Summer Family Reunion 2012

For our family reunion this year, we headed up to Utah with lots of summer plans and ideas flowing.  We left Sunday, July 1st after church and started our next ten days of family fun!   Each day we had an activity planned so that we would stay busy the whole time - and we sure stayed busy!   Our kids LOVED playing with cousins, staying up late every night, and having the freedom to run.  We had a great time visiting, making memories, having adventures, getting the giggles, taking pictures, and just being together since that's what family reunions are all about!

Monday, July 2
My girls and I did some shopping and ran some errands while Grandma worked and Joe and Grandpa took the boys fishing at Starvation Reservoir.  They caught their maximum number of fish but lost Joe's cell phone in the lake when he jumped in after Jake's fishing pole.  A fish was taking it for a ride and Joe tried to save it without thinking about what was in his pocket.  The wallet was wet but salvageable but Joe's phone was dead.  Since the fish were too, the boys were excited to grill them up!

 That evening we had an early dinner and the entire family got together for pictures afterwards.

 The whole crew

 The original Holt family, but all grown up!

  Then we added some more . . .

And then even more!  

All 25 of us!

My parents and the grandparents

Paul and LeAnn Holt

The Stuart Family

Joseph, Kristen, Clark, Katelyn, Jacob, and Carlee

The Willes Family

Jay, Catherine, Sierra, Jaxson, and Brooklyn

The Quarnberg Family

JimBob, Stephanie, Tyler, and Madisyn (and one on the way to arrive in March!  Woohoo!)

The McKnight Family

Kyle, Jennette, Braden, and Hailee

The Holt Family

Geoffrey, Alanna, Alexander, and Brody

After pictures we hit Arctic Circle for shakes and then headed to Jay and Cath's house to play outside and relax on her front porch.

Tuesday, July 3
We headed up to Brigham City to hang out with Stuart cousins for the next couple of days.  We stopped at Matt and Carrie's new house to see it all put together, eat lunch, and get ready for the afternoon.  Carrie, the girls, and I took off for Classic Waterslides in Ogden to meet up with Shelly and her girls.  Matt and Joe took the boys golfing, which they absolutely love to do together every time we visit.

Carlee and Megan

 McKell and Katelyn followed by Alyssa and Jayne

 

 After some wet rides in the hot sun, we took a break for pretzels and shaved ice.  

A great way to cool off in the afternoon with your cousins!

That evening, the rest of the family met up and got together for dinner at Maddox, except for Jason and Val who couldn't make it and Justin and Marci's three little munchkins.  Apparently they wanted a nice peaceful dinner without their rowdy boys.   We then headed back to Carrie and Matt's to watch a movie in their theater room and then left the boys there to sleep but took the girls back to Grandma and Grandpa Stuart's for the night.

Wednesday, July 4
This morning we woke up and headed down to Kaysville for the 4th of July parade.  We unloaded at Shelly's and walked to our "reserved spot" for the parade.  It was a really hot day but the kids were looking forward to catching the candy thrown by the people in the parade.

 Cute girls--Megan, Carlee, Alyssa, Jayne, Katelyn, McKell

 Handsome Boys--Jacob, Zach, Clark, John, Nathan

 And some more cuties--Isaac, Eli, Owen, Megan, and Carlee

 Justin and Marci

 Matt and Carrie

 

John and Tara

Watching the parade with my guy

(I missed the picture of Steve and Shelly)

When the parade was over we went to lunch at Panda Express and then saw Disney's new movie, Brave.  Then we ziplined and played at John and Tara's house for a while before going back to Shelly and Steve's for a BBQ and snowcones.

 

Joe took the boys to pick up some fireworks while Carrie, Shelly, Tara, and I took the girls to the park to play on the bounce houses and blow-up slides.

 

When it started getting dark, we lit off fireworks in the street and after the city's show, we had delicious homemade ice cream and cookies.  We had a great time celebrating Independence Day and this wonderful country.   God Bless America!!

 

 This girl sure loves her Aunt Shelly.

Steve and Shelly scooped up the best homemade ice cream ever--Strawberry and Cookies n Cream! 

Thursday, July 5
We left Kaysville late morning and met up with my family again at Bingham Copper Mine.  It was a bit chilly and rainy but that didn't stop us from roaming through the Visitor's Center and museum, looking down into that incredible mine, and picking out souvenirs.   Katelyn started feeling sick on the drive there so she slept in the car while Joe dictated charts and the rest of us learned about Kennecott's history. 

Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation is a mining, smelting, and refining company.   Kennecott operates the Bingham Canyon Mine, one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the world.  This amazing mine can be seen by astronauts in space.  The company was first formed in 1898 as the Boston Consolidated Mining Company, then began operating in 1903.  The current corporation was formed in 1989.

The Kennecott Utah Copper Company had its start when Enos A. Wall realized the potential of copper deposits in Bingham Canyon in 1887 and acquired claims to the land.  Underground mining in the area was begun in 1890, but two engineers examined Wall's properties and recommended open-pit mining.

In 1898, the Boston Consolidated Mining Company was formed but Daniel C. Jackling, one of the engineers, and Enos A. Wall formed the Utah Copper Company in 1903, and the company immediately started a pilot mill at Copperton.  The same year, the Kennecott Mines Company was formed in Alaska.  A smelter was also started at Garfield to refine the Bingham ore.  In 1907, the Utah Copper mill in Magna started operation.  Utah Copper and Boston Consolidated merged in 1910, and in 1915, Kennecott acquired 25% interest in the company.  In 1936, Kennecott acquired all the assets of the Utah Copper Company.

During World War II, Bingham set new world records for copper mining and produced about 30% of the copper used by the Allies.  Many women worked in the mines, mills, and smelters.  By 1961, Kennecott's copper mines included four large open pits in Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada, and one underground mine in Chile.  As the mine in Utah expanded, it subsumed the land on which the town of Bingham was built, and the city ceased to exist in 1971.

 Aunt Cathie and the kids watching a movie about how they make the copper. 

In 1981, a world-wide fall in copper prices brought about the acquisition of Kennecott by Standard Oil of Ohio.  Production was interrupted from 1985 to 1987.  In the latter year, British Petroleum acquired SOHIO, and Kennecott became part of BP Minerals America.  In 1989 Rio Tinto Zinc purchased mining assets from BP.  Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation was formed by Rio Tinto in 1989 as a new mining company under the laws of the State of Utah.

The following pictures are of the copper mining growth over the last hundred years . . .

Today, as the second largest copper producer in the United States, Kennecott Utah Copper provides about 18-25% percent of the U.S.'s copper needs and is one of the largest man-made excavations in the world.  It is one of the top producing copper mines in the world with cumulative production at more than 18.7 million tons of copper.  Every year, Kennecott produces approximately 300,000 tons of copper, along with 500,000 ounces of gold, 4 million ounces of silver, about 30 million pounds of molybdenum, and about 1 million tons of sulfuric acid, a by-product of the smelting process.

 I wanted a family picture with this tire and this is what I got . . .

Madi stood in for Katelyn and I guess Jim stood in for me???

Friday, July 6
Our plan was to head up to Silver Lake Flat in American Fork Canyon to stay in a cabin until Sunday morning.  Our family friends own the cabin and we had the opportunity to stay in the cabin several times while growing up.  Being here again brought back all the fun memories that we had with our friends, the Linds.  The original cabin had accidentally burned down and was replaced by a new one with an extended porch, a larger upper loft area, and a bathroom with running water and electricity from power lines instead of by a loud generator.   As children we enjoyed many adventurous hikes and played fun games including Kick the Can, Hide N Seek, Murder in the Dark, and No Bears are Out Tonight.   It was so fun to be there again and share those memories with our kids.  All of the siblings and our kids slept in the 4 queen beds, set of bunkbeds, and 2 pull-out beds in the loft.

While watching the news on Thursday night, we were disappointed to learn that they had closed American Fork canyon due to the fires that had started throughout the prior weeks.   However, we found out that the canyon had re-opened at 6:00 a.m. on Friday morning so we were pretty excited to follow through with our plan.  The problem would actually be getting to the cabin . . .

