Ruth Family Reunion!!

Ruth Family Reunion by the Numbers:

35: the actual amount of people who were there at one time!

18: adults

17: children (all but two under the age of ten!)

18: people who went on the hike (all of us made it!!!)

18: crazy people who got in the freezing creek (including myself!)

27: fish Luke himself caught

7: the amount of fish that weren't endangered, so we kept and ate!
2: frogs Kaleb and Carson caught. Both died at a young age!

100: the average number of flowers Brooklynn smelled

13: wildlife seen by our family (moose, deer, elk, etc.) NO BEARS!!

This last weekend we had a blast at the Ruth Family Reunion! It was a much needed break from our crazy lives. It's the first time we've had a reunion for over 11 years! Not everyone was there, but those who were, we had a ton of fun!! We had mostly cousins and young children there, but it was also nice to have aunts and uncles and even Grandma Ruth!!! We were up Sawmill Canyon near Mackey, and it was gorgeous!!! We were all able to fit in the campsite without too much crowdedness, even with three trailers and nine HUGE tents!! (Can you imagine all of the chairs around the extra large campfire ring?!!)

Friday when we got up there, we set up our camp and then went on a hike. It was up to Mill Creek Lake, a 2.25 mile hike. It was gorgeous!! We took all of our kids on the hike, but most of the younger kids and aunts stayed back at camp. How dumb were we to not bring our hiking backpacks? (We have two). Someone, (me, dad, or Luke) had to carry Brooklynn the entire way, and even Colton, who cut his heel had to be carried. It was pretty steep, but so worth the climb! I am kicking myself for not taking a picture of Uncle John. (Shout out to him!!!) He hiked the entire way (at his own pace, of course!), but he made it to the lake with bad knees and way out of shape! Here is Grandpa helping Colton on a steep part that was too steep to carry him! How cute?! On the way home we even saw two moose!!

Saturday we took the kids swimming in the creek by our camp. It was freezing cold!!!! (Mike, Jami, Scott, Matt, Kristen, and Brad, do you remember swimming in ice cold water at our last reunion?!!) Mike was bribing all of the kids to sit down for a dollar! They were so cold that their feet hurt and throbbed because the blood flow couldn't circulate!!

The rest of the family packed up and went home on Saturday afternoon, so our family had free time to ourselves. We decided to go fishing and get some dinner (our meat wasn't thawed, yet.) Luke, the boys, and my dad fished for over three hours! (Mom, Brooklynn and I sat in the truck and read magazines. Brooklynn sung e-i-e-i-o over and over to pass the time for her!! Here is Luke helping Colton fish at the lake. I didn't get any pictures of them fishing the creek, so I hope this will do.

Yesterday we all woke up and had a huge breakfast, and then packed up to come home. We drove through the end of the lost river range and it was gorgeous! The kids were so good, but I don't think they saw a thing because they were watching movies the whole time!! All in all, it was way fun!

* Side note: notice Carson isn't in any pictures? He spent all of his time with his cousins, so sadly enough only my cousins got pictures of him. I will post them as soon as I get them. He was the leader the entire hike, and was away playing just out of range from my camera!