Water Fight!

Yesterday morning as I woke up I thought, "What am I going to do with the kids today?" We hadn't spent any time outside for the past few days, so I thought it'd be fun to have a water gun fight. I got myself and the boys dressed in our swimsuits and headed outside. I filled up the swimming pools, the water guns, and grabbed a tarp that had been lying around the porch for a few weeks to make a slip n slide. I wasn't sure if it'd work very well, but it did! I love how much Zander loves to play and be with people. Zander was too excited to wait to get everyone wet as I tried cleaning off and filling up the pools, so he'd try to grab the hose from me and spray me and Lucas. Lucas has to warm up to everything, so he wasn't so excited to get wet. He liked to play in the water with his toys on the outside of the pool for a while before getting in with Zander and I.

We had lots of fun. Zander wasn't understanding how to slide on the tarp so I had to show him how to do it a few times. We have a slight hill at the top of the lawn, otherwise, I don't think the slip n slide thing would've worked. We missed daddy, so we'll have to do this again soon when he can join us.

The sun tuckered the boys out; especially Lucas. He was falling asleep while trying to eat his lunch. All three of us got to take naps yesterday!

Independence Day

This year didn't quite pan out how I had imagined it going. I was excited for Stephen to have the day off so we could spend some time together as a family, but he woke up sick with a little stomach bug. He did end up going with us to the park and to watch fireworks. What a trooper! So we went to Murray Park for a tiny carnival for the kids in the afternoon, then we went to Aunt Rachel's house for a family BBQ, then we did a few of our own fireworks at home before going to watch the big show. Unfortunately, Lucas fell off the front steps onto the concrete head first putting a good sized goose egg on his forehead, then Zander burned his hand on a sparkler. I didn't see him do it, but Stephen did but was too far away to do anything about it. He grabbed the sparkler right as it stopped sparkling and it burned his pointer finger, thumb, and everywhere in between. Poor boy! He has three blisters on his hand and fingers. Then we watched the fireworks from our car while Lucas slept through them. All in all it was a good day.

All Because Two People Fell in Love

This is my grandma Jean and grandpa Don Watson.

We had our 39th Watson Family Reunion this past weekend in Boise. Our theme for the reunion was "Be Strong" I can't believe how many people showed up on one day or another over the three days we were together. I think we figured up somewhere between 125-135 people in attendance. Each generation is in a different color.

Grandma and Grandpa had seven children: Linda, Kathy, Barry, David, Debra, Julie, and Nancy. Together they made up 36 grandchildren. (Kathy passed away in 2012)

Those grandchildren have made up 116 great grandchildren and counting. And one of those great grandchildren, Kaitlyn Mingo, had the first great, great grandchild, Weston, this past March.

Weston is sitting on Grandma's lap in the red. 

It is incredible that we had five generations at our reunion this year. I think all together we are a family of 162 people! There were cousins that came that I haven't seen for many years. What a blessing my family is! We all get along really well--all the kids play together, the adults talk, and this year some of the men were able to give Grandpa a blessing before he went to Seattle to have surgery. I cannot express enough how much I love my family; they are everything to me. 

"Be Strong" Watson Family Reunion

I love our reunions and all the games, food, entertainment, laughter, and company. The Whizzy's are always the highlight, of course. I made a rock nativity for mine this year. It took me two years to complete because I had to find all the rocks in my garden as I weeded. I love how they turned out, and I put a lot of work into them including having to redo seven of the figures due to runny faces and other complications. I wish I would've kept them for myself; in fact, I stole them from someone during the whizzys and they were stolen from me without a chance to get them back. A lot of people asked me why I gave them away. I wanted to showcase my talent and win the prize for best whizzy of course! And yes, I did win best overall whizzy by a landslide.

Speaking of winning, Zander won one of the M&M jars! His guess was only one off. Grandma did five jars this year and we get three guesses per jar. I haven't won one in a while, but I'm pretty good at it, if I don't say so myself.

After the reunion Becky, Mom, and I stayed at Aunt Debra's house for a few more days just to spend more time together since Becky drove all the way from Spokane. We had plans to go to the zoo and do some shopping, but then we got sick. It kinda slowly went through everyone over the course of the week. So the few days we were going to go out, we ended up staying in watching movies. Then we went shopping and took the kids to the zoo. I will admit I was excited to go to the zoo to see the butterfly house--it's my favorite. Zander even managed to get his first bee sting on his foot.

The zoo.

Play Time

I was originally going to stay in Twin Falls/Boise for five days, but it ended up being 10 days. I'm glad it was extended, though under some unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances. Becky and Lance drove all night to Twin for a funeral for one of their dear friends who passed away from cancer. Lance flew back home 12 hours later and Becky stayed with me. We had a fun day with all the grand kids outside. We went to Costco to get our food for the reunion, then we had lunch in the park, and played in the water at grandma's house.

Tea Time

I forgot to post this. Last month I was able to get together with some of my old roommates and friends from college. We met at the Grand America for tea time. It was so much fun catching up and getting stuffed on finger sandwiches, cookies, pastries, and hot chocolate Mmmmmmmm! I love these girls. We're missing a few too, but these girls became my best friends through some rough times for me. We made so many memories together!

Father's Day

These two sure love their dad.

I got Stephen and the boys matching Darth Vader shirts this year. The boys' say "You are my father" and dad's says "I am your father"