Gardner Family Reunion

We had another great family reunion this year!  My Grandparents reserved some homes out at the Zion lodge we've been to a few times.  Unfortunately this time the lodge itself was already taken, so we ended up taking up three other smaller lodging facilities.  Still fun nonetheless!  Unfortunately I don't remember all the details, mostly what days everything happen, but I'll write down what my old brain can still remember!

Kylie's favorite was by far the lake!  She loved to be on the water, just not IN the water!  She mostly hung out on the boat with her cousins.  She loves to play with them, but sadly she has the same problem I did growing up.  All her cousins close to her age are boys.  She tried to play with her older female cousins, and they are such sweethearts, being so nice to her, but it's just not the same.  I found her sitting alone a few times, that can break a mothers heart ya know!  But she still enjoyed herself.

Her cousins tried so hard to get her to go down the slide, but she just couldn't muster up the courage to slide down!  She started at the top and slowly slid down, stopping at the bottom and climbing off into the water, but she never fully entered the water.  She ended up climbing back up and her sweet cousins pulled her back to shore in the canoe.  (And I have the whole thing on video!) 

Kayla was a hard one to keep track of, she spent almost all her time following her cousin Maddie around!  They are only a few months apart and get along SO well!  I almost think she drove Maddie crazy with how obsessed she became! 

We spent our days visiting with family, eating yummy food, and checking up on the kids every once in a while.  Unfortunately since we were a little late getting there because we had to stop and pick up some stuff for my mom, we didn't get dibs on any of the good beds.  The lodge we stayed in was actually a barn with horse stalls renovated into several different sleeping quarters.  It was really rather cute.  We ended up sleeping upstairs where there was a hallway with a few room lining one wall and bunk beds lining the other wall.  The first night we took a room that had two separate bunk beds.  I ended up in a top bunk while Mike took the bottom for obvious reasons (if the bed broke, no way was I going to be under it!  Nor were either of my girls!)  Kylie was on top of the other one, and Kayla was on the bottom.  We set up Jayden's pack-n-play in-between the beds.  The first night was a nightmare!  Jayden still was not sleeping through the night and this night was worse then most!  Have you ever tried to get to a crying baby quickly from the top of a bunk bed as to not wake others that are sleeping???  SO not fun, especially when you yourself are groggy!!  The seconded night Mike and I both slept in the hallway right next to the room we were in the night before.  So much smarter!!  Jayden of course still woke up, but it was a little easier to get to him!

My grandma had all kinds of goodies for the kids including pencils, book marks, little toys and a bracelet with the words "Gardner's Return to Zion".  Basically the theme of the reunion.  She really put a lot of work into it and I'm so glad she's willing to do it!  It's nice to get together and see everyone.  However, I believe this might just be the last one!  It didn't quite turn out the way anyone had expected.  Almost NONE of the men were there!  We have a family business drilling water wells and anyone in the family working for the business was off working!!  Apparently there was a well in need of much attention, no one could get a day off until Sunday!!  Not exactly what we had planned.  My grandma had also hired a photographer to come and take some family pictures, but half the family was missing!  Rather sad if you ask me!  I say if someone went to so much work for something, you should make an effort!  Maybe I don't know the whole story, but I was disappointed and a little aggravated the family couldn't take time away from the business.  That is time you will never get back people!!  But it was still fun to get away and spend time with the family that was there.  And to say my kids loved it would be an understatement!  It was so good for them to be with family and get out to enjoy the great outdoors!

Going home was a very sad moment for Kayla.  She was having so much fun with her cousin Maddie and was NOT excited about leaving!  She didn't throw a fit or anything, she's not like that, but her little heart was broken!  Halfway home I looked back to find silent tears running down Kayla's cheeks (as you can see from the pictures below).  When I asked her what was wrong she said she missed Maddie!  Oh what a sweetheart!  She still talks about Maddie and tells us she lives in the mountains (since that is where we had the reunion).  Too cute!  Little does she know how far away Maddie really is!

Thanks Grandma for all the hard work you put into this reunion!