Aaron Family Blog: Wilson Family Reunion

This was the year for the Wilson Family Reunion, hosted by Chris & Natalie. They did a great job planning a local reunion with lots of fun nearby activities and togetherness. Rob & Kimberly drove all the way up from Texas, and our family was ALL together!! (a miracle, I know) Rob & Kim and their four boys stayed at my parents' house in Provo, and the rest of us just stayed at our own houses and then met up at wherever we were going that day. Here are some photo highlights:

Saturday: My cousin Heather's wedding in Oakley

We all made the drive to Oakley to see my cousin Heather get married. It was the first time all my kids had witnessed an actual ceremony! It was held at this gorgeous ranch out in the country. In spite of some rain that fell earlier, it was a beautiful event and fun for everyone. One of the highlights (especially for Emma), was that the bride came out riding on a white horse (see the horse in the picture below)! Afterwards, there was dinner, activities for the kids, and lots of opportunities to catch up with my Wilson cousins, some of whom I hadn't seen in years!

Emma and Nathan have always had such a close relationship. Emma was worried before he came out from Texas this time that by now, he would "think she had cooties". I guess the cootie stage hasn't hit either of them yet, because they were together constantly, having a great time!

Silliness

Mel

Bryce & Jordan

Trying out the seesaw

I love these two pictures of my brother Rob partying with my aunt Kathy. They had just turned on the dance music as we were getting ready to go.

Monday: Swimming at the new Provo Rec. Center, BBQ, and Wilson Family Dance Party

Sorry I only have pictures of the dance party. This was a typical extended Wilson family shindig, at the church, with a bunch of people playing music and dancing, with games and food and talking on the side. I have memories of this type of gathering (always in some cultural hall) for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately the turnout of the extended family wasn't as big as we'd hoped, but it was still really fun. We all wore our "Wilson Family Reunion" shirts my dad ordered.

Emma

Rachel

Gracie

Benjamin

The band on stage: Chris (sax and other instruments), Natalie (behind him--fiddle and vocals), my dad (bass guitar), Rob (sax and others), and my cousin Ben (guitar and vocals). So much amazing talent up there! I wish I'd taken video.

Ana, Dave, & Brent hanging out

Love this picture of Elizabeth and Ashlyn because they really do look like cousins!

All us Wilson daughters & daughters-in-law: Jenny (my only sister, not counting my sisters-in-law-- married to Bill), Natalie (the newest addition to the family in 2012-- she belongs to Chris), Ana (belongs to Dave), Kimberly (belongs to Rob), me, and Mindy (belongs to Brent W.). All those years of wishing I had more sisters finally paid off!

Tuesday: Family Pictures, Spa Night for the girls/Nickelcade for the Boys

We took advantage of having everyone here to take family pictures up in Provo Canyon. I also took advantage of our coordinated outfits to ask my dad to take pictures of just our little family, which turned out nice. I was kicking myself that we didn't take the time to take individual shots of each of the kids! We were hurrying to meet the photographer in the canyon on time, so we didn't do them right then and there and now I wished we had. I pulled some decent enlargements from the family picture, but it wasn't the same with the cluttered backgrounds. Lesson learned for me!

Our official family picture for 2013:

Elizabeth

Love this picture of Joshua!

Matthew looks so grown up here!

Wilson Family Group Pictures:

Spa Night

Natalie planned this great spa night for all the girls after sending the boys off to an arcade for the evening (except we kept the little ones with us). Each girl got a "goody bag" with lotion, nail supplies, etc. Then we went to town on our nails and hair! The girls just ate it all up. They loved having Natalie do each of their hair individually in a special style. She's really talented at doing hair and nails!

Rachel: fishtail braid

The three 3-year-olds sitting on Grandma & Grandpa's front porch together: Carter, Gracie, and Joshua

Girl time!

Natalie working on Elizabeth's hair

Kimberly doing a pedicure on Mindy

Emma's do

Elizabeth's is supposed to be shaped like a star.

Wednesday: Hiking Timpanogos Caves, S'mores & Outdoor Movie in Jenny & Bill's Backyard

Everyone who was able to set out on a 7:00 AM hike up to Timpanogos Caves. We had just done the cave tour with our older kids in June, so we just did the hike for the camaraderie and scenery (the exercise isn't bad, either). It certainly helped that we live just 5 minutes from the entrance to American Fork Canyon. We left Rachel and Joshua at Jenny's house with my mom and some of the other little ones. It was so fun to do this hike together! That evening we met up at Jenny & Bill's to roast s'mores over a firepit in their backyard and watch movies on an inflatable big screen. It was really cool when bats came out as it got dark! This ended a very fun Wilson reunion.

About halfway up

Rob showing his classic Wilson silliness

Emma and Nathan

Bill, Sam, and Mindy

It was great to enjoy the morning views and hike before it got to be 95 degrees!

Ashlyn, Elizabeth, Matthew and Jordan. Matthew and Jordan are yet another inseparable pair. Even though they are two years apart, they never run out of things to talk about or interests to share.

Sam

Great picture of the four 8-year-old cousins: Emily Jo, Emma, Nathan, and Jessica. The three girls were born over a span of only about 5 weeks! Nathan is about 6-7 months older. What amazes me about this picture is the contrast between these four cousins. Cute!