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!

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.

Badminton Anyone?

With summer break here we were trying to think

of some activities the kids would enjoy.

While Kailtyn and I were at Target one day we found

a badminton/volleyball set that looked like fun.

As soon as we put the net up in the backyard the kids

have loved it and their game has been improving everyday!

Zac and Lauren were over the other day and they

played many doubles matches.

My favorite part was the way they gave each other a High 5

with their rackets when they made a great play.

Mike and Dottie (the rabbit) joined in for awhile too.

At the end of a good match there is nothing like a courtside BBQ dinner.

School's Out!!

We were so happy that school was out

we decided to celebrate with our BFF's!

Madisen, Zac, Lauren, Mallory and Jaxson (aka: chubs)

Last week we talked about having our friends over on the

last day of school to celebrate, but its been so cold

for this time of year we thought we might end up

having a hot chocolate party.

Fortunately it warmed up enough for

the slip-n-slide and water balloons!

The turtles wanted to be included in the partying too!

Everyone is hoping for a summer filled with

lots of time hanging out together!!!

Kaitlyn's Quilt

Kailtyn decided she wanted to make a quilt for one of her 10 hour

Young Women's projects. Her Beehive class worked on making one

together and she thought it was so fun and cute she wanted to make one

of her own. Of course when it comes to making quilts we

called on Grandma Gwilliam to help us.

We had fun shopping for the fabrics and then the cutting began...

Thanks to Grandma's expertise and quilting set up

(TV mounted on the wall right in front of the sewing maching)

Kaitlyn was able to sew away while watching her favorite

TV shows - along with some sports that Grandma always enjoys.

It's starting to come together.

She definitely completed her 10 hours + on this project.

One of the hardest parts was cutting all the

seam allowances after it was sewn together.

It's called a rag quilt. The more you wash

it the better the fringe looks.

The finished product!

We all love how it turned out.

Thanks for your help Grandma.

High School Hall of Fame

Last night my youngest brother, Scott, was inducted into the

Campolindo High School

Football

Hall of Fame

We didn't even know it existed until a couple of months ago when his former coach called him and told him he had been chosen to be one of 3 former players to be honored this year. We weren't sure what to expect, but it was a very impressive evening. There was a huge crowd of people. His coaches had asked Scott to send them some pictures which they had made up into a scrapbook, a display as we walked in and a DVD they showed when it was his turn to be honored. Former coaches and players were included on the DVD. Some of the things they said about Scott were that "he is one of the nicest guys I've every known", "he worked hard and never complained", one coach got a good laugh when he said "you'll always be my favorite Mormon".

The coach had obviously told the current team members about Scott and the other inductees. Three of the graduating seniors read quotes Scott had written about his football days.

It was so fun to relive Scotts glory days in high school. I'd forgotten about the interception and run for a touchdown - loved the victory cheer.

His trophy read...

1st Team All-League Offensive Lineman

Outstanding Player Performance Award

3-Years Varsity Football Player

3 Sport Athlete (Football, Basketball and Baseball)

Last of 5 Brothers to Play Campolindo Football

I was very proud and happy for you Scotty. I know of 5 brothers and lots of nieces and nephews that are so happy for you a little jealous of the cool/huge trophy you received.

Congratulations!!!

Mormon Helping Hands Day

On Saturday we joined lots of other members of our stake

clearing weeds and branches from a local trail.

There was only one vest left when we arrived so Kaitlyn was

the one to look stylish in a yellow "Mormon Helping Hands" vest.

Logan was of course dying to use the power tools so

Mike gave Logan a chance to use them as long as he was nearby.

Where's Logan?

Look closely and you'll see him carrying this load of branches

to the end of the trail.

There were other ward members in our "zone".

We all had a good time working together.

(Kairo, Ben and Isaac)

Logan and Isaac came up with a faster way of loading the bags.
They were very pleased with themselves when they
could load the bags faster than the rest of us.



We were just about to leave when our buddies, the Wrights, showed up.
So we stayed a little longer and worked with them for awhile.

(Lauren, Logan, Mallory, Madisen and Kaitlyn)

Everyone worked really hard and had a great time.

I was very proud of them.

When we got in the car

Logan asked, "when is the next helping hands day?

He's ready to do it again next weekend.