Betteridge Layton Reunion 2016

We all met at a Marriott hotel in Layton for our reunion this year. After checking in and deciding on rooms and whatnot we met at a restaurant (of my choice because it was my birthday) and had dinner. I was in the mood for Indian or Thai so we found a local Thai place about 10 min from the hotel and called to make sure they could accommodate a group of about 34 people, 19 of those being kids under the age of 14.  We had the place to ourselves at first and the food was great. The only problem was it took almost 2 hours to get everyone their food. Lesson learned... with a group that big just eat at a buffet or do fast food.  Freddy exploded out of his diaper and my sisters surprised me with some cupcakes after dinner and everyone sang Happy Birthday to me... a couple of times.  Then we took over the hotel pool and swam until it was bedtime. That night we put the kids to bed and were going to meet in Sarah and German's extra room in their suite to hang out. I was the first one done putting my kids to bed and was told that I couldn't come in yet. So I went back to my room and almost fell asleep when I heard a knock at my door and was shepherded down to a room all decorated for a surprise party. It was fun to have been thought of that much and I was really surprised to see some beautifully wrapped gifts on the table and a big ice cream sandwich cake.  Sisters are the best.

We planned out the rest of the week (using my new teacher planner they got for me!) and then said goodnight. The next day we went to a splash pad and set up a big game of Disc Golf.

Then later that night we met at a park in Murray for an extended Betteridge get-together with my dad's siblings and their kids. It was fun to see cousins that I hadn't seen in 10 years or more. We had made matching tshirts for our reunion where every sub family had a different color so it was really convenient to introduce Chris and my kids by just pointing out all the green shirts.

The second full day we went to the Hill Air Force Museum. Really really interesting.

 

 Then we had a church building reserved nearby to just hang out in and get out of the heat for the middle part of the day. Sarah brought giant Bana-a-grams, and we spelled the word: Betteridge with our bodies on the floor and used Jordan's drone to take areal pictures.  We moved in the comfy chairs and just let the kids run around.

Then we went back to the hotel, let the kids swim and got ready for family pictures that night. 

 

 

One of the favorite things was letting all the kids have turns riding in Grandma and Grandpa's little RV Rialta to and from the hotel and our excursions.

Our last full day was Friday and we started off with a work party at Tiff and Todd's Salt Lake house so they could get it ready to sell. They had TONS of yard work and had to replace all the carpet and get it painted and what not. 19 kiddos aren't very helpful in this way so some of us moms took the kids to a nearby park while the others worked. 

Then we went to Temple Square to look at the new Joseph Smith video in the Church History Museum. Awesome. Also their kids floor was really fun too.

Then we hit up Mrs. Caughvinaughs Chocolate Factory in North Salt Lake before heading back to the hotel. Pretty cool how that little local company started and it was neat to learn about how they make the chocolates... and all the free samples weren't bad. :) 

Then we finished the day with a pool party and BBQ at the hotel. Really, the kids could've played in the pool all day and been happy. 

We let the older cousins stay up a bit and have a little party one night since we've been putting them to bed the same time as the little kids the past few nights so us adults could have some hang out time. Our last night dad brought out a box of memorabilia from Grandma Hardy's house that needed to be gone through and we looked at some old pictures of us as little kids, or cards that mom made and gave to Grandma Hardy.

Its always hard to say goodbye, but we were trying to meet Chris' cousin in St. Louis the next morning so we had a 20 hour drive ahead of us and we got on the road around 9 or 10. I think overall it turned out better than I thought it would. I worried the separate hotel rooms would be difficult to meet all together and I worried the random stuff to do would not be interesting or it would be expensive... but no! It was just great. Like all large group gatherings, I feel like there were individual people I didn't get to have good 'connecting' time with but then there were some people that I happened to have good moments with.... my favorite one of those was cuddling with my sister Sarah and her husband German in their bed late one evening while we waited for other adults to be ready to hang out because I was SO COLD. This Mississippi girl is used to over 100 degree days with the head index and all the AC blasting hotel rooms made me freezing.  I can't wait for the next Betteridge Blast...

Baby shower, golfing, GiGi, and haircuts

The day before the Betteridge Reunion started we threw a babyshower for Estefi since her little boy, Tommy was due just a few weeks after the reunion. It was an "Oh, the places he'll go"  / "Hello world" theme. Tiff had popcorn in little bags that said, "ready to pop!" all cute, and lots of yummy 'international' food: Mexican Pork Salad, chocolate croissants, quiches, Greek yogurt parfait, Italian sodas, and chocolate brownies with airplanes stuck on the top. 

Sarah and I were in charge of games and I brought the ultrasound game that I've used at various showers in the past 6 years, a 'get-to-know-estefi-better' questionnaire, and a little mini Mommy Olympics. Everyone who came got one of 3 colors of a cute hair-tie bracelet thing that automatically divided them up into teams. Then when it came time to play the game they could nominate one person to send up to compete for their country. We had 3 events: "in the car one handed back hand carseat fruit snack toss" - for when you're driving in the car and need to accurately toss a fruit snack to a carful of kids, a "tied up knees ball drop" - for when you're making dinner and trying to maneuver around the kitchen with a toddler wrapped up around your knees crying to be held, and a 'fast food drive through order' - for when you're trying to listen to 4 kids talk to you at once and keep track of all the changes they make to various components of their meal selection at a drive through.  They all turned out well, simple, interesting, and optional.  I had all the kids with me (who all just watched a movie next door at Jared and Ashley's with Grandpa and other dads/kids) because Chris got to go golfing with his dad. He hadn't played in a long time but he played really really well! I love how happy he is when he gets to do something he loves and does it well.

