the one about the Burns reunion

We got home Sunday evening from the annual Burns family reunion. That is Grandma Galley's family. This year, we went to MillSite State Park near Ferron, Utah. It was such a neat place! I had never even heard of it but it was a super fun place to go. It was very nice and clean. There were very nice camp sites right on the beach of the lake. There was a really cool golf course there and the guys hit that a few times. We had a nice pavilion and full bathrooms and showers. Of course, I have my own bathroom and shower in my trailer, but it is still nice to have it there. The weather was sort of nasty the first couple of days, but Saturday was PERFECT! We had a lot of rain, but that wasn't even that bad part... the WIND was AWFUL! But only a small part of the time so it was bearable. We left Wednesday afternoon. the drive should have only been about 3 and a half hours, but it ended up being about 5. We started having vehicle problems at the summit of Indian canyon. We pulled over, popped the hood and Brett discovered a blown radiator hose. He had to totally McGyver it with an old leather glove and his belt, but it got us to Price so we could get the parts we needed. We traveled with Tara's family and by the time we got to the part store in Price, the kids were ready to stretch out.

They had water guns so.... do the math. Antsy kids cooped up in cars, slow, hot travel; add in a few water guns and... well you can only imagine! After that little bump in the road, and a pit stop at Subway, we were on our way. Setting up camp was pretty easy, since there wasn't much leveling to do. Spence looks totally weird in this picture, but it was so funny that he kept putting his head in the trailer and yelling things like, "Mommy! I'm hungry!" "Mommy! I'm scared!" etc. etc. He is such a nut!!! He took a tent and we put it right by our trailer. I was so worried that he was going to get attacked by a bear. Brett assured me that there are not many bears in the dessert, but I was still concerned. They also told me they sprayed the tent with bear repellent so that eased my mind a lot. ;) We were all hungry around 10 pm, so I made TONS of grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. Thursday morning, we headed for Goblin Valley. It was about an hour and a half drive from our campground. Like every camp out, Quayd and Drake are attached at the hip, so Drake rode to Goblin Valley with us. They are such good boys and they have so much fun together. Here are some pix from that day. Brett, Spencer, Quayd, Drake and I all walked into the valley together. Can you see Brett and Spence way up at the top of the above picture???It started getting really hot and it was time for lunch but Brett and Spencer still wanted to hike so the little boys and I headed back to the pavilion. Grandma Galley had brought a nice big lunch for everyone. We spent a few hours there, then headed back to camp. We were all hot and tired and I think everyone of us, except Brett since he was driving, fell asleep. Friday morning we played Bingo. Grandma Galley takes her Bingo pretty serious! She shops all year long looking for sales and good deals on prizes for the kids and adults. Brett was the bingo caller and I helped set up prizes. Can you believe this? There were close to 80 people there and everyone that played went home with with a paper grocery sack full of stuff! On Friday evening, with the swords they got from Bingo, Brett and Spencer decided to have an ultimate fighting/jousting competition on the water trampoline. It was so funny. They both ended up bruised, scratched and sore the next day.

/p>

Saturday was spent mostly just relaxing and playing in the water and on the beach.








On our last night at the reunion, Brett and Spencer decided to make a craps table. They used the back of some wrapping paper and it it actually looked pretty good!


Brett had packed his poker set and it had everything in it for craps. They invited anyone who wanted to play. It ended up being Chad and Marcie, Scott, Shae, Brett and Spence. They had so much fun! The kids stayed up late that night riding bikes, playing with glow sticks and roasting marshmallows. Tara and I stayed up and fed our Bejeweled addiction. Yah, we totally had WiFi at the campground!!!

This is Chad's little boy, Evan. Isn't he so cute? I just love him!!! He gives "face lovies." So CUTE!!! It got kind of windy once it got dark, so it ended up being sorta chilly. I don't know how or why... but a few "people" decided to "take a dip" in the lake, if you know what I mean. Burrrrrrrr, it was SO COLD, but it sure was fun!!!!! It was a good way to end this fun camping trip. Quayd loves camping so much! I like it, I always have fun, but even if I didn't it would still be worth going, just so Quayd could have fun. It's funny, actually. I feel like I hardly even see Quayd when we are camping because he is off playing the whole time. He stays pretty busy exploring and playing. I'm so glad he loves it so much. He is so much fun! I just wish he would stop growing....

