Stay-cation!

So it's decided......It's a stay-cation this year. I've got my thinking cap on for some fun ideas. Dad and I bought some dutch ovens and will perfect the way of cooking with them for a delicious dinner. I want to have a Stew vs. Food night as well. Hell's gate jet boats........need to decide a date. Any other suggestions? I know that just being home and having a pool, 4 wheeler, horses, and bedrooms for all will be nice! Be thinking!

Time to start thinking............

I know we are 'forever dang ever' away from Sunriver but the house is booked! We are going back to the same one as last year. We decided that this may very well be the last time we can really all stay under one roof. You are a prolific bunch! So be thinking crafts, events, food, etc. I have already decided to bring my kitchenaid and pasta attachments. I feel a pasta night coming on! Hooray for Sunriver!

Keys......lost and found!

So Joshua called the renters at the Sunriver house and I'll be dipped, they found the keys! I had already sent a very long and detailed email to the owners about our 'friendly' housekeeper. I just sent another quick email to let them know that indeed the keys had been found. Must mean the housekeeping staff isn't really doing a very good job cleaning! Glad Joshua called. Extra glad the keys were found! JUSTICE! I'll keep you posted!

It's over!

I really don't like the day after it's all over. It was so fun to have Stewart/Andrus/Phair families come back to our house for one additional night. We swam and ate (big surprise eh?) and enjoyed one another. Dani made it back without having the baby in Madras. I haven't heard from Ben and Sharon but presume they are back home and settled into routine life.

Dad and I really want to thank each of you for coming to Sunriver. We know that you have choices of where to spend your vacation time and we also know that the time will come where you will want your own vacations (we certainly got to that point with our own parents tho neither one of them ever rented us a house in Sunriver!) So THANK YOU to each of you for being there with us. You have no idea how much it means to us to see each of you interact with one another and to enjoy one another. We loved spending time with the grandkiddies - they are so loving to us and they make us feel really special. We hope they know how much they are loved by their grandparents!

I really want to thank dad for providing this past week for all of us. He goes beyond the mark to make sure we all have a good time. He is such a good provider and a good example of what a dad/grandpa should be. And I want you to know that I mean that regardless of any money he may spend on all of us. That's a bonus for sure but he really does work hard to provide opportunities for us to have family time.

I hope that there were no negative experiences for any of you. I also want to ask for an informal survey on Sunriver this year. Please provide your good thoughts and any suggestions to make it better. You may certainly provide those in a personal email to me if you don't want to go public with your thoughts!

Thank you to all of you for providing the opportunity to get fat all week. Thank you for the craft time! I loved what I did and I know everyone really enjoyed them all.

You are wonderful children and in-law children. You are wonderful people. I hope that you left this week knowing that your parents really do love you.

Now let's get planning next year!

Six days and counting!

As we were discussing our activities/events/crafts for Sunriver we wanted to make sure we had enough time to fit everything in and still have some time to relax and play games as a family (instead of just crafting without the menfolk every chance we got).

Here are the crafts a few of us ladies thought would be at the top of our list:

-glitter toes
-frames
-cards

We could maybe do away with the rest, or just do them on an "if there's time" basis. I would hate for any of us to bring a bunch of stuff we didn't end up needing/using. Ladies... your thoughts? (or if you men have a hankering to do crafts, we'll take your thoughts too) :)

A few other things to put on our calendar while we are up there:

Wednesday night: Rhythm on the Range 6:30pm-8:00pm
Thursday night: Munch and Music @ Drake Park 5:30-8:30pm
FHE one night? or just games and oj's?

Six days and counting. But you can't count today because it's already started, so that's only five days, and Summer, Josh, Sam, & Nikki get in on Saturday, so that's only four days, plus a day for packing makes three days until Sunriver!

Happy packing!

House info............

We got the packet from the private rental people. Here are a few high points I thought you would be interested in:

1. Air Conditioning thruout. Unusual for Sunriver.
2. High chair, port a crib, booster chair, stroller, umbrella stroller.
3. 5 adult bike.
4. 2nd full size refrigerator in garage.
5. two clothes dryers.
6. Hot tub
They stock the house well so this should be a good fit. They also sent the layout of the house. Upper level has two king rooms with two bathrooms and a half bath for the living/kitchen area. Lower level has one king, one queen, and a bunk/bunk/futon room. All with baths. The sixth room is two futons. It is in a family room area where the pool table is. It also has a bath. There is a ping pong table as well. Plenty of room for all of us to say the least. Please no fighting over bedrooms! We should just all be thanking dad that we have a private room and a bed to sleep on instead of cramming 4 people and 4 kids to a room! The futons will probably be the least comfortable but it's better than a sleeping bag on the floor!! So please keep any comments about uncomfortable beds to yourselves. It makes dad feel bad - especially after all the money he puts out for this trip. Let's just have a 'grateful' trip this year! Yay for being positive!

Dad and I have talked about a few 'houserules'. I hope nobody is offended by these! If you are, sorry! This list may be added to in the next few weeks as well..............I only have a few for now.

Diapers: Please no changing wet and/or messy diapers in common areas. Use your bedrooms only. You will have to put them in those little blue bags and take them to the garage/garbage. I would really appreicate us being good about this rule. Thank you!

Fighting: Nothing is more uncomfortable than when one of the couples gets into an argument - we've certainly never had any long dragged out yelling fights, but we have had some uncomfortable moments. If you are going to have those times, please take them outside and get it worked out. There is nothing worse than couples making everyone feel uncomfortable by fighting. Do you catch what I am saying? This goes for dad and I as well! It would also be uncomfortable if you are gone a lot during this vacation wrking your stuff out! Let's just all try to get along and have good feelinggs and put any differences aside. It's going to get harder and harder to find times to be toghter as a family and I would hate to see us waste any time in bad feelings! I know I'm being such a mom - trying to control you all - but I would love for us to continue this family tradition at Sunriver. The memories and feelings just last from year to year.

Dad and I really appreciate you all taking your vacations and spending it with us. We remember the time when we quit spending our vacations going to Utah. Hopefully that will never happen with you all but it will get more difficult to find the time to get together as your kids get older! So thank you for coming this year. Dad and I are really looking forward to spending some great time with all of you.

We love you!

It's getting closer!

So Summer seems to be all over her Sunriver responsibilities! I appreciate her thinking about things and getting me going! Summer, when you arrive in Ktown remind me to get scisssors and clear polish. Do you love how I put it back on you?

I will be starting a shopping/what to bring to Sunriver list pretty soon. Here are a few additional thoughts to share:

*Dani will be bbringing some extra juice she has. Sharon will too!
*I need another griddle. Sharon's is perhaps a bit small. Dani, can you bring yours?
*I will bring some movies but you may want to throw in some kiddie movies.
*Bring games if you'd like. I will bring some as well.

I am trying to do the vast majority of shopping here so I don't have to spend my time in Sunriver shopping for food. I can't even begin to think that thru but somehow I will! If you have any special requiests for food/snacks, please let me know.

I am really getting excited for all of us to be together. It's going to be super fun. We will be attending our church meetings on Sunday morning and then coming home and packing up. We can get into the house around 4:30. So our etd will be 2:00.

Loves to all!

Menus:
Harmons - burgers
Andrus - pork enchiladas
Stewarts (provo) - baked ziti
Stewarts (Salem) - sausage
Stewarts (Ktown) - pasta salad and bbq chicken
Phairs - ?

Please make sure you add to your list any things like salad, bread, vegis, etc.