What a weekend!

I must apologize in advance - this post starts with what we did on Sunday and then back tracks through the rest of the weekend. SOrry about the reverse chronological order, its weird.

Anyway, we had the annual VanDyke family reunion up at the farm on Sunday. Oliver was so excited to go up, and rightly so. There was delicious food, wonderful people (plenty of 4 year olds for Ollie), a pinata stuffed to the gills, and a hayride to boot. The pinata was shaped like a pig, and Oliver said, "that is a perfect pinata for the farm, because animals live on farms, haha!" He was great at giving the other kids encouragement during the pinata activity (hit it as hard as you can, give it all you got, etc.) and everyone got a turn to hit it before all the candy came crashing out. Avery was tired and pretty skiddish around all the new faces, so she spent a lot of time with Mom, but enjoyed the farm tire swing and the lollipop she got from the pinata. Michelle and Eddie (Eddie is Jed's Uncle, Scott's brother) made all different kinds of beef for sandwiches, and it was to die for. We had an array of salads, the sweetest corn I've ever had, and get this...yellow watermelon. Then we finished off with dutch oven desserts and ice cream. It was great to see everyone that made it this year, even Grandpers was in attendance. We did miss everyone who couldn't make it this year, and not having Grammers there with us definitely leaves a void. Something about the farm and the farm house makes you feel nostalgic for earlier times, and although I did not know Grampers and Grammers when they were really young, I like to try and imagine what their lives were like at that farm with all their kids (before their kids had kids who now have kids) - how much harder it was than life is now, but also simpler in a way. As we were driving away at about 9:00 PM we saw Leigh out in the fields moving sprinklers around, and it reminded me how the farm has shaped every one of their kids, become a part of them in some way. I think it is still shaping the rest of us too.

The Cooks were so gracious to take us up boating on Friday at Pineview. We got up early (though not as early as the Cook family) and got on the water with enough time for the guys to wakeboard. Garrison was awesome - he totally looked like a natural. Jed got on the board with ease too, which is amazing as we have not gone boating in something like four years. After all the wakeboarding, we got out the triple tube and Ollie, Jed, and Kade went for a ride. Ollie loved it and did not want to get off. He kept pointing up with his pointer finger to go faster rather than giving a thumbs up (so cute), but got the a-okay hand movement down too. He loved the bumps and waves. We even took Avery out for a slow leisurely ride. She was pretty skiddish on the boat just as she was at the reunion, so again she spent a lot of time on my lap. When we got home from boating everyone was exhausted, except for her, since all she did was sit all day! Garrison also took a turn on the tube by himself, which was wild and wooly to say the least. I made the mistake of hanging out in the cuddy with the kids during that part - I got pretty sick, but recovered in time for some lunch and fishing. We didn't catch anything, but that did not bother Oliver. That night when he was saying a prayer, I prompted him to say, "Thank you for time with family boating today," and he added on his own, "and fishing was fun too." After boating and dinner on Friday we went and got fireworks and lit them at our house with Ryan. A wonderful end to our Pioneer day.

We also sealed up some rice and flour this weekend. The LDS church lends out the coolest machine that seals the big #10 cans, so Wendy and I loaded up on these basic necessities. Jed loved the big contraption and helped me with all of our cans. The best part is the flour should last for 10 years and the rice for 30! I thought this was a pretty appropriate way to observe Pioneer Day.

The rest of the pics in the slideshow above are just random moments from the summer that I think are fun. Enjoy!