Dog Sitter

Stella went to a dog sitter that I found on the Rover app while we were in Utah. The sitter sent me regular pictures and updates, which was nice. The sitter's mom also watches dogs and runs a playgroup a few times a week. Stella had a blast playing with other dogs on a daily basis.

She was often worn out in a good way.

The sitter took her on walks and once to the pet store where she bought her a treat.

 While Stella had a fabulous time, there was an issue with one of the dogs that were in the playgroup, the smallest one. I am unsure if we will use that sitter again if the smaller dog will be there.

Now Stella is back home with us and hanging out with the kiddos. We missed her.

Snapchat

One of the funniest parts of this reunion is the pictures. Aunt Amanda introduced the nieces and nephews to an app called Snapchat, which adds fun effects to your pictures.

 And oh my, did they have so much fun with that. We have probably over 50 pictures with Snapchat filters on them.

Eventually she gave Paige her phone. You can only imagine the crazy photos she got.

Cooking With Family

So that no one had to be cooking every meal every day, Shiloh set up a rotation system where each family was in
charge of a meal. It worked pretty well though often other family members helped. Here are the cousins getting together to make some part of the meal.

 

My niece, Sarah, is going to school for culinary arts. It was fun to talk to her about it.

Hanging out in the kitchen is always fun. And these cute little faces didn't mind snacking either.

Flight Home

We had to leave after breakfast to make it to SLC in time for our flight home. We would be flying until late in the night in NC. Saying goodbye is hard, especially after such a wonderful weekend.

 

Cherry Circle Crips. ;)

  

We had a nonstop flight from SLC to RDU. Two kind souls switched us seats on the plane so we could all sit together. The kids have been such good travelers this trip. I'm very impressed.

We finally made it back to our house near midnight after a full day of traveling. We are all so very tired.

Visiting

The best part of any family reunion for me is just the time we spend visiting with one another. We rarely get to see one another and we don't talk on the phone as much as we should.

After this reunion we all decided that we were going to have another one in two years. We all realized it was too wonderful to get together to not make it a more regular thing. The McDaniels are in charge of the next one. We will have it in NC.

Some of the best conversations happened in quiet moments,  one on one. Brendan loved hearing stories from my childhood and all about his ancestors. Family history is a definite benefit of reunions.

Family Games

We brought two or three games to play with family on the trip. Brendan was able to talk a big group into playing One Night Alien. It was a hoot!

Aunts and uncles brought games as well. Telfords always have been bigtime gamers.

 

The cousins also played four way chess. It looks pretty hard to me.

The day before we left Jason had a chess session with Elijah Winn. Elijah is pretty good but Jason has been playing speed chess for years. He was able to give Elijah some pointers.

But we didn't just play board games. More often than not there was some imaginary play going on, especially outside.

At times, Brendan had trouble with all the noise and chaos. My sister, Amanda, was so thoughtful to bring her Xbox so that he could escape and play a game where he was in control. It was also cute how the younger cousins came down to watch him play since he is a "big kid" and SO good at Minecraft.

A few times, my kids took my phone and shared some of theri favorite apps with cousins. Here is Darby, Ethan and Jo playing Toca Boca Hair salon. You get to make crazy hairstyles. They giggled the whole time.

It made my heart happy to see all these cousins playing together. Family is something special.

Our Last Night

After the pictures we built another campfire and made s'mores as a reward for surviving the photo shoot.

 

Brendan helped Uncle Thomas with setting up stumps for seats.

  

Hailey having a cute conversation with Hannah. The older girls cousins were so good with the little ones.

Silly uncles convinced Dottie that she needed to ask her mom for "chocolate sandwiches" for lunch tomorrow.

 

Roasting the marshmallows was a big hit. 

 

 

After screaming much of the photo shoot, Vivian fell asleep on Aunt Amanda and stayed that way for almost an hour.

  

  

 

What a fun way to end the day, around a campfire.

 

  

  

Its not just my kids that were fascinated with the cows.

Amanda grabbed my attention in enough time to snap a picture of this scene. It might be my favorite of the whole trip. 

 

When Vivian finally woke up she wanted her parents. Uncle Thomas kept her happy with, what else but songs on his phone. ;)

Poor Uncle Flynn's arm is in a sling due to a hockey incident. Being the newest in-law in the Telford clan, he was such a good sport being surrounded by so many of us while not feeling 100 percent. He is an only child. We must be overwhelming. Haha.

 

Before Thomas and his family left, Aunt Amanda tried to secure her "funnest aunt" status with Vivian. She looks unsure. ;)

 

I love my family!