A little more of July

A few more highlights from July were: 

Pony rides at Thanksgiving Point.  Luke was so excited to ride this tiny pony. He made sure to wave hello to it while he was waiting to get on!

Playing at our little local reservoir beach with Amber, Jaxon, and Dylan. The kids loved swimming! 

We love to read! We go to the library at least once a week, so there are always new books to look at. The kids read upstairs, downstairs, even on the stairs!

We also had a fun little street party one evening. It was easy to organize, just a little sidewalk dessert potluck. I've got wonderful neighbors and it was fun to talk and let the kids play!

Three girls snuggling in bed-- how fun!

 Cora's teeth are starting to grow in!

Pioneer Day

Pioneer Day celebrations started Monday night with dinner at the City Creek food court... and of course the dinosaur kids play area. More cousin fun! 

 Here's the whole gang!

Kevin took these 4 cuties to see the fire and fountain show. He said he got some funny stares and then someone asked him if he really had two sets of twins! (Cora, Violet, Wes, Luke)

Kissie got cute matching pajamas for the kids

We played some games, and the it was off to the Plaza Hotel. Kissie and Pata graciously put us up there so it would be easy to see the parade in the morning. 

We got up early to walk around and see all of the floats waiting in line for the parade to start. There were some really cool ones! I especially liked the one our stake was assigned to do. I followed the blog on the float's progress as they made it. Pretty amazing all the time and effort it took! It won an award too.  

Watching the parade

After the parade we had lunch, swimming, bingo, a craft, and a yummy bbq dinner

Reunions!

We look forward to the Ellis Family Reunion every year! It's just so much fun to be with our extended family members to play, visit, eat, and catch up on each other's lives. It's wonderful to see my Grandma and remember my Grandpa. And most of all, I think it's amazing to watch how a wonderful 3 days of fun comes together with everyone pitching in and helping. This year's reunion included some new activities and lots of the old favorites: fireworks, pinata, tug of war, kids and adult run/swim/bike races, duck races, crafts, chicken in the barrel, candy rockets, four wheelers and train, trampoline, and the swingset. So much fun! 

Aunt Sue and Evelyn

 Grandma and Deb

 Cora balancing over the 'pool' (when it was fresh and clean! I got thrown in when it was not this clean!)

 There were several families there who we don't get to see very often.... including Keyton and Liz and family!!! They spent 5 weeks in the States on vacation, and this was the first we saw of them. We were so excited!!

  Luke during his race, he needed a little extra help

The race-watchers

 Cousins are fun! Heston, Luke, and Wes enjoying their race prizes.

 Cousins, cousins, and more cousins! I think there were about 80 people at the reunion!

  More swim time for Luke

 Luckily Evelyn got a few naps in too.

Tug of war!

 

 For the adults too! This was before one began, I missed the action shots.

 The start of the big kids race!

 Cora, Violet, and Jarom going through the pool as part of their race

Cora, Violet, and Emeline

Then the adults's turn! The adult swim/bike/run was to 'swim' down the canal, bike on whatever bike you could grab, and run around the windbreak. Kevin did a great job, even if he did end up with a tiny bike.

  

  

 Duck race time! 

Pinatas!

 Kevin was a great train driver, I bet he drove the "Ellis Express" around for at least an hour!
The kids loved it.

Bailee and Cora on the train

 The swingset is always a big hit. Violet and Luke had lots of people to beg for pushes, and lucky for them, we have a lot of very kind family members. 

Fireworks!

Kevin did a panoramic photo of Grandma's backyard... you can see all the tents and the bounce house. We tried something new this year for sleeping arrangements. I slept in the house with Evelyn, Violet and Luke slept in a tent with Kevin, and Cora and Emeline shared a little tent. It worked out perfectly! Maybe next year we'll try all being outside in a tent! (Sleeping bags and nursing infants aren't a good combination, that's why we avoided it this year). 

 And, last but not least, candy rockets!!  

  

  

To complete the weekend, on Saturday we got to go to a DeGiulio reunion lunch celebrating Grandma and Grandpa's anniversary. Lots of yummy food, games, and visiting. It's so fun to see my family, and I really appreciate the efforts everyone takes to spend time together. Unfortunately, I took very few pictures all weekend long (most of the pictures above are from other people's cameras--thankyou blogs and facebook!), and I didn't end up with any pictures of our DeGiulio get-together. Hopefully next time I'll be better about that. 

What a great weekend!