Yosemite

The end of July and first week of August, we headed to a family reunion in Yosemite with my parents, siblings, and their families.  We hadn't been all together for 7 years.  We got a head start on the Yosemite trip with a couple days in Mammoth Lakes and a backpacking trip.  Savannah and I camped for 2 nights while Alex and some of the boys did backpacking.  We camped the first night together with Alex and the boys, during which we discovered the air mattress wouldn't hold air.  That was one of the first things Savannah and I needed to do after we dropped off the boys - buy an air mattress. Savannah and I had fun during our girl's time.  We went swimming a couple times, ate out a few times, watched the Barbie movie, saw Devil's Postpile National Monument, Rainbow Falls, and Inyo Crater, got ice cream, went to a bakery, and kayaked on Lake Mary.  I think we had the better deal, compared to the backpacking crew.  They ate Ramen noodles and got chewed up by mosquitoes. But they enjoyed the scenery! 

We met everyone else mid-week.  We stayed with my parents and Audrey and family in one house inside Yosemite.  Mike and his family were about 15 minutes away, just outside the park.  Alison and Ashley were also outside the park, about 35 minutes away, so we did spend quite a bit of time driving back and forth.  We also didn't do everything together.  Some of us went to Glacier Point first thing on Thursday morning.  We met up with others later in the park to do the Mist Trail hike, which was pretty strenuous.  Most of us just went to the Footbridge, but some of the guys made it to the falls.   

On Friday morning, Alex, Jared, and I went ran the Wawona Loop (3.5 miles).  Jared ran the loop 3 times!  We all headed to Bass Lake for lunch, kayaking, and hanging out.  We came back to the same spot at the lake, after getting cleaned up, for family pictures and dessert.  On Saturday morning, just our family went to check out Taft Point (which definitely isn't a place to take young kids, with the sheer drop-offs).  We met several family members for whitewater rafting on Saturday afternoon.  We got to hang out with everyone that evening.  It was fun to meet Alison's baby Bethany, who was born in April.  Most of us hadn't met her yet.   

On Sunday morning, we went to church for Sacrament meeting in the Yosemite Ward.  We met everyone later at the ECCO Center, where we had reserved the place for lunch and hanging out.  We did a few silly then and now picture re-takes, although I don't know what happened to most of those pictures.  Audrey also arranged for us to make a giant "hug" card to write on and send to Nathan and had some crafts for the kids to do.  We also did a family devotional, where my parents shared their conversion story to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  We had a theme for our reunion, "Give Me This Mountain" (which is what all the blue shirts had on them).  That theme was used by the Mission President and his wife in the Denver Colorado mission when they served there.  The wife was one of the missionaries that taught my parents.  The theme comes from the Old Testament story of Caleb and Joshua and the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, with Caleb proclaiming "Give me this mountain!"  It's a reminder that we can do hard things and overcome obstacles and trials in our lives. 

On Monday, our family jogged around the 3.5 mile loop again.  We met up with the rest of the family for lunch and chat with Nathan (for his normal weekly Monday chat).  We finished out the day exploring Lower Yosemite Falls.  We headed home on Tuesday morning, stopping at the Fresno Temple on the way out.  We had a good trip!