Family Reunion

August 7, 8, and 9th was a family reunion on Boyd's mother's side of the family. We went to Fairview for the weekend to get together and be with family. At first I was really nervous to go camping with a 10 month old. Then, I decided it might be pretty fun. It was amazing how long it took to get ready to go. We made our lists and checked it over and over again. Perhaps the one thing that didn't make the list would have made for a more relaxed first evening.

Reunion Schedule

Friday: Get to the place and set up camp

Saturday: Hot breakfast, Play around and wait for more family to arrive. At 3pm potluck dinner, games for the kids, and the dessert auction. This is the first time for Boyd and I to bring a dessert to be auctioned off. I made a Brownie Trifle I learned about from reading blogs. See blogging is beneficial! It was a hit. It had lots of people bidding. It finally was purchased for $23. The great thing about the dessert auction is afterwards everyone shares their dessert so it is a win/win situation. Later we made watches and bracelets and played some more.

Sunday: Hot breakfast, clean up camp and return to our homes!

I really had a great time!

Grandma Stephensen and Emma

Chillin' around the campsite

Brooklyn and Emma ( Boyd's Niece's daughter)

Getting into trouble in the camper

One family brought tons of toys and candy and hid it in a bale of hay. On the count of three, the kids were able to demolish it. It was so fun to watch all the kids find toys and candy. Emma found a hair thing and a plastic dog.

Love that face. She is trying to get out of her stroller.

Grandma had all kinds of toys to entertain Emma.

Boyd's cousin's little girls. Looks like someone in the picture is not happy with me!

Begging for more hot dogs. Emma ate a lot of food we normally don't eat. She had hot dog pieces, hash browns, pancakes, chips, and fruit salad. She loved all of it! I did bring some of her veggies and mac and cheese, but Emma still wanted to eat what we were eating.

Sitting on the pot ( think about it) hee hee

There is her first tooth. Recap: The tooth you see started to surface on July 13th. To the right of it, she has another one coming and above those two teeth, two more are pushing their way through the gums.

Emma would not keep the hat on her head for the life of her. She kept ripping it off. Hello! It is so cold outside. So, we had to get a picture of her being difficult! Looks like she is having fun!

I think Emma loved seeing what is in a cabinet, since all of our cabinets are child proofed. She was in heaven!

Emma loved trying to play with Whitney, Charlotte's dog.

Boyd's niece Annie was so good to hold Emma so I could clean up and get other things done. Thanks Annie!

Our first Camping Experience with a Baby

Friday evening, after setting up camp and hanging out with everyone, I decided to take Emma to the tent to get her to sleep. Of course this was way past her bedtime. She bounced around and couldn't get comfortable. Me, on the other hand fell asleep while Emma crawled about and moaned a bit. I had only drifted to a light sleep when I realized Emma had collapsed on my leg. I picked her up and wrapped her up really well. I held her in my arms and went to sleep. At about 1 AM Boyd came in after making sure the fire was out. He was worried about her getting cold and tried to wrap her up more and I had him help me retrieve my arm. Emma woke up and started screaming hysterically. It was the scariest cry I had ever heard. Boyd and I tried separately to calm her down but she was not consoled. Kenny, Boyd's brother, heated up her milk, in hopes it would help ease her to a comfortable sleep. She just screamed and screamed and screamed. It is moments like this that I realize Heavenly Father blesses parents with patience. I hummed church hymns, lullabies, and talked to her to try to calm her down. She slapped away the warm milk. I didn't know what to do, and then she started to calm down a bit. However she had worked herself in a tizzy that she was hyperventilating. I held her an rocked, her and got really tired so I laid her down and she woke up and we went through the whole thing over and over again for about an hour or more. Finally went down for a few hours and then woke up again at 4 AM. She was doing her scary cry again and seemed so upset. Kenny came to our tent and said in essence, "You take Emma and sleep in the trailer. I am going to sleep under the stars." By this time, I was so willing to get up and try something else. Emma had a hard time getting to sleep again for about half an hour. Once she was asleep she didn't wake up until 9 AM.

Was she claustrophobic? Scared of this new surrounding? or Was she upset and hurt by the two white things protruding through her upper gum? On Saturday, as she was laughing or talking, I noticed one huge tooth pushing its way through the gum. Then I saw next to that tooth a smaller white tooth coming down as well. What was it we forgot to pack? Teething gel! AHH!

Saturday night we decided to not take our chances and slept in the trailer. Of course Emma didn't want to sleep while everyone was laughing and playing, but I decided it was late enough. I had to hold her tight to my chest and rock her despite her screams and pleadings to let her play. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep. I laid her down and also laid down next to her and slept pretty well. It was a different experience than the night before, thankfully. And, I did give her some baby Ibprofen to help with the possible pain.

All in all we had a great time and our so thankful for family who fed us and let us sleep and use their camper for the weekend. It is always good to spend time with family. I only wished we had broken out the Mexican train game that I love playing. Oh well maybe next time.