Summer - Nothin' But Parties

We kicked off summer with a Memorial Day BBQ.  My Mom, Steve, Star, her family and her in-laws came.  I think we always have a great time when we get together. I love it when I get to hang out with my family. I wish we did it more often.

 Jeff had surgery on his knee and Rick had a broken foot.  Woohooo!  Can you say PARTY?

Rylie tried to find trouble wherever she could.  Nothing new about this from a 2 year old.  One thing I have to say about her....she hates me.  I have no idea why, but she does.  It's kind of funny, when my heart isn't broken over it.

Corbin had a great time.  Can you tell?

(Retta, Star, Ron)  It was a great night to sit and listen to old stories.  I always love it when Retta and Ron come.  They always make me laugh.

(Rylie, My Mom and Kylee) Kylee showed up late.  I'm glad she at least likes me.

Who is Steve texting?

Even with a broken foot, Rick always helps out.

Edgar Cousin Party.

(Brandie, Jennie, Me, Cara, Shelley, Mindy)

I got to meet some of my cousins for the first time. It was such a fun time. They are all darling girls.  We went to Mindy's beautiful home and got to know each other.  Some of them hadn't seen each other in a long time so I wasn't the only one catching up.  They've all been so welcoming to me, and it's really appreciated.  I'm only sad we didn't get Marty and Aunt Linda before they left.

Girls only Eclipse Party.

There's nothing better than girls night, and what better excuse for one than a great vampire movie? Some of my friends and I took our girls to the Eclipse movie. We really enjoyed it. Woohooo!  It was hot!

 I think it's easy to see where Channy's and my loyalties lie in this saga.

Alice is my favorite girl in the book/movie too, but I guess Maddie and Brenda like her a lot!

I guess the same goes for McKenzi and Heather.

Boo!  Kristi and Katie are Edward fans.

Jennie, Carley, and Casidy are on team Jacob with us.

The whole group.

 Happy Birthday Kylee

We went to Kylee's 9th Birthday.

I invented an attachment so Corbin could pump up the swimming pool.

 And the girls had a great time.

And the trouble maker (Rylie) looked for trouble.

 Chantel and Star.

Grandma helped out too.

4th Of July Party

Chantel rode on a float in the Kaysville City parade.  She is on the back of the float to the right.

Then we enjoyed a delicious BBQ over at the Saddlers, and played games after.

Family BBQ

Rick's family cam to town so we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to combine with Tiffany's family and BBQ.

We enjoyed dinner then played some games. We really had a good time.

Gatten Family Reunion Party.

The Gatten family hasn't had a get together in decades, but the aunts and Uncles decided to start up the family tradition again and do Tri-annual family Reunions.  Sounded like a good idea to me.  This time it was held at Layton Park.  It was fun to see relatives we haven't seen in a long time, and some that we've never met.

The food from Tasties was yummy.

There was a pretty good turn out.

Uncle Jay gave a an introduction and his brothers and sister spoke.

Several family members enjoyed Surf-n-Swim

Some volley ball was enjoyed

 Chantel participated in arm wrestling

Some people made their own fun.

The bottom line is...We all enjoyed each other.

Uncle Jay's 70th Birthday

We were delighted to be invited to Uncle Jay's party.  There's just no way he could be 70.  Jay is one of the best story tellers.  I enjoy being around him every time I have the chance.  I learned a lot about him at this party just from the table decorations.  Like the naked picture I stared at while I ate dinner...What?

 Uncle Jay with Aunt Tora showing he can still wear out a dance floor at 70.  Uncle jay had a great turn out with his family, friends, and co-workers, and we all enjoyed a delicious dinner.

 Jays daughter Sheri and son Danny

(Oren, Danny, Sheri, Mike, Nathan) All of Jay's kids.

 It was a great night.

Mirror Lake Dinner with the Saddlers

It's really unfortunate that we haven't gotten out more this year.  Rick's broken foot has detoured us from many camping and hiking adventures. But, we did manage to get out and go to Mirror Lake with the Saddlers.  We enjoyed a lazy day of canoeing, game playing, fishing, dinner and a camp fire. 

