Minions on the Mountain: A Family Reunion in Beaver

This year, Grandma and Grandpa both had a very special birthday. To celebrate, they threw themselves a big birthday bash in Beaver and had all the family come and spend five days together. Now you may not think that five days at a family reunion in Beaver sounds like the most exciting thing ever, but it was so much fun! We were way up a mountain at a ski resort, and each family had a cabin to stay in. Our theme was "Minions on the Mountain," and Grandma had planned a billion activities. Some outside, some inside, some for kids, some for everyone. She also planned some seriously delicious food. She's a born party planner, that one. My favorite thing was the unscheduled time where the cousins were able to discover each other. They played games and explored the woods and shared popcorn and started some great relationships, I think. Also game nights after the littles were asleep were an absolute riot.

Here are a bunch of pictures that show some of the fun.

We met at the Crazy Cow Cafe for lunch before our ascent up the mountain.

The first day, poor Brynny was sick as a dog. In fact, she threw up all over in the car just before we started our trip. An illustrious beginning. She rallied after that and had a great three hour drive there, and by the time we reached the cabins she was feeling pretty puny again. So she and I hung out in our cabin. Here we are watching the rain from our porch.

And this is when I said, "make a face that shows how you really feel." Luckily she felt better the next day and was able to join in the fun.

Grandma taught us about the creation and all the cousins got to draw a day of it then share their pictures. We also learned sign language for "My Heavenly Father Loves Me," and sang/signed it on most of the days.

Some squirrel friends visited our deck.

Devon and Micah spent some time making a sweet movie. Coming soon to theaters near you.

A minion tree! We each got a minion to wear necklaces all week.

Exploring in the woods.

Poor Asa fell during the explorations and got pretty banged up.

Snacks with Grandma and Grandpa

Sky and Leah having hot dogs.

Dayson and Addison whoopin' up at Jenga.

Embry and Bryn playing Animal Sequence.

A walk in down the slope.

We did a nature scavenger hunt at Puffer Lake. It was so beautiful, and the younger kids teamed up with older kids to find their items, and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

When we finished the hunt, we played around the lake and looked for shells and threw rocks in the water.

We had lots of treasure hunts. One for ladybug beads, one for minion eggs, another for woodland creatures. They were all a hit.

We even got to hunt for fairy doors! Aria and Trinity led us around and we found a bunch.

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa came up for one of the days. It was fun to hear their stories of honeymooning around Puffer Lake.

Here's Great Grandpa very intently trying to guess the number of treats in the jar.

Haha Trinity!

Devon and Abbey

Asa on a ski lift.

The coolest bubbles on the planet.

Dayson bowling.

This game was really fun. We had to take turns guessing the favorites (animals, Disney characters, games, candy, etc.) Nate and I also had lots of fun putting together a Jeopardy game.

The classic "eat a doughnut off a string" game. I think this one was a five-way tie.

Game night!

Heading home. That Dairy Queen didn't know what hit it!