Walser Family Reunion

(un)Fortunately, this post will be more or less a ginormous photo dump. And by "ginormous", I mean the handful of pictures Jordan remembered to take, in spite of my goal to be proactive about taking pictures.

Mom and Dad Walser came up with Cherish and Laura to Provo on Wednesday night, and the girls stayed over with us for a super awesome sleepover, where I got to see The Court Jester for the first time.

Jordan quotes it an awful lot (and, after watching it, I have a sneaking suspicion that my mom did throughout my growing up years), and now I'm finally in the loop!

The next day we took off after the camp trailer was picked up from the Salt Lake area, and after my second job interview for my later acquired dream job, and started the trek down to Manti. Our first stop (after saying hello to the grandparents) was to visit the Manti Temple and get some names printed off and ready for the planned family trip on Saturday. We then made a quick side trip to Lishey Lou's Restaurant in Mayfield, UT before making our way to the reunion site, Palisades State Park.

 It was a really perfect campground! There was plenty of room for our tent, as well as for the two camp trailers that were brought. And the lake was so pretty, especially at sunset, and with the stormy weather that we had for the majority of the weekend. There was no limit to the amount of snakes, frogs, and bugs to be found by my new little cousins.

There was great food, a fun talent show (my half-remembered Girl Scout camp song made the cut for our contribution), crazy adventures in the woods both with and without 4-wheelers, and some amazing amazing people.

On Saturday, we had the opportunity to go to the temple to go through Aunt Cindy's first temple session, and then to her and Uncle Neal's sealing. I'm a latecomer to the family (I was the newest until baby Khloe was born that weekend), but even still I was overcome with how excited I was to have the two of them experience that together. Hooray for family!

On Sunday we attended Grandma and Grandpa Walser's ward in the historical church building in Manti, then returned to camp for our own Testimony Meeting. It was so good to be together as a family and strengthen each other.

This was a random moment of "Oh crud, the reunions almost over and we haven't taken any pictures yet!"

Myself with Aunt Caty and Laura

The sum of the stuff that Jordan and I brought away from the reunion (there was plenty of food to send home with the poor starving students!)

Another view of the campsite.

The Glidewell's Trailer and the shelter

The David Walser trailer, breaking down camp

 Jordan and I packed a tent, sleeping pads, and sleeping bags (supplemented by the Parents' contributions to our comfort - MUCH appreciated!), but only actually slept in it the first night. After that the weather started in and we retreated back to the trailer.... then we could never seem to abandon its luxuries, for reasons that will be explained below. We missed sleeping out under the stars (which wouldn't have been visible at that point, anyway), but got to spend even more time with the family.

Another view

Mom Walser packing up the long weekend!

Laura, preparing to battle with the door that didn't really shut the whole weekend.

The square left behind after packing up our tent after the rain

Yet another view of the campsite

We meant to take pictures of the awesome trailer before packing time.... oh well! The area Mom is cleaning up became mine and Jordan's bed. The table pulls out to make a nice sitting area, or collapses under and is covered by the cushions to become a bed.

We pretty much had an entire kitchen.

This couch was supposed to become yet another bed, but it seems that the trailer company forgot to pack the cushion. Still worked well for naps! 

The Parents' Bed - and the only picture of Jordan

Bunk Beds - where Cherish and Laura slept

Full-out bathroom. Bath and everything. It even had a skylight. 

Done cleaning!

The Walser Family Reunion was an amazing experience, and I'm so glad it was so easy for us to go, and that it happened this year! The hope is that it will take place again in a couple years, and we can make it a real tradition! I definitely married this guy at the right time to meet all of these fantastic people. I love having more family! And I'm glad that I could get to know so many of them so well (some names better than Jordan! Ha!). We can't wait to see everyone again!