all 50 people, got on together.  I think we took up the whole train.

Spencer, Maggie and me on the train.

Most of the family didn't leave until Saturday - but Thursday was the last day we got to spend with everyone because next on our schedule... another family reunion!  Surprise!  

I am so glad that we got to be part of at least some of this fun reunion.  It was so fun to see all of Spencer's step-siblings again.  Most of them live outside of Utah, so we don't get to see them all that often, and it's even more rare for all of them to be in the same place at the same time.  So it was pretty special to have everyone there and to get to enjoy our time with them for a few days.  Thanks for letting us be a part of it!!!

Parental Guardianship... For A Week

June 26, 2011

For my dad's birthday, my mom surprised him with a trip to Seattle, Washington to go back and visit the place where he served an LDS mission back when he was 19 years old.  They left June 24th and stayed until July 1st and Spencer and I got to be the lucky couple to watch the 3 teenagers while they were gone.

Spencer still had to work that week, so he was in and out, but we all got to be together for the weekend.  Here are some pictures of our Sunday night stroll with Sadie, Sydnee and Shadow.

Maggie wanted a turn walking Shadow... but Shadow ended up walking her :)

Maggie LOVES being outside.  Walks are her most favorite part of the day.

Sadie was quick to help Maggie play on the playground when we stopped at Smoot Park.

She wasn't quite sure what to think of the slide

But she loved the swing! (Even though her face doesn't show it here)

Maggie played hard and was definitely ready to go home when we left.

Random picture of Maggie sleeping on my parents' very nice and comfy king size bed.  She was in heaven sharing this bed with me when Spencer wasn't with us.

The Pictures Tell the Story

June 19th - aka Father's Day

Since it was Aimee's last weekend in Utah, we went to Centerville to spend a little time with everyone on Father's Day after we left the Dearinger home.  I know this is a little out of order from everything else, but I had to post these pictures.

Smootie was sitting up really well at this time and Maggie was still a little wobbly, but able to hold her own.  So we put the two of the together and let them have a little fun.  These are the pictures we took of their interactions together.  It made us laugh pretty hard.  It was a bit of a tug-of-war - but I'll let everyone think up their own stories of what was going through their heads here.

How I love these two!  We miss you Smootie!  Hopefully this year goes by fast... Maggie needs her cousin back!