On Friday afternoon we headed down to Manti. This weekend Grandma Bown's side of the family (the Rasmussen's) were having a family reunion at Yuba Lake. I reminded Travis about it the last time he was home & since we haven't been to Yuba in 6 yrs and we also haven't been to a Rasmussen reunion in 6 years we decided we should go.
It took us five hours to get to Manti. This trip is normally only about three-three and a half hours long. Granted, we were pulling the trailer. And, we did stop a time or two for gas, etc. But, the real kicker came just outside of Ephraim. We were driving down the road & Travis says, "I think I just got a flat." Realizing that this could suck really bad I didn't say too much. We drove into Ephraim and pulled into the Walmart parking lot. You have to understand. This last hitch Travis was on he got a flat tire on his truck. Not only did he get a flat tire, but he had no jack. When he did finally get a jack he couldn't get the spare tire off the truck. When he finally got the flat tire off and someone he works with hauled him to the tire store, they told him they couldn't fix the flat because there was a huge gash in the tire. He was able to get his truck into the tire store the next day to get the spare tire down and put on his truck so he could come home. While he's been home he's been trying to find a new tire the right size but NO ONE in the valley carries them. He now has four of his dad's old tires on his truck so all the tires on his truck are the same size. See why I said I knew a flat tire on the trailer could suck really bad!
We spent Friday night out at the farm. The reunion didn't start until Saturday anyway. On Saturday before we headed out to Yuba we went up on the hill and Travis let me shoot his "new" gun. I shot fifty bullets...
I'm quite certain that the kids put an extra 100 miles on Grandpa Butter's four wheelers!
That's ok though because it made it so they all napped for the ride from the farm to Yuba.
Not five minutes after we arrived at the lake the kids had swim suits on and were down on the beach. We camped in a big parking lot with a large pavilion. It was nice because there was plenty of room and we could walk right to the edge of the water without having to go too far. I can say I'm glad we took the trailer though because camping in a tent here would not have been fun!
A little bit after the kids disappeared Sam came and got me and told me to come look at Nash because they had buried him. Yeah, they buried him alright. They buried him with rocks and mud! Poor kid! He's such a good sport!
Brooke was pretty good to stay up on the black top with us and not just book it down to the water. I think that we got lucky with that and that it mostly had to do with the fact that it looked like a scary walk down to the water. I love this picture. She was telling him, " 'mon dad, 'mon"
Nash & Sam were so anxious about getting to go this weekend that they both packed their own bags about Wednesday. Well, when we got there Nash looks at me expectantly and asks, "Where are my flip flops?" To which I had the pleasure of replying, "Well, since you were so rarin' to go and wouldn't calm down and let me help you pack I guess if you didn't pack them they didn't get brought with us." He looked pretty bummed out because he knew I wouldn't be happy about him taking his new sneakers down by the water. Lucky for him his dad was kind enough to volunteer his flip flops. This meant that he had the good fortune of walking around like this:
We went out on my in law's boat on Saturday evening. That was the only chance we had to get on the water because it was so windy on Sunday. Brooke wore Caleb's life jacket we got him last year and it fits her just right. I still have a hard time realizing that they are three years apart, only 2 pounds difference and wear the same size clothes!
Travis rode on the tube with Brookelyn. She was excited to get on it but I wasn't sure if that excitement would last or not. He said she was yelling, "Whee!!" the entire time. Guess the tube is now as good as a swing!
The boys rode on the tube together. I made the mistake of telling Caleb to hold on tight. They leaned too far forward and the tube went under. Nash let go but Caleb went down with the ship! When the tube came up Caleb came up with it & yelled at Grandpa "You aren't suppose to do that!" We got a good giggle out of it even if Caleb didn't think it was too funny. At least I know the kid holds on tight!
Travis also rode the tube with Sam (she doesn't look too sure about it in this picture but she got on willingly!).
Brooke decided she was going to help grandpa drive the boat while he was pulling Sam & Travis.
Travis skiied too. I kept taking pictures trying to catch him in the air when he jumped the wake (not an easy thing to do but I finally figured out the trick!). I finally got one of him!
On Sunday we played Bingo rather than just do a raffle. My family made out like bandits. Travis won the quilt that Grandma Bown donated. Sam won the quilt top that Travis's great grandma put together before she passed away in 2000. And Nash won a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi & a bag of popcorn. They were all pretty dang excited!
We had a good time. I'm glad that we went and that no one broke any limbs this trip (our last trip to Yuba ended with Nash breaking his arm). I'm also glad that we didn't have any other tire trouble! We even made it home at a fairly early hour (thanks to the wind) which made it so that we could get Travis ready to head back to work and still let him get some sleep!
