WFR - Family Pictures

One of the day's activities included taking family pictures. It was quite an ordeal because there were so many of us and becuse it rained that morning.

Joshua and Kaitlin even played together.

West Family Reunion 2011: Part 1

We had so much fun at our West family reunion this year. We met up in Medford and stayed at my mom's new house and at Lance and Sunni's house. The first day we all got together, the adults went to the temple as a family. It was so nice to all meet together there. It really made me so grateful for eternal families and for the temple covenants that our families have made. It was the perfect way to start the week.

After that, we mostly hung out at the various houses. We swam a bunch, played ping pong, and played a lot of games. Each family took a night to cook and the food was great!

Emma and Anya had so much fun playing with their cousins non-stop. 

Our family loved the beautiful weather and spent a lot of time out doors. Emma especially loved working with Grandpa Larry in the garden. Every morning she woke up early and met him out in the garden to talk about fishing and worms and plants.

Kaitlin is still great at making funny faces!

The girls all got haircuts from Grandma West. 

Summer Road Trip 2011

We took a very long trip this summer where we spent 40 hours in the car plus driving to various places while we were in town. It was a lot of driving, but the girls were amazing. Sabrina rode half way with us and she was such a huge help. Anyway, here is the fun we had in the car . . .

We slept a bunch.

We ran away from a T-Rex.

We pet a brachiosaurus.

We almost got eaten alive!

Mike had some fun with the easy cheese. He drew pictures for us on the crackers. He even took requests. My favorite was his "leaning tower of cheesa."

 

Foxy came with us and Emma had a lot of fun playing "veterinarian." She was so cute as she pet Foxy and helped her "calm down." 

For her birthday (post to follow) Emma got one of those 20 questions game. You think of something and the game asks you twenty questions and tries to figure out what you are thinking of. It is actually pretty good. We played that a bunch on the way home and listened to Huck Finn on CD. 

A Day in the Life

Anya's really enjoying wearing her sunglasses like mommy.

She has really started drawing pictures that look like something. I think she was drawing Emma.

For one of our summer outings we went to Home Depot for their free woodworking activity.

Emma made a key holder for herself and one for daddy.

Willy Wonka Jr.

 Emma was lucky enough to be in her school's production of Willy Wonka Jr. She really wanted to be an Oompa Loompa, but there were something like 200 kids who tried out so she got casted as a cook. At first we were confused because there aren't cooks in the original Willy Wonka. However, in the Jr. version, Augustus sings a song about how he loves to eat and the cooks dance around and bring him food. 

 

It was a happy coincidence that Mike's mom was in town when the show was on so she got to come see Emma in her big debut. 

Anya was so cute walking between daddy and Grandma.

Emma was so excited that Grandma could  be there!

It was a fun experience and I think Emma had a great time. She was so excited that she got to wear real makeup. She looked so pretty and so much older with it on. (When that girl hits teenage years, I think we are going to be in trouble!) Although, I don't think she quite got the idea of being a serious actor. On Saturday they had a matinee and then an afternoon show. Between shows they had a cast party and of course Emma was running around like crazy and got a little rumpled. When I showed up for the afternoon show she was shoeless and a little messy. I straightened her hair and clothes and told her to put her shoes back on then wished her luck! Well, when she came on stage, she didn't have her shoes on. I was upset at the time, but now thinking about it, I'm not surprised. Emma will be Emma. 

Emma is the short one to the left of the table behind Augustus on the ground.

All in all she did a great job and we were really proud of her!