July in Arizona…

July is such a hot month, we try to travel elsewhere! Usually we travel up to Utah to visit my mom for the 4th of July, but this year, since we were planning a family reunion and I wanted to be here to help Kimber out with her new baby, we didn't go :(

Instead we planned for my mom to come to our family reunion with us in Sedona, Arizona. So, a few days before we left for Sedona, Mom flew to our house and spent a few days with us in sunny and hot Arizona. Those of you who know my mom know that she doesn't like the heat. We spent most of the time in the house or in the pool.
On the 14th we left for Sedona and along the way we stopped at a place called Montezuma's Castle where there are Indian Ruins. It was very interesting to see the places where these people lived many years ago.

We stopped for lunch along the way at a great sandwich place that Robert & I discovered when we came up here in March. The outside patio in back was adorable and was such a nice break from being in the car for 2 and a half hours!

We traveled up the road just a couple of miles to Junipine Resort where we stayed for 4 days. We had 3 condos for the entire group and we fit pretty nicely! The condos were very close together so it made it easy for all the grandkids to find their way to Grandma & Grandpas for dinner or early breakfast or licorice… We know what our role is!

The first item of business was to have a family meeting and hand out the family reunion t-shirts that Richard and Mom made for everybody. We wore them when we did activities or went hiking and I think the kids liked them. This will probably become a tradition each time we have a reunion.

Of course, Larry had to have his own special shirt for the occasion… ask him about it sometime and I’m sure he would be glad to tell you all about it.

I asked Nickie if she would plan some activities for the kids because she’s so creative and I’m not… She really went all out and planned some great stuff! One of the activities we did with the kids was to make tie dye shirts and they all did a great job. They had such a fun time dying their shirts. The adults helped to twist and tie the shirts, then the kids got to pour their own colors on.

After the shirts were done, the kids invented their own game called “chase each other with glove balloons” it was quite entertaining…

We went on hikes to see more Indian Ruins, played in the river, went to Slide Rock State Park, ate dinner together and had a day of games and races, which is tradition in our family for the 4th of July… we just did it a little later in the month this year. The beauty of Junipine was amazing and it was more enjoyable because we were there with our family. We had a great time and we look forward to another reunion in two years!

Larry, Ethan, Mason, Catherine

Larry, Melanie, Noah and Ethan

Richard, Sadie, Mason

Grandma and Noah.................. Mason

Great Grandma and baby Van

Great Grandma and all the grandkids