Gardner Reunion

Oh the dirt! We always forget how incredibly dirty camping is--then we come back and look at pictures. DJ--this first picture was taken especially for you! We just spent 4 days at the actual Gardner family reunion. We went to the same place that some of us went to over the 4th of July, the Hams Fork Campground north of Kemmerer, WY.


Last time we were there the kids made paint out of mud. This time Aunt Danette brought real paint for the kids. It was a huge hit! Glade and Connie's David is the warrior in the back and their little girl Yvonne is in the blue. Danette and Curtis' Eli is shooting us, or something. And then there are our 3 girls--clean for now!



And the big boys played horseshoes and mountain man golf!




Kaylee, Emily and I went on a hike with some of the other cousins. We have done this hike before up to the seminary/EFY object lesson tree. I am very curious to know what direction Matt's brother Ryan will go with this object lesson. Here is one talk that I thought of. We are guessing that at some point another tree fell on this one. Instead of dying off or even growing at some funky angle it went around the obstacle and kept going on the path it was intended to go. The quote —“to act for themselves and not to be acted upon” comes to mind. I would love to have YOUR COMMENTS. What quotes or lessons do you learn from this little tree that could?
The kids had fun taking pictures in the trees (actually Emily didn't, and I couldn't bring myself to posting the picture of her holding on for dear life with tears in her eyes). Danette and Curtis' not a baby anymore Skylar is next to her big brother Eli. Kaylee is below that with her walking stick.




Here are 3 of Chad and Carolyn's kids: Jeremy, Caleb and Jessica. And then the picture of the hiking crew. It was sure hard to say bye to the Houston Gardner's. We miss you already!



“And my father dwelt in a tent.” (1 Ne. 2:15.) The perfect theme for a Gardner campout and tshirt. The kids had fun signing their names. With 23 grandkids and 23 shirts, Emily really got good at writing her name!

"What is the score?!" Traci you are so great! This was such a fun scavenger hunt! I had fun watching all of the kids. They loved it!

Sailing!! Some day we might upgrade to a bigger boat, but this works for now. It was a pretty windy day on Viva Naughton.

I'm trying to get the sailing video posted but it isn't working, so it may be up later.

38 years!! This was a fun night! It was fun to see Matt and his family all together. The family band played while Dave sang a love song to Dixie for their anniversary and then all of the little kids did songs, dances, skits, poems etc. I wish I had more video from this night.



Coy and Kaylee's "Let your light so shine" devotional!

I wish this picture from the cup game had turned out better. I wish I could figure out how to take pictures in the dark. I took a bunch this night, but they didn't turn out well at all. Aunt Danette did a great job with this reunion and especially with this night. It was very special!

So, that's it! Our last vacation and school starts on Monday! We are tired. In fact poor Kierra is just now waking up from a good 5 hour nap! Hopefully her two front teeth came in while she was sleeping. We had a great summer though! It was busy that's for sure! Now off to clean my house and get ready for a routine!