Family reunion!

We got to Orem and stayed at the Hampton inn with Bart's family. The kids love staying in hotels and being with cousins. I am not sure about the other guests at the hotel as we had kids constantly riding the elevators, screaming and laughing!

I think the day we pulled in we all headed over to eat at Wingers! My mouth waters just thinking about this place!

I loved the signs they had up on the wall!

My sister-in-law and I were able to sneak away a couple of times {with my friend Stacey} and hit the stores! I had to get my Utah fix! 

But... the main event was the family reunion!

I think one of the BEST childhood memories will be this family reunion with 250 plus other family members at Wahlsburg, Utah. We got to enjoy the Ashton families 500 acre property and everything on it. This place is truly magical and my kids had the best time of their little lives.  

 I think the adults had just as much fun!

I laughed as I uploaded more than 800 pictures!

So, we got up there on Monday and almost immediately the kids disappeared with huge groups of cousins - 

some they had never met before.

Parker asked me at one point, 

"Are all these people my cousins?"

 I just love all of these moments - Here are some 

of the highlights:

We had fishing in the big pond

They also had paddle boats! The water was pretty cold, but the kids had no problem "falling" in!

They had tennis courts - the smaller boys tried 

their hand and we laughed

to see them attempt to play an actual game!

They also had so much land for the kids to roam free - there were playgrounds and play house structures. I really had to go look for my children at times because they were running from thing to thing! oh...to be a kid!

They had an amazing zip line that went from one tree to the next. There were a couple of scary moments, but all in all, we were on that thing non-stop! {From the youngest to the oldest!}

Each day, they would pull the kids out on to the lawn after dinner and set off a real Candy Cannon! The kids literally thought they had gone to Willy Wonka's. I loved watching them all get prepared, but plug their ears before the loud explosion.

But... the biggest hit of the entire place had to be hands down the world's largest slip-n-slide!

It was quite the work out just to get to the top of the hill, but the kids and adults went up and down a million times. I loved this thing - but thank goodness 

I have no pictures to show for it! Scary!

Parker and his little cousin Carson cracked us up because anytime there was a pause or 

hesitation by a child that was a little nervous, 

they would cut in line and go flying down the slide.

Good times!

I mean can you believe this place?

Crazy fun was had by everyone!

Once the reunion ended, the party just kept going. 

We went and stayed with our good friends the Moberly's, we even got some shopping in, and visiting with lost old friends from back in the day... and don't forget the food. 

We ate at all the favorites!

Best hot dogs ever - crazy but true - 

it's all about the secret sauce!

We got to play laser tag at our friends bowling alley in Lehi! We love the Wadley's and we really loved spending time with them!

I got to visit with lots of girlfriends that have long left San Diego -those traitors!

That was a highlight for me!

The last day in Utah, my friend Diane and I went up to Logan to pick up Caitlin and Jessie - they had been at a week long Girl's Retreat and they loved it! What a fun experience for these girls!

I can hardly believe that I am in the teenage years! Crazy!

We headed home on Saturday and wished we could have stayed even longer in Utah with all of our friends and family!

But, with only a day to unpack and repack for Girl's camp, it didn't leave much time to get ready!