Before we start blogging about our Japan adventures, we want to do a few flashback posts about all our summertime fun. As the title suggests, we had a wonderful summer chalked full of reunions, with both family and friends.
It started when Heather first left Taiwan. She flew back to DC for two main reasons. First, because Japan is colder and we needed to access some of our clothes that we had stashed away while in tropical Taiwan. Second, we really wanted to have Heather and the girls see all our old friends back in Sterling. Taiwan was wonderful, and we made some excellent friends, but we also missed our old home.
Unfortunately, Heather was so busy that she didn't take pics of all her fun while there, but here are a few pics that capture the good times.
Elli with her two twin friends: Hailey and Eliza.
This time with cousin Logan driving all the girls on the car.
Right after I left Taiwan, I also had the chance to visit some of our close friends in VA before meeting up with the rest of the fam. It was so much fun to see the DeAndas, Cuddebacks, Calls, and many of our other friends. Of course, I also got to spend loads of time with Tys. No pics, but lots of solid man-bonding all the same. Here's one evening over at the Cuddebacks with the Calls:
Skipping ahead a bit to the end of the summer, while we were in UT staying at my parents right before flying to Japan, we had the chance to meet up with the Cuddebacks for a lunch in SLC. When we arrived to the restaurant, we were surprised to also find our friends the Hamblins there, who happened to be visiting family while in the US from Abu Dhabi at the same time. It was a great surprise, and we were thrilled to spend the afternoon with some of our closest friends.
Here we are with Kenny, baby Jace, Nichole, Ken, and Becky (Jetpack Ninja Hamblin still yet to be born).
After almost a week back in VA, Heather and the girls next flew back home to Texas. She was there over a month before I joined up with them. They did all sorts of crazy things during that time, and that will be the subject of another post all by itself.
After my brief visit in DC, I flew out to Denver where Heather and family were en route to Jenny's graduation from BYU-Idaho. But we didn't just drive straight through to Rexburg. Oh no, not with so many incredible national parks so close.
So we spent a full day going through Teton National Park and Yellowstone. One day only gave us barely enough time to scratch the surface of those two beautiful parks, but it was still a very fun day.
Here are some pics of the Tetons. We only had time to stop for a little bit, but even that little stop was pretty breath-taking.
Here are all the cousins waiting to see Old Faithful erupt in Yellowstone.
After watching Old Faithful, we strolled through geyser hill and then toured Old Faithful lodge as well as stopped off at a nice roadside waterfall (the kiddos needed to get some wiggles out).
Here are some pics of Jenny's graduation. BYU-I in the last few years finished construction on a huge center that is a slightly small version of the Church's conference center. It was huge inside and very well done. That was where Jenny's graduation was held. It was a nice ceremony. She was thrilled all her sisters could make it. Almost as thrilled as when she found out I (Todd) could make it. :)
Kuddos to the photographer (me), who did a great job that day.
Earlier in the day before Jenny's graduation, we found a nice little park with splash pad and merry go round and let the kiddos run wild.
Finished with celebrating Jenny, we all headed back down to Colorado for the Carr family reunion. We stayed in this perfect lodge on the hillside of Steamboat springs, which is a picturesque skiing down in the middle of the Rockies. There was a little celebration going on at the town center when we arrived (probably in our honor), and so we spent the night rocking out and hopping on rocks, too.
This is not in chronological order, but here are some of the other fun things we did while in Steamboat. We attended a rodeo, which was awesome. In the middle of the rodeo, they held a calf run where all the kids 6-10 or so try to catch a calf, and then also a sheep run with younger kids, 3-5. Our nephew Kyle outran all the younger kids and tackled the sheep. He won a belt buckle and a gift certificate to a cowboy clothing store. He was vey proud.
On another day, we spent hours hiking and climbing around Fish Creek Falls. Elli was fearless and she and I were the first to climb almost to the foot of the big falls. Sienna wasn't too far behind, tho, and she dragged Granddaddy Carr and Heather right along with her.
Here are a few of the official Carr family reunion photos. Josh was very patient and took many good shots. I won't share the host of other pics.
The femme fetale Carr five.
Another day we spent giving the kiddos horse rides. We were going to all go horseback riding, but it rained too much the night before. So we settled for giving the young ones a good memory. And of course they loved it.
Here is Heather imparting her Chinese dumpling skills to her sisters, who spent a whole afternoon making and frying dumplings. They tasted scrumptious.
The girls eating ice cream with Kyle and Tanner.
We also did alpine slides, watched funny movies, played games, browsed through a local weekend outdoor market (that had amazing food and crafts), and otherwise simply had a great time.
Steamboat was a perfect place for a reunion. Of course, the best part about our time there was hanging out with family. We already miss them and can't wait till we get to see them all again at Christmas time!
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