.Leary Family Reunion 2016

Growing up, my family and all my Ellis cousins went on vacation every summer to Bear Lake. This was always my favorite part of summer as a kid and I definitely missed it when we stopped going there because our family got too big. For this reason, Bear Lake will always have a special place in my heart. This summer I got to introduce Air and our babies to this wonderful place when we met up with my WHOLE ENTIRE FAMILY in Bear Lake for a weekend reunion!

We didn't waste any time and took some nice family photos first thing when we got there. Phew they turned out so awesome! We were only missing one step-neice (she was on her mission), Brie. That's still a lot of family!

This amazing house we rented had 9 bedrooms, a huge rec room, a theater, three stories and slides all the way to the bottom. I say we move in!

Randomly, Alice would only let these two "strangers" hold her. My oldest niece Alexis and my brother Jordan (two of the best people out there!)

  

We had a talent show and although there were some incredible talents among my family, Alice pretty much stole the show with her cute antics.

Air played games with the teenagers late into the night:

 

The next day we spent at the North Shore beach. I'm telling you… THIS was our happy place. We could have stayed here forever.

Alexis and Alice love each other

Ames fell asleep in the car during the 20 minute drive, then he DID NOT want to wake up. insert: eye roll

 

collecting sea shells just like I used to do as a kid

nothing better than having your toes in the sand and hanging out with Heather and Keegan

 

Air finally convinced grumpy Ames to wake up and go into the lake… he ended up loving it!

 

Jordan showed Ames a magic trick with the wet sand

 

Elisa and Mia and Lucy are making themselves into mermaids, while Megan and Hailey play with noodles

 

Here you can see all our cars and our tents

 

Jared got buried in the sand

 

more feet in the sand

My kids are obsessed with their cousin Ashlyn

 

That night we all ventured out to one of Bear Lake's famous raspberry milkshake stands. This was so much fun! I love my family!

The next morning was time to say goodbye…it was so amazing seeing all of my family again after two long years. This girl, Alexis, is one of the most special people in my life. She made me an aunt at the age of 10 and will always be one of my best friends. I hadn't seen her in 6 years! I'm so glad she loved Alice so much. Insert: heart eyes

More to come on the rest of our vacation…

.All of it, July

The title of this post is a little misleading. This is not all of July… seeings how I already posted about Canada Day and Independence Day. I am also going to post about our trip to Utah in a separate post. So I should really just be calling this "The remainder of July (in Canada)"? Yeah, that woulda been better.
July was a beautiful month for us! We finally got a hold of the insurance company and were reimbursed for the many months that they had basically forgotten to pay us. It honestly felt like we could breathe again. It is not an easy thing to have your life in someone else's hands like that... especially when you know that they don't care at all, and they'd rather not have you there at all.

Anyway, look at my babies all ready for Church and loving each other so sweetly…

 

↓↓↓Another photo from that day for my "Church is over now run free" series on instagram//Ames loves playing at this park because it's connected to a huge skate park where we can watch the big kids skateboard and bike… pretty awesome↓↓↓

 

↓↓↓Messy eater (why do I have so many photos of Alice in her high chair? Oh right, because that's the only place where she will hold still)

↓↓↓Some of my lego creations… pretty sure I love playing with lego as much as Ames//7-11 on July 11th for free slurpees of course! (Ames took the photo of us sitting on the porch. He did good!)↓↓↓

 

↓↓↓We took all the kiddies to Treehouse for a day. We love that place!

↓↓↓Ames and Jake are superheros

↓↓↓Some cute fun at the park

↓↓↓With my Canadian citizenship I had a year of free entrance to certain places around Canada. The Ukrainian Heritage Park was one I was really excited to visit. I'm so glad I got Tam, Jadey, Jake, Tessa and Tiana to come along! This was such a fun day.

↓↓↓I know these two photos look the same, but Tam is in one and I am in the other. Check it.

 

↓↓↓Our adorable little Ukrainian students

↓↓↓We had so much fun looking at the chickens running around

↓↓↓Two days later and we were off to our long summer adventures in Utah! Here we are in Helena Montana, checking in to the hotel EEK!

More to come…