Utah trip Aug. 1-15

We were in charge of the Baker Family Reunion this year! One sibling is in charge each year. Caleb is the 10th child so it finally got around to being our turn. We had it at Bear Lake. We camped at Traveland RV Park and had a lot of fun. We played at Rendezvous Beach where we rode jet skis and paddle boards, jumped on the water trampoline, swam, played in the sand, played volleyball, etc. We had morning devotionals, family cheers, a family 5K, swimming and a movie at the pool next to the campground, and lots of good food! It was a lot of work planning all the food for everyone but we were glad we did it that way so that everyone could prepare/clean up and eat together. We were pretty worried about the weather as it was supposed to be rainy and cloudy, but it didn't really rain until our last night there, when it really poured!! Even then it turned out great. We all gathered in the three biggest tents. John and James shared about their missions in two of the tents and Grandpa shared memories of his father in the other tent. Then the speakers rotated.The water at Bear Lake is definitely on the chilly side though. It's bearable but not comfortable. One of these years I'd love to make it back to Lake Powell!

Here was our family cheer:
"We are the Caleb Baker family,
We drove here from New Jersey. We love you can't you see?!?
Caleb, Kim, Samuel, Eliza, Zoe too,
Rain or share we're happy to be here with you!... OH YEAH!"

Eliza gave the best "Oh yeah" at the end. :)

Kimbrie and Eliza in their new dresses from Grandma.

The whole gang. Caleb designed the awesome reunion shirts!

The backs have everyone's names forming the shape of a temple.

We were dying laughing at this picture. Caleb looks like he has a huge belly! I think the shadows are just right or something! One of those pics we'll pull out whenever we need a good laugh. :)

The drive there was actually really fun. The kids did great and we all really enjoyed being together. We left at 3 pm on Friday August 1st, arrived at Josh and Stephanie's apartment in Peoria, IL around 6 am on Saturday, slept for a few hours, spent the day with them and Grandma and Grandpa Baker (who were on their way to Utah too for the reunion from their mission in Wisconsin), went to church with them Sunday, drove part way then stayed the night at a hotel, stopped in Ogden to visit my friend Makana and see her new babies, arrived in Elk Ridge around midnight. Tuesday we played at Boondocks with the Whitneys and Lewis', then Wednesday we drove to Bear Lake to start the reunion!

Josh interned at Caterpillar this summer so we went to their awesome museum.

Sam and Jonathan really love each other. They became such good friends when we both lived at Wymount and they were excited to see each other. They are ALL boy and do a lot of wrestling, shooting things, fighting bad guys, etc.

Silly Grandpa. :) Those machines are HUGE. Pretty incredible.

Makana and her sweet babies

The 11th was my 29th birthday and I was throwing up the first half of the day! A flu was going around when we got there. Caleb flew to St. Louis that afternoon for work, the kids and I left Tuesday morning with Gma and Gpa. Gma drove our van so I could help the kids. We've gotten good at just pulling off to the side of the road when the kids need to pee! We stayed the night at a hotel then split off from them the next morning. They headed north back to Wisconsin and I finished the drive to my sister in law Hazel's house in Kansas City. We stayed there for two nights (Josh and Stephanie were there too w their kids!), then drove to St. Louis Friday afternoon where we met up with Caleb. We stayed the night there, drove home Saturday, got home at 5 am on Sunday, had church at 10. Let's just say the drive home was NOT as fun as the drive there! Everything smelled like pee as both kids were wetting their pants, and we were all pretty sick of everything that comes with traveling! The kids took a couple weeks to readjust. Especially Eliza. She had been potty trained for a couple months and we had to re-do that, her tantrums were at an all time high, it was just a really rough couple weeks after we got home. Seriously some of the hardest days of my life so far. But we got through it and are better and closer for it. I've accepted that being a mother of 3 young children is hard and often crazy and chaotic! Now that I've accepted that, I am enjoying it much more. :)