Davie Family Reunion 2015

Tim, the boys, and I headed to Southern, UT, Pine Valley to be exact, last Thursday. We went for the Davie family reunion. This year was especially important because Tim's parents have been out of the country for the past 18 months so it was the first time in a while that the entire family was together. It was fun and chaotic! Tim is the youngest of 8 all of whom are married. All of his siblings were there and only two of the spouses couldn't make it. Between the 8 children, there are 25 grandchildren!! And we are the only family that doesn't have a dog. A few of them have more than one dog. So, there were lots of people and lots of dogs. 

The boys were in heaven being outside in the beautiful weather playing in the dirt and playing with an endless amount of cousins. Oliver had a hard time remembering names and often referred to them as "that boy" or "that girl". We need to get him together with them more often. 

One of the nights we built a fire and roasted marshmallows, always a crowd pleaser. This is Tim's oldest sister Mel. My boys were so good to be sweet with everyone, even if they didn't know them well which made me happy. 

Me and all my boys!

All 41 of us (Oliver's on my lap and Amie is taking the picture).

Oliver had fun walking along these big rocks. This is his cousin CJ who he played with a lot and couldn't remember his name.

I thought for sure my boys would be the youngest cousins on the Davie side, but then my sister-in-law Rachel surprised us all and had another baby. This is Kate!! She is a cute and chubby little thing. Peter was pretty happy to catch a ride with her for part of our nature walk.

A large group of us went on a really long walk to a reservoir. 

We caught a ride back with Tim's brother Dan who let Oliver "drive".

Frank and Maxine cooked us a South African Braii (basically a BBQ), with a lot of the traditional food. It was fun and they did a really good job. 

They also dressed up in these very cool traditional clothes that they had custom made while they were there. So fun!!

Tim's sister Amie is an awesome photographer and took a bunch of family pictures. I snapped a few pics while we waited for our turn.

I can't even believe I got both boys to look at the camera and smile at the SAME TIME!! Miracle!!

Lets just talk about this kid for a sec. He's is SO CUTE!! And such a ball of emotion. He has so much personality. I LOVE this age!!

He also was totally over taking pictures.

See, pained and embarrassed. Too bad Peter, and I promise you won't have to always take pictures on my lap!

We left after church and lunch on Sunday afternoon and had plans to be back to Phoenix by 8 at the latest. And then we sat on the highway for 1 1/2 hours because of this:

This car drifted over from the south bound I-15 to the north bound and hit a semi head on causing a fire. The driver died unfortunately.

The car was a mess....

And so was the semi (don't you love my pillow reflection in the window?)

 

I am always so grateful for a safe return home from road trips, especially when we drive by accidents like this. We had a great reunion and were so happy to get to see all of Tim's family. Until next year!