Our vacation -- Cheney family reunion!

Our trip began in Utah for my family's reunion. This year EVERYONE was there (all, except for Brad who's on a mission), so we had 10 adults and 12 kids + one 16 year old sister, who doesn't fit in either category :o). My parents' house rocks (as you'll see from the pics) so we did the whole reunion there and it was fantastic. Let me start out by showing you some of the key components to why this place is so rad.




My parents spent a lot of hard work in making their home into a place where their kids and grandkids could easily be. My dad added 3 extra bedrooms (6 total) and two extra bathrooms (5 total). It's nice that every family has their own space to sleep and get ready. Although my parents have a large home, it does get kind of cramped during the day with all of us there, so my dad turned his shop (in the background of picture #1) into everything we would need to host a reunion. It was where we did all of our cooking-complete with stoves and skillets, fridge/freezer, even two sinks and a bathroom--and we could eat and do all our activities on the tables or concrete. Perfect! Also, my parents have a pool. This is a big hit with everyone, especially since (as you might be able to tell from the pics) there are huge umbrellas that can be extended over most of the pool, so you can stay out of the sun whenever you want. What you can't see from the picture is the lifeguard post of the other end. With that many small children we wanted to keep everyone really safe, so we took turns lifeguarding during swim times.



The first picture is just a small glimpse of all the hundreds of days work my mom put into this reunion. On those shelves are all the games, crafts, presents, activities, and decorations that my mom made and put together. What a supergrandma! The picture beside that is the row of funness in my dad's shop. First in line is the automatic motion-sensored ice/water dispenser--which doesn't just dispense normal ice, but the really cool small circle ice pebbles! Next in line is the soft-serve icecream machine, then the cotton candy machine, then the snowcone machine. You can begin to see why my parents are so rad, and why it's hard to pry my kids away every year (and why I come back with my clothes a bit tighter than when we started)!