As Good As It Gets!!

Our family LOVES traditions. One of our favorites is our yearly trip to Palisade Park. For me, the main thing that makes this trip so much fun is that my family, most of Wade's family, and a lot of Stef's (my sis-in-law) family comes. Each year it seems there is a few more of us. I love it!! We have an absolute riot. I have come to realize how incredibly blessed and lucky we are to have such great, supportive, fun families. I love being with every single one of them!
I took so many pics, I couldn't decide which ones to post, so Shay came over and showed me how to do collages. I learn slowly but surely.

As soon as we get there the kids are in the water. Moms are running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to get life jackets on everyone. As soon as we do, we are in the water too! Between the canoe, the party barge, and all of our floaties we pretty much own that lake!

Wade got a wind surfer for the trip this year. It was a new challenge and many took it on, even though it only gets windy for about a half hour in the afternoon. Still fun!

Chad & Stef set up a volleyball net in the middle of all the trailers. It was a blast!

The teenagers learned a game called "Ninja Strike" while they were at EFY. They taught everyone how to play. I never did catch on but it was fun to watch.



Oh, how the kids love to catch creatures. Pollywogs, frogs, lizards, and yes Jordan is holding a dead muskrat. He claims it was attacking him in the water so he killed it with some kids oar (the poor kid is probably traumatized for life). Jordan called it his ROUS. And it was hideous!

In between all of the above activities, we spent time eating, digging lazy rivers for all the creatures to play in, napping, and visiting.

One of the nights we are there, we usually go to a pizza place in Ephraim called Roys (aka Fat Jacks). Well this year they were closed for the 24th so we had to find another place. We went to the Pizza Gallery. All 40 of us walk in to find out that there are only 2 teenage girls working and they looked a bit panicked. The guys asked them if they wanted help and surprisingly they said yes. They started out just doing smoothies and pop, but before long they were making pizzas, serving salads, and calling out orders. It was hilarious. I think those poor girls were happy when we finally left.

Poor Sara. She has had quite a challenge with her braces. For some reason, she has some kind of allergic reaction when she goes to the orthodontist. She thought it was fixed after they took the nickel braces off and put on porcelain. But.... she went to the ortho the day before our trip and woke up to a mouth full of canker sores the next day when we left. And when I say a mouthful I am not exaggerating. This picture does not do it justice. She was such a trooper. She hung in there and made sure everyone was having fun. I wish you could see her face in the pic of us playing cards. That was her permanent expression on this trip. And we all have a new vocabulary from Sara not being able to pronounce her words without whincing.


BFF's

I love that all the cousins get along, no matter what the age difference. On this trip Marquie, Shenay, and Livvy were the 3 musketeers and they loved every minute of it!

Chris, Chad, Wade, & Shayne are training for a couple of triathlons coming up. They swam the lake every day in preparation. This picture cracks me up with all their garb on. So goofy!

The only bad thing about this trip is that when it's over I feel the same as I do the day after Christmas. So bummed it's over already. But hey, there's always next year- and I can't wait!!!!