Eric's Wedding and Nufer Family Reunion 2016

Friday afternoon, most of the family was gathered at the reunion house.  We were in charge of pizza and salad that night, and I was so excited by these grocery prices that I took pictures.  Then posted them here.  It was a highlight.

I was so excited about these cucumbers, I took a picture and then forgot to buy some.  I spent $7.50 on 3 cucumbers a week before.

Cilantro is $2.29 a bunch for me typically, but I will always, always pay to have that fresh taste in my salad.

We spent the afternoon and evening relaxing and chatting.  The highlight of the night was going jogging with Scott and Kevin.  I felt like a little kid running between their 6'3" and 6'4" frames, but I loved every minute talking to them while working up a sweat.

We got back to the hotel late and put the kids to bed.  Owen thought going to bed meant sleeping 90 minutes or less the entire trip, and I promise this is the last time I really whine about that.  But really, the kid forgot how to sleep and we were so, so tired from our flight and the time difference, and then a baby who refused to stay down.  On this particular night, though, Owen was only a distraction from the real issue.  Kate started throwing up at 2am and continued all night long and until noon the next day for a grand total of 20 rounds.  We were so worried about all the people we had exposed.  It never fails that we pick up something vicious on the mainland and hated that we were going to be the cause of every cousin getting the pukes during the reunion!  (After a full week of no one else puking, we were safe to assume it was her Chick-fil-A nuggets from the day before.)

My mom graciously changed plans and picked me up for the wedding, and this sweet bridesmaid watched Baby Owen for the 30 minute ceremony (fastest wedding EVER!).

Brady drove Kate and Zac to the temple to be in pictures, and then missed out on some of the pictures while Kate continued to throw up.  This picture makes you really want to rethink using the ice bucket at a hotel, huh?

The day before and after the wedding were beautiful and sunny, but when we came out of the temple it was freezing and rainy.  Eric and Rebecca handled it perfectly, though.  Since my photographer was in the car and my baby was shivering in my arms, I don't have pictures of the event.  

After the wedding, we went back to the reunion house for lunch, taking turns sitting in the car with our sad, desperately ill girl.  She slept most of the afternoon and was such a good sport.  She hardly even cried during the whole fiasco.  The picture below from the reception makes me a little teary, with Kate putting on her brave face smile when she's so weak and tired.  The reception was in the evening and we kept her away while she slept in Brady's arms.

Some wedding cake shots of my handsome brother and his new bride.

Kristen and Brandon:

The highlight of the night for me was dancing with my dad.  He'd already danced with my mom and sisters but made a point to get me moving, too.  While my siblings are in their element dancing, I feel insecure and rusty, but Dad made me feel like gold.  I learned that dancing is like riding a bike, and I get dizzy much easier than I did 20 years ago.

I love that Brady took way too many pictures and I have these treasures of such a happy moment.

I also love that Dad's shirt came untucked.

Kelsey begged everyone to spin her.  I was so sad Kate couldn't join her on the dance floor.

Mom made corsages and the girls treasured them.  Kate brought hers home in her already overstuffed suitcase and has it displayed in her room.

My youngest three sisters looking a lot older than last time we visited in person.  Mindy got home from her mission a week before, Janece (right) graduated high school this year, and Anna is 16.

Zac could not stand any time we were at the hotel.  All he cared about was getting to the next place and seeing his cousins.  They found plenty of ways to entertain themselves at the reception, most of them involving balloons and sliding in sock feet (behind partitions on the other side of the room).

Oh, you sweet little girl with your sweet daddy.

Julianna (Emily's daughter) and Ella (Scott's daughter) were inseparable.

And photogenic.

I love this picture of Mom and Baby O.

Mindy is stunning here.

Farewell to the bride and groom!

The next day, we were fortunate to be together on Mother's Day.  We gave Mom a book put together by all the siblings with pictures and our favorite things about her.

She got teary so we clearly scored.

Grandma and Grandpa Nufer were with us for the day, too.

We spent a solid chunk of time watching slideshows we each put together of our family's previous three years.

In the afternoon, Kristen and I led the kids in a bunch of "Minute to Win It" games.

