Snowbird

When I was a little girl, my Grandpa (on my Dad's side) bought into a timeshare at the Snowbird Resort in Utah. My Dad's siblings would rotate years but it was always the same two rooms on the same week in July. It was my Dad's turn and we decided to get some extra rooms and have the whole family go! Bethany and I had taken our kids once but Jon and David hadn't been there since they were kids. It had been far too long since these kids had all been together.

We had a fun, family-filled week planned. We started off with hiking. 

If the kids weren't in the woods, they were in the pool.

The adults didn't think it was quite warm enough to swim. The kids didn't mind a bit. 

There was an outdoor center that we spent one day at. Bounce house, slides, alpine slides, roller coaster, ski lifts, this place had it all. The weather was perfect, the crowds were non-existent and we all had a blast. Until James overdid it a bit and had to rest rather than go on the tram.

The kids mined for gems one day and then made jewelry out of what they found.

Nights were spent playing games, making food and hearing stories from Papa. Half of the family decided to start playing Dungeons and Dragons so that was fun.

One night all but 2 of my Dad's siblings and their kids came up to Snowbird. We hadn't seen some of them in over 10 years. 

Jon and Betsy had to leave before everyone else so we made sure to get a family photo in. We missed Michael and Paul!

Ben designed a shirt and then we silk-screened one for everyone. The moose represent my parents, the stars - us 6 kids, the trees - the spouses and the arrows - all the grandkids. We're always telling each other that we're kind of a big deal so it was fitting to put it on a shirt.

We saw moose! We saw them in the parking lot so then we went on a moose hunt.

One of my most favorite pictures. Me taking a picture of Bethany taking a picture of David taking a picture of a moose.

We saw lots of deer as well. The kids are looking through the binoculars at a mama and her babies.

On our last full day we hiked to Cecret Lake. It was a lot more crowded than I remembered as a kid. My mom was a total trooper because she had a hurt ankle and could barely walk at some times. We offered to carry her but she wouldn't have that :) We had to scale this huge hill to get to the lake on the other side. 

Saying goodbye to the Hegerhorst was rough. We didn't know when we were going to see them again and us girls were crying messes. I love when we're together and hate when we're apart. At least I'm within driving distance to the rest of my siblings. 

We packed up and then headed to spend time with Ben's family!