Burnham Family Reunion 2009

We were able to make it to the Burnham Family Reunion this year on July 10 and 11. One of my favorite parts about these reunions is that they are low key. It gives everybody the chance to chat with everyone else, the kids can run and play, and I can just sit back and relax. :0)

Here are just a few of the pictures I was able to take that weekend.

Aren't these girls such cuties? They had so much fun playing together. Ashlyn, Mackenzee, and Kamryn {I hope I spelled that right Jamie!}...

Who says grown men don't act like little boys? All of them were out on the dock at Bass Lake showing off their crazy jumps. Dolphin dives {ouch!}, cannon balls {there were some big splashes there!}, and other miscellaneous jumps that I don't think even have a name. Big talkers....big splashers....it was funny. :0)

Caleb was so good about taking all of his little cousins down the slide with him.

Tom, Savannah, and Emilee canoeing at Bass Lake.

Kenzee made all of us laugh so hard when not only did she feel she needed her life jacket and Dora water wings, but the floating donut too.

Paige, Jaysen, Jamee, and Jace at Nat Soo Pah.

Roasting marshmallows for smores on Saturday night.

The ladies horseshoe tournament on Saturday. I was paired with Amy, and we lost. BUT! It was close all the way. In fact, I think the round lasted an hour or something. That's gotta be some kind of record right? :0)

Me celebrating....I threw one and scored a point. That's right...woot woot! I'm pretty sure everyone there thought I was crazy. I am so horrible at horseshoes. :0)

Yes, that's a "ringer"....and it was mine! The only one I got the whole round. But it was still mine!
Gary, Dennis, and Bob {hope I got that right!} playing guitars and singing "Ring of Fire". :0)
Some of the guy cousins reminiscing about the "good old days". They go through it every time they get together. Big talk....but mostly just that.....TALK. :0) Tom is showing off his airsoft sniper rifle.
Whitney, Breanna, Meghan, and Haylee hanging out on Friday night.

Whitney, Haylee, Mike, Kenzee, Breanna, and Meghan

Ashlyn and Mackenzee....inseperable the whole weekend. Such cuties!

Gage, Jesse, and Landon

We had such a good time chatting with all of you!

July Girl's Night

This month we decided to have a Progressive Dinner. We all started out at Alicia's house for appetizers....then moved on to Amy's house for dinner....and then ended up at my house for dessert. All of it was such yummy food! :0) I was disappointed that my blondies didn't turn out very good, but luckily I had made a chocolate mousse cake as well. It was INSANELY delicious. Of which I was glad because it took just a BIT of time to put it all together. It wasn't a hard cake to make necessarily, just time consuming. But....when you took a bite of the dark chocolate cake with the chocolate mousse filling, and the chocolate ganache frosting.....it was like dying and going to heaven. Good stuff.....

Mackenzee snuggled up right next to Michelle.

It was so fun to just sit and eat and chat with everyone. We may be short a member next month if she has her baby a bit early {which she is counting on}. Either way, Michelle is in charge and is going to put us to work! :0)

Basketball Camp

Landon just finished up his week of basketball camp. His friend, Cole, went along with him, but they ended up on different teams. The camp focused on teamwork and being positive even when you don't win. {Which was perfect since we tend to have a problem with that kind of stuff around here}. Landon had so much fun and I'm hoping he remembers everything he learned so he can show off his new "skills" during basketball season this winter.

Snap! Crackle! Pop!

We watched the CSI fireworks this year over in the Lowe's parking lot with the Dixon family. Of course, we made sure we turned our radio station to the station that was playing the music to go with the show.

Mackenzee and Magge danced in the middle of the street to the music that was playing.

Awww....aren't we cute? :0)

Maggie's first sparkler {I think}. Montay had to REALLY convince Maggie to hold it.

Mackenzee decided to get brave this year and do one by herself.

The three boys {Rhett, Landon, Cole} put on a little sparkler show for us. They did magnificently. :0)

Poor Rob was the official sparkler lighter. I'm pretty sure he ended the evening with toasted fingertips.

This picture gives a clear idea of exactly how Mackenzee felt about the fireworks we were lighting in the parklot while we waited for the show to start.

Obviously, the boys were a bit more impressed than Mackenzee. :0)

The girls loved the fireworks, but were just so funny about the noise they made.

I'm not sure if Mackenzee thought the fireworks were going to fall out of the sky and land on her or what, but she wasn't taking any chances....

Here is our fun little group as we wait for the show to start. Jaysen was off to the left trying to light our fireworks.

Anyway, it was a nice evening. I have found that it is much more fun to experience these kinds of things through the eyes of the little ones because it almost like being able to see all of it happen again for the first time.

Independence Day!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend over the 4th of July. We had a really enjoyable day just hanging out and relaxing. You know...the stuff I enjoy doing best. :0)

Swimming Lessons......Part 2

It has been a crazy couple of weeks around here. Which, of course, means I have a lot of catching up to do with my blog here. And...because it would take too much time and effort to keep everything straight....none of these next several posts are in any specific order. I was there....just don't ask me to remember which day it actually happened. :0)


Landon finished up his swimming lessons this last week and passed with flying colors! In fact, every box on his certificate was checked off. {We can't say the same for Mackenzee} Not only that, but the class that he was supposed to be in told him he swam too well for their class and automatically bumped him up to the next higher class level. So, he atually passed two levels of swimming classes instead of just one. Way to go Landon!



He is doing so well with his swimming and is turning into quite the little fish. In fact, he passed the "mommy" swimming test out at Bass Lake last week as well. Last year he struggled and ran out of energy while trying to swim out to the dock and ended up needing Jaysen to help him make it there. So, he did not pass the test last year and was "forced" to wear a life jacket if he wanted to go out in the deep water. This year he didn't need any help at all and so he doesn't have to face the "shame" of wearing a life jacket.

Though it was awesome to watch Landon learn new swimming strokes and how to dive, trying to keep Mackenzee entertained in the hot sun for an hour every day for the last two weeks was definitely interesting. She got in trouble with one of the life guards there for pretending the bench on the side of the concrete was a balance beam. She had to get down and take the walk of shame back to her mother {who had already told her not to walk across the bench but apparently does not have as much authority as Mr. Lifeguard}. She later told me that the lifeguard was mean to her and so she hated him. Good times.......

On a different day, a different Mr. Lifeguard was seen walking around with a Hello Kitty towel wrapped around him. Mackenzee laughed and told me that he was a girl.

And, still another Mr. Lifeguard was commented on. Mackenzee was quite taken with him and let everyone sitting around us know by pointing emphatically towards him and then, speaking very loudly, said, "he has BIG muscles!". After which she struck the muscle man pose with her arms up in the air. She was right....the guy did have big muscles...but I am worried about the fact that my three year old is already checking out lifeguards. I may be in trouble. ;0)







Congrats Landon!