The Girls Are Back In Town! - Aug 2012

Roommate Reunion August 2012

 We made a pact during this reunion. "If no one gets married in the next 5 years, thus pulling us together for that celebration. The next reunion time that must happen, with no excuses is in 2017 - 5 years from now."

  Hopefully we wont have to wait that long to see each other again!

The weekend started with a meeting at Ikea with lunch and a stroll around the store. Always love seeing the new styles and ways  to organize and the new color combinations. Followed by heading over to BreAna's house where we spent the next few hours catching up and visiting while we waited for Amy to get off work and join us. Alton came home from work and then proved to us how amazing he is. Without anything being said he made us all smoothies.  Such a sweet guy! Then after a few more hours of talking and laughing we decided that we needed real food and we drove over to Cafe Rio for dinner. So yummy!

Pam watching BreAna's girls while we got pedicures.
Krystal and BreAna got theirs first and then Leslie and I.

After our pedicures at the Aveda salon school we were all craving some yummy Arctic Circle.  Yukon Gold fries, fry sauce, delicious shakes, and ranch burgers. I would have a problem if I lived near a Arctic Circle.  Good thing the closest one is about 2 hours away. While we ate, an employee came over and gave BreAna's girls a courtesy cone - little baby cones for free. How fun!

After lunch we went and walked around the Provo Mall, BreAna and her girls went on a ride on the train around the mall while Leslie shopped for Mormon girl clothes - apparently they are hard to find in Albuquerque.

This group of girls will always be so special to me.

Posing by the creek inside City Creek and inside a really fun store.

L-R Merika, Leslie, Pam, BreAna, Amy and Krystal.

City Creek is a really cool place, I can only imagine the construction mess it was to create. The end result is beautiful. This is just a taste of that it really holds.

These girls are so amazing, I really feel like they have become such awe inspiring women.
BreAna is such a good mom and wife. Seeing her with her girls... she is super mom! I love how dedicated to family she is. She is still one of the most beautiful people I have ever known, inside and out. Her husband Alton really puts the bar high for amazing husbands.
Pam is so strong, she has really blossomed into a fantastic person, over coming challenges, taking risks and making differences in the lives of the kids she meets and teaches. I am so glad that she has put up with all of us for so long. She may have been better than us all.
Amy is just as kind and funny as ever, I really look at her and see an amazing joyful brilliant girl who some guy is missing out on. I am so glad she stuck with me after my freshman year together. I know I am not the easiest person to live with and she put up with me the longest.
Leslie is so classy, so put together, this girl has style in spades! I love the care and concern she holds for all the things and people in her life. I really feel like Leslie is so kind and good. I can't remember a time that she spoke a mean word to someone.
Krystal is fantastic. I am not sure I have ever had a friend who has known me and my struggles like this girl has. I think that we have had some similar struggles and that is a huge part of why she gets me like so few do. The second night in the hotel, we were all tired and I am so thankful that she stayed up with me and talked, listened to me cry and told me about how she overcame some of her own struggles. her stories gave me a little bit of strength and the support that I needed. I hope that Krystal sees in herself, the person that we all see in her. Strength, intelligence, woman of God,kind and most likely the funniest person I know.

After walking around City Creek we decided that with the SLC Temple was closed the next closest was the South Jordan Temple. We drove over and then the girls all went in for a session. We were able to grab someone coming out of the temple to take a picture of us. I chose to use my time reading, grabbing a snack, perusing facebook and taking a short nap. The nap was really needed! I had a very difficult time sleeping during the first night in the hotel.

 After the temple we met over at the Cheesecake Factory a few miles away. It was the perfect end to a perfect weekend. We ate, chatted, laughed, smiled, bonded, and then shared some amazing cheesecake.

I could not ask for better friends than these!

