In May, RJ and I went to “Claymate Creations” to make monsters. We ended up in a small group of 6 people and had fun letting our creative juices flow. Unfortunately Reagan broke mine the day after I made it.
In June, we went to a drive-in movie and stayed for two out of three of the features. I had never been to one so it was a really cool experience. It’s definitely something I would enjoy doing again.
I LOVE MY DATE LIST!
RJ got to decide if we were going to find out what the gender was this time around. He decided that since we are planners and since he knew his reaction in the operating room would be sub par, we might as well have a party with friends and family.
We had our ultrasound on Friday, July 11th in the morning. Because of Maple Grove Days, we decided to push the party back to Saturday evening. I asked the ultrasound technician to circle a paper that I had prepared declaring that our baby was either a BOY or GIRL. RJ admitted to almost peaking when she asked us to turn our heads so she could identify the gender. She sealed it and I took it to Target’s bakery where they made us a cake with encrypted filling (pink for girl, blue for boy).
The kids were very excited! McKenna and Hunter wanted it to be a boy. I was surprised that McKenna didn’t vote for total girl domination. She wanted our family to be even. When I was pregnant with McKenna I had the feeling that we would have four children, two boys and two girls. I thought McKenna would be boy number two but since she and Reagan were our two girls, I assumed this was our little boy.
I copied that kids fourth of July crafts and made some giant flowers for decoration. The banner read “Reeve Baby Reveal".
Target bakery made this half sheet white cake with butter cream frosting and a giant question mark.
Here is a 3-D picture from our ultrasound. When Hunter saw it, he said “I know it’s a boy because he’s bald!”
We waited half an hour for our friends to arrive. I had jars on the table with either pink or blue balloons. Everyone had to commit and blow up their balloon. The kids were almost as excited as I was to find out what color the filling was. Cheryl joined us via face time and RJ had my parents on the phone. When I made the first cut, it was hard to tell because the knife had different colors from all the polka dots. I thought I saw a larger streak of blue though. Sure enough when I turned it and took the corner piece out, it was BLUE!
We are happy to now call the lump in my belly baby brother! RJ has naming rights with our fourth and final child so we likely won’t have more specifics until were are in the hospital. We are very excited!
McKenna took this picture and cut off RJ’s head.
RJ took me to Average Joe’s Archery for our July date. We both found out that we were left eye dominant shooters and thought it would be awkward to shoot left handed. We did all right though. I was no Katniss but RJ was exceptional! We joked that he could add it to his date list with the tag line “Be her beau and make her quiver.” We picked up a donut at a new café near town. The red velvet ones with cream cheese frosting were delicious! It was a great time all around. It’s so nice to have a husband that puts effort into our relationship. I’m so grateful for RJ.
Amanda and Thomas surprised us and came a few days earlier than expected. We were so glad that we could enjoy the holiday together. We had a great time playing tennis, barbequing, eating and playing games.
Amanda made this delicious and festive almond joy pie. I made an apple one.
Amanda, Thomas and RJ purchased a bunch of fireworks and ultra long sparklers. The kids LOVED waving them around and lighting them.
Reagan was afraid of the sparklers but liked throwing the pop-its. She had a hard time throwing them hard enough to make them snap.
Our neighbors/friends joined us for the show.
Steve, Cassie, Jessica, Ryan, Josh, Libby, Evan and Aidan
McKenna LOVES Libby!
Poor Reagan was beyond tired. Even the snapping, flashing and whistling fireworks couldn’t keep her awake.
RJ stole the show in the bowling competition.
It was a really enjoyable weekend!
We flew into Vegas Saturday night and took a shuttle to St. George for the Reeve Family Reunion. On Sunday morning as we were visiting, Pam noticed a plane nose down in their field. Their horse was sniffing around so Reed went out to get him and found out that a 4 year old, his dad and grandpa were flying over Zion’s National Park and saw one canyon too many. They ran out of gas (1 mile from the airport in Hurricane) and tried to land in Reed’s back yard. They barely clipped the fence with their landing gear and that spun them 90 degrees where they then nose dived. The sheriff, EMT’s and police were there within 10 minutes. Nobody was hurt.
After church, a few of us went to Cedar City to visit Grandma Poulson. Janice (her daughter) was there so it was good to see her too. RJ took some great pictures (not only at Grandma’s but throughout the week). It always terrifies me to age after visiting with Grandma Poulson.
Thomas- Sage’s 4th child. We heard some very interesting stories about Thomas! Once of which included a survivor week in White Rocks where he ended up getting bored and walked 25 miles home! One truck stopped to pick him up thinking he was running away from the polygamist colony in Colorado City!
Below is a picture of Amanda and her boyfriend Thomas.
Sage has these swinging beds hanging from a tree on the side of her house. The kids had all kinds of fun on those.
Monday, the reunion officially started with a few work projects: (1) repair the fence that was broken in half by the crashing plane (2) create a roof for the hay (again- same project as two years ago) (3) build a swing set (4) help Amanda stitch aprons for Sister Day.
Hunter took care of Grandpa’s horse for a cub scout requirement. He made sure it had food and water.
