Murphy family reunion- 2014 (And Grandpa Myres' 80th birthday party!)

The day our Giullian reunion ended in Colorado was the day our Murphy reunion started in Utah. We decided to drive straight to Utah, instead of driving back to Idaho and down to Utah. We figured we had enough driving ahead of us.
Jake and Kayleen were nice enough to put us up for the night, as both of our grandparents had plenty of people in their houses.
The house we stayed at in Utah was MASSIVE. I was joking when we turned into the neighborhood that I wanted to stay there. Imagine my surprise when we turned in! It was beautiful, and had a basketball court, weight room, pool, park, pool table, and many bedrooms to fit everyone comfortably. And, as per usual, it was great to see Dane the whole family again.

Dane making some animal noises and naming them... like ibex, kingfisher, and umami (sp?) He's too funny.
Monday was spent seeing everyone again, playing, Minute to Win It games, and that night Austin reported to the family about his mission.

Tuesday morning we had a family history day. The funniest part of this was the picture I got of Dane... he didn't like seeing his own face on the iPad. What a hoot!

That afternoon we went to Seven Peaks, a water park in Provo. I don't remember the last time we went, and since we went in the afternoon we didn't get fried hooray! (Even Austin with his post-mission farmer's tan). The highlight of Brandon's day was meeting Austin Collie, an NFL player who was on the Colts and Patriots. He's friends with John and LaDawn, naturally!
Wednesday morning we had the chance to hike to Timpanogos Caves. I had never done it, and I'm glad we did once before we moved! The hike was long, but the cave was amazing (and very cold, which is a relief in the summer.)

Wednesday night some of the family drove to Salt Lake and saw Don Felder from the Eagles, who opened for Foreigner and Styx. It was an entertaining concert, with many people who liked them the first time around reliving their glory days. We got lots of pictures though!

Lauren with her baby (BOY) bump!

The lead singer of Foreigner said to grab onto someone you care about... and this is what happened. Thanks Bethany.

We also got In-N-Out on the way home... which is the last time I've had it. I miss it.
Thursday morning (Pioneer Day) those of us who managed to get up ran the Temple to Temple 5k in Provo. Out of the 10 people who signed up, 4 of us were not too tired or feeling sick from partying too much to run.

Before

With Kayleen before the race!
The 5k was ok... not my best. But I did run by the 645 house. It's one of the few places I know how to get to in Utah without directions.

We stopped at the under-construction Provo City Center Temple. I'm sad we moved before this was completed, and visiting it will be our first priority when we get to Utah next.

We did finally get a family picture, sans Tommy and Dallin!

Side note: Dane got really mad because I helped him get across the trampoline holes instead of letting him fall in... So he sat there and cried. It was too funny to not share.

Pioneer day is also our grandpa Myres' birthday... this year, his 80th birthday. It was so great to get most of the family together to celebrate this pioneer of our family. We started off with pioneer games as everyone gathered...

(the "Guess Who I Am" game... Brandon guessed it was me immediately.)

Grandpa and Uncle Lanny... two great guys.
And ended back at the Myres' backyard for birthday cake (It was Grandma Myres' 75th birthday this year as well, so we celebrated both).
And in true BYU fan fashion, look who came to deliver the cake!

The kids were THRILLED. Dane even warmed up to him eventually!

(Look at that face! Dane's, that is... so cute!)

On Friday, we tubed the Provo River. Last time we went (2010), it was SO cold. Luckily it wasn't so bad this time! The funniest part of the river trip included Bethany getting separated and tubing the first half of the river with another family, and when I let go of Brandon and he got stuck in a whirlpool (he said "Don't let go", and all I heard was "let go"... whoops.)

We left a few hours later, but we loved going and being able to see everyone, just before we move away! Thanks for a great week!

Trip to Colorado/Giullian Family Reunion

So July 17-20 we had a Giullian reunion in Estes Park. We had decided to go out a few days earlier to see the Putnam side of the family, and we even got Megan and Ashlee to fly out for it! While we were driving to pick them up from the airport, Brandon, Taylor and I were discussing the times we could leave. I'll give you a hint: One of us wanted to leave at 3 AM and 2 of us said HECK NO. So I threw out there, "Why don't we just leave tonight?" We ran it by Megan and Ashlee, and they were up for it. We each agreed to take turns of about 2 hours, and to have at least 3 of us up at any given point. Just to be safe. I wish we had pictures from that, but we made it in about 10 hours, and got there at 4 AM.

I had only been to Grandma Putnam's house at night before, so when I woke up in the morning (more like noon, to be honest) I was amazed at the view I found!

The house backs up to the beautiful Windsor Lake. It also made a good running loop. While we were there we watched some pretty good thunderstorms (and rainbows)

played some games, and went to Senor Jalapenos for dinner one night. Which, by the way, had the most delicious and sinful dessert ever. A snickers bar deep fried and covered in whipped cream, powdered sugar, and Hershey's syrup. With ice cream on the side, of course.

