Family Reunions

We were able to get together with lots of family the past few weeks. First, my entire family was able to be together (except for Carrie who's in Connecticut, but will hopefully be moving to the valley soon!...we missed you Carrie!) So, what better place to get together than Mesa in the summertime? So we were able to have some cousins over to play in the water (we missed you there Pughs).


Then we drove to Utah for the Montague family reunion, which I have never been to before. I met people I had only seen in pictures. We got to stay at Grandma and Grandpa Strong's house and visit with them some. And we got fresh raspberries (thanks Aunt Merlynne!) and fresh raspberry jam! It made the drive worth it!

We spent most of the day at Thanksgiving Point. We saw some dinosaurs. (This is our adopted daughter, Dave's niece, who kept calling him 'Dad', so she can be in our family picture.)

We also got to see some farm animals. What goes together better than kids and a pony ride? It was hot (over 100 degrees) but we still had fun.


The next day we went to Salt Lake for a little bit. Yes, Dave, I will make you get your picture taken!


I miss the beautiful flowers and soft grass that grows in Utah.

We got to see (up close) 3 temples while we were there. It was amazing that while we were driving to and from Salt Lake, we could see several temples from the freeway. Dave's brother said they were at a stoplight and his daughters counted around 30 churches they could see. It's amazing how the church has grown there!


Next we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. We were late and had to change in the hot, sweaty car and let's just say that I wasn't in the right frame of mind to go see the temple. But you do what you can do and we made it to our huge group and were able to go in most of the rooms of the temple. While talking with a Sister Missionary in Salt Lake, she said that for this temple, lots of the resources were donated by people in the temple district, which helps to make it more personal.


Allison just perked right up when we went inside. She was excited to be in there. Maybe it reminds her a little of heaven, where she just came from.

I thought it looked a little like the Mesa temple from this side.


This was definitely the highlight of Will's trip. He got a kite for his birthday and has been begging to fly it. There was a little wind at the park and the kite went right up. Inevitably, he let it go once, so Dave made a great save and sprinted to save it while the entire family cheered him on. Yeah Dad! Mckenzie is waiting for her turn to hold it. There was also a splash park that Mckenzie loved to play in.


The next day we had games at a stake center in Holladay. Will is standing where his paper airplane landed, next to his cousins.


Mckenzie standing where her airplane landed.


My airplane wasn't too shabby either.


We had some time before our next activity so we drove up to the Draper Temple, which is also new. It was on the side of the mountain and had a beautiful view.


We turned around and saw these huge houses, 'castles' we called them, higher up the mountain. This one was so big it wouldn't all fit in the picture. We just kept wondering, what would you do with a house that big? They were fun to look at though.


Friday we drove up for the end of the annual Lindblom family camping. It's nice to get out of the heat and hang out with family. The kids got really dirty, so they had fun.

Yes, even Allison came. She actually did pretty well. She just wanted to be held a lot, which she was.


We had lots of fun and are glad to be back!