Relaxation!

This is where I spent my weekend......and here...... and here.....
and here (are you jealous yet???)......And, there was still even a bit of snow up on Lone Cone Mountain.We had an amazingly wonderfully relaxing weekend in the mountains! It was the annual Hatch Family Reunion at Groundhog Reservoir (about an hour north of Cortez, CO). The Hatch reunion (Jeremy's mom's side of the family) is always over the 4th of July, and lucky for us it's only a 2 hour drive. We had so much fun camping and enjoying a break in the beautiful mountains. And, what better way to celebrate our Independence than with those you love most!

Aren't we just a festive bunch in our flag shirts. Thanks to Walmart for $2.50 matching patriotic shirts. I couldn't find a matching shirt small enough for Drew, but he was still decked out in red, white, and blue!The kids made these cute hats for the parade on the 4th. The girls had so much fun, and doesn't Karley just fit in perfect with my girlies.....she had a matching shirt too, but was too cold to take her jacket off. All weekend long, you could tell where everyone lived by their clothes. Everyone from the Mesa area was in pants and jackets. The rest of us from up north were sportin' our shorts and capris all weekend. The weather really was beautiful!Lexi marching in the parade with some of her favorite cousins. Drew and dad showing off their balancing act.I bombed on the pie eating contest. They were oatmeal pies, and you had to feed them to your partner. Jeremy shoved so much in my mouth I started laughing, and couldn't stop. Needless to say, we didn't win. There was also a watermelon eating contest, in which I did not take part due to my watermelon allergy. (I know, I'm allergic to watermelon......so sad, because it's so yummy too! I didn't want to risk having a reaction an hour away from a hospital, just in case.) Jeremy's brother Chad was the big winner!One afternoon, we left Drew to take a snooze with Aunt Tara and took the girls on a little nature walk/hike. It was so much fun and absolutely beautiful. We saw deer in the woods, but couldn't get the camera out fast enough to snap a shot.

Here's Lexi hitching a ride with dad. And Kourt hitching a ride with me.There was this big rock the girls were dying to take a picture on.We also went 'fishing' at Groundhog Reservoir. I use the word 'fishing' loosely because there wasn't any fish catching involved (you have to use a hook to actually catch something). Neither Jeremy or I like fishing, but the girls love it. So we basically just go and cast the line over and over until they're done. They had a blast though!

Saturday evening before the talent show, this was spotted just outside the cabin feasting in the trash pit. I didn't zoom in at all, so the bear was pretty close. Jeremy's cousin Colette spotted it first, and tried to round everyone up inside the cabin, but everyone ran out to look instead. Later that night during the talent show, another bear was spotted with this one......2 bears, AHHHH! The talent show was great entertainment as well. There was some pretty funny stuff that took place. When they were getting a list of the performances beforehand together, Lexi told Jeremy that she wanted to sing a song. We were both shocked and excited! Our brave little girl got up in front of about 75 people and sang one of her favorite primary songs she learned this year; "Home". It was so sweet and I was so proud of her. I can't get the video to upload, but I'll try later.

Some of the other fun stuff that I didn't get pictures of.......

~Jeremy and his cousin Travis took second place in the horseshoe tournament. (They are in the championship game every year....they make a good team.)
~Lots of fun kids crafts
~The auction/fundraiser (by the way, my blankets and crayon boxes were big sellers.....yeah!)
~Story time for the kiddo's by Mother Moose (aka Grandma Bits)
~Lots of laughs and good times
~Tons of yummy food
~Lots of 4-wheeler riding by the bigger cousins
~A prize filled fish pond for the kiddos
~Paintball playing by the big boys
~Lots of hiking and nature walks by everyone there.

The only thing our holiday weekend was missing was fireworks. Since it's probably not the safest thing to light fireworks in a very wooded area, our family opted not to do them for obvious reasons.

We came home late Saturday night since Jeremy had to be back for church (our Bishop was out of town, so Jeremy had to be back). So we missed out on the big family testimony meeting on Sunday morning, but we got out of all the clean up (that's usually the most work). We got home just before 1:30 am and were exhausted. I think this was the one and only time I was glad for 1:00 church. Unfortunately, Kourtney caught a fever bug of some sorts this weekend and didn't feel well on Saturday or Sunday. So, she and I (and Drew of course) stayed home from church yesterday so she could re-cooperate and sent Lexi with grandma since Jeremy was already at church for meetings. Luckily she's much better today, but on the flip side, Lexi and Drew have the fever bug today.

But, it was such a fun weekend! I hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday weekend!