Utah Trip 2015

In May our family was able to fly down to Utah for nine days for our first Willardson family reunion.

We have had an amazing spring in Alaska and I told the girls it would be even warmer in Utah.

They were so excited!  We had planned just enough time to be able to see our Christensen family and cousins before the reunion so every day was spoken for (which sadly left us no time to spend with many of my dear friends who are still in Utah.  We honestly would need a whole month down there to be able to see everyone!)

Here is our vacation in a picture overload:

Rock Climbing at the Bountiful Rec. Center.  Quickly became one of Kenadie's favorite activities 

Introduced the kids to In-N-Out

One of the many Soren-Tillie snuggles

Hanna's twins, Darren and Tillie, are the cutest! 

Family afternoon at Boondock's Family Fun Center.  Soren was so enthused! 

Never knew that 2 girly-girls would love laser tag so much?!  They wanted to go play again and again! 

And I never thought we'd get Soren off that carousel! 

We spent a morning driving to Meadow Hot Springs near Fillmore, UT.  They are beautiful hot springs in the middle of a field and require a small walk to reach, but they are calm, serene, not too hot, and don't smell like sulfur!  Garrett and I first went there with a bunch of friends back in the day when we were first dating. 

We followed up the hot springs with a visit to Grandma Great's house (Garrett's Grandma Christensen).  Of course she treated us to homemade canned peaches and pears and her infamous dining table.  We love that woman so much!

We spent a morning at the Payson Temple open house.  What a beautiful house of God!  Though Soren threw some sweet jet-lagged and sleep-deprived fits, during most of the tour, it was neat to show our girls how beautiful and sacred the temple is. 

Love this little family! :) 

We were supposed to spend 3-4 days with the cousins from our Christensen family but they all got horribly sick. :(  At least a few of them recovered well enough to meet us at the temple for a few hours.  Kenadie (and Lila) were SOOO thrilled to be reunited with Kassi! 

Our family reunion hadn't even started 4 days into our trip and the kids are already exhausted! 

Willardson Family Reunion!
This was our first Willardson Reunion.  We rented a huge house in Heber, UT and had an absolute blast with each other despite cold and rainy weather (my girls were so perplexed that it was much warmer in Alaska than Utah!).

Sadie and Annie organized a Willardson Jeopardy game.  It was a hoot!  So much fun, and so many good laughs over family memories throughout the years.

We had awesome reunion jerseys made for every member of the family with their corresponding # of when they were either born or married into the Barry Willardson family.  "Z" was my dad's nickname when he played golf for BYU, so we thought it only appropriate that our team be named for the man who started it all! (Garrett loves that Soren falls 23rd in the family because that was his high school football number)

Family Bowling Day

It was "Wild West Days" in Heber during our reunion, so we spent one afternoon riding the train!

Excited kiddos on the train.  Even a month and a half later, Lila asks me nearly every day if we can ride a train.

The train ride was complete with a staged robbery, which was a blast (except for Kenadie, who thought they were real robberies and began crying hysterically, poor girl).

Uncle Joey photobombing this little cousin photo-op.

All 5 of us Willardson Girls.

Fun on the train.

Back at the house, there was plenty of time for the hot tub,

And plenty of food! 

Weenie-roasting fun. 

Our mighty griller!

These cousins had too much fun!

Lila always had to eat with her BFF cousin, Dallin.

At the family talent show Annie, Kylee, and Brandon performed the "Cup Song" for us. 

The little girls practiced and practiced and practiced to perform their dance routine. 

Grandma and Brandon doing a dance? 

Minute-to-win-it Family Fun day! 

Good ol' Uncle Joey! 

On the last evening, our patriarch (my dad) told us some wonderful stories from our family history and how central the gospel of Jesus Christ is in our family heritage. 

Soren had plenty of loves to give to everyone.

This kid is crazy about his grandma. 

Body sass.

The last "Hurrah" of our reunion, a hike up Ensign Peak in Salt Lake City. 

Up at the top with my love.

 Of course not long enough, we still had a wonderful time in Utah.  We are already looking forward to our next Willardson reunion in  a few years.