McCain Reunion

The first week of June we traveled to Nashville for the McCain family reunion.  The McCain's are my mother's side of the family.  Her parents had nine children.  And forty-five grandchildren.  I am one of those grandchildren.  We have a reunion every four years.  This year it was at my Uncle Donny's home just outside of Nashville, TN.  

This is the first time we have had family T-shirts.  There were nine colors.  I thought they turned out nice.  This is my dad holding my nephew Brady. 

My Uncle's home has lots of room for kids to run and play and the kids took advantage of it.  The first evening we were there I came upon this cuteness.  That's my brother Reed.  Brady is his baby. 

 Every evening we gathered for dinner and a family meeting.  We took care of "business" and shared stories and talents.

 There was some dancing.
(The tree on the back wall is a family tree.  There is a branch for each of my grandparents children.  Everyone who was there added a leaf to the branch they belong to.)

 The second day a lot of us met back at Don's house.  My brothers brought a giant sheet of plastic and set up a slip and slide.  The kids went back and forth from the slide to the pool all day.

 Aunt Patti planned some games for the kids in the afternoon.  She had all the kids line up around the edges of the pool.  Then she threw coins into the pool and they had to dive for them. 

 Once they found all the money in the pool they were able to spend it at a "store" she set up.  There were bubbles, sidewalk chalk, candy, etc.

 Then there was a water balloon toss.

After dinner that evening my dad took the kids on a hay ride.

I'm pretty sure I have some of the cutest nieces and nephews on the planet.

 This year for your service project we collected shoes for Soles4Souls

 The kids all had a lot fun playing with cousins and getting to know cousins they haven't seen for a while or have never met before.

 At the family meeting the last night, someone told a story of when the cousins were little and would come over to my grandparents house.  My grandpa would stand my cousin Will up on the piano stool and have him sing I Am a Child of God.  Will was only 2 or 3.  So he was asked to sing at our meeting that last night.  He has a beautiful voice and it was very moving.

 There was a pinata that evening.  It was filled with Tootsie Rolls, my grandmothers favorite candy.

 My cousin Jana brought "The Blessing Dress".  My mom gave this dress to her mother for her granddaughters to be blessed in.  At some point the dress was lost.  Jana wanted a picture of everyone that was blessed in it.  I think there are four people missing.

 Aside from the time spent together at my Uncle's home a lot of us stayed in the same hotel and we all got together each night after the kids were sleeping to play cards.  It was so great to catch up with all of these wonderful people.  I am so blessed to have such a great family.  And I know it's so important that I share this with my children.  My grandparents were people of great faith.  Their family and the Gospel were the most important things in their lives.  I am truly grateful that we take the time out of our lives every few years to reconnect with our family. To share our history with our posterity.

My uncle has shared some of my grandfathers history on his blog.  I will link to it here so that I know where it is. 

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That's a lot of candles.

Happy Birthday to Matt!

So Long Sweet Summer

In August we spent as much time at the pool as we could.  We knew our days were numbered. The nights were getting cooler.  The water was getting colder.  But we weren't ready to say good-bye to our long days at the pool.

We got the little boys together one last time before they started pre-k.

And I took these pictures one of the last Saturdays we spent at the pool.  There had been a thunderstorm but we waited it out.  When it cleared up we had the pool to ourselves.  And the light was great for picture taking.

 This one saw the camera and flashed her popsicle grin.  So cute.  

 Muscles!!!

 Dancing!

Sam the Lifeguard.  Sometimes he lets our kids jump off the lifeguard chair.  Shhhh! Don't tell anyone.  

So long sweet summer

I stumbled upon you and gratefully

Basked in your rays

So long sweet summer

I fell into you 

Now you're gracefully falling away

Dashboard Confessional

Buddies

My little man has a lot of buddies.  It just so happens that the year he was born was the year of baby boys in our ward.  Which meant built in buddies for him from the get go.  It's really been fun watching these boys grow up together.  Over the past few years we have had at least one play date a week with all or just some of these boys.  They all have very different personalities, some are more reserved, some loud, some passionate, some reserved.  Sometimes we get little glimpses of who they will grow to be.  Sometimes we wonder if they'll ever grow up.  But one thing is certain.  I am so thankful that my boy has buddies like this to grow up with.

Halloween 2010

Playing the their "nest" at the park.  February 2011

Line Creek Spring 2011.  My son is the only one that's dry.  Totally his choice. 

Hanging out.  Braves game summer 2011

Lots of pool days. Summer 2011

 

Going to see Elmo. Fall 2011

 

 

 

Saving the playground.  Fall 2011.

   

Halloween 2011

Zoo day.  Spring 2012.

It was very important to have a map.

For everyone to have a map.

Zoo Train!

Chiliquiters!!!

Easter Egg Hunt 2012

Fourth of July 2012

Birthday Party. April 2012.

Back to School

The kiddos just finished their first week of school.  I think everyone had a pretty good first week but by the time Friday came they were all pretty exhausted.

Caveman is a Sophomore this year.  He'll be driving in a couple of months.  And dating.  Yikes!  Sassy is in eighth grade.  She was very excited that she has a lot of friends in her classes.  Rockstar is in fifth.  She is so ready to rule the school.  Cowboy is in second grade.  I love that he still loves school.  Baby will go to Pre-K in a couple of weeks.

I can't believe how grown up everyone looks in this picture.  Especially my teenagers.  They have changed so much  in the past couple of years. Here they are last year...

And in 2010..

And 2009...

2008...

2007...

2006...

Am I crazy or are have they grown faster in the past two years than they have in years past?

Party Time

I posted that my baby had a birthday but never posted the party.  And it was a good one!  I was planning to do a robot party but then saw these jetpacks on pinterest.  He was so excited!  My fancy invitation was a facebook message.  A bit over the top, I know. I tried to make up for the lack of invites with cute food and decorations.

The highlight of the party was giving each of the little boys a jet pack.  They were so excited.  They were still for a couple of pictures but couldn't wait to blast off!

I think all those little boys had blast.  I know my birthday boy did.