Towards the end of June we hit the road for the LeFevre family reunion in southern Utah. Lucky for us, several members of Alan's family live along the way so we got to see them too.
Our first stop was in Middleton, ID to see Darwin and Debbie and Geoff's family. Debbie made us a yummy dinner and the boys had fun playing video games and ping pong with Kaitlyn. Middleton is pretty in the summer and I love being out in the country at Geoff's house.
We drove down to Alicia's house in Herriman the next day. We got dinner at some food trucks and stopped at a local cemetery to learn a little about some of the Rasmussen's pioneer ancestors. Alicia had no idea they were some of the earliest settlers in the area when she moved there a couple of years ago.
We spent the rest of the evening playing with Reya in the backyard and eating s'mores around the firepit. Alicia is always so fun to hang out with!
We had a little time before we needed to leave the next morning so we visited a cool park in Herriman. We didn't know it was a splash park, but that didn't stop Mason from getting soaked! He wasn't wearing a swim suit, but luckily we had a towel in the car.
That afternoon, we drove the rest of the way to the reunion at Brian Head ski resort. Mason made a new friend at a gas station in Beaver. :)
We got to our cabin at about 4:00 and everyone else trickled in over the next couple of hours. I had seen most of my family last Christmas, but I think it had been about 2.5 years since I had seen a few of them. Every single person was there this time. That hadn't happened in almost six years and it was awesome!! Lindsey was 10-11 weeks pregnant and dealing with serious morning sickness and Eric wound up needing to take Isla home a day early, but all 18 of us were together for a short time.
I never got a good picture of the outside of the cabin, but we all laughed at the décor. This wall in living room actually had weeds glued all over it and the very old (and blue!) pictures of Bryce Canyon were framed with cedar bark. Super classy. Haha! The cabin was a good size for our group though and besides the internet/tv not working (which wasn't really a bad thing), it worked great for our needs. We chose Brian Head as our reunion location this time because it's up in the mountains and much cooler than the valleys. We needed jackets most of the time and got a little rain, but it was better than being super hot. The only bad part was that it was at about 10,000 feet elevation and Alan started getting altitude sickness after the first day. He had trouble breathing and felt very light headed at the cabin, but would be totally fine as soon as we drove somewhere with lower elevation. Weird and a big bummer for him!
We decided to visit the small town of Parowan on our first morning there. We spent some time locating ancestor's graves at the cemetery and that turned out to be a surprise favorite activity. Since Parowan was a hub for the saints Brigham Young sent to settle areas in southern Utah and Arizona, we have ancestors from both sides of our family buried there. Alan's and my favorite discovery was that my 3rd great grandpa, William LeFevre, adopted two Native American girls. Their adopted names were Rachel Ann and Rebecca LeFevre. We found their stories on familysearch.org, but I am including them here too because I was so touched by this adoption connection. Both accounts are from William's journal:
"November 27, 1855 - I, William LeFerve, bought a little 4 years old Paheed Indian girl paying a two year old filley for her. The indians about a year went on a big hunt and not caring to be bothered with her left her with us. We became attached to the little thing and when they returned preferring the pay rather than the child, I bought her. Some time afterward they returned and wanted more pay for her. I gave them all they asked even to taking off my shirt and giving it to them. We named her Rachel Ann...""...Rachel, our indian girl married Andrew Williams, a Mexican and died in about a year afterwards, in March 1871...."
"The following Oct. I bought another Pa heed Indian girl two years old, giving for her a good rifle. Because I hesitated about buying her the indians acted as if they would kill her so I bought her to save her life. We named her Rebecca. She lived with us until she was about eleven years old and was strong and active. One day she complained of her wrist hurting her. In a short time the pain extended to her shoulder and down her back causing her death."
After the cemetery, we went to the visitor's center/original bank, tested the cinnamon rolls to see if they really were "the country's best" (they definitely weren't!), and checked out a bunch of old farm equipment.
We ate lunch back at the cabin and then most of us headed down to the small park and lake. It was windy and cold though and none of us lasted too long.
Back at the cabin, the kids played video games and messed around while the adults chatted and played board games.
After dinner that evening, we drove to this gorgeous meadow for family pictures. It's awesome having photographers in the family - thanks Lindsey and Jordan! I don't have any of their pics yet, but I took some individual shots of Spencer and Mason for our walls.
Alan and I got up early the next morning for a short run. We chose to just do quarter mile laps around the lake where it was flat instead of running intense hills. I did about 3 miles alright, but Alan couldn't breathe and only made it one. It was a gorgeous morning though!
After breakfast, we decided to split into two groups: most of the guys and Lindsey went back to Parowan to play disc golf and the rest of us drove along the rim of the mountain for some gorgeous views and a short hike. It was really windy on the rim, but very nice weather once we were in the trees hiking. The wildflowers were gorgeous and it was amazing how well Mason hiked when he had cousins to help entertain him. ;) Zero whining!!
