A little visit to the desert.

Kenlee and I got to go to Arizona for a couple of weeks in July. We had a Udall family reunion so a lot of the time was spent in Safford. All of my siblings (except Matt, who is on his mission in Italy) were there with all their children...needless to say, it was a MAD HOUSE! We had a blast.
The Udall reunion began at the Cemetery to Honor my Grandparents. We shared fun memories and sang "Love at Home".

Then we headed to the Church Street Chapel for dinner, skits, and a family auction to raise money for the next reunion. It was lots of fun. The next day we ate breakfast at Aunt Jayna's.
Kenlee discovered a new love for sand and dirt on this trip.

And then everyone headed to the river. Kenlee was napping at my mom's so I missed most of that, but I got there just in time for the PVC pipe marshmallow war. It was a blast. The river was super dirty so all the kids were very dirty when they were done swimming (as you can see in this picture of Charlotte and Nathan).

Then we had dinner at Aunt Suzette's and headed to the Pioneer day parade and celebration.


Well, we made it through the parade and then Kenlee went straight to bed. But me and my siblings headed back to the church for game night with cousins. And it was HILARIOUS! Reverse charades, Backwords (and yes I spelled it that way on purpose), Eye Contact, etc. So fun! On Sunday my sisters and I sang a song for my parents that we had changed the words to. It was to the tune of Taylor Swifts "Best Day" song. None of us really sang, most of us just cried. I am so grateful for my parents and their love and support through the years. I think most of us felt that as we (attempted) to sing.
After the reunion, I stayed a few more days in Safford to play. We played games, watched movies, took Cara and Dena's family pictures (here's a couple of cute ones),


did make-up with Charlotte,

played with family, (The Grandkids on the train with Grandma)





ate La Casita with friends, ate La Casita again with family (Kenlee had fun sitting on Grandma's lap and playing with her glasses),



...went to the Temple and did Sealings with my Dad as the Sealer, went to the Temple again for a session,
played dress up (Bella came in dressed like this...so Dena and I joined in!),


went to the Mountain,


(Told you she discovered dirt...)




ate snow cones, and had a marvelous time!


We also got to spend some time with Randon's family in Mesa. 




We saw the new Batman movie, watched tons of Olympics, ate Crazy Sub, went swimming, ate Crazy Sub again, made cards with Mom Walters, went swimming at Leah's, and enjoyed it so much! One night we got to spend some time with Uncle Jadon, Aunt Amanda, Tavius, and Uncle Zach. That was very fun!


Another night Shaylee and Amy came over and we played in the rain and puddles! It was a blast.




Also while we were in Mesa, Dena, Jacob and I went to a Homecoming talk for Elder Parker. Matt's Mission Companion! It was so neat to here him talk about an investigator that they had found together (the one we have been reading about in Matt's emails for so long), and it was even more neat to hear him bear his testimony in Italian.

It was a fantastic jam packed trip!