Crapo family reunion

We drove from Fort Warden to Westport, leaving one family reunion to go to another. We were camping, but the beach was AWESOME!

Hollis was really excited to get into the ocean.

He is the champion of jumping into waves. The little kids even got to try (with parent's help, of course).

I also enjoyed the waves, once I got over how cold the ocean was. Hollis liked the faces I pulled.

Spending time with family is awesome.

The next week we also spent more time with the Crapos for our sibling family reunion (aka Super FAT).

Merrill Family Reunion

The Merrill family reunion was the first week of August at Fort Warden. We stayed in the officers quarters that were built in the early 1900s. The buildings were really cool!

Our family occupied two of these houses.

We explored some old bunkers. And we had a beach day. We had a lot of fun wading in the water looking for wildlife.  Several people found a crab and were trying to pick it up.  Hollis succeeded, but sacrifed his thumb.

After getting a piece of Hollis, the crab was more willing to pose for pictures - including this gem of Tom teasing his daughter.

Also, my grandma wanted a complete family picture. And so my family also got family pictures.

My favorite picture is one Brian set up and had our cousin Sarah take.

Brian also took a lot of other good pictures, including this amazing display of family coordination:

And of course, there was the big family photo.

Trek

Hollis and I were asked to be Ma and Pa for a youth handcart trek. It was from July 13-16.

On the first day, it was so dusty that I couldn't see. I covered my face with my bandana, and so did Hollis.

The second day we had a small reenactment of the last crossing of the Sweetwater River. Hollis carried me across.

Most of the time, though, Hollis and I just walked hand-in-hand behind the handcart while our children pulled it.

This inspired two of the Pas in the group to write verses to the tune of the Handcart Song.

The Pas are strong, the Mas are too,

We know what you are going through.

Though you may ask with pleading heart

We cannot push or pull your cart.

As handcarts moved towards Zion's land

The Mas and Pas walked hand in hand.

Their children worked just as they're told

For Mas and Pas neither pushed nor pulled.

For YOU must push and YOU must pull

As we mosey up the hill.

For merrily on our way we go

Until we reach the valley-o.

However, there was one time that I had to push the handcart. I helped during the women's pull. Sometimes while crossing the plains, the men would get injured, sick, or die, and the women had to pull their handcarts alone. We did not have to pull our handcarts very far alone, just up a tall hill. There were five of us on our handcart to pull it up the hill.

After three days on the trail, we pulled into Zion. There was green grass and shade, and there was no more walking to be done! There were several stations with fun pioneer activities (candle dipping, axe throwing, log sawing, etc.) and one glorious hair-washing station. It felt so good to get water on my scalp. Then we had family pictures. This is my favorite one of our family:

This is the candle I made:

My brother and sister also came on trek, so we took a picture with them too.

That evening there was a big hoe-down. This is the only picture I could find of me dancing.

I wished there were pictures of Hollis and I dancing because we were awesome! And it was a ton of fun. After dancing we had a fireside.

It was a good experience being in the adult leadership for a youth activity. It is completely different because the activity is for the youth, and the experiences are not for me. I am there to help the youth feel the spirit and learn from our common pioneer heritage. During the trek, I asked myself and God what I could do to help the youth learn the things they needed to learn instead of directly seeking to learn things for myself. I did learn, and I did feel the spirit, but it was the result of trying to help others.

My Hair

A few months ago I was tired of my hair so I braided it in a lot of small braids. I really enjoyed it.

But I decided that I want to donate my hair before I go to Spain, so I cut off 10 inches. It is shorter than I want it, but I wanted to cut it ten inches. And my sister-in-law lives in Seattle will cut it for free, so now was the time :)

Brian came to visit

My parents both left town and so I convinced my brother to come to Seattle to spend time with Hollis and I. We took Brian on a short "tour" of Seattle, but he made it plain that he would rather do things than see things, so we played tennis and disc golf. However, we did take him to see the Fremont Troll. When we got there, we discovered a giant pair of glasses laying to the side. Hollis and Brian tried to get the glasses on him.

Eventually they succeeded. And it looked awesome!

Disc Golf

Hollis discovered that he loves disc golfing (aka frisbee golf). Disc golf uses special discs that are heavier. We found great course at Northgate that was really fun and not too hard. The middle picture is of the disc buried in the side of the hill after a really bad throw of mine.

Los Veranos Canopy Tour (September 2010)

Hollis and I bought two spots on a canopy tour that my relatives had been on before and really enjoyed. We were quite excited to get started!

The zip lines were awesome - phenomenal views and exciting speeds! We loved our guides too. After we were done with the tour, we got to spend some time in their small petting zoo.

So many cute little monkeys that we got to feed, and we also got to hold an iguana, snake, and rabit! It was a long day, but well worth our money.

Super FAT (Summer 2010)

So, everyone likes to think of summer when it's winter, right? Or nearly spring?

Okay, so I just never got around to blogging the second half of summer. We started August by attending Super FAT (aka Crapo Family Reunion). We went to a spot near the Hoh Rain Forest (right next to Forks). On the first day, we went to the beach. The kids had fun (see their smiles) as did my husband.

On the second day we went to the rain forest. We enjoyed hiking, and I loved walking with my niece. I taught her how roots are like mouths for eating and drinking (okay, maybe not the most technical, but the basic idea is there). The trees were beautiful and mossy!

After the rain forest, we went back to the beach. We went to the right side of the beach where there was sand. Hollis enjoyed running headlong into the surf. I was very happy to get my ankles wet (it was COLD!) but it was beautiful and misty.

That night (or one of them anyway) we went to Forks for Chinese food. The amount of Bella/Edward stuff was ridiculous. Hollis and I couldn't resist posing with a couple of them.

The pose below happened when Hollis, Carol, and I were trying to find ice cream. Apparently everything closes at 8 PM, so no ice cream for us.

On our last morning, we went and visited the animals that lived at the ranch where we were staying (the Hoh Humm Ranch - I highly recommend it!)

We had to hike, but we found deer! It was so cool. I got to hand-feed a deer. As did my awesome husband! :)

Hollis got a new bike (Summer 2010)

Okay, so it was this summer, but I sort of fell off the face of the blogging world since July. We had another family reunion, my sister got married, we went to Mexico, and all sorts of fun stuff. Let's see if I can get caught up during Christmas break - updates on the end of summer and all fall! (I've missed blogging; good thing it's so easy to start again.)

Hollis and I got a ton of gift cards to Target. Our first purchase with them was Hollis's bike. He was SO excited when it arrived. I would describe, but his face pretty much speaks for itself.

After opening and assembling it, Hollis decided to take the bike for a test ride:

He rode his bike for just about anything he could think of. When he needed to check to see if it was recycling week, he jumped on his bike and rode down the driveway.

Also, Hollis's wedding ring arrived in the mail. He likes it a lot.

Life-sized Jenga!

Today at work my dad had Heather and I sort through the model boxes. We dumped out the models (teeth models), but saved the boxes. Heather stacked them like Jenga, so I played three rounds with myself. It was kind of fun; I want to play with a group of friends someday.

All the looking at models made me wish that i could see my teeth before treatment. So heather helped me find my chart and then my models. :)

My teeth (L to R): age 7, age 12, and age 13-present.

Family Time!

I went home for the month of July--"home" meaning I spent a month with my family. Soon after I got home, Natalie, Brian, my dad, and I (and a couple of brian's friends) went to the demolition derby in Waterville.

This is Natalie's face :)


Natalie's other face.
My face :o)

After we amused ourselves by taking pictures of ourselves, the actual derby started. It was great fun, and there were fireworks afterword.