Chantel loves to camp, so she was so excited to get out in the canoe and paddle off.

It was a beautiful day.  I wish we could have gone on a hike.

Yum, yum, yummy!  Hot Dogs!

I guess it wasn't really that cold....according to the guys, but Brenda and I thought it was cold.

There's just no way not to have fun with this family.  :)

 Edgar Cousin Party (2)

Brandie came back to town so we decided to have another cousin get together.  This time I got to meet all of my cousins kids and husbands.

Me, (my sister) Jennie, (cousins) Cara and Brandie

(Cousin) Mindy, me, (Cousin) Brandie

Aunt Linda,  Cara, Brandie

(Cousin) Cara, (Sister) Toni, (Cousin) Brandie

(Jennie's mom) Patty, and (Sister) Jennie

(Niece) Kyilee, (Cara's daughter) Ashley, (Brandie's daughter) Emma

It's been a great summer to PARTY!

Rick's adventures

For those of you that don't know, Rick switched up his job this year and took a position working in Customer First for Westinghouse. His new job has entailed a great deal of traveling this year.  He's been lucky enough to have some fun opportunities to go to a few places he has never visited - Like Germany, Sweden, and Minnesota.  He's off to Pennsylvania today and had a layover in the Detroit airport.  He says it's one of the most amazing airports he has ever seen.


The following are pictures from his travels this year.


Germany.

 Windeck Castle.  I think the castle is just beautiful and I was so dang jealous I didn't get to go after seeing these pictures.

Talk about a room with a view.

For sure I could live here....In this castle.  Rick said I'd never be able to eat the food though.

 Rick went to a International Hockey League playoff game while he was in Germany.  He said it was fun.

I'm not sure what building this is but it sure reminds me of the Connecticut Capital building.  It made me wonder if Richard Upjohn had visited this building before he designed the Capital building.

All the old churches made me jealous too.  This looks like the most amazing trip.  I really hope I get to go someday.

Oh the German Beer Gods.  Well, I told you I'd give you more info on Rick's broken foot.  He broke it here in Germany.  No, he wasn't drunk.  He was totally sober.  He doesn't drink. He fell down some stairs coming out of a Pub he was visiting with his coworkers (mind you, they all were drinking.)  They all said it was the wrath of the German Beer Gods for not drinking their beer.  Rick was in a boot for over 10 weeks.  His foot is still broken and it will likely take at least a year to heal, so no running for Rick this year.  He as been kind of sad about that.

Sweden.

Well looky here.  We found Rick in another drinking establishment.  The Sweden ice bar.  What can I say, it's his coworkers favorite past time.  This was a pretty "cool" bar though.  Even the drinks are served in a glass of ice, and they give you these "cool" Harry Potter robes to wear inside to keep warm.

Rick's cranberry juice served up in ice.

Harry Potter robes for everyone!

They had some really cool ice sculptures in there too.

More sculpture.

They had the royal wedding of one of the Swedish Princesses while he was there.  Rick said it was crazy with security.  This is the castle, but it must be the back side because it's really ugly.

This must be the front.

 The whole front.

I think Rick enjoyed the country side of Sweden more than the city.

He loved these homes along this canal. Look at the roofs and walls.  It would be a pretty peaceful place to live.

This picture makes me jealous too.  :(  I wanna go!!!!

More cool churches I would have liked to see.  This is a tomb inside the church.

The stinking rich.  This is the church where Rick learned about the "stinking rich".  If you don't know, the rich would buy burial plots under the church floor.  They weren't buried very deep and in the summer especially when it was warm the parishioners were treated to their decaying stench during services.

This building's archway leads from the newer and more modern part of Stockholm to the "old town". I'll show the difference.

Shopping in the modern part of Stockholm.

Shopping in old town.

Some of Rick's coworkers having dinner on the waterfront.

The waterfront.

I think I could live here too....but Rick said the food sucks here too, and I'd never make it, ha, ha.  There are so many other great pictures.  I wish I could share them all. Rick is one lucky guy.  He's had a lot of fun adventures so far this year.