Hey! Hey! The Gang's All Here!

Last week was our family reunion at the lake. For the first time since my mom's wedding (2 years ago) all five of us McClellan kids and our families were together at the same time. We ended up having pretty great weather this year...except for the first day...unlike last year when we had temps in the 50's in August. It was good to see everyone and it was fun to see all the grandkids together. Everyone is growing up so fast. We never could coordinate everyone to get some group family pictures...plus my camera seemed to never be at hand when I wanted it...but I did manage to get some pictures of most of the group I think.

Here are some pictures of what we were up to:

We had a sushi night...this is getting to be a tradition.

Jayme and me making the rolls

Kirk and Tyler making us laugh

Kirk manning the deep fryer

Enjoying the fruits of our labor...it was so good!!

We celebrated Kirk's birthday by eating escargot...his birthday request...along with our sushi. Yum. I swear it is so good. Who couldn't love buttery, garlicky escargot on a french baguette?

We even got Reilly to try some by bribing her with $3 dollars.

It's really good...I promise!!

Chewing it. It wasn't so bad after all.

Kirk raided the dress-up box. What a particularly fetching ensemble. Yes...he took a stroll up the street in it too. I blame this tendency on my Aunt Marji and Uncle Dennis who made "polyester parties" (where adults and children dress up and then stroll the beach/street acting like nerds) a family tradition. Kirk put together 3 different looks on three different days...my personal favorite was the "crazy canoe-er". Kirk in his underwear, too small life jacket, with a trucker hat. How I wish I got a picture of that but I was laughing too hard.

We hit one of our favorite eateries. Oh Osaka bowl how I love you!!

We went for hikes.

On this particular day we made a pilgrimage to Mrs. Beasley's grave.

Paying our respects. Kameron made a nice cross to add to our ribbon that marks the spot.

We ate ice cream at Twin Echo...enormous ice cream cones...Tyler ended up finishing off all of these.

Kameron, Kaiden, Ailey and Bryn

I love the look on Kaiden's face. "Mine's pretty good but yours looks good too Ailey." (Do note that Kaiden and Bryn are in pajamas...I love it!!)

We caught up with each other.

Kelley and Jordin

My Aunt Margaret and Aunt Ade

Granny and Ken

Kirk and Kaiden

Jordi and me

Jordin, Jaylah and Ramon

We played the Wii

We karaoked

We reminisced about the past--

The lake circa 1980-ish:

Cousin Tania, Kristin, Kelley and Stacey

The lake 2010...recreating our original pose:

Tania, Kristin, Kelley and Stacey

We went for walks:

This is a picture of my FAVORITE cabin on the lake. My grandparents almost bought it but didn't...shoot!! We all love it. But...Lilac Lodge is still pretty great too.

We relaxed:

Reilly

Kameron

Ailey

Bryn

We enjoyed one another's company:

Stacey, River, Tania, Mom, Kristin and Kelley

Kelley and Elle

Ken's daughter-in-law Julie and her two daughters

Jordi and Jaylah

We or should I say Ken did a bunch of yard work and increased our beach size by quite a bit. The memorial is now a much nicer area to swim from and Echo Beach is once again a beach. Also, a swim barrier was set up to try to reign in the little kids. It worked pretty well.

Little kids...don't cross that line!!

We had some beautiful bonfire nights!! I love sitting around a bonfire until late. We laid on the dock and watched the meteor shower and made wishes. Tyler, me, my mom and Kirk went night swimming in the rain...double score!!

The haunting of Lilac Lodge continued...via the ghost baby...creepy. (A crying baby was heard over the monitor when no baby was around...and creepiest of all...one night at the bonfire my grandma who is blind and getting senile said to my mom "The girl sitting next to me was rocking her baby and now they are both fast asleep!!" (There was no one sitting next to my grandma.) What would the lake be without a ghosty appearance? :)

We built sand castles and rivers...Ramon was awesome!!

