August 2008 - Brentwood

Brentwood is a LDS church owned campground that my dad has been reserving for the last few years. It's a beautiful spot up in the middle of the white mountains, close to Big Lake, and about an hour from Springerville, AZ. It's about a 5 1/2 hour drive from Phoenix, but it is so worth the long weekend away from the scorching heat of the Valley. This get together each year is a reunion of sorts for our family. But it's more of a family and friends reunion. In-laws, cousins, aunts and uncles, and friends are all invited and only the brave show up and realize what they were missing!


This year Tom invited Nate and his family to come along. Tom and Nate work together and Nate has helped us out a few times when we needed it. So he had a little bit of an idea of what my family could be like. It turns out they had a great time and fit right in with everyone, so much that I think they may come back again next year.

One of the big activities for Brentwood is going fishing. We will either go to Big Lake or to one of the nearby rivers. This trip we decided the lake would be a good option. To bad the fish weren't on the same page.

Here is Nate teaching Bradley how to fish. Nate was so good with all the kids. I don't know how many times he waded out into the water to untangle someones fishing line. I'm sure if I had been fishing, I'd have asked him to untangle mine as well!

Bradley is such a stinkin' cutie!

Tom and I didn't bring any fishing gear, so we just supervised.
Alex came along to help with the kids and dogs. She lost her hair clips after goofing around with Bruno's ears with them, so here's a picture of her crazy bangs!
Nate and Missy brought up an Old Fashioned ice cream maker. The kids were fascinated and took over the hard work of cranking the ice cream. It was super yummy over dutch oven cobbler!
It seems like most of the day is spent sitting around the camp fire. I can't complain it's one of my favorite things to do.

Mmmm... fire!
Krista surprised the kids with some humongous marshmallows to roast. Kellen and Dustin acted as our short order marshmallow cooks, and they were pretty good at it too!

The next couple of photos need a little bit of an introduction... You see, my dad's a harasser! Ever since we were kids, one of my dad's favorite things to do is stick his tongue in your ear!

See the silly grin on his face... he thinks he's a riot, but I have to admit, I was laughing too!

And then it was my turn!

Need a few more tales of harassment? He also likes to come in to your room early in the morning before you want to wake up and plop down on top of you like a stack of pancakes in your bed, man it was hard to breathe! You could be sitting there watching TV and he's have his finger in your ear. Walk by and he'll pinch your butt! The best/worst of it all was after he'd been on a hunting or fishing trip where he wouldn't have to shave for quite a few days and when he'd come in to wallow you he'd have a bunch of pokey whiskers to rub all over your face.

Last year at Brentwood, Krista and Duane got married.

Here's a one year anniversary picture of the not-so-newlyweds.

Another activity that happens almost every year is the water balloon launch. Tom has a water balloon launcher, we fill up a ton of water balloons and then some of the kids volunteer, or get volunteered to be targets (as they are walking back across the meadow from the creek). It's quite fun and on occasion, we get close to hitting the targets. This year it turned into a water balloon fight, that was fun too!

Alex decided that since she was soaked, and Tom was fairly dry, that Tom needed some extra lovin'! Like Tom's shirt? It's for evading those pesky kids with water balloons!

Bradley loved the water balloons! We helped him launch a few with the water balloon launcher and it was hilarious. I didn't have my P&S camera with me to get video of his laugh/excitement when he launched a balloon. He sounded like monkey each time he let one go and the closer the balloon got to it's target the more hysterical it sounded! I think his mom got some video of it and is saving it to show his future prom dates!

Lexie lovin' on her water balloon.

Here's a cute picture of Lizzy.

All the girls had so much together and it seemed like they got along so well. Lexie and Lizzy were upset to leave, without getting the other girls phone numbers.

Nate and Missy, Lexie, Bradley and Lizzy, what an adorable family! We're so glad you decided to come camping with us!

I snapped a few cute pictures of my relatives as well... Here's Dustin.
Ashley

Kiely

I think we all had a great time and hopefully we can do it again next year. I think my dad already has the first weekend in August '09 reserved. If you are interested in tagging along to our family and friends reunion, just let me know. I have maps and we would be more than happy to have you there!