Ackerson Family Reunion 2023

 It was finally my turn again! Wow, that 9 years went by fast. The cousins are so much bigger now!  I ended up booking the same campground as before and sticking to the same itinerary. Do what works. Amazingly, we were not the last ones to show up, but we were close!

We had a wonderful “lake day” at Deer Creek on Friday. The water was still high, the cottonwood trees gave us plenty of shade, and the temps were perfect. Our amazing friend, Nate, brought his wake boat and graciously towed teenagers around all morning. He made a lot of wake-surfing dreams come true, that’s for sure! We weren’t able to stay ALL day because we had to get ready for family pictures. Once again, I called in another favor from a local friend to come capture all 57 of us in one shot! Quinn was great. The only hiccup was Dallin getting stung by a bee as we lining up. What are the odds?! He did not manage to smile, but everyone else was. I’m so glad we were able to do this since it will be a very long time before it happens again.

On Saturday, the morning didn’t quite go as planned. Trying to hike the most popular trail in the Wasatch back was not a good idea. We ended up driving all the way to Brighton and hiking around Silver Lake, half of which was closed.  Augh!  Oh well.  It took a while to get back for lunch.  We had to eat fast because we needed to get to our Provo River tubing adventure.  Where else would you spend a hot afternoon?  Paul, Stefanie, Tom and I helped out in the "little kid" raft while everyone else floated with tubes.  Our raft got a late start, but thanks to paddles, caught up to the party pretty quick.  The kids had so much fun!  It seemed to go by faster this year and it was over so quick.  Oh well!  We had to get back for dinner anyway.  Thay night we played family trivia, the teenagers played volleyball, we had a campfire and everyone got to bed super late.

On Sunday, we extended the party a little.  We were all going to break up and go home or go to church, but found out that Bentley and his fiance, Cambree, were speaking in their singles ward in Heber.  Yes!  We all invaded the singles ward and listened to those two giving their final remarks.  It was nice to get to know Cambree a little more... and after a weekend WITH US, I'm sure she knows more than she ever anticipated.  Love family reunions!

Lagoon: 15 kids + 1 adult

We had such a good time!  Extra thanks to Missy and Carson, graciously giving up their family passes for July.  Due to crazy scheduling and nobody wanting to be left out of the fun, it ended up being almost ALL teenagers and little kids.  Monica's family was in town for the reunion so she and Jackson joined us as well!  It really is the funnest place on earth!  Monica and I alternated time in kiddie land while trying to get in as many fun rides as possible, as many as my stomach and head could take.  My tolerance for Lagoon rides has drastically changed in my 40's.  Uhg.  This is the worst park of getting old.

The lines were pretty short for a hot day in July, probably because everybody was at Lagoon-a-Beach.  Even though EVERY teenager had a phone, it was impossible to get them all together to leave!  We finally got back to Nora's  house for dinner and birthday cake for Jackson.  I don't know how I managed to drive home.  My vision was still a little wobbly.  Too many rides on Bambora, I guess!

Mirror Lake

We've had (okay) luck with our camping trips so far this year. Two have been canceled and two had crazy bouts of weather! We were due for a perfect one one of these days. Good thing I booked sites for Mirror Lake back in February! Because of all the snow, they just barely opened the campground the day we got there. Lots of extra water made the mosquitoes extra thick. That was a first! They also had problems with the water pipes, so there wasn't any running water at the campground. Luckily we had family there to back us up when we forget things... like water!

The temperatures were perfect. The nights were cold, and the daytimes never got to 70. We feasted on French toast, hot dogs, and yummy dutch oven. I even attempted to make my first dutch oven cobblers. There was room for improvement ... luckily everything tastes better with whipped cream!

It ended up being a very good trip! We all liked having extra family there, especially the kids. Kayaks were paddled, fish were caught, smores were roasted, and GOOD camping memories were made. Yes!

4th of July LONG Weekend

This year, the 4th of July went on and on and on.  Because it was technically on a Tuesday, everybody took Monday off and used it as an excuse for a 4 day weekend.  Fine with me!  We did a bunch of different stuff.  We dipped in the freezing Provo River, which was still running super high!  We went to the cabin for a night, we did a hike at Deer Valley, ate ice cream, and we finally lit off some fireworks to cap the long weekend.  Next year, the 4th will be on a Thursday.  Bring on another 4-day weekend!