Ribera Reunion pics

Kayla riding horse









Alayna riding horse









Tyler on horse









Swimming in the river









Granpa and Alayna at river

Ribera Reunion- 2008

Ribera Reunion: Logan, Utah 2008

Friday: We arrived Friday night just in time for dinner. Then the kids went out to swim in the pool, slide down the slip-n-slide, and ride the horse.

Saturday: We all went up Blacksmith Fork Canyon for the entire afternoon. Barb(a friend of the family) and Grandpa spent time teaching Tyler how to fly fish. Even though he didn’t catch anything, he loved every minute of it. The kids swam in the river and played on the playground. We had a big picnic and played a round of Apples to Apples. After that Joann (another friend of the family) held a giant bingo game with tons of awesome prizes- it was lots of fun!
Then we headed over to James (my brother) and Brandi’s house-they live at the mouth of the canyon. We had a BBQ dinner and played “Would you rather” and “What if” which turned out to be so funny it made my sides hurt.

Sunday: We attended church at my parents ward and then all came over for Sunday dinner. We played games in the afternoon like scattegories and Outburst. Then we had a family “fireside” where my mom and Dad shared the stories of how they met, got engaged, and their wedding day. (We are here celebrating their 40th anniversary!!) Then we sang everybody’s favorite hymns. After that, we played 1 round of Phase 10 and we lost power. So, we ended up playing Mafia in the dark, which ended up being quite comical.

Monday: We headed up the Logan canyon to a lodge my parents rented for overnight. We had someone come take family pictures of all of us for my parents 40th wedding anniversary. Then we played horseshoes, worked on a puzzle, played kickball, threw the football, and other assorted games.
That night we had a fireside by the campfire and made s’mores. We went inside and had a baby picture contest, a family trivia game, and then stayed up late playing Phase 10 and Mafia, which once again turned out quite hilarious!!

Tuesday: We checked out of the lodge and came home for a restful afternoon. Then we headed to Joe (my other brother) and Diana’s house for dinner and went to see Kung Fu Panda. What an adorable show that was!!

Wednesday: In the afternoon we went to a park that had a zoo and playground. We played with water balloons (or I should say the kids and Aunt Kristi did) Then we went to Jonathan (my brother)and Kristi’s house. The kids stayed for an art lesson from Uncle Jonathan and a movie night with “Alvin and the Chipmunks”. Us “girls” (all sisters, moms, and Marisa) all went to see Mamma Mia which is definitely a chick flick, but I loved Meryl Streep in it. She did a great job! We came back to host a combination baby shower (for Diana who is due next week) and wedding shower (for Kristi who just joined our giant family) So, we played a “guess the baby food game”, opened presents and had a cake (1/2 for baby shower and ½ for wedding shower).

Thursday: We dragged Grandma all over town for 6 hours of school shopping. We also hit Deseret Book, the distribution center, and the mall. A fun, but long day. Then Grandma made an amazing Dutch Oven meal including her yummy cobbler. Then we stayed up late playing Mafia again.

Friday: We drove to Cheyenne, Wyoming and stayed at the Little America Hotel. The kids went swimming in the giant swimming pool.
Saturday: We decided to drive the rest of the way home. The kids were amazingly good for over 12 hours in the car! We are happy to be home and I was ecstatic to sleep in my own bed again!!
*A special thanks to both families for making these past two weeks absolutely fantastic!!!

More Hart Reunion pics

On the deck- overlooking the valley









A picture with a giant potato









Picture with the baby potato









Overlooking Bear Lake

Hart Reunion pics

At hotel in Ogallala, Nebraska









Traveling in the car









At the Reservoir









View from the deck













Jackson, Wyoming

Hart Reunion- 2008

Hart Reunion: Grand Tetons, Summer 2008

Friday: We left early morning and drove 11 hours to Ogallala, Nebraska. The kids were actually well-behaved so we had a good trip. After we arrived, we went to the pools. They had an indoor pool, outdoor pool, and large Jacuzzi. The kids were so thrilled to be out of the car that they actually swam for 2 ½ hours!!!
That evening, when we plugged the next hotels address into mapquest we quickly realized something was wrong. We had accidentally booked a hotel in Green River, Utah instead of Green River, Wyoming!! So, we did some quick searching and were able to get a hotel in Rock Springs- phew!

Saturday: We drove about 7 hours to Rock Springs. Again, we headed to the pool where we had the pool to ourselves and we swam 2 hours. The hotel we were in had 3 queen beds so everyone was a happy camper.

