Family Time with the VudhiVadhana's

How lucky are we that not only do we get to visit family for a month but that we actually get to see BOTH sides of the family?  Besides spending time with Dave's family, we also spent a lot of time with my family---the VudhiVadhana's.

Recently, my sister Becky moved from Montana back to Utah.  The last time we saw her family was almost five years ago.  In fact, I met her youngest son, Andrew, who is 2 for the first time during our stay!  Even better, my sister Debby who has now officially moved back to L.A. decided to fly in for a few days so we could have a mini-family reunion of sorts.  We have all seen each frequently, but once we started figuring it out, no one could remember the last time our whole family was together.  It has probably been over 10 years!  Wow!  How does that happen?

Of course, that meant that we had to take some pictures, because who knows when we might get together again, hopefully it won't be ten years from now.  Here are a bunch of unprofessional pictures off my iPhone:

Paige, Andrew, Ashley, Ben, Wyatt



The Grandkids--Jenny's girls and Becky's boys



Grandpa and the grandkids

Grandma and the grandkids



The Vudhivadhana Sisters





The VudhiVadhana Family

We had a bunch of family get-togethers.  Becky hosted a few at her new house in Hooper.  She has a big property with chickens, turkeys, ducks and a goat.  They also have a trampoline in their backyard.  It's pretty much kid heaven for her little boys and my girls liked it a lot too.



 One of my dad's talents is hospitality via food.  Seriously, he is really good, so he sponsored a number of big family dinners.  He found out that steak was one of Ashley's favorites so the next day he had everyone over for t-bone steaks.  Ash loved it.  Between all the good food and great company, it kinda made you wish that we all lived a wee-bit closer to each other.

Besides eating way too much we also did some other fun things, like celebrate Ben's 5th birthday at Chuck E. Cheese, a sure hit with the younger set.



Ben, the Birthday Boy





The best part of having younger cousins...you can pick them up!

 

Paige, Andrew and Ben

 Our family fun didn't stop with Chuck E. Cheese.  We also all went to the Lagoon.  I mean every summer trip to Utah has to include the Lagoon, right?  The girls and I went with Becky and her boys, Katie, Rylee, and my mom for a full day and night at the Lagoon.  I didn't get many pictures because we were pretty busy riding rides.  I do have to say that I was impressed by my sister Becky.  She had her hands full with three little boys, a stroller, bags, snacks, etc., but she managed it all.  I forgot how much stuff you have to carry around with little kids. 

Paige and I were riding partners.  She was very excited this year to be tall enough to ride Wicked.  I love roller coasters, but it's just not quite as fun when you are terrified that your 7 year old daughter sitting next to you is going to go flying out of the car during the loop!  Fortunately, she was safe it's just a mom thing.  Although, I will say that our lap bar on the Puff kiddie roller coaster did pop up during our ride!!!  Hello, ghetto carnival!!

Here are some pics of Wicked

Ashley is a warrior when it comes to thrill rides.  Nothing scares her and she has my drive to go on as many rides as possible so she went off with Katey and Rylee to ride the "big" rides.  We all had a great time.  I can still handle all the rides, but I sure am whipped the next day so I guess I'm starting to show my age.

We obviously were well entertained and had a lot of fun, but the best part was really having the opportunity to laugh, talk and love with family.  We made lots of great memories and because the opportunities to be together are fewer, I will certainly cherish seeing my girls smile and enjoy the company of their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.