family time

 

Flagstaff, AZ

I wish we had a picture of Ian setting the camera timer, then sprinting around the pond to take his position.  Over and over and over.  Quite successfully, I might add!

AZ Cousins

  

A recent family vacation in Flagstaff yielded a new cousin picture. 

I'm guessing this is the start of a new tradition.....lining up by height. 

Can you imagine all 10 children in one cabin for 4 days?  The good news is we all survived.

In fact, we do this every year and we actually look forward to it! :)

Vacation in Big Bear

   

After years of hearing about my side of the family's beach and Flagstaff vacations, our CA side of the family decided to follow suit.  In celebration of Mom's 60th birthday, we all headed out to Big Bear over Labor Day weekend.  I can safely say it was as fun and chaotic as the AZ family vacations. :) 

Gabriel and Amy joined us all the way from Valdepenas, Spain. 
Phil, Amy, & Gabriel made their special seafood paella. 
*Delicious!*

Destany celebrated her 6th birthday.

Card games and good drinks filled the evenings after all the kiddos went to bed. 

Oh, and we can't forget the many games of pool in the game room, and a couple rock climbing movies.

Thanks to Aunt Sue, we came prepared to do a really cool

t-shirt tye dye craft.

Gabriel is the tye-dye t-shirt pro.  His was awesome!

(About 10 minutes before we all traveled home, Dad announced that Gabriel had just asked his permission to marry Amy.  Hooray!)

And of course we went to the beach. 

The boys caught little crawdads in the lake.

Andy and Uncle Matt biked out to meet us.  It was a long ride, but they're tough. :)