Family Reunion and Two Birthdays

The first week of June, just after school got out, we had the Daniels family reunion. Originally we were going to rent a big house in Zions, but just a few weeks before we all decided to change it so that it wouldn't be that expensive. We ended up staying in Perry and doing an activity every day. Our family got to stay in Jared's parents' camper in their back yard. Everyone liked it except Hallie who did not want to go to sleep in there. She would cry and wake the other kids up. We finally put her in an extra room inside and we all slept great.

The first day was also Jared's birthday. So, lucky for me, I didn't have to do much for it. (We went shopping the next weekend for some clothes for him.) We spent that day at This is the Place park. There was a lot to see and do. Of course my favorite part was seeing the cabinet maker's shop with all the old tools and how they used to make things.

There were some fun games to play, crafts and of course pony rides (which Connor was too afraid to do at the last minute)

The next day we went to the pool up there. They had a couple of fun slides and sand volleyball.

For the third day, we rented out a bowling alley that also had mini golf. It was pretty fun to be able to bowl on more than one lane as much as we wanted. Alex got really into the bowling, as well as Jared and his brothers.

The last day was Marissa's sixth birthday. That was the day that we got a big bounce house with a water slide and set up some other slip and slides in the Daniels' backyard. I don't think she could have asked for a better birthday party (I would probably never rent a bounce house like that). Everyone else was awake in the morning except her, so I thought it would be fun to go into the trailer to sing Happy Birthday and give her her presents. She got a new razor scooter (because her other one has been mysteriously missing for over a year), a slip and slide and some rubber bands to make rubber band bracelets--they are all the rage at our house right now. It was a good long day and I hope she enjoyed it.

 

And since I never wrote about it before, Marissa also had her kindergarten graduation at the end of May. There are so many kids at the school. Even when we go early and get a pretty good seat, I still can't see my children because they are always on the front row. Joys of being short. I find it very stressful to have to take a video or pictures all the time too. I feel like I enjoy things more if I don't have to capture everything. Anyway, I got this shot of her afterwards. She did great in kindergarten and made a lot of friends. She is reading a lot better and faster now. She hardly needs help reading scriptures anymore.

Other random things about Marissa at age six:  favorite food is pizza, favorite thing to do is play with friends, favorite TV show is A Second Chance (I've never heard of it, but I don't usually watch their shows), her friends are Aurora, Autumn, Emma, Sienna, Addy and Emery, Azure, Brinley, Lindsay, Camden, Hayley, Andrew, Kayla and Daphne, favorite place to go is Disneyland, favorite subjects in school are art and computers.

Marissa is a fun girl who loves being social. She has no fear of being in front of people or talking to them. She is very loving and needs a lot of love too. She will always give me hugs and tell me how much she loves me and always asks to play with my hair (which I love). She recently learned how to do a braid. She doesn't seem to get into playing with any toy or doll and would be happy to get rid of all toys in her room. She loves playing games on the computer or my phone (which she hardly ever gets to do). She doesn't like going to bed or sleeping in her room. This is partly because Hallie has to go to bed at a different time than her or she'll just cry, and Marissa doesn't like being alone. She will usually end up in the living room, our floor or the boys' room. Marissa and Erin are two very different personalities and are the ones that fight more than anyone else. It always makes me sad for Marissa and I can only hope that they will be friends when they are older. We do love this sweet, loving girl. She is really growing up!