Off to the Lake for lunch and games and water fun.
Kind of blown out, but I loved seeing all the kids working together in the paddle boat. They were so independent and responsible. The story is that Anna fell out of the paddle boat and was drowning and Liam responded like a big brother should and dove into the water and saved Anna's life. It all happened in about 2 feet of water, but Liam was so proud and felt really good that he had made such a brave choice to save his sister.

Rosie, Karen and Anna were best friends during the reunion. They had fun floating around in the lake.
THis is Liams face in almost every picture I take of him these days.

Karen takes a break for some grub
The Benson kids head out onto the water
Eric is just enjoying the scenery....

The White boys paddle out to battle the Bensons in their paddle boat
Spencer, David and Josh

After playing on the Lake we had a watermelon eating contest.

David was hanging with the older guys just fine.

spencer finishes off the watermelon with a mighty crush

Jon holds nothing back as he takes bite after bite of gushy red deliciousness.

His face is so pink, it cracks me up.

I forget who won, I think it was Josh. But it was pretty messy and hilarious to watch. Good thing the mommy's brought wet wipes because these guys needed it.

onto the donut races. THis is Josh who was fairly newly home from his mission in Jamaica

James is analizing what his next move should be...

cousin David

Cousin Mike

and Cousin Maren was a trooper for being the only girl who competed and she was awesome!

After lunch, The boys played an old pioneer game with sticks and a tin can. IT looked pretty competative.

I would click on these last two so you can better see the pain in Davids face after he got hit in the nose and the intense action below.

Rosie Hill. After the lake, the kids spent the afternoon riding a long tarp down a hill in James back yard named after his daughter Roselina.

Liam posed for these BTW.

brother David and his daughter Marissa.

The kids spent many hours working on creative water rockets and we blasted them off all afternoon. Liam worked super har d on his and when he finally shot it off it didn't go as high and some of the others. He immediately ran up to it and stomped on it and threw it. ahhhh, my little perfectionist.

I love this shot because Jonny is ducking in fear. He also was responsible for all the take offs and stayed by the rockets so everyone could enjoy them. THanks Jon!

THe reunion was really fun. There was a lot of hard work put into it and we all had fun. WE ended the reunion doing a family swim at Vernals new community center.

4th of July

immediately after getting home from the reunion it was the 4th. We went to the Bothell city parade and had some family fun.

We set off fireworks that evening at our house with Evan and Heather and family and Evans brother and wife. The kids all sat on chairs under our row of mailboxes and at one time some fireworks buzzed toward them and they all ran screaming except for Merrick who just sat there. That was the kids favorite part anyway.

Mackay Reunion 2011

Liam and Conner were "Crazy" in the water and spent most of the reunion swimming together.
Eric spent time throwing all the kids.
and I spent time sunning myself.

Heather is warming up..
Connor and Liam cruised up the wall.

The Mackay reunion was held just outside of my hometown of Roosevelt, Utah. We stayed on a fabulous cabin and let the kids run wild. We did some rock climbing, the kids did duck tape crafts all weekend long and swimming, swimming, swimming. Aunt Shona did storytime and it was a big hit. the kids were mesmerized.

Erics cousin Corin and myself.
Anna and Isobel were cold, so we bundled them up.
Look at those white legs! I definately felt like I had gotten older when I did this climb. Anyway, it was a super fun reunion. The kids loved feeding the trout in the pond by the cabin and watching them jump and they all loved the bunkbeds in the rooms and having sleepovers with Isobel and Ian.