Monday, June 28, 2010

Yosemite

Last weekend we headed to Yosemite for our annual
Gwilliam Family Trip

Unfortunately not many of the Gwilliam Family were able
to attend this year, but we still had a great time.
My brother Scott was in charge this year.
When I would ask him what we were going to do while we
were there he would always say "Nature Will Provide".
He couldn't have said it better. There was so much to do
and it was gorgeous.
Beware - I have put a ton of pictures on this post, but I
just couldn't help myself.


We ate every meal out on the deck of the cabin.
There was a great big table that we could all fit around.

Here cute Tyson is patiently waiting for his food.



Mike and my brother, Bruce, looking like one of the sets of twins.
Is it any wonder why people always ask which one of the brothers Mike is.
(oldest, one of the twins, etc.)



For our first adventure we walked down to the river
by our cabin.
Grandpa was the first one to take his shoes and socks off
and head for the water.
The rest of us, well, most of us followed.
It was beautiful, but freezing.




Kaitlyn and Megan


Tyson loved the water and kept trying to figure out how
he could get farther into the water.






Lindsey and Logan were the most adventurous over the weekend.




Logan and Bruce checking out the water.



Grandpa was the first to dunk his head in the water.
(Yes, I have a picture of it, but I didn't think he would appreciate it if I put it on the blog.)
After that, Tyson, Logan and Lindsey were doing the same.
Logan, however, was the only one that went all the way under.
He was so proud of himself.


Kyle, Kaitlyn and Megan humored me by letting me
take a picture by one of the street signs.
I thought they were so cute.



Next we headed to the Giant Sequoias.



We took a tram ride through Mariposa Grove.








The we took a hike to the Chilnualna Falls.










It was absolutely beautiful.
It was fun to be able to get so close to the waterfall.



Tyson was the first to congratulate Grandma for
being able to make the hike.
Foot surgery in February and hiking in Yosemite in June!
Yea Grandma!!!



Grandpa was telling the kids to look for certain flowers
on the way back down the mountain.
He was of course being very animated, but I missed getting
a picture of it. I asked him to do it again so I could get a picture.
He looks a little bugged with me doesn't he.



After dinner we played "Minute To Win It".
Scott recreated several of the games from the TV show
and the kids all had a great time playing them.
In this game they had to jump around to get
8 ping pong balls to come out of the box within 1 minute.






Megan is trying to pull strings over her ears,
balancing pencils that are holding 3 m&m's.
She's supposed to bring them up to her mouth
and eat them within a minute.



A fan favorite was putting vaseline on your nose,
sticking your face in a bowl of cotton balls, once you
get a cotton ball on your nose you run to the end of
the table and shake the cotton ball off your nose.
You have to get 5 cotton balls in the bowl within 1 minute.
I think everyone was successful at this one.












The next day we headed to Glacier Point.
It was Absolutely Gorgeous!






Logan wanted to climb every rock.

For lunch we stopped by a river for a picnic.
Grandpa told Kaitlyn he would go in the water and walk
her to the sandbar in the middle of the river.
I'm still not sure why she took him up on the idea,
but they all headed in the water.
Logan was the only one who planned ahead and brought
his swimming suit. The rest of them are in their clothes.

Denise carried Tyson and Lindsey over piggyback.
She gets the mom of the year award.


Logan was the deer whisperer and got amazingly close
to this deer near our cabin.
By the way, we saw a bear and her cub by the side of the road
on our way to Glacier Point.
As Scott would said - Nature provided.





On our last day we went to Bridal Veil Falls









and Yosemite Falls.


We all had a great time and hope to go back soon!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Wedding Weekend

A friend in the ward asked me to help out with the
"decorating committee" for her daughters wedding.
Friday we helped make the centerpieces and on Saturday we headed
out to Brentwood to decorate for the wedding that evening.
Fortunately Kaitlyn and Madisen came with us, which helped out a ton!







Julie was the one in charge of the "decorating committe".
I had so much fun calling her the wedding boss throughout this whole thing.
She wasn't a big fan of the title.


Nancy and Shelley were the ladies with the
know how in the flower department.


Every other chair had a black ribbon tied on it,
so I spent a lot of time tying bows.


I think it turned out beautifully!!

It took a lot of time, and I was exhausted yesterday,
but it was a lot of fun too.