I don't know if I've mentioned before, there are only three topics of conversation with in Aaron's family: sports, religion and politics. They don't just talk sports, they play sports, lots of them.
They played football, 
baseball,
ultimate frisbee, 
(I didn't know Esteban had even seen the movie The Karate Kid.)
freeze tag,
arm wrestling,
musical chairs, (Since we didn't have any way to play music, we took turns being the designated singer, which made the game even more fun.)
Hours and hours were spent playing croquet, of which I didn't take a single picture.
baseball,ultimate frisbee, (I didn't know Esteban had even seen the movie The Karate Kid.)freeze tag,arm wrestling,musical chairs, (Since we didn't have any way to play music, we took turns being the designated singer, which made the game even more fun.)Hours and hours were spent playing croquet, of which I didn't take a single picture.The kids played duck-duck-goose with Melanie,
Grandpa,
the dog,
and all of Vanessa's imaginary friends.
Grandpa,the dog,and all of Vanessa's imaginary friends.This year they started what most people up here refer to as a Polar Bear club. For those of you who live in areas of the world where you play in warm water, you may not understand this sport (Aaron's family can make a competition out of any activity). I live up here and don't understand it either so don't feel bad. This activity involves dunking your body into the frigid water of the creek for fun. (See, I told you, it just doesn't make sense). Let me just point out that the water in this creek is melted snow. It is barely warm enough to be in liquid form and cold enough to slur speech as we all witnessed when John came up out the water. Not to mention that you can get diseases from swallowing water straight from streams. (I won't go into details.) Anyway, this is another thing they did for fun.
As, you might incur, I was content taking pictures. Mike and AJ tied with 5 dunks each. Esteban and John each did it twice. Savanah stuck her face in six times.We went on a short hike one day. The kids really enjoyed being together with their cousins.
Esteban was a good big brother and helped Vanessa along the trail. 
The girl's were beauty queens as always.
Speaking of beauty, look at this pose Vanessa has goin' on.
The final night consisted of an impromptu talent show. Jared performed his signature dance moves. 
If you spend any amount of time with Jared you will probably see these moves at least once. I also loved his rendition of "Born to be Wild".
Hannah sang a beautiful primary song.
Mike showed us some doggy tricks.
Kayl did a magic trick which I missed getting on film (bummer).AJ told a joke.
Vanessa sang several songs and told several jokes (none of which made any sense). Is is any surprise that she enjoys the spotlight? Grandpa ended the evening with some family history stories.
On the last day, Aaron and I went for an early morning walk. We ended up on top of a ridge just as the sun came up over the mountain. The view was breathtaking needless to say. 
I took the same pictures on our hike that I took last year and every year that I go on this hike. I love nature and the beauty the Lord has created around us. 
It's nice to get away from our busy lives in order to be reminded about what is really important in life and we had so much fun doing just that.
On the last day, Aaron and I went for an early morning walk. We ended up on top of a ridge just as the sun came up over the mountain. The view was breathtaking needless to say. I took the same pictures on our hike that I took last year and every year that I go on this hike. I love nature and the beauty the Lord has created around us. It's nice to get away from our busy lives in order to be reminded about what is really important in life and we had so much fun doing just that.
4 comments:
What pretty pictures and it looks like you were well entertained. I don't get the polar bear thing either!
"sports, religion and politics" stands out to me, because I remember a couple of guys that I approached on the street on my mission. They said that they had gotten old enough that they refuse to talk about "sports, religion or politics." That way they avoid arguments. (Probably they actually said "soccer, religion or politics," but in Brazil sports=soccer. What other sport could there possibly be?) Anyway, I hope that the conversations don't get heated like they did with these guys in their younger days.
With my family nobody is interested in sports at all (we'll play sports but nobody ever watches any sports in my family). I avoid talking politics much with my family (avoiding arguments). Religion; however, we agree on and we talk about.
It sounds like everyone had a great time. Here's something we used to do as teenagers, kind of a reverse polar bear. In the middle of winter we jumped into an outdoor hot tub and after you've gotten nice and warm you hop out and make snow angels in the snow, of course you have to hop back into the hot tub to warm back up. It kept us entertained for hours. Don't know if it's just a Utah thing or not. We didn't ever jump into the cold runoff water for fun, we actually had to work in it to build dams for the farmers to get water and it was extremely cold.
That's my kind of family get-together, looks like SO MUCH fun! Awesome pictures too. I really think being out in nature (especially hiking) can be such a spiritual experience. Every time I go, I am amazed at how much our Heavenly Father must love us for giving us such a gorgeous earth on which to live and how talented He is at creating such beauty.
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