Hallam Family Reunion 2013

Over Memorial Day weekend we got together in Burley, Idaho for our family reunion.  It was a lot of fun to be together.  Here are some of the highlights:

• The grandkids got to go fishing with grandpa
• Frisbee golf--with only one frisbee to the head...
• Yummy dutch oven cooking
• Cousin sleepover in the tent
• Hot showers while camping :)
• New church clothes made by grandma
• A cousin scavenger hunt
• S'mores by the fire
• Raccoons stealing our marshmellows
• A fun "did you know" game
• Rock climbing in City of Rocks
• Eric falling in a cactus

And here are the pictures.  I was impressed that everybody tried climbing, even grandma and grandpa.  I don't have the pictures of Maria climbing because that is when Eric fell in the cactus and we were trying to pull out all of the needles, but she did it.

The only picture we could get of all of the grandkids in their new grandma clothes...

Frisbee golf 

City of Rocks

Kyler exploring and being brave with grandma's help

Meg being an awesome climber.  She holds the cousin record for going the highest.

Eric post cactus encounter

Everyone's favorite Aunty Nel

Meg the baby whisperer and Addy

Brayden did a great job climbing.

Eric and Kyler racing down the rock "slide" on their butts.

Brinn was the first cousin to climb.  She set a high standard!

Elise's first climbing adventure.

Brandon at the top.

Steven and Nel teaching the kids to climb on every rock.

An Afternoon at the Park

I made some bread the other day that was going to be really good...and then I had to go to cub scouts so I left Dave in charge with directions.  I guess the dough rose faster than I anticipated because the bread was way too crumby. Sad. :(  What to do with bad bread? Feed the ducks! Yesterday the kids and I went to the park and played and fed the ducks.  It was great to be outside in beautiful weather.  We just barely missed the rain, but that wouldn't have really mattered since the kids all played in the pond anyway and got soaking wet.  Hopefully Eric doesn't come down with Ghiardia (sp?) from the pond water that I know ended up in his mouth...

Talk about an ugly duck...I swear it was a cross with a turkey or something.

Goblin Valley

For spring break we decided to take another trip down to Goblin Valley.  It is such a fun place to explore and play around.  To mix things up, we decided to take the long way down and stop and see some new things.  This meant over an hour on a dirt road, and getting lost for another hour, but I think it was worth it.

We saw an actual dinosaur footprint!

And lots of Native American pictographs/petroglyphs.

Eric started climbing this rock all on his own.  He was determined to follow Brinn to the top.

Our detour/getting lost made us get to Goblin Valley after dark.  I hate setting up camp in the dark.  It was a stressful evening trying to find a place, feed the kids, and set up camp in the dark, but we did it and we survived.  The stars were beautiful and everyone slept well the first night.

It make look like he fell, but this is Eric lounging in the hole Brinn dug.

The next day we spent at Goblin Valley.  Eric LOVED being able to just run around and climb on everything.  He loves dirt and rocks and threw many of each.  He even took a nap after lunch in his pack.  We explored a new area of the park and played sardines.  So much fun!

Friday we decided to check out a new slot canyon called Ding and Dang.  The goal is to go up Ding and then down Dang.  We made it part way up Ding and hit some water we didn't feel like swimming through with the youngest kids, but the slot was cool and I would love to explore this more another day.  That afternoon we went up Little Wild Horse Canyon and set up a little rappel. Meg was so brave! and Brinn did it ;)  Dave even tried going commado style.

After another nice evening of star gazing, we headed home Saturday morning.  It was a lovely camping trip and a new record for our family.  This was the longest we have ever camped as a family and we did it and had fun!

Easter 2013

The Rockwoods had a wonderful Easter.  I participated in the Lamb of God musical production again this year, so we got to listen to that great music that tells the story of Jesus Christ's atonement and resurrection.  It was a great way to start the Easter holiday, but remembering what it is really about.

The night before, the girls and I decorate a LOT of sugar cookies.  Brinn and Meg decided that for their service project for Faith in God they wanted to make cookies for the nurseries in our ward.  We have 4.  We had a great time frosting cookies and they had fun dropping the cookies off the next day.

Easter morning, the girls and Eric found their baskets and eggs.  Meg and Brinn were eager to teach Eric what it was all about.  I'm pretty sure they woke him up because he was awfully groggy the first bit.

That afternoon we went up to Dave's folks for Easter dinner and round 2 of eggs and baskets.  By now, Eric knew what he was doing and LOVED finding lots of eggs.  It is so fun to see him get excited about new things.

Egg Bash

Tonight we had our first annual Egg Bash.  This was a wonderful idea brought to us from Steven's mission.  After dying Easter eggs, each person got to pick two to enter into the Egg Bash.  We made a bracket and then one egg went up against another.  You roll the eggs into each other and only one will crack. The uncracked egg gets to move on to the next round.  We had a blast!  I was the first person to lose both eggs...but still thought it was great.  Meg was the overall champion with her egg "Popcorn."  Steven was the runner up with "Pangea".  This will definitely be a new tradition for the Rockwood family.

The Bracket

The Champion with her winning egg, Popcorn.

The winner and losers.