Later that afternoon, we all drove to Navajo lake. We were hoping it would be good for swimming, but it was freezing and only a few of us were brave enough to get in. Spencer stood in the water up to his knees trying to work up the courage to take the plunge for probably 20 minutes. He finally caved to the peer pressure and did it once Grandpa jumped in. Haha! Of course it happened when I went back to the car for dry clothes for Mason and I missed it. Alan got it on video though.
Marc definitely win the prize for favorite uncle!
Porter brought this game. I didn't play it, but it involved talking like a caveman and getting bopped on the head with an inflatable club. Naturally, Alan loved doing the bopping.
Not surprisingly, Marc slept on the deck in the cold all four nights we were there. Spencer joined him the last night.
Grandma and Grandpa with all the grandkids! Spencer (14), Mason (7), John (5), Evelyn (3), Isla (3), and Porter (13).
The lady at the visitor's center had really talked up the dinosaur fossils and petroglyphs to the west of the Parowan so we decided the check those sites out on Saturday morning. It was cool at the cabin, but so hot and sunny down in the desert. None of us could even make out what the fossils were supposed to be, but the kids had fun scrabbling over boulders for a little bit.
The petroglyphs were pretty neat, but this NW girl was not acclimated to the heat!
That afternoon, Elise and took our boys to ride the Alpine slide at the ski resort. Elise did it too and loved it! I decided I didn't want to do it bad enough to spend the money. They got to ride a huge conveyor belt to the top and then rode down in a tube. The younger kids weren't heavy enough to make it all the way to the bottom and I think Spencer and Mason were a little disappointed with it. Better than sitting around the cabin some more though.
Everyone but us was driving home on Sunday so we just packed up, cleaned, and said goodbyes on Sunday morning. That is always the worst part. Knowing that I'll get to see my parent's in October for Mason's baptism helped a little. Marc found a horny toad outside just before we left and Mason loved it. I was surprised they could survive in that climate.
We were only driving back to Alicia's that day so we stopped in Beaver to attend Sacrament meeting. We got there just a few minutes early so Mason got to play some instruments at the park across the street. As we were driving through Beaver to get to the church, I thought I remembered that my cousin Logan lived in Beaver now. Funnily enough even though there were 5-6 wards in Beaver, Logan and his wife and baby walked in just as the meeting was starting! He took his baby out part way through the meeting and never came back so I didn't even get to say hello though. Bummer.
We made quick stops at the Payson and Provo Town Center temples on the way up. The gates were locked so we could only look through the fences. They were so pretty though.
We also stopped at the BYU botany pond. I used to love visiting that place when we were at school and we even took our engagement pictures there. The south side of campus has changed a ton and the landscaping on the hill is gorgeous. It was super hot though so we didn't stay long.
We also had to drive by my first student housing complex at BYU since Katelyn told me it was vacant. There were no signs indicating what was going to happen with the property, but it was super sad to see it like this. It was very old when I lived there from fall 2000 though spring 2002 so I wouldn't be surprised if it was going to be demolished. I made some of my best friends there have so many great memories of Park Plaza #313.
We also drove up to Wymount and found the apartment we lived in for a year or so there. This was actually a really hard place to live as we were just beginning to realize that having kids wasn't going to be as easy for us as it was for just about every other family living there. There were A LOT of pregnancies and babies.
After leaving Provo, we got a text from Elise saying that she had started feeling sick earlier that afternoon and had just tested positive for Covid. Alicia was still alright with us coming to her house, but we all tested as soon as we got there. None of us had any symptoms (Alan's altitude sickness had completely gone away), but Alan still tested positive. Boo! He tried to wear a mask when he was around other people and we cut our trip a couple of days short. Alicia was awesome though and still wanted us to stay. She took us paddle boarding on Tribble Lake up American Fork Canyon on Monday. It was our first time paddle boarding and I loved it! The weather was perfect and we had such a great time taking turns on the boards, floating on tubes, and eating a yummy picnic.
We ended the day with pizza, Kan Jam, and American Ninja Warrior. Such a fun day!
We decided to drive all the way home on Tuesday so we wouldn't share Covid germs with anyone else. (About half of my family eventually got it, but Spencer, Mason, and I didn't). Our car hit 100,000 miles when we were in the Gorge - about an hour from home.
We just had a couple of days left of June when we got home. I didn't get a bulk order of cherries from the Gorge this year (sad!), but we got some from the store. Mason turns into a cherry monster when he eats them! I got my first radishes from our garden and Alan began trying to remove the stump from a tree we cut down several years ago. He got me a rhododendron plant for Mother's Day and the stump's location was the best spot to plant it. He might think twice about ever buying me a plant again. Haha!