We finished up the packing and loaded up to drive to the canyon.  We made a quick stop at Timpanogas Cave for a delicious burger for lunch and continued on our way.  When we arrived at the gate to Silver Lake Flat we saw that it was closed.   We drove up to a campground a little further up to ask a park ranger if it was going to open at all.  He didn't know anything about it so we headed back to the cave to talk to the rangers there.  As we stopped there, we met up with some firefighters and asked them.  They said to talk to the rangers.  The rangers told us to call the National Park Service so we headed to the mouth of the canyon to receive cell phone service to make the call.  They explained that it would probably be closed for the weekend but there was no way to know for sure since nobody would be in the office.  As we were sitting there by Timpanogas Cave, Mom thought she saw Geoff and Alanna drive past us.  I headed back to Mom and Dad's to spread the word to Cath's and Jenn's families to hang tight while they drove back up the canyon to catch Geoff.  About 5 minutes after we arrived at their house, Mom and Dad called and said to come back up because someone had opened the gate just as Geoff and Alanna were driving up.  Crazy timing!

We unloaded all of our gear and waited for Kyle and Jenn to come since they were in charge of dinner that night.  They took FOREVER to get there but luckily dinner was worth the wait.  It was delicious!  Later that evening, we painted marshmallow roasting sticks and made s'mores and played games. 

That night we all piled upstairs to bed except for Geoff and Alanna, who opted to sleep outside in a tent.   We finally got everyone settled down and quiet with the kids fast asleep but I got the giggles really badly when I started being silly.  I had the flashlight under my chin to be ghostly and I was dancing and creeping up to scare everyone.  Steph was pretending to sleep with her kids, Jay and Cath were playing games on their iPhones, Kyle and Jenn were laying there quietly trying to ignore me, and Joe was tuning everybody out by listening to an audio book.  After my ghostly giggly fit, I finally climbed  into bed but then Steph crawled across the floor and pretended to be a spider crawling up my leg.  That started another round of giggles.  Then, we all piled into Cath and Jay's bed and watched Carlee's iPhone videos of herself and couldn't stop laughing.  Geoff and Alanna missed all the fun since they were outside but we did learn the next morning that they had their own kind of fun with a moose walking around in the middle of the night.  We finally fell asleep around 2:00 a.m. and then Hailee woke up and started to cry.  She cried and cried for about an hour so I got up to give Kyle and Jenn a break.  I stood and rocked her for a while until she fell asleep and then all was well for another couple of hours until the sun woke us up.  It was a fun but long and sleepless night.

 I love taking pictures of people in the dark!!

Saturday, July 7
Early that morning, the boys headed up to the lake to go fishing and Clark got lucky again by catching some more fish.  After breakfast, we all went on a Nature Scavenger Hunt Hike.  Steph put together these cute bags and we paired up in teams to find the items.  The kids loved it and were so funny because they thought that Steph had bought all the scavenger items for them to find and had hidden them throughout the trail earlier that morning.  It was so much fun.  Between all of us we found everything but an acorn.

 Grandpa with Braden.  Brooklyn with me.  

I had to document this because Brooklyn usually never gives me the time of day.  

With our last couple of trips to Utah, she is finally talking to me readily ;)

 

 Sierra found a leaf that had been eaten by a bug

 Silver Lake

 

We played in a stream near Silver Lake for a while.  All the kids took off their shoes and socks to play in the water.  Joe was trying to show off by running on the rocks in the stream when he slipped and fell into the water.  My camera bag got soaking wet and so did his shorts, socks, and shoes.  Luckily my camera was around my neck!  Everyone was giggling and while toes were drying off,  most of the group decided to continue on the hike all the way up to Silver Lake Flat.  Jenn, Cath, and Grandpa took Braden, Jaxson, and Brooklyn back to the cabin while Joe, Jay, Steph, and I took the rest of the kids on the hike up to the Flat.  It was a really pretty hike. 

 Madi, Kate, and Braden

Here is Joe taking his humble pie in front of my dad.  That always makes me smile. 

When we got to Granite Rock, about halfway to the top, Tyler, Madi, and Carlee started complaining about being hungry and tired of hiking so Steph and I turned around to head back to the cabin with them while Joe and Jay took the older kids the rest of the way to Silver Lake Flat.  The clouds were rolling in and it was about to storm.  When we got back to the lake, it was just starting to drizzle.  We made it back to the cabin and as we had just finished lunch and the downpour began, the rest of the hiking crew walked in the front door.  We all made it back safely and dry! 

Madi was crying about going home and all the "miles she had walked" so Carlee took her by the hand to reassure her that they would be home soon.  She also didn't appreciate the pioneer stories that Steph and I were telling but she loved holding Carlee's hand.  Love these two peas in a pod!