The morning before we all gathered in Layton for the reunion, we took an hour or two to visit with Chris' Grandma. I keep expected her to seem all of a sudden older or something as she's over 90.. but she still looks the same! She just received some horrible news about her house. The city needs to remove -- as in demolish-- it (and all the other houses on his side of the street) because they're expanded the main road that goes right along the front of her yard. Apparently the city voted and its a done deal and she's got no choice. That's the house Chris' dad grew up in and she's lived a widow there for 25 or so years.  Since she lives at the end of the road, she thinks she may get to stay there for another year or two or three (in her words), "if I can last that long". The garden in her backyard is a symbol and a current demonstrator of her life's work as she still keeps it up. So. So. Sad. I think they should keep the garden and set it up as a community garden or mini park in honor of her. 

I gut Chris' hair to look all nice for family pictures. :) We tried out a conservative mullet mohawk. Looks normal from the front, but its a party in the back.   Oh, Chris. 

UT time with Jess and Ryan - Pioneer Day

A few days after I got home from Girls Camp we loaded up and headed to UT a bit early for my family's reunion. We wanted to make the 29 hour drive extra worth it by spending some time with Chris' family. We stayed at Jess and Ryan's for the first time because Dixie and James would be gone most of the time we were there to Chris' cousins wedding in Oregon. It was SO awesome to spend that much time with Jess and her family. Our kids line up perfectly (except that they also have a little 6 mo old baby) and they played together so so well. I was especially impressed with their oldest, Mady. She is so helpful and kind-hearted, and responsible! The girls slept in one room: 

And the boys slept in another: 

We kept Freddy in the room next to us since he has a hard time falling asleep when other kids are in the room... like when we go camping he is seriously the last one to nod off. He was a little bummed about this but mostly he was young enough to not really realize what he was missing. I loved having so much time with Jess and Ryan in the evenings. When we stay at Chris' parents house in UT, they usually have to leave every evening to put their kids to bed and we miss evening time with them. Ryan (and even Jess) are into cycling and so we watched the Tour de France in the evenings and just chatted. Jess watched our kids one morning so Chris and I could go do a temple session in the new Provo City Center Temple. It was such a wonderful experience. The building used to be the Provo Tabernacle and when Chris and I were dating it was the building we met in twice a year for Stake Conference and it was a real landmark in Chris' mind throughout his childhood. So when it burned down in 2010 it was really hard for him... I believe there were some tears shed as he watched some of the coverage online.  We were so excited when it was announced that it would become a temple and have followed the buildings progress and were SUPER sad to have missed the Open House by 3 weeks last Christmas.  Its hard to express in words how stunned we were with the beauty of the new temple. Every room was like a new discovery that we wanted to study and admire. It was fun trying to picture the old layout in my mind as we walked through. Chris said its like everything the church has learned about building beautiful temples has been optimized in this building...like a capstone or something. Seriously the most stunning edifice I've ever been in (and I've traveled throughout Europe touring famous chateaus and castles) .. I know a lot of that has to do with the Spirit of the work that goes on there and with our personal ties to it. Anyway.. I'm probably overstating this experience.. but I'm just trying to capture it just right...it was ... ugh! its just so hard to put it to words! Peaceful? Heart-pounding? Radiant? Exquisite? Meaningful? Resoundingly fulfilling? 

We did some fun things with Jess and Ryan and with Dixie and James and Edward and Kayla. We had dinner together, went swimming, went on a hike, went running, went out to a movie, celebrated birthdays (mine and Dixie's -- where Jess and Kayla totally spoiled me and got me some REALLY cute shirts, dresses, shoes and jewelry) and watched movies.  I love Chris' family so much and feel really lucky to have married into such an awesome family. 

On the Saturday before Pioneer Day there is this awesome firework/community party in one of the cul-de-sac's in Jess' neighborhood. They call it the Cul-de-sac of Fire. This one family started it because they like to light off fireworks so they would buy a bunch and light them off for the neighbors. Its gotten bigger and bigger as neighbors have added in things themselves: an inflatably bouncy house, face painting, popcorn stand, music, sno cones, and some tables of potluck-style deserts. Everything was free except for the food truck where you could buy some good BBQ. 

Freddy was pretty tired and I'm glad we brought the stroller for him to fall asleep in. We played and chatted with Chris and his sister, and his aunt and a cousin until just before they were going to light off the fireworks. We knew it was going to be late and it was pretty crowded and Jess said the fireworks were big enough that if you're up too close your neck hurts from starring straight up so we walked back to Jess and were going to watch them from her house on the next street over. 

The fireworks lasted SO LONG. I was so impressed that it was just a neighborhood thing. Such a fun night.