Family Reunion in Tahoe

Ta-Da! Here we are. This is the whole family to date. Hard to believe but we were able to get every member of the family in one place at one time. I didn't think it was going to be possible for me to get Richard and Lindsey to the reunion. But Lindsey cleared her schedule, and a cute girl needed a ride to Sacramento the exact week of the reunion, so Little Richard decided to make the trip.

Playing at the beach was definitely the order of day. We went to three different beaches, rented boats and kayaks, got sunburned, and ate copious amounts of food. The food was awesome!

Here are Lindsey, Claire, and Aiden building a sand castle. It must be the first day, because no one is sunburned yet. It was amazing to me to see how sand can entertain children for HOURS!

On Sunday we went to church in Tahoe. I thought it was funny how the Bishop explained that Fast Sundays are always a bit unnerving for them, because given all the visitors attending, they never know what is going to be said from the pulpit. So he took 10 precious minutes from testimony time to explain exactly what a testimony is. It is NOT an "I love my family"-mony, or a travelmony. Anyway!!! after church we went home and had a little special service of our own. Tara's son, Nathan, turned twelve while on vacation, so he was ordained to the office of Deacon by all of his uncles, and grandfather, and Dad. That was fun to see. Oh, and by two cousins who are worthy Aaronic priesthood holders, Aiden and Max.

Another special event on Sunday was that Richard and Stone joined us. Richard came to California late Saturday evening. And Stone had scout camp until late Saturday evening. So they both joined us on Sunday. Here we are relaxing in the backyard.

This photo was taken on one of many walks/hikes that week. Syd and Tara are good at keeping the kids busy and occupied. The Hoopes women have way more energy and desire for activity than I do. I would be exhausted from being at the beach, and they would be packing up the kids for a "walk" before dinner. Ah, Claire is a true Hoopes girl and wishes that her mother were more like them. The problem is that Claire actually has Hoopes genes in her. I only got the name.

One of the many activities available for the kids was to sew p.j. shorts. Here Claire and Audrey are modeling their shorts and matching anklets. These were easy shorts that took 1 yard of fabric and only 1 pattern piece.


Each family had to perform something. We got into a stupid human trick phase, and my family stood up to perform something that must be a Wright gene considering Hoopes' can't do it. We are all flaring our nostrils full force in this photo. But if you notice Big Richard is having to do it manually. Hoopes' can't make their eye go blurry either. I guess they just don't have good facial muscle control?!

Grandma Hoopes took an evening to share some stories about her father, Grandpa Cummard. Grandpa Cummard was a world traveler, and he liked to collect hats from each country. Grandma Hoopes brought those hats and we had to guess which country it came from. There were enough for each grandchild to wear one. I think I like Max's dutch girl hat the best. This was done before Richard and Stone arrived. But we have done this with just our kids at home.

This photo pretty much sums up the trip, lots of family running around, lots of fun being had, lots of food, chaos, noise, and laughter. With Grandpa Hoopes sitting quietly observing the shenanigans. All he had to do was remove his hearing aid, and he was quite content.