First Day of School

Summer is officially over, and everyone started back to school today.

Lucy is in grade one.

Hanna is in grade 5.

Jill is in grade 7 - that means junior high - that means being at school with her dad as the principal!

I forgot to take a picture of Austin on his first day of school.

Carly and I are ready to party at home while the kids are at school.

Last year on this day, I think I cried (maybe not out loud). It wasn't because I was so sad to see my kids go to school. It was because we all were new, we didn't know very many people and we didn't know the routine. We had to wait for our first paycheck to pay our school fees.

So it is a great feeling to not feel so unknown and new, to have friends, and to have an income and money in the bank.

Have a great school year everyone!

Family Reunion #3

I have to admit that by the time our third family reunion came around, I was getting a bit worn out. We were also the co-chairmans of the Gwilliam Family Reunion which we held at Beaver Mountain Lodge. It is the ski resort up Logan Canyon. We rented the lodge to use for our meals and activities, and families slept in tents, at a cabin at Bear Lake, or at their homes in Logan.
The first 3 hours of the reunion it poured rain, and I was worried. But the sun came out and we camped and played at Bear Lake and the weather was great.

Aunt Carol rented 2 boats and 2 jet skis. Bear Lake is really high this year. We had a really fun day at the lake.









The Gwilliam Talent Show started out with Uncle Don's famous magic act. No one was disappointed. Watching the faces of the little kids on the front row added to the entertainment.


The KidZone Band performed a couple more songs. (I am asking for a new camera for Christmas that takes quality indoor action shots).


Other family reunion highlights:
auction to raise money for the family reunion fund
family home evening on light
enough food for 2 family reunions
slideshow of the weddings, babies and graduations (34 babies in the last 3 years)
Bear Lake raspberry milkshakes Yum!

On our way home, we stayed in Idaho Falls with my Mom (my Dad was out of town driving his tour bus full of Japanese tourists). We got to hang out with Julie's family for a little while and try out these segways they had rented. Pretty daRn fun once you got the hang of it.

Capri and Carly in their sports car:)

Family Reunion #2

Since this entry is about the Nunn Family Reunion, I will add in our visit to the Young Nunns in Wyoming before the reunions. They moved to a new house since we were there last, so we got to see their new place. I loved the huge trees surrounding their whole yard.

We had a really fun visit...
eating steak cooked over applewood in the fire
swimming at the Dayton Pool
Austin left very early every morning to help Les at the Padlock Ranch
watching a movie on the side of the house
roping the dummy in the backyard
watching the dog training expert

Hanna and her buddy, Hattie

Taycee, the cowgirl

Lucy, Hattie, Hanna, Carly at the Dayton Pool


Nunn Family Reunion

Buck's brother and sisters held a family reunion at Beaver Creek Lodge. It was the perfect place. We each had our own hotel-like room, there were 2 kitchens so we could cook our own meals, and a big grassy area for the kids to play in without worrying about them being too loud or getting lost. We had family from Massachusetts, Washington, Montana, Wyoming, California, and Canada. Austin and I were in charge of this reunion, and we were super happy with how it turned out.

We rented canoes and took them to Tony Grove Lake. We were worried about going because they dug snow out the Tony Grove campground the week before with a backhoe. We thought the water might be super cold, but it was really quite pleasant and lots of us actually played in the water. It was so pretty and the wildflowers were all in bloom.


Who else would go canoeing in a long sleeve shirt, Wranglers with a buckle, and cowboy boots? Only Les (I guess Buck would probably do that, too). We say, live a little. Put on some summer clothes:)

Notice Austin is in a short-sleeved shirt with shorts and water shoes. He is a really good canoe driver.

McKensie, Taycee, Carly and Lucy after swimming

The Canoe Watchers (oh, look what Buck is wearing:)

We enjoyed a very entertaining Nunn Variety Show (not talent show).

First, Lynn and Tracey had a funny act.

The KidZone Band performed a couple songs. They rock.

Hanna performed The Deer Hunt by Larry, the Cable Guy. "And just when I thought I'd done the stupidest thing a man could do, I surpassed it. I took my wife deer hunting..." We found this awesome hat at Big R in Great Falls.

Nunn siblings - Lynn, Buck, Suzanne

First cousins

Second Nunn Cousins

We enjoyed Smores on the campfire while hearing stories about Grandpa and Grandma Nunn. I hope John and LaDelphia were watching their posterity!

Family Reunion #1

Jill

Randy & Carol's posterity

Funniest cousin of the reunion - Capri



My Sisters

We had 3 Family Reunions in a row this year. We were in charge of 2 of them so we planned them in the same location during the same week. Then my family planned our family reunion for the same time since we were in the country.

So our first reunion was Waite Family Fun Day (WFF) as it is called in email planning.

We stayed in West Yellowstone at the Brandin' Iron Inn. Then we spent the day with some of my family in Yellowstone. We had a fun day visiting geysers, hot pots, waterfalls, and Old Faithful.












I guess we were worn out by the end of the day waiting for our dinner to come.....
We stayed at a great cabin in Island Park at Mack's Inn (thanks to Matt & Jeanette). We started with Lindsey going to the hospital to get stitches in her ear after jumping off the bunkbed.

On Sunday, we went to church where we had our own private viewing of Sacrament Meeting in a side room. They had tvs in every room plus the chapel, gym and old chapel were all full. They had 3 Sacrament meetings that day and had a total 4,200 people attend that day. That's a lot of righteous tourists:)

Later that day, we went on a tour of Johnny Sack's cabin and walked around at Big Springs. We also took a family picture in our awesome matching t-shirts (another thanks to Matt and Jeanette and Diana). We shot off a candy cannon and shot paintball guns (thanks to Tristan). Then we had a family home evening of remembering the hand of the Lord in our lives. Families rock.







The next day we went on a super fun canoe ride from Big Springs down Henry Fork's River to Mack's Inn. We enjoyed a grand water fight in the middle of our journey.






For the night's entertainment, we went across the road from our cabin to Mack's Inn Playhouse to see the Phantom of the Grand Ole' Opry along with a dinner. We laughed and laughed.