Sage, RJ and I jimmy rigged the fence back together (untangling the barb wire and resetting some posts).
Grandma’s work projects seemed to mainly consist of cooking food, cleaning up after meals and preparing for the next meal. She also prepared a few activities to entertain the children while the adults worked on their projects.
Grandpa refurbished this carriage and gave everyone rides. Reagan loved it!
Kimber was in an accident a couple weeks before the reunion. De Anna did not see her when they were up a mountain cutting and collecting wood and she got run over. She broke her pelvic bone on two sides and has pins in. She has to be in a wheel chair for a few more weeks. We are all grateful that she is going to recover fully. She’s such a helpful, cheery little girl. Everyone was helpful with getting her around and she was so patient while she watched kids playing things that she could not.
Tuesday was Sister Day and Amanda was in charge. We were told to bring a recipe for a bake sale. She threw in a few curveballs though. We paired up with a younger girl and each team got to give another team a mystery item to add to their dish! I gave Shannon and Lydia applesauce and they gave me bacon bits! I was making triple chunk brownies so I just sprinkled some on one of the corner pieces since I didn’t want to sale bacon brownies. At one point Amanda claimed a power outage and no one could use electricity for 30 minutes. Shannon was super creative with melting her butter with a blow torch. A few minutes later, everyone could only use one hand.
Amanda made the aprons out of men’s shirts with the help of Lori. They were very cute.
The men were called in from their work projects to judge the goods. That was another curve ball! Had I known that Reeve men were judging the baked goods, I never would have made anything chocolate since none of them are sweet on it.
In the end, we didn’t try to sale anything and instead put together goodie plates for different people in the area.
That night, all of the grown ups went out to dinner at the Olive Garden and enjoyed a delicious meal with great company.
When I heard that one of the work projects was building a swing set, I was happy because I figured it would be some big thing from Costco. I liked the idea of having order (instructions, materials and proper tools). I also knew that we could put it together in a day or two. I am learning that I love to start and finish things. The thought did cross my mind that we would have to build the structure from scratch. I say we but I mean the men (De Anna got right in there too). Bert brought a truck load of crates that had to be taken apart and de-nailed. Everyone was sweating like pigs just to get a 4 in by 3 foot slat. Half of them cracked because the wood was crappy. I joked that the kids would have to wear gloves and steel toed boots on this play ground!
In the end, the guys did a good job getting the frame built enough to attach 3 swings. Unfortunatley the slide was too short and the project came to a hault.
On Wednesday our project was to make a milk carton igloo with the kids to build team work skills. RJ had to take Reed to Salt Lake for a follow-up eye appointment. Over the past few months, Pam saved up over 400 empty gallon jugs with the help of the school and church. Hunter and McKenna enjoyed using the hot glue guns. It made them feel grown up. I was impressed that Hunter stuck with it for about 3 hours. The kids were always so excited to come and see it growing one foot at a time. It was fun to make it for them. Unfortunately, Robert slept in it and kicked a base piece so it was dead within 48 hours.
Shannon and Peter helped me put together a 500 piece Noah’s Ark puzzle.
Reed had asked a few people to give presentations on various things. I think they all did a great job and accomplished what was intended. Kevin had us take a personality test. RJ and I were practically opposite in everything! I guess opposites really do attract! I’m glad that we have learned where and when to compromise.
RJ held a group discussion on prayer. We shared what we use prayer for and were candid about our lack of faith, sincerity, or focus at times.
Robert talked about Preach My Gospel and how we can and should all be using it. It’s not just for missionaries.
Pam wanted the kids to make geniology charts while the men continued on work project #1 on Thursday. It was very apparent that many of RJ’s siblings names were taken from their ancestors. I think it is neat to have a meaningful name. Sage shared some stories with the kids as they glued pictures onto their charts.
That night we had a movie night outside on the grass. We set up blankets and chairs. Grandma bought all kinds of snacks and treats. The majority of people voted on watching “17 Miracles.” I know it is one of my kids’ favorites.
Friday was the beginning of the extended Reeve Reunion. I didn’t take my temple recommend so I was not able to join everyone at the temple Friday morning. Late that afternoon we headed out to White Rocks and listened to two presentations about the Starr family and Robert and Fern Reeve. The kids enjoyed playing in the red dirt, climbing the rocks, and riding on the gators. RJ took Hunter and several other kids to shoot targets as well.
We enjoyed a large and yummy family dinner Saturday before departing Sunday morning. Unfortunately, McKenna woke up early Sunday with an upset stomach and a trip to the bathroom. I brought a gallon size zip lock baggie in the car on the way to St. George to catch our shuttle. She quietly pulled it out, utilized it and zipped it up. We didn’t have any problems on the plane but the next morning, Hunter woke up with an upset stomach. He on the other hand was waking up the house with his moaning and groaning. The poor guy did have it rough for about 5 days! He spent the week napping everywhere (including naked on the bathroom floor).
When I use to travel, I dreaded coming home but the older I get, the more I realize that home is not such a bad place to be. It’s good to be back!