One day, we went to Horsetooth Reservoir. Along the way we got to go to see the construction site of the Fort Collins CO temple. I can't wait to see it when it's done, and I wonder what number temple it will be for us!

During our trip out there, it started raining and hailing on us! Luckily we were under a pavilion.

That Thursday we went to the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, CO. I wasn't sure what to expect, since the only YMCAs I've been to are gyms, but this was fantastic! The altitude was killer though.

Every day I was amazed by the beauty of the place we were staying in.

The one stop I wanted to make while we were there was to the Stanley hotel. It's a haunted hotel, most famously known for the filming place of "the Shining" and "Dumb and Dumber". Again, it started pouring right as we got a picture. So while we look super happy, we're just screaming because it's raining on us.

We got to see some of the bottom floor, which we got a tour from Grandpa Giullian. He got to play there when it was a bustling hotel. It was way fun.

On the last day, we went zip lining. It was an 800 foot zipline, but what I didn't know was that you had to climb up on a log to get to the zip line. It took WAY too long for me to climb up, and I did it one time and one time only.

We left early Sunday morning to go to Utah to a Murphy family reunion, with Taylor in tow. On our way out of town, our directions took us by the Stanley hotel 3 different times... creepy!

 While we were driving, we made it to over 12,000 feet elevation. It was scary, because at some points we didn't have a guard rail. 

But there were some visitors along the way:

One of the elk was so close to me that I could have reached out and touched him... but I didn't.

Colorado is beautiful when you are driving through the Rockies... but then once you're on the other side it's pretty much the same as Idaho. For about 80 miles out, they advertised a town called "Dinosaur, CO". It was just before the border into Utah, and it was supposed to be the gateway to the Dinosaur National Park. So we expected something. Wrong!

It was a trailer park. The only unique thing about it was that the street names were all dinosaur names. Whoopie. And where the dinosaurs lived was the WORST! Dry, flat, and covered in tumbleweeds that buried themselves in our car.

We made it to Vernal, and I told Brandon we HAD to go look at the temple. Because we probably weren't going to go back to Vernal unless a family member got married there. So Taylor took a picture of us.

That is temple #20 for us! Very cute, small, but we were grateful that we changed our plans to go to Vernal for our first anniversary. It would have been cool for a person who was obsessed with dinosaurs, but as we are not... ehhhhhh.

And besides me slamming my toe in the car door (ouch, who even does that?) and a flash flood warning, we made it to Utah! We even got Taylor to his shuttle with 2 minutes to spare. Now, on to the Murphy reunion!

Little tiny Porter!

Our friends and downstairs neighbors Trent and Chelsea just had a baby on the 4th of July, so we went down to see them after a few days. Chelsea was in her first year of teaching this past year too, and was a CHAMP. She didn't miss a day from morning sickness (when she totally could have), so thanks for giving me something to work towards when I get pregnant someday!

Porter was an angel baby. He has had jaundice and needs his little blanket, but he was happy to just lay there and sleep most of the time. And, he was a pretty cute newborn. We're sad we can't take them to Miami with us, but we said they can come visit any time!

He sleeps without any clothes on, because of his phototherapy. Naked baby.

Austin comes home!

So I'm trying to update the blog on the many different trips we've been lucky enough to take, so I thought I'd start with this.

Austin got home from his mission the night of the last day of summer school. He got home on a Thursday night, and unfortunately Allegiant Air flies only on Mondays and Fridays. So we weren't able to be there in person, but I persuaded Dad to let us be on FaceTime so we could see the arrival.

When we got there Friday afternoon, I was trying to figure out where to meet up with the family at the curb when Austin jumped out just past security. I love this reaction picture.

We got a few stares from  my shriek.

While we were there with Alyse Tommy and Dane, our lives basically revolved around Dane. As per usual. He's got all sorts of funny tricks, including calling Bethany "Bubba". So everyone needs to call her that now. He loved the men there, which is pretty hilarious.

We also played some Risk, as per usual. Note the Del Taco drink... I missed Del.

The main thing we did was go to the beach. Dane LOVED it. One of the things the boys did which was also "funny" was pick up Bethany by an arm or leg and throw her in the water.

Brandon then also decided to throw me over his shoulder and throw me in the water. I had no chance.

Funny story- Alyse said a few days after they left they were talking about the beach, and Dane said, "Brandon, Camille, throw!" hahaha we didn't even know he was watching the whole thing.

After that was Ruby's on the pier. A good way to end the time with the Leiningers.

One of the things we did while we were there was go to the San Diego temple with Austin! It is temple #19 for us, and it seemed to be a good way to help Austin get back into normal life again.

 I always hate going home, but especially after a fun time like this. But, the blow was eased by knowing that I would be back in Utah with them in a few weeks.

What is the opposite of "easing a blow"? Oh right, being delayed for 4 hours with no explanation at the airport. I knew it was a bad sign when the pilot and copilot were in line behind me to get food... when we were supposed to take off. But we made it through and got back in time for fireworks!

 Stars and stripes for 4th of July!