Sunday: We took an incredibly scenic drive through the “Teton Scenic Byway” and it was gorgeous! We stopped and took some pictures at the Reservoir. We did about 5 ½ hours of driving. We finally arrived in Alta, Wyoming for the Hart reunion. The house we were in had an incredible view of the Grand Tetons. If you looked out the other window you could see the valley. It was really a majestic site. The house had plenty of room, a hot tub with a view of the Tetons, a game room, basketball court, playground, sauna, volleyball net, and a separate annex where we stayed. The weather was beautiful.
We watched a wonderful video the Hart grandparents had put together of videos they had taken since 2002 and had scones for dessert. We also started the filming of the next sequel to Evil Planners.

Monday: This was river-rafting day on the Snake River. Alayna and I didn’t go since Alayna missed the cut-off age by 1 month. It was pouring down rain, but no one seemed to mind since they were all wet anyway. Alayna and I took it easy and played with the new babies.
The afternoon was spent doing American Idol on Playstation II, Guitar Hero, and Karaoke. In the evening, the younger kids went into the hot tub, the older kids played video games, and the adults played Buzz Word (which was pretty entertaining).

Tuesday: We continued to tape many of the scenes for EP. This was the night we were in charge of dinner so we made kid friendly margaritas and walking tacos- always a hit! The kids practiced more American Idol and went in the hot tub. We topped it all off with the game Apples to Apples before bed.

Wednesday: The boys left early for several hours of Paint ball. The rest of us went down to Jackson (a gorgeous scenic drive) to do some window shopping. We found some fun postcards and took pictures. Then we had a picnic lunch at the park while the kids played. That night we had an American Idol contest (using the PS 2 game)

Thursday: We woke up early to go to some waterfalls but then found out they were over an hour and a half away and changed our minds. Instead we had several tournaments throughout the day that everyone participated in: American Idol, washers, ping pong, Wii-tennis, etc.
That evening we celebrated Pioneer day with a cookout (tin foil dinners, some fun pioneer activities (mining for gold, calligraphy, making pioneer yoyos), and made smores and doughboys. It was also neat because Gma and Gpa told some stories about some of our ancestors.

Friday: We took the scenic byway back through the mountains. What we thought would be a quick 3 hour drive turned into 6. There was a lot of construction. We did stop and take a picture of us with a giant potato. We also stopped at Bear Lake for yummy raspberry shakes (kids got chocolate and M&M shakes)

EFY pics

Sunset on the Mississippi










Magic Act at the Variety Show by the session director and his family. One of his daughters was a counselor and one daughter was attending, the son just tagged along.











One of the boys in our group who lost his foot to a lawn mower when he was 3 years old and walks with a limp. He was one of the coolest guys ever: he complained the least of all of us when we had to walk all that way and he turned out to be an amazing piano player.











The "Chastity Line" in the Hotel hallway that was heavily guarded by counselors to keep the boys off our floor.










Group picture of our company, the "Young" family. Each group got a family name.











The greatest session director ever and his wife.










Brittany, our most chatty roomate.










Peter Priesthood (his name is really John-Michael). He is another story all in himself.










Nicole, my main counselor










Phil, a super-cool counselor that kind of looks like Woody on Toy Story










Mae, another one of our counselors that makes a funny face when you say "You're a diva!". Hehe.










Doug, one of our counselors that looks like Kerby Heybourne and is doing a great impression of Buzz Lightyear on Toy Story.











The awesome Health Counselors (Brennon was a sweet dancer)











On the tour bus











Lunch at Carthage Jail (Order from Left to Right): Allie, Brittani, Kirsten, Estelle (in our ward).











One of the cool counselors












Near Joseph Smith's Grave (Left to right): Allie, Brittani, Estelle, Chrysta)











