twin lakes (and kate celebrates a birthday at the lake!)

 

In the olden days, when I was a little girl, my family used to go to Twin Lakes every summer.  Even better, our best family friends, the Rupp family would come along.  Some of my best memories growing up involve that little lake!  This year, we ended up planning our Croney family reunion at the same time as the Rupp reunion, so we were all at the Lake at the same time!  We weren't at neighboring sites, but we gathered one evening to visit, and wow!  We have turned out to be a pretty big group!

 

Kate celebrated her birthday while we were there, and she was so happy that her best pal Ashley was there (so fun since her mom and I were always Twin Lakes best buddies too!)  She and her cousin Jenna came to celebrate that evening with us and Kate was so happy!  Kate and Ashley are very different personalities, but really are like sisters.  They genuinely love each other and I love watching them together.

 

Sam and Abigail - look at those dirty faces!  I love this picture!

 

 

 

When we got home, Kate's cute friend Reagan had made this poster and left it on her bed for a suprise!  Kate was so excited!  So glad for sweet friends! 

 

 Happy Birthday Miss Kate.  We love you so much!  You are smart, kind, and thoughtful.  You are always the first one to tell me thank you, and are quick to say you are sorry when you have hurt my feelings.  I love you and everything you are!

 

 

wo-jo family reunion in heber

(Aunt Haylee and her look-alike, Emmy)

 

Back in June, we headed to the mountains with the WO-JO family and had a super fun time.  Of course, it doesn't really matter where we go with our family, we always have fun! 

 

  

 

One of the highlights was the SKIP-IT, a handy little toy that goes around the ankle- the object is to get it moving in a circular motion and skip over it with the other foot each time it comes around.  Some of the kids spent hours each day trying to increase their score, and so of course Aunt Haylee had to get involved in the competition.  One afternoon all the adults (except me, because I'm a party pooper!) gave it a whirl.  Needless to say, we laughed really hard.

 (Little Josh and Sam, best buddies!)

Another day we went to the nearby community pool.  Everyone had a great time!

 

This picture of Emmy and Claire made me smile.  One morning I went upstairs to check on Claire and she was sitting by the doorway of the bedroom crying.  She told me that a bee had stung her.  Sure enough, when I checked her bed there were two dead wasps underneath where she was sleeping and she had been stung twice in her sleep.  Darn wasps, anyway.

 

We had a great time and the kids were sad to go home, as always.  These weekends with their cousins is something they look forward to all year long!