First Ken Foster Family Reunion (and hopefully not the last!)

My immediate family went on our first ever Ken Foster Family Reunion last weekend. Cody and I have been trying to plan a trip like this for a couple years and last winter we made everyone put it on their calendars that we were going somewhere. At first we were hoping for a Lake Powell trip, but we didn't end up buying a boat and that's a ton of money to spend when you don't have any of the toys. My Mom has a good friend with a home in Hurricane, UT and she let us rent it out while we were down there. We all arrived around lunchtime last Thursday, so we ate and then headed to these awesome waterfalls by Gunlock Reservoir.

 If we hadn't seen other people jumping I don't think we would have felt safe, but these pools were deep! The diving space wasn't very big, but it was a blast! All of us adults, except for pregnant Lisa and my cameraman Dad jumped in multiple times. The day was hot and the water felt great!

 We slid down the rocks with the kids into more shallow areas for them to play.

 Cole didn't want to miss out on the jumping fun and so Cody jumped in with him from a shorter distance. Cole was actually mad at first that Cody wasn't jumping from the higher ledge. Silly boy!

 Aubrey, Cole and Halle watching the cliff jumpers.

 Friday morning Cody and I, and my brothers woke up at 5:30 to be on the lake at 6:00am. Sand Hollow Reservoir was less than 5 minutes from our house. Kevin has a friend that owns 4 boat dealerships in the St. George area, and he let us take out his demo boat for the day. Cody started the morning out with a little slalom skiing and then switched to wakeboarding. He bought this wakeboard last fall and has been dying to try it out.

 Me and my typical slalom pose. I do cross out of the wake, but I'm not a very aggressive skier, so I look like this most of the time.

 After the 4 of us got some runs in we headed back to the house to eat breakfast and help get the kids ready for a day at the lake. Blake is our little water baby and constantly splashed the whole time he was in or near water. He'd make Ethan cry because he kept getting him wet.

 Contrary to what this looks like, Tucker DID NOT like his tube ride. We're not quite sure why, I think he wanted to be wearing his goggles in case he went under the water. He's got some idea in his head that he can only swim with them. At least we did get him out on the water.

 Blake was loving being flag baby and was quite ticked off when someone bigger came along to take over flag duty.

 Shade tarps and pack n plays are wonderful things.

 I tried wakeboarding later in the day. The water conditions weren't great, it was windy and choppy, but I still popped right up every time. My problem is staying up. I faced planted a couple times and decided my head didn't need a beating anymore.

 Cousins playing on the massive swim deck.

 Saturday morning we went into Zion National Park. It was the one park in Utah that Cody had never been too. This makes me feel really old, but it had been 20 years since I've been there last. Cody and I decided we were going to hike Angel's Landing (named because people used to think only angels could land there because of how precarious it is at the top) and my parents and rest of the family took the kids to hike to the entrance to the Narrows and the Weeping Rock.

 Cody put Blake in the backpack and we trekked up the mountain. It's a pretty steep climb and Cody had done a 10 mile hike with the scouts Wednesday night, cliff jumped Thursday, skied/wakeboarded Friday and hiked Saturday. He was tired, but of course made it and didn't give up.

 The last half mile you follow chains and straight drop offs to make it to the end of the hike. It's pretty treacherous and I would NEVER let my other kids do this hike yet. I did it when I was 9, but I'm pretty sure my Dad never let go of my hand.

 Wouldn't want to fall back down.

 We made it to the peak and got an Asian to take a quick picture for us.

 Beautiful cactus rose at the top.

 Blake was great the whole hike up, but coming down the chain part freaked him out. He doesn't love to be thrown in the air like our other kids and I think he had that falling sensation that made him cry. He was also super tired, but didn't sleep a wink. We took a bottle break to help him out - he still cried until we got off the scary part.

 Saturday night all of us but Heather, Dan and Ethan went into St. George to see Cars 2. It was a cute movie from what I saw. I had to take Cole and Blake out a couple times, but other than that - the movie went well. We don't take our kids to the movies very often, so Tucker and Aubrey loved it.

Sunday we went to the St. George Temple. We walked around the grounds and then went into the visitor center. This is our whole group minus Cody and Blake who was taking a nap in the truck.

 The kids were so captivated listening to the missionaries talk about Jesus.

 That afternoon my Dad, Spencer and Kevin's family returned home for work the next day. My Mom, Heather's family and us drove back to Zion to drive through the mile long tunnel.

We came home Monday morning after we'd packed and cleaned up. It was a great trip and even though the temps were in the 100's we love it. I was in Maryland 3 weeks before where the heat index was 105, but that humidity makes it so much worse. 105 and dry was a nice change.