Austin Revisited

Right after the Clark reunion we headed home to do some laundry and then headed out the next morning to go to Austin. Brent was going to San Antonio for his Management conference and so I tagged along to hang out with Marcie in Austin. We played in their HOA pool and park for a good portion of the trip. We went to a few local restaurants and Marcie and I went to a movie while Craig baby-sat Owen. We also ended up going back to the Children's musuem which was a little bit crazy for a while, but ended up being really fun. It was really fun to hang out and to get a free(Mizzou payed for the mileage to Austin)trip to visit Marcie. Thanks for letting us come visit, Craig and Marcie! Here are the few pictures I took.

Owen liked to sit and watch the pictures on the tv. He folded the pillow in half and made a little seat.

We played at this ball thing for a LONG time.
Construction Zone

Putting tiles on the house. Owen was funny because he insisted on pick up each one and putting them back in the bin.

Another favorite-the trains!

This was also pretty fun

Waiting for our yummy pancakes at Kerby Lane. They have the best pancakes!

Nauvoo Reunion

Brent was in charge of his family’s reunion this year, so we decided to have them all come to us! We decided to do it in Nauvoo. Everyone was able to come except for Jenni whose kids were starting school that week. We did it at a place called Camp Nauvoo. The cabins weren't great, but the lodge they had was really big and perfect for our needs. They had a huge commercial kitchen and plenty of room to hang out and play games. The weather was wonderful especially considering it was close to 100 degrees the previous week.

We saw some of the Nauvoo sights, but Owen was pretty impossible when it came to doing much. He pretty much cried when we tried to take him into any of the buildings. Some other things we did while not visiting the sights were play at the playground they had in the middle of the facility, play games, make rice balls(kind of like a hacky sack), learn about some of the Clark ancestors who lived in Nauvoo, play with water balloons, walk the Trail of Hope and visit Carthage Jail. It was great to only have to travel three hours and still get to see family! We ate yummy food and had a great time. Here are some pictures.

Trail of Hope. One of my favorite things in Nauvoo, because I always get emotional thinking about how they must have felt as they left their city and temple and yet they were still willing to do it.

Also on the trail of Hope. I think this might be the only picture I have of the entire trip with Owen smiling.

Owen would have spent the entire three days throwing rocks in the river.

Beautiful Sunset

I was able to go to a few places while Owen was taking a nap. Yay!

Learning to make rope

This is what Owen did while I was doing the water games with the kids. He looks like he is unhappy, but he loved it!

The grandchildren
Brent and I watched the kids while all the adults went to the temple. I made rice balls with them and then Brent did some games where they used their balls.

Owen touching the temple

Owen throwing a fit because the sprinklers came on at the temple grounds and I was making him touch the temple. I am such a mean mom!

In front of the temple

I love this picture. So cute.

Beautiful

All I am going to say about this picture is that Brent took it. Enough said.
Playing on the sheep.

My little pioneer boy
div>Playing house
Riding the horse

We took Matt's van to get all the stuff there that we needed. Owen loved being able to have extra room and that he could see out the windows.

Trying to move the old wheelbarrow

Carthage Jail. As you can tell Owen was not happy. Brent had to take him outside so everyone else could hear.

Petting the Oxen. He loved this ride!

Idaho Morgan Family Reunion

I am still trying to play catch up with our summer outings. We went to Idaho for the Morgan family reunion this year. My sister-in-law’s grandma owns a big house pretty much on Lake Cascade. We drove out and stopped in Denver for a few days to spend time with Brent’s sister and her family. Own loved his cousin Seth’s collection of cars. I think I may have already posted that picture already. Anyway, we went to the Denver Zoo, which Owen didn’t really love because of course you actually have to stop running to see the animals. He would have been much happier to have just run around all day than have to stop and bother to look at the animals. He did like the penguins and the tigers though and he did pretty well with the wildlife show we went to because they had a lot of birds flying around all the time.

The trip from Denver to Cascade was a VERY long day. It took us 15.5 hours. I was bored out of my mind. I think Owen did better than I did! We finally made it and got to enjoy a couple of days with the family and playing on the boat and on the beach. We had beautiful weather and it was beautiful scenery. We ate good food, played a lot of games, did a bingo game in honor of my Dad and with all the stuff he had collected over the years , learned to wake board, had a few devotionals , did some relay games and Brent went shooting. I was sad when the week was over and we had to drive home! We actually decided to take three days to get home since I knew I couldn't do another 15.5 day! Here are a TON of pictures from the trip.

Zoo with the cousins

Owen being Owen
Shooting the rifle

Climbing the trees like one of the kids

Bingo Game

Some of the kids jumping off the fireplace

Owen loved to play ball with the boys

Was not happy on our first trip on the boat

Okay, so the pictures are supposed to be in the opposite order so it showed a sequence.

Brent picked it up really fast

Three legged race

Water balloon fight

Water balloon relay

Piggy back race

Owen decided the sprinkler was more fun than the beach

Playing on the beach

Relaxing

Paddle boat

Riding on the inner tube. I love how Owen is sticking his tongue out to catch the water

Working him hard! He insisted on carrying all four buckets, each with at least some water in them