July: This is the Place

In July was the Bevans' family reunion.  While we didn't go to the main reunion, we still got to spend time with everyone before and after they went to Southern Utah.  The weekend before, of which I have no pictures, almost all the adults went to the temple together, and got to do a special sealing ceremony.  After that, eeeeveryone went to Temple Square to take family pictures, it was a lot of fun, but it was a VERY late night for the girls (and me).  The next day we also had a big dinner at Kari and Jeremy's house, which was a lot of fun, and another really late night.  The next few days were a little painful for me, home with the girls.  It took them DAYS to catch up on their sleep! By the time people were back, we were ready for more! We spent almost all day the next Saturday at the This is the Place monument with some of the family.  

The girls had fun learning how they used to do laundry.

 They LOVED having Grandma and Grandpa around.  These girls live for attention, and so were soaking it up!

 They had a lot to do there.  Mike and I had originally been thinking it would only be a couple of hours, and we had plans in the afternoon, but we just ended up pushing the plans back later and later, and ended up spending 6 hours at the village! And, honestly, we could have stayed for longer!

 They had a splash pad, games, crafts, trains, pony rides, little shows, food, pretty much anything you can think of!

 I love how intense KK looks here!

 So proud!

 KK and Alexa pretty much hovered around the grandparents all day.

 And of course, panning for gold.  I think we were here for about an hour.  They found lots of little gold pieces, and then got to go into a gem pit and search for gems.

 This may have been Kaelyn's favorite part, though.  There was a Native American village, and they had a dance show where they explained a bit about their culture and the meanings of their dances.   At the end of the show, they taught a dance, and Kaelyn was so excited to do it! This is so impressive to me, that she just got up there, by herself, and held hands with strangers, to do it! And did a good job, at that!!

 The pony rides may have been tied with the dancing, for Kaelyn's favorite, and was certainly up there for Alexa.  They do love their pony rides!

It was great to see everyone again, especially since we probably won't be travelling for quite awhile!