We told the kids to break open the Oreo without using their hands.  Josh abruptly slammed his forehead against the Oreo and shattered it.  Most of the other kids followed suit.  Hilarious!  The younger group did their round after the older kids and most of them slammed their heads into the Oreos, too, which of course resulted in sniffles and tears.

I learned that Emily's son Colin is very skilled at these activities.

The hammocks were used constantly.

Dad led the kids in making giant bubbles.

I walked around with the camera, determined not to leave without some pictures.

Mindy assisting G&G Nufer with Facebook.

The boys were guaranteed to be downstairs playing Foosball for 90% of the day.  Zac recently earned money for a reading and writing challenge we gave him about 6 months ago.  When we left the reunion he told us he finally decided how to spend his money.  "A foosball table!" he said.  We asked him where in the world he'd put it.  "Between my bed and Kate's" was his quick reply.  Huh.

Napping Jason.

4 generation shot, except I forgot generation 2 even though he was standing right by during the photo.

The adults were anxious to compete, so we did puzzle races and the kids' games from earlier that day.

These were my favorite moments from the day--watching spouses and in particular my parents and grandparents face off in the M&M challenge.

Grandma was really good.

Final round:

Brady takes it all, at least this year.

Kate wanted to play the games so badly, but kept crying when they involved food.  We finally understood that she was afraid she had to eat the M&Ms from the games, and her tummy still wasn't 100%.  She was a happy camper when we told her she could just throw them away.

No one was successful with the Oreo game the first time, but we were all intent on being the first victor.  It left Oreo on our faces the rest of the night.

Dad read Dr. Suess books to the kids (and adults), including the "Fox in Socks" book I remember him reading to us as kids.

Mindy told stories from her mission.  She is so poised and confident.

This is the most fun I've had with my family since we became adults.  It's so sweet to see our kids interact.  I'm so glad we have Zoom session where we can all chat and catch up regularly, but there is something magical about being together in person.  Nufer Family Reunion 2016=success.

Colorado/Utah Vacation Days 1-2: Red Eyes and Monsons

We haven't left our rock for almost a year, so vacation could not come soon enough.  We prefer not to take our child out of school but when there's a family wedding, you go, and when you go from clear out in the middle of the ocean, you don't go for only a few days.

Red eye flights are the worst.  Every time we take one, I think there surely must be an alternative and whatever the cost difference is, it has to be worth it.  Then we look at the difference and take the red eye.  We were up packing and fretting over our seats (the non-reclining back row next to the bathrooms) the night before until 2:30am, so it was a rough start.  The kids did decently well on the flights to Colorado, but we got an hour of sleep between the two of us.

 We went to get our car and stood in line for an hour while the kids pleaded for food and Owen blew out his diaper all over me.  When we finally got through the line, we walked out and stood next to the Yaris and realized that unless we were clowns in a circus, we weren't going to fit.  Knowing we had an hour wait and bigger cars were several hundred dollars more for the week, we tried to be clowns, and we must have looked like a pretty entertaining circus to the employees watching.  We can't think about it now without busting a gut--Brady squeezing in bags everywhere we could and me finally admitting that he was right and there was absolutely no way.  The agents came out and helped us determine another option, and we were suited up with a mini van for $5/day a more.  Lucky.

By this time, we were all starving and made a fateful decision to eat at Chick-fil-A.  It was terrible and we can't figure out why people like eating there.  We finally checked into the hotel at nearly 4pm (after landing at 11:30am), and we all felt a little like this weepy baby:

After a really dry, slow jog for me, a quick snooze for Brady, and a trip to Target for Kate, we met up with Steve and Natalie at Chipotle.  They were generous to drive 45 minutes to meet us there and our kids were in heaven playing with Kelsey and Joshua.

The Nufer family reunion didn't start until Friday afternoon, so we jumped on an opportunity to see Boulder.  I've wanted to do the Boulder Half Marathon since getting a postcard about it in the mail almost 15 years ago.  The city definitely had charm.  We checked out Flatirons in Chautauqua Park, again joining Steve and Natalie's family.  

I saw this pile of horse poop and asked Zachary, "Why couldn't you hold it?"  In classic Z-man style, he cocked his head to the side, raised an eyebrow and said, "Moooooommmmm, really?"  About 5 minutes later, we crossed a stream and he asked me if I could please go to the bathroom in a place more private next time.  Good one, son.

