The family

The absolute highlight of this year's vacation and annual Flaming Gorge trip was that we had ALL of the grandkids under the same roof on the same day!...Now, not at the same time and all together, but the same roof, just at different times. The Woolston kids got to see their cousins some for the first time. It has been hard to get busy lives and schedules coordinated. (That's what happens when the kiddoes start to grow up and Mom & Dad's lives get busier and busier) Anyway, what a blessing. I absolutely love my family. Each grandchild is unique and special in different ways and I have been blessed with an exceptional daughter-in-law and son in-law who chose to marry into the family. The visit was short, but fun and the kids enjoyed seeing each other. Some had never seen Ethan and Sarah was only a few months old the last time we were all together at the same time, so it was a JOY.

Carl did not get to come with the Woolston's on their way to Texas and Taryn had to get up early and go to her first day of Driver's Ed that morning, so they did not get in the group picture, so I added them to the collage. So, all of the Woolston kids are there, along with their Mommy (Christy), then Mammaw & Pappaw, and the younger Hatton family (bottom middle pic)...L to R .. Conner, Greg, Tara then Tyler,  with Taryn inserted on bottom left of collage. The Woolston's Daddy, Carl is inserted on bottom right (taken at flaming Gorge which he did get to enjoy with us, but had to go back to SLC to work while the rest of them headed to Texas with Mammaw & Pappaw)

Our vacation started in SLC to get with the Woolston's and then head to Flaming Gorge (this has been an annual thing for six years now) Last year Tyler was able to go with us, but this year, his back was all messed up and he could not go. Conner had a basketball tournament in Las Vegas (see what I mean about busy schedules and conflicts) and Greg & Tara have so many irons in the fire, it is just hard to let go.
Anyway, Flaming Gorge was wonderful as usual.

 We did our annual river rafting and on our second run, we rescued a woman whose kayak had overturned with her and her husband and she had held on as long as she could and finally had to let go and make it to shore while her husband continued on down the river (She was absolutely terrified, so we rowed over, picked her up and started looking for her husband) We found him about a half miles down on the side of the river trying to get the strength to continue. She opted to stay in the raft with us (I don't think that she will ever do a white water river in a kayak again). We finished our second run and headed for Colorado.

Stayed overnite there and visited, then took off for East Texas.
In East Texas more relatives were waiting for us with a yummy dinner and bunches of more relatives.

The next day we did a lot of visiting with even more relatives (Cousin David at the Sheriff's department) He handcuffed each of the kids and gave them stuffed animals.

On Friday, we headed to the lake and went tubing, skiing and had a picnic. During this stay, of course, we had to make a couple of stops at "The Pit". One of the absolute best places for bar-b-que and fried catfish EVER!!!! (AND cheap enough to actually do with a family of 6 kids).

Then the next day, more stops to visit family, then off to Aransas Pass.....the last stop for the Woolston's summer vacation.

So, at the beach....we fished, we swam in the ocean, we surfed, we fished, we went to the pool, we went to the movies for free popcorn night, we went to play putt-putt, we fished some more, we swam some more, we went to the island for souvenirs and waited for the ferry f-o-r-e-v-e-r!!!!!!, we played with the donkeys, we played "hand and foot" & "pennies from heaven" & "tripoley"...we caught "reds" and had a fish fry...we caught "sharks" and had a fish fry.

 We tried to cram it all in and I think we succeeded. The Woolston's left yesterday morning for the trip back to Utah...drove for 12 hrs and stayed in Moriarity NM then continued on their way to Utah today...they should be pulling  into home@ about 7PM
Whew, just doing the blog has tired me out.!!! Guess I will have to go to Los Comales to recuperate.