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.

Hollis's Lovely Hair

We were at Tom and Beth's house and I decided that I really wanted to do Hollis's hair. Natalie was recording some of my grandpa's stories so we could have a record of them. I enjoyed listening to them, but also really, really wanted to do Hollis's hair. So I quietly put pigtails in all of his hair. And, Hollis's hair being what it is, it remained divided into groups after I pulled the elastics out.

My husband is such a good sport.

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.

Wave to the camera

I found this video on a phone that I inherited from my mom. And I thought it was adorable.

I can't believe that Brian is not this little boy anymore.

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 :)

EQ Frisbee Night

Some guys in our ward got together to play ultimate frisbee, but only four of them showed up, so they played frisbee golf instead. On this hole, they had to throw the frisbees over the backstop and make it land on home plate. Notice the yellow disc in midair.

I caught this toss on camera.

To end this hole, you had to throw the firsbee down the slide.

And it took a while, but we finally got a "diving catch" on camera.

I wasn't playing, but I started taking pictures because that was fun too.

My Nook

Hollis surprised me with a Nook the other day. It is this awesome e-reader. And now I can take lots of books to Spain with me even though I packed them up in all these boxes!