Family Reunion #2 of The Summer

Boy, time sure flies when you are having fun or keeping so busy you can hardly think straight!

We survived our family reunion…barely. I have a ton of pictures and probably even more stories to tell, but I will share only the most important details for journaling and time sake.

Before we left we had quite a few dental appointments. Our dental insurance ended the end of June so we had to take care of a few things. Kayler got little tokens and got these stick on mustaches that he thought were SO cool. Add in a few Q-tips and he was in Heaven!:




I helped organize our Primary Quarterly activity last Wednesday. We had a great turnout, the kids had fun, the weather stayed nice, and I am glad it is over for another few months!:



We had quite the playground at our campsite. After the work of getting it all set up, the kids enjoyed a hammock, a tire swing, monkey bars, a zip line, and the adults had a zip line as well. My kids were in heaven….add in all the snacks, dirt, fresh air, and freedom mixed with all their fun cousins and they were seriously so happy the whole time!:









We also went on a hike to a HUGE cave. We do it every year, and I have done it countless times in my life, but I am always amazed that we have such amazing things like that so close to Vernal. It still had some huge ice chunks left in it from winter:










Kayler and Kolby Kept us busy by running away a lot. They both had Woody dolls from Toy Story which they loved. I found them quite a ways from our campsite sharing this small log just playing with their dolls…:



This reunion was my Hatch/Clark Family which is my Dad’s-Mom’s family…if that makes any sense. We had cousins from North Carolina, Kansas, Colorado, all over Utah, and lots from Vernal. Everyone pitched in and we had a ton of fun with games and meals and all sorts of activities:






I do say that 2 things went very wrong. First off, I was there from Wednesday to Friday alone with my kids…sure I had my family around, but I didn’t have my G.J., who helps me the most. Kayler ran away and was quite naughty. I will be honest…I cried myself to sleep in frustration and utter exhaustion those few nights…and was so glad to see G.J. pull up Friday.

The next thing is still kind of a blur, and it is still so awful to think about. We had our zip lines. One for the kids, and one for the adults. They were my mom’s idea. She had thought about them for years. She is so funny. She dreams of flying. A zip line is kind of like flying right???!!! So she spent a lot of money on professional zip line gear so they would be safe. We got the kids one hooked up on Wednesday and it was perfect. Everything was great, and the kids LOVED it. Thursday came and we got the adult one hooked up. We all took our turns and had a blast. Probably 20 people had taken turns.

Friday evening I had decided to take Kayler on a Rhino (kind of like a 4 Wheeler/golf cart/ATV thing) ride. We were gone about 30 minutes when I seriously got the sickest feeling. I started driving back and I started to hear sirens. That is when I met the ambulance on the road. I got an extreme panicked feeling as I followed it back towards where we were camped. I prayed for it to turn another way. But it didn’t. It turned and parked right next to my car.

I jumped out, and found my sweet brother Kael kneeling over his wife Emily who was strapped to a back board with EMT’s surrounding her. She had finally gotten brave enough to go on the zip line. She had never done something like that before, and at the end something had gone wrong and she fell off right onto her back, and then she folded right in half. Then she went into shock immediately from the trauma of it all. It was absolutely terrible to see someone you love like that. I had to keep all the kids away, especially her 2 tiny kids, I didn’t want them to see their mom like that.

So…very very long story short. She was taken by ambulance to Vernal. My other sister in law Jenette and I took Kael and Emily’s kids to her family at the hospital and then went right back up to the reunion to keep things going. Emily suffered a crushed vertebrae and a VERY sore body. The Dr. told her basically she had a broken back. She was extremely lucky to have received a priesthood blessing moments after the accident and that her injuries weren’t worse.

My mom felt SO bad, and could not get her emotions under control. She felt responsible and guilty. She just wanted to provide something for us all to have fun on, which we all did….accidents do happen though, and we will learn from it and move on.

We made it home Sunday afternoon. That evening we decided to brave the fireworks with some of Vernal’s finest. Seriously….I didn’t recognize any of the people I saw there. Where do these people come from. It was quite the show. I don’t know if I will be going back. Hallie and Gavin loved it despite the gross people. Kayler…umm not so much. We had a great idea to help with the sound to wear these gun ear muff things. He loved them, but he still covered his eyes during the firework show!:



We did the parade the next day as well. My Grandpa joined us, and we had a great day with G.J. off work. He took the kids to spend the day with his parents and I got our camper cleaned, our house cleaned, laundry done, and helped Emily clean her house since she is down. Needless to say I was extremely pooped by the end of the day:





We were supposed to be leaving this whole week for training in Salt Lake for G.J.’s work but it got cancelled. We are making a super quick trip out and back for a birthday party and an appointment for Kayler and calling it good. We have had a very very busy summer up until now, but I think I am slowly...very slowing starting to see things slowing down, but I am not holding my breath!

So there you have it! Another week of summer has come and gone, and we love it!