By the time we got home, cleaned everything up and re-stocked the trailer, I had decided that I had enough camping for awhile. But, now I have changed my mind... I am ready to go again. I actually think we might go this weekend. Anybody want to go???

the one about our camp trailer

We go camping quite a bit and I realized that some of you probably don't even know what our trailer looks like, some of you probably didn't even know we had a trailer, and most of you probably don't really care! But I am going to post about it anyway. It is a pretty big part of who we are so now you can love it just as much as we do! ;)

First, let me tell you how our trailer came into our lives... When we were first married, Aunt Rhonda had an old hand-me-down trailer that we used for a couple of years. It was tiny! It didn't have a bathroom or anything, but it worked for us. We really only used it for sleeping and storing stuff. We camped in it several times and it was just fine for us. Oh! And it was free! Anyway, once we had Quayd, we wanted something a little more comfortable and we wanted to have a bathtub so we could bathe him. Grandma and Grandpa Lane had an old trailer that was PERFECT for us! And free! It had been sitting in storage for awhile so we had to do some major clean up. Brett worked hard to get everything running, but he did it. It still had a few minor problems, but we didn't care. It worked for us, and again, the price was right. Once we fixed that one up, Grandpa decided to start using it again. He took it on a couple of elk hunting trips. We just sorta shared it. It was great. Anyway, when he was coming home one time, he wrecked it. Like, really bad. He somehow crashed it into a big rock mountain or something. It was totaled. And most of the stuff inside was lost in the accident. (Don't be alarmed. Grandpa was fine. In fact, the whole thing was really funny and we continue to tease him about it today! I think that when he crashed it, he didn't realize how bad it was so he just kept on driving. After awhile he noticed things were flying out. Anyway, we never really got the whole story. If you know Grandpa Lane, you just have to shake your head and laugh about the whole thing.) So after that happened, we were pretty sad that we didn't have a trailer anymore and since we had exhausted all of our free options, we knew it was time to buy a new one. Two springs ago, Brett, Quayd and I took a trip to the big city in search of our dream trailer. (We wanted to include Quayd in the decision since he loves camping more than Brett and I put together!) We didn't want anything too big, or too fancy. We are not showy that way. We also didn't want something super heavy and hard to pull. We kind of knew what we wanted so we started looking at the trailers on the lot. We spent hours looking! We would walk in one, and walk back out, not impressed. We were so sad, because we wanted one so bad. We were just getting ready to give up when we saw one lone small trailer on the other side of the lot with the huge ones. We decided we had nothing to lose so we went into it. No joke, the second we walked in, we all three knew it was the one! Isn't that silly? It is a camp trailer! But it was perfect for us. We just loved it. It was a great price and we just knew it was the one. Anyway, we got all of the paperwork taken care of and it was ours! No joke, every time we go camping, Brett and I look around and we are so proud of our purchase






At a family camp out awhile back, I made this to hang on the wall. It hangs by the door.
Our trailer is just so US! It's small, but comfortable. It has everything we need and it is truly our second home.

the one about our Lagoon trip

A few years ago, Brett and I decided to take Quayd on a vacation. I know I have talked about this before, sorry, but we went to South Dakota. It was great and wonderful and we still talk about it today. After that vacation, we decided we would take a family vacation every year. No matter what. Brett's family always traveled when he was growing up and they still talk about all of the fun things they have done. My family didn't travel much, but when we did, it was awesome. Quayd is such a good traveler, and Brett and I both love to travel, so we have made it a priority. We went pretty extravagant last year when we cruised the Caribbean. This year, we knew we needed to tone it down a bit, but we still wanted a special vacation where we could make lots of memories. We decided to combine our love of camping and amusement parks and spend a week at Lagoon! They have a really nice campground right next to the park. It has full hook-ups so we had unlimited water and power. And with temperatures being in the high 90's the whole week, we loved the electricity hook-up! We ran the air conditioner at full blast all week! My sweet little nephew, Brayden, joined us as well as Gary and Tara's family, Grandma and Grandpa Galley, Braden and Mya, Gleneita and Talia and the Montgomery's. It was actually supposed to be a two day Galley family reunion, but not many people were able to make it. Gary and Tara and Brett and I decided to make our trips longer. Not everyone was there as long as us. Most of them came on Friday and Saturday. We went Tuesday to Sunday. Anyway, onto the fun stuff! We left Tuesday morning and we were SO excited to get there. Pulling the trailer made it a long drive. We were the first ones to arrive. We set up camp and went straight to the park. For most of the big rides, you have to be 46" tall to ride. With his shoes on, Quayd is about 45 1/2" tall. Seriously, he is that close. Some of the ride attendants would let him ride, some wouldn't. The first few days that we were there, they were much more relaxed about it, but on Friday and Saturday, it was tough. He was getting so upset. I know, I know. The rule is 46". But how do I explain to a 5 year old that sometimes he can ride and sometimes he can't. He did get to ride Wicked once though, and he was so excited about it! He also rode the Colossus, the white roller coaster, Spider, the Bat, Tidal Wave, as well as every other kiddie or family ride. He was hard core! It was awesome. Brett and I both love to ride ANYTHING! So we refused to have a wimpy child. We decided that one day when we strike it rich, we will buy a big fat motor home or a private jet (depending on HOW rich we get) and just travel the world riding roller coasters. Wouldn't that be cool? It was crazy though, we had been on the Colossus 4 times in a row, and the 5th time the lady questioned his height. Stupid. But Talia got in her face and told her that he was fine and he could ride. Same thing happened with the white roller coaster. He actually got so mad at that lady! He ran to his dad and called the lady a terrible name. It's not very blog-friendly, so I won't type it. ;) They never would let him back on Wicked, and he was MAD! I am proud of him for being so brave though. He was so cool. I loved watching his face! It was cute though, he would be on these hard core crazy rides, then he would turn around and go to the kiddie rides and have a blast. Brett and I had to keep reminding ourselves that he is only five. Brayden was pretty nervous to ride some of the big rides, but he finally rode most of them. He never would go on the Rocket. On Thursday, Grandpa Galley came with us to ride rides. He is so stinking funny! He is just as crazy as all of the kids. He didn't even flinch to get on these big crazy rides. The very first one we took him to was Wicked.