Amanda, one of my roomates

My EFY adventure

Well, mom wanted me to write about my EFY experiences. So, here we go. First off, it was a Special Edition in Nauvoo, so we got to do baptisms for the dead and tour old Nauvoo, which the other EFY groups didn’t get to do. It was and AMAZING experience, something I never could have gotten anywhere but EFY. Our first day we registered and got to meet our roommates and counselors, which was fun, but it was so hard to remember everyone’s names, especially since we had two Brittany’s in our room. Luckily I was right next door to my friend Estelle in our ward. On Monday we also had orientation, FHE, and FHE games, which was all really fun. Oh, the walk down from our hotel to the stake center where everything was about 1.5 miles, so everyday we probably walked at least 6 miles.
We had devotionals every morning when we woke up and before we went to bed every night. We also had gospel and scripture study and morningsides everyday. Our Session Director, Brother Richardson, was an AMAZING speaker. I can’t stress enough how great he was. He is a professor at BYU and I think he’s been on T.V. before. Our theme this year was “Steady and Sure” and we all became “immovables”(like the incredibles movie, the counselors all had the super-hero masks).
On Tuesday we had our four classes. They were SO COOL. They were great speakers. I learned so much. The four classes were: The Tragedy of Sin, Popularity Vs. Principle, The Doctrine of Discipline: Learning the Art of Self-Mastery, and Recognizing the Promptings of the Holy Ghost. I was rapidly taking notes the entire time. It was like listening to John Bytheway. I wish we had more. We only got one day of classes, compared to two, since we were a special edition and had to do the baptisms and touring. That was one drawback. That evening we had banners, cheers, and games night. That was pretty fun. We even did Indian leg wrestling and stick pulls.
On Wednesday we started some of our touring. We started by going to the cemetery where Edward Partridge was buried (where I saw some of our Hart Family ancestor graves.) Then we went to Carthage Jail and drove past the Courthouse there that Abraham Lincoln spoke at during the Civil War. Last we went to the quarry where the saints collected the limestone they used to build the temple. It was all really cool. Then we went to the Visitors Center to watch “High Hopes and River Boats” which was put on by the performing missionaries. I’ve seen it before, but it was still really good. When we got back from all of that we had dinner and dance instruction. Then I went to my first dance! It was so much fun! It was so great to have appropriate, fun music and dancing the whole time. Then we walked the entire 1.5 miles back to the hotel in the rainstorm with lightning and everything.
On Thursday we started off with touring old Nauvoo, like the Brick Yard, Blacksmith, Bakery, home of Brigham Young and Family Living Center. Then we had lunch and went to the temple. It was really cool to do the baptisms. The spirit was very strong there. Oh, I have to tell you something that I realized when I walked past the temple everyday. There was always some kind of sunlight shining on it. Even when every place around it was dark, there was a light through a cloud that shined on it, and it being white, it always glowed. At night it was lit up and it was so gorgeous! Anyway, after the temple we had dinner and went to a Musical Program. It was amazing how strong the spirit was! After the Musical Program, our session director spoke to us and by the end I was crying. Now, you have to understand, I never cry, never. Then we sang the EFY medley. You’ve probably heard it, it’s the one with “As sisters in Zion” and “The Army of Helaman” mixed. Everyone was balling and sniffling the entire song. It was amazing. It’s just impossible to put into words how wonderful it felt. It was almost like during EFY, I was being unzipped and by the time we sang the EFY medley I was all the way open and the spirit was just pouring happiness in me by the gallon. It was SO AMAZING!!!!!!!! After that we had the testimony meeting. I listened in the back, trying to hold in my tears. WOW. That whole day was like nothing I’ve ever felt before. So, those of you that have the chance to go to EFY, GO!!!!!! It is worth every cent.
Friday was our last day. That morning we went to the Visitor’s Center and watched the Joseph Smith video that I think is also played in Salt Lake City. When we were waiting to go inside, we saw a glimpse of the back of President Uctdorf’s head. It was really good. I had to hold in my tears during that, too. Then the session director’s wife spoke to us and we went to the statue garden outside the Visitor’s Center. We had lunch and a few of us went down to Annie’s Frozen Custard during free time (it was really good!) Then we walked all the way back to the Stake Center for the Variety Show. It was really fun! It was quite entertaining! The last guy that performed opened his mission call after he was done with his family on the stage. It was really awesome. He got called to Guatemala. After that we had our second and last dance. It wasn’t quite as fun as the first one since we had to wear church clothes, which were much harder to dance in. Then we went to watch “Sunset on the Mississippi”, which wasn’t so great the first 10 minutes or so, but then it was REALLY good the rest of the time. Last, we watched the slide show of pictures from the entire week. The next morning mom and dad picked us up ( me and my friend from church). I was so sad that it was over, it went so fast.
So the moral of this story is... GO TO EFY!! IT IS ONE OF THE GREATEST THINGS THAT WILL EVER HAPPEN TO YOU!!! I definitely plan to come back every year and I really want to be a counselor, if possible. My testimony has strengthened so much and not only have I grown spiritually, but mentally, social (did I tell you we had to link arms with the boys in our company while they escorted us everywhere? Ugh!!), and physically of course (I probably walked at least 30 miles during the week). It was so great and I’m so exited for next year. I will post some pictures.

Marisa