Harold Beck Reunion

Jeremy's extended family reunion was held this last weekend. It was fun to get to know cousins that I don't see very often. We started the reunion by attending an Orem Owls baseball game. The kids got to meet Holly Owl - one of the mascots. (Sorry the picture is blurry; by the time I got around to taking a second picture, Holly was gone.) The next day we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. Clara was tired and hungry, so she wasn't on her best behavior. I was frustrated because I knew she was ruining the experience for so may people around us. Luckily, Aunt Melissa just took her and was able to calm her down. Clara was great for Melissa the whole rest of the "tour." We then went and got a tour of the Relief Society building. Since Aunt Melissa works there, we had our own private tour guide. The kids listened for a little while on a CTR mat. After the tour, we played water games. Clara LOVED the water. Even though she had only gotten a 45 minute nap, she was pretty good the whole evening. I love that little girl so much! In this picture, the kids were trying to pick up marbles with their feet. Whoever got the most marbles out of the pool won. It was a favorite game by both adults and kids. We ended the reuion with festive activities for the 4th of July. We attended the East Mill Creek carnival, played games at John and Sharon's, and ended the evening with fireworks. Clara was pretty tired when the fireworks started, but she wouldn't take her eyes off them. She only got slightly scared when the noisey fireworks went off. She just snuggled right up with her daddy and enjoyed the show. What a great weekend!

Zachreson Family Reunion

Sorry that I'm a day late this week. We had a family reunion for my side of the family this weekend, and we were still driving home yesterday.

We left on my birthday (Thurs June 25) and drove all the way to Oakley, CA. It took us 15 hours! We made quite a few stops and some of them were at least an hour. Clara actually did pretty good too. She only got fussy a few times as we were driving all weekend!

The first thing we did was went canoeing. The kids were so excited to go. My mom watched the 3 youngest kids (including Clara) while the older kids got to go. We had so much fun. This is on the Sacramento River, but right where it enters the Bay. It was so pretty!
Next we wend to a place called Pump It Up. We had the whole place reserved for just our family. The kids loved it. I've never seen Jed so happy. I could hardly get any good pictures of the kids. They were running around all over the place and never wanted to stay in once place long enough to get a picture. In this picture, the kids were on top of a big ball. Jeremy would run and jump on the ball and see how many kids he could knock off. The kids LOVED this game and it wore Jeremy out. Clara didn't really like it though. She was scared of how big everything was. She just sat and played with the door stop and loved every minute of that. By the end, she would crawl up on the blue mats at the bottom of the slides and "jump." She thought she was so big and having so much fun just like the other kids. It made me laugh.
We also made it to go see some Redwood Trees. I loved hearing the kids talk about our little walk. They would say things like, "Hey, were in nature!" Growing up in Montana, I was too used to "being in nature" to really think things like that were cool. It made me giggle how excited the kids were to see a "wild animal squirrel" and other amazing things like that. We ended the reunion by having a BBQ with some extended family. My Aunt and Uncle (who would come visit us every year in MT) came with 3 of their 4 kids. I loved getting to visit with my cousins and Aunt and Uncle. Now that my immediate family is grown and lives so far away from each other, all our vacations are spent visiting with them. I never get to see my cousins and things, so it was great to have those few hours with them.

On our way back from California, we stopped in Reno to visit with one of Jeremy's cousins. It was the happiest I had seen Ken. I'm so glad he likes Reno. It was so fun to see him too. He has an extremely old dog that is so relaxed and pretty much just laid around. Clara loved seeing the dog, but anytime it would meander close by, she got pretty scared. It made me laugh. I was really scared of dogs at her age too. Like Mother like Daughter I guess.

Get Together

We were talking with Bishop and Sister Hawkes recently about how fun it would be to get all our friends from the ward together. The Hawkes decided to have a get together at their house. They want to get the word out to as many people as possible, so I decided to post it on my blog.

Come one come all, and tell as many people as you can!
It will be held at the Hawkes' house Friday Aug 8 at 7:00 pm. If you need their address, post a comment with your email address on it and I will send it to you.
Bring a treat to share!
Hopefully we'll see you there!

Happy Father's Day

First, I want to tribute Jeremy. He is such a great father. I love watching him with Clara. He will do anything just to get her to laugh. I love that he has no inhibitions when it comes to her.
Jeremy gets to put Clara to bed every night. That is their special time together. I love listening to them in Clara's room. He always plays with her for a little bit before she goes to bed. I love to hear the growling from Jeremy and the laughter from Clara. It sounds like a carnival is going on and it makes me wish I could be there too. Next, I have to tell my own father how much I love and appreciate him. It will be 7 years this week since he passed away of a heart attack. He taught me so much during his short time on earth. My dad wasn't much of a talker, so what I did learn from him, I learned by example. I learned the importance of putting off your desires to serve those around you. I learned the importance of putting your family first no matter what. I learned the best thing you can do to help others is listen and not preach.Last, I would like to tell my father-in-law how much I admire him. I also enjoy watching him with Clara. He lights up when she smiles at him. He always makes sure things run smoothly and on time, which I appreciate more than he will ever know. I am also grateful for the good example he is to Jeremy. Jeremy does things his father did because Jeremy knows if he does those things he will be a great father.