Shae and Grandpa waiting in line for Wicked

We also took him to the Rocket. Brett rode with him the first time on the "Launch" side of the ride.

Tara and Grandpa on the Re-Entry

Brett, Braden S., Eli and Shae

We also went to the Lady Bug Bop and Dinosaur Drop. It was so funny! One time, Garrison was taking Mya on the Lady Bug Bop. Quayd decided to go at the last second. Mya was excited for Quayd to go, so they decided to ride together. Garrison didn't really know what to do, so he just sat down. They buckled him in and off they went. It was so funny to see Garrison riding this little kid ride all alone!

Speaking of big people on little rides... I have to tell you this story. Unfortunately, though, I don't have a picture. We had a camera tragedy right before this. Anyway, on Saturday night, Quayd was upset that they wouldn't let him on the big rides. So some of us were trying to be nice to him and offered to go on Puff the Little Fire Dragon. (It's just a mini-coaster.) The riders were Brett, Talia, Brayden and Shae. The ride attendant was making the seating assignments and it was just weird. Quayd and Brayden were going to go in the back, but he said Quayd needed an adult with him to sit in the back. So they were assuming that Shae was his mom I guess because the guy told Shae to sit with her kid in the back. Then they put Brayden alone. And here is where it gets really weird... they put Brett and Talia in a car together. They were crammed in this little tiny car! It was so funny! Well I was sitting on a bench with Gleneita, Gary, Tara and Amelia. When we noticed how they were seated, we were cracking up. Then Brett starts yelling, "Mommy!!! Look at us! We are on Puff!!!" Then he started cheering and screaming at everyone. "Look at me Aunt Tara! I'm riding Puff!" It was so funny. And strange. Lagoon has a new ride this year. The OdySea. It is a fun family type ride. The kids loved it. I rode it a few times with Quayd. But when he knew Grandpa was going, Quayd couldn't wait to ride with him.

(I am so glad I got this picture! Isn't it cute? I felt so bad that I didn't get a picture of these two on Father's Day. I got Quayd with his other Great-Grandpa's, but not Grandpa Galley.) We did a lot of waiting in line. I mean... ALOT! And holy cow... was it ever HOT!!

Brett, Brayden and Quayd waiting to get on the Bat.

Braden S., Shae, Garrison, Brayden, Amelia, Me and Grandpa waiting to get on the Spider

Waiting for the train to start

We went to Lagoon-A-Beach on Friday. Quayd was thinking he was Mr. Brave so he did the lazy river alone with out a life jacket. He was actually mad because they wouldn't let him sit in the hot tub. So he decided he was gonna show everyone and he hopped in the river. Thank goodness Garrison was there! He jumped in right behind Quayd and went with him a few times around. Thanks Garrison! You rock!

We rode a ton of other rides, practically every ride in the park. We did go carts and Brett, Talia and Gleneita did a drag racing thing. You have to pay extra for it and the three of them were super excited to do it. They have 3 drag racing cars, so they were able to race each other. They got three runs. It was actually pretty cool. Brett won once, and Talia won twice. I know this entry is getting really long, but I have to share just a few more pictures. We went to Pioneer Village and had pictures taken. We were able to buy the CD and have the copyright, so I will post a few poses. We ended up buying the one of Brett and Quayd, and the funny one of the family. The funny one was just so... US! We love it. Look at Brayden's funny hat. It has a face and evrything. I saw it and begged him to wear it because it was so funny. He is so awesome!

And here are the last few pictures.

It's always fun to go, but it sure is nice to be back home.