While it was raining, we played games, read books, colored, and played around with the player piano.  Mom, Dad, Jenn, and I took turns "playing" the piano and singing "Grease" and "Music Man" at the top of our lungs.  When it stopped raining, we had another delicious dinner, played outside some more, and the kids decorated t-shirts. 

 These two are little mothers and completely obsessed with Hailee

 Cute little Brody

Grandpa taking his turn at the player piano

 Geoff and Lady

 Stop taking pictures, Kris!!

After dinner we had yummy peach cobbler and root beer floats and then got the kids settled down for bed.  This time they all wanted to sleep upstairs so we put on a movie and laid sleeping bags all over the floor in the loft.  Alex decided to stay inside with us instead of in the tent with his parents but he had a restless night crying out in his sleep, and wanting to sleep in different places.  Finally after waking up 4 different times with him, I took him on the hide-a-bed couch downstairs and he slept the rest of the night.  I don't know about this sleeping all together bit.  It's fun but tiring!

Sunday, July 8
Sunday morning we packed up our stuff, loaded the cars, cleaned the cabin, and settled by the fireplace for a devotional from Grandpa before heading down the canyon.  We sang songs, discussed the scriptures and he gave an analogy using an orange while explaining that you can't squeeze grape juice out of an orange.  You can only get 100% pure orange juice.  He related it to being pure and having the love and light of Christ in our lives and obeying His word.  The kids listened really well and their questions and answers were right on target.  I love to hear my dad teach.   I am a visual learner and his lessons are always interesting, descriptive and full of gospel truths.  He is an amazing example as the head of our family and we learn so much from his knowledge and testimony. 

 Brody and Alex

 Kyle with Hailee and Braden (Jenn was hiding from the camera)

 Stephanie with Madisyn and Tyler (Jim had left for training)

When we arrived back to my mom and dad's, we unpacked quickly and everybody laid down for naps.  It was a relaxing afternoon and after an early dinner, I took Joe up to the airport for him to fly home for work the next day.

Monday, July 9

It's my dad's birthday!  That morning, he put my boys to work out in the yard.  Dad taught Clark a lesson that he learned as a young boy from a widow that lived near his house--the difference between a $5 grass mowing job and a $2 mowing job.  This has also been an awesome lesson for Clark because he now does that $5 job at home.  The girls and I went with Steph, Jenn, and Kyle to IKEA and started preparing the food for the evening's Birthday BBQ Bash.

Everyone arrived late afternoon and we headed to the park to play on the splash pad and playground.  It was a gorgeous day and the weather was perfect.  The kids have so much fun at the park and it is a convenient walk from my parents' house.

 

We went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a delicious bbq, banana splits and an outdoor movie, Mirror Mirror.  It was going to be a great night celebrating a great man!  Happy birthday, Dad!

 Oh how this girl loves babies.  She has given me the ultimatum . . . 

"Here's the deal, Mom.  You can either have another baby or we are getting a dog!"  

Sorry, honey.  Neither is going to happen.  Luckily you have some baby cousins for now.

 And this is what you get when the boys start wrestling on the hammock . . .

 Ready for the movie to start.

 Sorry, Jim.  Bright flash!

"Who is the birthday boy today?  Who is the birthday boy today?  Who is the birthday boy today?

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!"

Tuesday, July 10

We held a cousin carnival for Brooklyn's 5th birthday before heading back to Vegas.  It was so much fun and we all pitched in for the food, decor, and games. Poor Brooke still wasn't feeling too well but she was a good sport and tried to have as much fun as she could.

 There were sack races

 A ring toss to win soda pop

 Tic-Tac-Toe Frisbee

 Ladder Ball

 Face-Painting

Drip, Drip, Splash!

 Lots of delicious food-nachos, hot dogs, chili, popcorn, snow-cones, chips, and fruit

 And a huge water fight to finish it all!

   ADULTS vs. KIDS

We aren't sure who won but the adults were definitely outnumbered.  I had so much water and hair in my eyes, I couldn't see a thing.  Cath ended up falling into the inflatable pool, thanks to Clark, and the fight ended when Kyle lifted up the totes full of water and threw it all over the kids.  It was great fun and we were all soaked to the skin!  Thanks for a great birthday party, Brooke!

When all the fun was cleared away and packed into the cars, Steph and I loaded up and caravaned home. We had a great summer vacation with our families and I love how much fun we have together.  Can't wait for the next one!