My Grand Summer Adventure - Davies Reunion

I know that writing too retroactively is looked down upon in the blogging community, but I felt that I would be doing some of my friends a great disservice to not. So here goes. On July 8th I left Las Vegas on what would turn out to be a grand adventure. My cars a/c is sometime a little finicky, so I left town at 5am and didn’t arrive to my Uncle Paul’s cabin in Island Park ID until almost 9pm that night. Long day of driving! My oldest brother Logan, his wife Noelette and their kids Kitana (2 ½) and Ronan (1 ½) were there. Drove all the way from Atlanta Georgia! (I am pretty sure they get the award for traveling the furthest for the reunion). My second oldest brother Jeff, his wife Suzanne and their kids Jordan (10), Landon (8), Alexa (4), and Branson (2) were also there. They drove from Providence Utah, where they live. They also brought with them my Uncle Paul’s 4-wheelers. It was so kind of my aunt and uncle to lend them to us for the reunion. We had so much fun. The day after I arrived we took them out to ride and we didn’t get very far before it started to rain and hail on us. Fact: hail really hurts as it hits your skin when you are moving at any speed that is achieved which is greater than your own forward motion. By the time we made it back to the car we were all soaked to the bone.

Jordan, Landon & Alexa getting ready to ride with us. (these cows followed us down the country road that we were on, can I say a little creepy!)

Jeff after the ride. Soaking. Jordan, Alexa after the ride. Logan dripping wet! I know I dont look super wet, but I was.

Sometime between getting soaking wet and that night my parents and my younger brother Birke arrived at the cabin. My third oldest brother John and family were unable to partake in this reunion because they were traveling from Tennessee where they had just attended his wife’s family reunion. Shaunika and her family were also unable to attend because Jason, her husband who is a college teacher had to teach his summer classes.

The next day the Davies Reunion 2010 began. It seems like a smaller bunch of people even though the family has grown exponentially since the last one. After awhile I noticed that many of the Canadian cousins were not in attendance. I heard that it was because of the economy and the tighter restrictions on the boarders. Stupid Obama. They are pseudo Americans! (I am sure my Canadian cousins would be miffed if they heard that I said that! ) Canadians should be given some sort of leeway, seeing as 85% of them live within 100 miles of our boarder and actually bolster our economy quite a bit. Sorry Tangent.

We played the rock game, always a favorite and just like always the kids loved it!! We talked, laughed, and ate amazing Dutch oven (thanks Uncle Craig!). The reunion was a lot less structured than in years past, but different groups went 4-wheeling, jet-skiing, rafting and boating. The majority of us just hung out at the pavilion and talked and got reacquainted.

Most of the kids in the bunkhouse getting ready for the talent show.

Aunt Judy & Launa(mom)

Jeff & Alexa

Preggo Melissa Barnes hanging out at the pavilion.

Matt Hawkins & Birke Stout - When did these cousins get to be so big and grown up!?

Jeff and Dad getting ready to sing at the talent night.

Merika & Aunt Judy

Melissa Barnes & Merika

Dad & Ronan going for a walk at the cabin

Doing the Firemans net with the kids

Catching some air!

Grace Sellers, Ashlyn Winn, Hayden Sellers, and Alyssa Winn - Cousins

My Uncle Paul's cabin the Stout family got to stay in

Of course at every reunion there has to be an injury of some sort. Andee cut her finger pretty bad, but I still think my mom over did it on the finger bandage.

One of the three days of the reunion Jeff, Suzanne, Birke, Logan and I took off on the 4-wheelers and we took a trail that I had taken the reunion three years before. It’s a fun trail because it’s the track of the old railroad and so it goes over streams, rivers, and at some point you get to the Idaho/Montana state line. It has some beautiful scenic vistas. When we got back Birke was covered in dirt and mud. It was so fun! Suzanne Taking Little Branson for a ride around the parking lot
Logan getting ready for the ride Jeff & Suzanne riding doubleAll of us ready to ride!Beautiful! Logan on the side of the MountainJeff, Suzanne and Birke on the side of the mountain Little creek that we crossed a dozen timesMe on the side of the mountain

So dirty after the ride