Off on Another Adventure of a Lifetime.

I am so excited for today. Today, I have mixed emotions about leaving my family, however selfishly, I know it is going to be an amazing week. The preparations have been made, the van is packed to the hilt, there are meals in the fridge, made with love by Sam's Club, friends have been called upon to help with our little ones, 90% of the laundry is done and prayers have been made for loving hands and eyes to be watching over my little family while I am gone. Peace out.....

All Good Things Must Come to an End...

This concludes the blogging from our 2011 Villarreal Family Reunion in Washington. We had an amazing time and we look forward to seeing everyone again, hopefully very soon. We are miles and miles away from each other most of the year, however we look foward to being together and making memories that will last forever.

The last night of our trip, we all met at Mike and Nani's for our last meal together and it was to die for! This is a picture of Grandpa and Grandma Villarreal and their Grandchildren!

Enjoying the Tucannon River

Fish are Friends...and Food.

The NOT so Fun.

The not so fun part of camping was the whole new level of dirt that formed under our nails, between our toes, up our noses, on our skin and was ground into our hair. The kids thought it was a blast.
This is a picture of a child, after my own heart, who seemed to manage to stay clean compared to the rest.

Yes, they ate with hands like this and by the end of the trip, I had lost the battle and allowed Kyce to actually eat a skittle that he picked up out of the dirt.

I love how the band aides on the fingers pick up even more dirt.After a hand check, I decided, a little extra dirt might count for a little extra fiber.

It makes me sad to think about how quickly the time went by and yet in the moment, I was thinking, " Okay.....enough dirt, skunks, squatting and smoke." Funny how that works because looking back, all I remember is how much fun it was!

2 by 2

Just some camping pictures I captured with two people together.

Auntie Laurel and CadersAuntie Becky and Karsyn

Grandma and Grandpa

Aaron and Uncle Tony

Benjy and Kaydree

Stacking

Stacking wood was a job that the little boys just loved doing with Grandpa.
Uncle Tony helped demonstrate the proper way to stack.

One little boy in particular was determined to get in on the action.

and he succeeded!

Setting Up Camp.

While we were camping in Washington, that was our Hilton Hotel right behind Karsyn and Aaron.

Grandpa and Grandma have an awesome cooking tent. Grandma is an amazing cook and we were well fed, physically and spiritually, while we were camping. I know that some people are not going to be happy about these pictures because, who really likes to have their picture taken, especially when camping? I just have to have these memories in our blog book for our kiddos. Sorry. I think you all look fabulous!

The Temple Trips

This picture was taken at the Villarreal Family Reunion in Texas in July of 09. I was pregnant with Kyce.

This picture was taken in front of the Columbia River Temple last year in Richland Washington.
and this year in front of the Coloumbia River Temple.

We got up very early and had to be to the temple by 6:30AM. There may have been some resistence from the group as a whole due to the fact that we had been up late watching fireworks the night before. However, I think we all agreed, that by the time we were done at the temple and enjoying an adults only breakfast afterward, that it was worth it.

All Snuggled Up...Watching Fireworks

The best part....not one mosquito bite.

4th of July Dinner at the Jones'

Something that struck me at this dinner is how much I love when we are together and we have time to just sit and catch up and talk and laugh and enjoy one another's company. At this point we were talking about the best books we have read lately. It was so fun. I also just love how some of these pictures capture those relationships between brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, mothers and fathers, and Grandparents.
It always feels so long in between visits and everyone especially the kiddos, change so much, yet we just seem to pick up, where we left off.It reminds me so much of the relationship I had with my cousins growing up, we lived in Colorado and they all lived in Minnesota, but we loved getting together and playing in the hot summer days.