Manti

The last weekend of June/first weekend of July we had a Brown Family Reunion in Manti.  My Mom's parents both grew up in Manti and My Nana's family actually settled the little town years and years ago.  The last time we had gone there was 5 years ago when Jake and I were still at BYU and hadn't even been married a full year...

Boy have things changed! Since that family photo there have been 3 new grandchildren added to the clan, three (soon to be four) great grandchildren and 3 spouses have married in. 

We had two cabins across the street from each other and all the families arrived sporadically late Thursday night. The kids were asleep for all the late-night arrivals, so when they woke up in the morning they were super excited to see all the friends, especially there new found loves--the Stallings boys--who Carder calls "The Teenagers." (those are the same little boys in the second row up from the bottom of the previous family photo...I hadn't seen them for awhile and I am pretty sure they'd each grown at least a foot and put on a hundred pounds each...craziness I tell you!)

Carder loved putting on a show for the Teenagers and the fact that they were a captive audience for all of his superhero moves and poses just made it that much better for him.

Friday we went over to Palisades lake and had a fun afternoon of picnicking, paddle boating and just hanging out with everyone by the lake.

Brenn loved all the space she had to explore and try out her new walking skills...that child was seriously everywhere this trip!

Jake didn't get there until later that evening. Since I was taking care of the two by myself and there was water involved, I made Carder wear his life jacket the whole time we were at the lake.  Safety aside, he looked so dang cute in that life vest!

My kids loved playing with the teenagers...

Brenn tried her hand at longboarding...

...and Carder showed them all his poses (silly boy). My cousin Austin actually took all these pictures, and Carder was loving all the attention not to mention the response he was getting from his much adored "teenagers".

The kids just loved the paddle boats. I tried to be the "Cool Mom" and took the little boys out and Ellie out (I even cannon balled in the lake to do motor boat with Ellie, but of course no pictures were taken for proof!)  Carder was a little timid at first, but soon warmed up to the paddle boats and had a blast with all the cousins that afternoon.

Carder particularly liked to blow the whistle.

Why are little boys able to find a stick to play with no matter where you go?!?

Ellie was TO DIE FOR in her life jacket...I just want to eat that little munchkin up!!!

The family picnicking.
Palisade Lake was a blast! (When we were driving back to the cabins, Carder said to me "Mom this was the best day!")

Jake got there late Friday evening and was kind enough to stay with the kids the next day while I got up at 6:30 am (I swore I would never do that voluntarily again after my seminary days) to make an early morning session with my family at the Manti temple.

Saturday afternoon we got to walk around the city of Manti a bit (It was really fun to get to hear some of my Papa's stories of his childhood/youth) and then we all met up at a park to have a picnic and play some games prior to heading over to the Mormon Miracle Pageant.

Lower Left: The Brown Clan (minus Me and Jill who were taking the pictures and My Dad, Kelsie, Jared and Tiffany & Leo who couldn't make the reunion because they all had to work). Right: My cute prego sister Brittany...we can't wait for baby Jet to come (or as Carder calls him "Baby Jet Pack")

My Uncle Warren is a military man and for some reason he had a gigantic parachute in the back of his car. Well that made for an awesome afternoon of games for the kiddos and the rest of the family. (That building in back of everyone is the High School my Nana and Papa went to)

So next we headed over to get our seats for the Mormon Miracle Pageant. Carder and Jaxon entertained each other as well as baby William while we waited for the program to begin...

I was really excited for Carder to see some of the battles etc. from the Book of Mormon come to life, but after a long fun-filled day he was exhausted. Right before they got to the first Nephite/Lamanite scene he had climbed into the double stroller and pulled a blanket over his head because he wanted to go to sleep. I got him to peak out of his little cocoon a couple times but he was totally zonked out within 5 mins. We had gotten Brenn to sleep in the stroller right before the program started, so we were thinking this could be a nice relaxing evening now that the two kidlets were asleep, but of course she woke up seconds later and we were chasing her around for the majority of the pageant. (How can little people be so exhausting!?!) 

Sunday we went to church with the Fam and then we headed back home.  Before we left the city of Manti we stopped at the cemetery to see my great-grandparents headstones as well as some other ancestors.

We tried to keep Brenn awake so she would just take a nice nap on the car ride home to Bountiful...we did great keeping her awake through church but in the 3 mins it took to drive from the church to the cemetery she was done.  I tried to wake her up for a picture in front of the temple before we headed back, but it was a totally hopeless cause. Oh well she's still a little cutie pie even when she is sleeping. 

We had a blast seeing all the family and are so grateful for the effort Nana & Papa put into making sure that we all get together as a family and create great relationships.