Dane and Kameron getting in on the action

We played badmitton and basketball...we forgot to have our water balloon volleyball game. Shoot.

Cute Jaylah

Fish were caught even a frog was caught as it came swimming by...exciting.

The kids played and played:

We boated and water skiied and wakeboarded for days on end. I was glad to see that my previously broken wrist didn't prevent me from getting my butt hauled out of the water to wake board!!

My grandma went swimming...which she loved. It was fun to see her swimming again. You don't need your sight to swim.

Look at that smile!!

But you might need someone to keep you from going out too deep.

It went by too fast but it was fun while it lasted!! I miss the out-of-towners already. :(

Until next year!! XOXO

New Blog on the Block


There is a great new blog being written by one super cute blogger. It's called Reilly Revels. If you would like to know what Reilly is reveling in email me and she will invite you. Freaks need not apply. :)

A Visit From Grandma and Grandpa


So as per my last post...am I the only one who goes a little insane cleaning or just insane in general when guests are about to arrive? Tell me I'm not the only one who gets a little hopped up on bathroom cleaning supply fumes and has to have her husband pry her fingers off the vaccum she is tightly gripping? C'mon we all do that right? Needless to say I chilled out...a little husband inflicted "mommy time-out" and all was right with the world.

The kids were very excited for the arrival of Grandma Judie (Tyler's mom) and Grandpa Joel (Tyler's step-dad). The weather was horrible most of the time they were here but luckily the first day was pretty nice and we were able to do a little of this:

Grandma and Grandpa had previously sent Kameron a rocket in the mail. He and Tyler had a great time putting it together and launching it. Kameron wanted to launch it while they were here. So off to the elementary school we went. Aahh...it takes me back to 5th Grade at Sage Creek Elementary and Mr. Strong. I loved my Red Devil Rocket!!


Grandma and Grandpa got in on the action. They also happen to be the cub scout leaders in their ward and got Kameron all excited about scouting again...and helped me to get a better attitude. Hmm...coincidence?

Blast Off!! Unfortunately the wind was against us and this rocket ended up on someones roof. Oops.

We had fun playing on the playground.

Tyler and his mom

Grandma Judie and Grandpa Joel and all the kids

Bryn was a crack up with her purse and Winnie the Pooh. She refused to put either down.

Then it was back to our house for a BBQ. Oh yes...the bloody bastard of a deck is finally done!!

Relaxin' in the double rocker

We had a fun night visiting and seeing all of their pictures from their recent trip to Sweden, Ireland and Scotland. They are quite the world travelers.

The next day we were up and at 'em for another day of fun. It was rainy but the kids had fun hanging out and eating pizza in Grandma and Grandpa's deluxe fifth wheel trailer...talk about Swagger Wagon. It is nicer than our house. Trailers have come a long way.

Check out the fireplace!!

Judie and Joel camp in style

Then we were off to Greenbluff for cherries. Wow!! I think we got the best cherries that I have ever had.

Brynnie was a "Grandpa's Girl" the whole time they were here.

We took a drive up to the top of Mt. Spokane. What an amazing view.

From the top you can see seven lakes...our lake included.

Two of the seven lakes...our's is the one on the right. The kids were so excited to see "their" lake!!

On top of the world...or as close as you can get at 5883 feet. You can see Washington, Idaho and Canada.

We came back to our house and had a fun dinner and evening. The highlight of the night was Tyler breaking our dining room chair. One minute he was sitting the next minute CRASH he was on the floor. Tyler was laughing so hard he couldn't get off the floor and I was laughing so hard I neglected to get a picture and boy do I regret it!! :) Tyler also helped his mom figure out Facebook. So all you "friends of Judie"...she will finally have a profile picture and some other pictures posted. Yay.

Judie and Joel were able to attend Sacrament Meeting with us this morning which was a fun and rare phenomena. The kids were very excited to have "visitors". But then they had to take off and hit the road towards Glacier. I told you they were world travelers. We enjoyed the visit and had a lot of fun.

Come back for another visit soon!! We love you.