Reunions, Fishing, and Hiking, Oh my!

Get ready for lots of pictures!  This past week, we had the Dixon family reunion at an AMAZING lodge in Brianhead, Utah.  It was perfect weather and felt so wonderful, especially after the heat here in Vegas.  We had only been there for a couple hours, when I found Jeremiah playing Parker's cousin, Brock who's 17 I think, at Chess.  They were both very focused on the game.  It was pretty intense :)

 There were lots of things to do there, fun for all ages!  Everyday they offered "pony rides" (although they sure looked like full-grown horses) for the kids.  Jeremiah was very brave and agreed to a ride.

 And Lily did too, after a bit of coercion.

 Jeremiah LOVED this place!  It was way up the mountain, secluded from roads and people, so he could just roam around all day and play outside with his fun cousins.  He spent a lot of time sitting on the 4 wheelers wearing that helmet :)  He bonded with uncle Mike pretty quickly and talked him into taking him on lots of rides.

 These two are at the very heart of the Dixon clan.

Monday night, we had a family talent show!  Among the most impressive acts would be aunt Abbey's clan playing "I Wonder When He Comes Again".

 Other performances of note included David Dixon playing "Tricky Traffic" at the piano, and Jeremiah Dixon leading the group in singing "The Lord Needs Valiant Servants".

 We played with play-dough and even Samuel got in on the horse riding action.

 Lily agreed to ride a 4 wheeler as long as daddy was driving.

 On Tuesday we had the "Dixon Family Olympics"!  This was the only picture I came away with due to the fact that I was busy helping my team dominate!!  We defeated our opponents using our intellectual skills in the golf ball/PVC pipe relay.  We released our brute strength to win the tug-of-war! We lost by just a couple drops of water in the water challenge, but were able to shake it off and focus on the final round.  A three-legged race and then a volleyball match.  Dad Dixon and Jeremiah gave us a good start on the three-legged race, and then after the tag, Parker and I took off, leaving everyone in the dust and winning far ahead of the competition.  The last obstacle between us and victory and the big  green bucket of goodies was a volleyball match against the Armstrong/Berquist family.  After some close calls and awesome skills, we could claim the victory for the David Dixon family!  It was awesome.  And so were the Sugar Babies in the bucket.

 Wednesday morning, we all packed up and headed out.  Mom and Dad Dixon had gotten a hotel for all of us to stay in at Brianhead so we could have a little more time to go fishing and hiking.  And of course we couldn't miss the 4th of July Parawan Parade!  There was candy,

 and necklaces,

 and cute families everywhere!

 Next day was fishing time!  Parker and I got to go out on the boat for a few hours.  We caught a few fish, but no "keepers".

 The kids joined us and within 15 minutes, Jeremiah had caught 2 big fish!

 Jeremiah held on to Lily the whole way in.  Big brother :)

 He'll catch 'em, but he won't touch 'em.

 Before heading back home on Friday, we went for a little hike by the Cedar Breaks.  Samuel loved hitching a ride on Daddy's back.

 We saw beautiful things like these cute flowers,

 and trees, and green things!

We had such a fun week!  We are so blessed to be in the families we are in!  We thoroughly enjoyed our week of respite before the craziness of moving in a couple weeks!!