Kate and Kelsey were really fast friends and it was super to have Natalie to myself.

Joshua and Zac kept coming up with ways to make the hike more fun--finding things to jump off of and playing "made you look" about 100 times.

Hyrum was happy when walking and blowing on dandelion weeds.

When Zac got out of the car, he immediately told Joshua that there were no snakes on the hike.  We let him know there actually were snakes in Colorado (which was the topic of about 97 of the 100 "made you looks").  I was surprised to spot this one several inches from my foot on the trail, though.  The kids were trying to use their extensive knowledge of snakes (which extends to rattle v. no rattle) to determine if it was poisonous.  An old man behind us said this guy was a gopher snake.  Zachary asked, "Are gopher snakes bad?"  He replied, "If you are a gopher."

After our short hike, we hit up Pearl Street in Boulder, where Zac was offered marijuana, the kids picked up their souvenirs, we ate a delicious curry bowl from a food truck, we posed in front of gorgeous flowers, we watched street performers, and we made like tourists with a piece of Cheesecake Factory deliciousness.

On the way out, Brady pointed out this store and acted like I should understand it's significance.  I told him I'd never heard of the store and it took me the entire stoplight to figure out it was our initials and he was being adorable.

I would have loved more time to explore Boulder, or even time to run a half marathon there.  Plenty of trails and exploring for more than a quick couple of hours.  Next time!

Up next, Nufer Family Reunion and Eric's Wedding.

Soccer Ends, Owen is 4 Months, and May (Vacation!) is Here

Zachary worked hard on Team Onipa'a, chasing down balls as a mostly mid-fielder this year.  His team struggled, winning only one game and tying another.  In most of the games, Zac was a key player and we were really pleased with how much he challenged, chased, and worked the ball.  We'd love to see him participate with a team that understands passing and field position better, but apparently the rules for kids this age are completely changing for next year anyway.  

Our goalie was pretty distracted.  More than one ball flew by him while he watched another game.  Haha!

 Zac loved soccer this season.  He went to practice super excited and ready to play.  He came home sweatier than I've ever seen him and with a nearly purple face.  He was respectful and listened to coaches, and got along great with his teammates.  Sometimes when I sit in the car while it pours and we miss half of a Saturday from watching his game, I wonder if team sports are worth it, but I am pretty convinced that (some) team sports are very valuable experiences.

Owen is 4 months!  He holds his head up so well, rolls over on accident, coos, and occasionally giggles.  I have yet to hear the giggles but Brady and Zac claim they happen.  He consistently sleeps through the night from about 9pm to 6am.  It's a dream.  His daytime naps are awful and horribly inconsistent but who in the world cares when he sleeps at night?!?

His fuzzy, bald head is my favorite and he is my most cuddly baby so far.  He loves to lay on my shoulder and get rocked, even when it's not even close to sleep time.  He hates it the car seat passionately.  Still.  He will sit in the swing for a few minutes but really just wants to be held.  That works out pretty well because we like to hold him, but also brings his tears in the morning while I get Kate's hair done, etc.

Owen sucks on everything.  My sweaty shoulder, his blankets, the car seat, toys, binkeys, and his entire fist.  He is so wet from his mouth to his belly button that I have to change him at least once during the day.  Kate was the same way and everyone said she was teething, but the teeth came much, much later.

I love to breastfeed him.  I decided I was on board with the naturalizing breastfeeding movement and now he refuses to let me cover him up ever while he eats.  Ha!  It's been a lot more comfortable for him than it was for Kate, who sweat her brains out under a light blanket.  I am wondering how that swings out on vacation with a more conservative crowd.  Eek.  

 I love this picture the most.  Ah!  Couldn't you just nibble on those little piggies?  (He sure does.)

 My favorite feature is his mouth.  It is so perfect.  My second favorite are his eyes because he looks just like Brady.

I can't close off this post without a couple pics of Kate.  She is so patient.  She had her last co-op preschool day last week which ended with a dance party.  She is still in her other preschool for a few more sessions, but she is ready for Kindergarten!  She can legitimately read and is confident making friends.  I look at her and can't believe the changes of the past few months.

Yay!  Now I can go on vacation in a couple hours without blog guilt.  Hehe!  Can't wait for the mountains, family, friends, and food.