And a picture of Steadman's

I found a picture that shows more of what Steadman's looks like. It really is beautiful out there. It looks very peaceful ~ until the George clan arrives!

Summer Rewind: George Family Reunion

Samantha, Aleise,Emily, Brinley and Jessica

The last weekend in July we hosted the First Annual (hopefully) George Family Reunion. Not everyone was able to be there but those of us who were sure had a blast! I got to take the girls to see Emily and Aleise perform at the International Dance Festival on Friday night. These girls are such great friends and I am so thankful that we have such an awesome family that supports one another and are good examples for each other.

Brinley and Aleise

There was lots of visiting, laughing, running and eating during the weekend. Lots and lots of eating. We took walks along the river, danced with the Wii, played on the slip n' slides and just hung out together. And did I mention eating? Each family was in charge of a meal and we ate really well. I wish I had taken more pictures of the ordinary stuff but here are the highlights. We played a game, compliments of the Waites, that had us all in stitches. The premise of the game is that each person takes a nylon stocking with a tennis ball in the end of it and pulls it all the way over their heads. Like so...

Then the object of the game is to get your stocking twirling around by swinging your head, and pull off your opponent's stocking by looping yours around theirs and pulling until it pops off their head. As you can imagine, the game can be a little dangerous so we had to have an adult round and a kids' round. We also had relay races and played human slingshot, another game that had Gramps a little nervous about safety.

We ended the night by watching a movie on the projector outside. We set up our big tent and all the kids slept out there. (A great part of the reunion was that we didn't have renters in our basement so there was plenty of room for everyone.)

Saturday was more of just having fun being together. That afternoon we went out to Steadman's. It is a beautiful farm on a hill in the middle of nowhere in Raft River. There are just golden fields of wheat as far as the idea can see to the foot of the mountains. The Steadmans built some awesome slides in their yard on the hill for their family and then opened it up to the public to make reservations. The sight now includes two giant slides, a sunken trampoline, campsites, a sandbox, a huge 500 foot zipline, candy cannons, swingsets, fire pits, and even paintball/airsoft. It is hard to capture the whole slide on the camera but one is 700 feet long and the other is 500.

Brayden, Aaron, Diana and Paul make a train

Aleise and Jessie run down the hill Little House on the Prarie style

Porter contemplates the zipline

Kevin and Aleise, who is not sure about this!

Parker, Sammy, Noah and Kevin

Soon tubes were abandoned as they were too much trouble to haul back up the hill.

Gramps was on safety patrol. I think the whole thing made him a little nervous. He was happy to sit and watch while holding a sleeping Oliver.

Emily, Jessie, Brayden and Parker pile up at the bottom of the slide

Grandma and Gramps

We have a great family, and it all began with these two. I am looking forward to many more summer reunions!

Keep on Jiggin'

Here is my newest little Irish dancer. Aleise started Irish dance this summer and she couldn't be more thrilled! She loves it and thinks that she is so beautiful when she is dressed in costume, especially when she 'has her hair on'. And she is pretty dang cute.

The girls got to perform at the King Fine Arts Center for the International Dance Festival in July. It was a great opportunity to perform on such a big stage to a large audience. They did great!