Free Chick Day!

July 2013

We LUV dressing up as cows and getting free Chick-Fil-A!

We also LUV having Aaron five houses down from us!

 

Hudson and Aubrey

Brit's fam was so cute Chick-Fil-A posted their group cow picture on the Facebook page!

Charlotte is such a doll.  A very happy, content baby.

Far back: Aaron
Middle: Parker w/ Charlotte, Tanner w/ Holden
Front: Hudson, Braddock and Aubrey

We all looked a little more cow like at the beginning of this adventure.  After you hold kids, serve kids, help kids, lots of spots fall off.









Aspen Grove

Aspen Grove 2013

We went to Aspen Grove Family Camp this year for our Vore family vacation.  We can't really call it a reunion because almost all of us live in Odessa and the two families who don't live in Dallas.  It is up Provo Canyon a great place to go as a family.  The meals are taken care of and there are plenty of activities for every age.  We had a wonderful time with family in such a beautiful setting.





 

We arrived earlier in the afternoon and were so happy to greet the group as they came up the canyon in the rental vans.  We were especially excited to see BRIAN/Daddy after a long separation.  But this is the picture we just had to take: Beck car sick and pregnant sick after her windy ride up the canyon.

Adorable boys at church in the beautiful outdoors. (Hud, Braddock, and Joseph)

 

Sunday morning they have church as usual.  Sacrament meeting is outside in the amphitheater.  The Aspen Grove staff, mostly young BYU students, have callings for the summer. (RS president, Sunbeam teacher, etc...)



Not Charlotte's best shot but she looked so adorable in her hat and I love this picture of my dad.
 

We loved getting to be with Griffin more.  He is an active and adorable two year old!

Brinley with her new friend Ashley.  I was relieved she had a buddy from day one because two years ago when we went to Aspen Grove, Bryn was the odd man out all week.  She made several friends this time and also enjoyed hanging out with family.

Denise and Bruce came up to visit us...well, to visit Brian really.  We stayed with them the whole week before.

Beck designed these cute shirts for us, and Brit made the girls awesome headbands.  This picture was taken during an afternoon of family challenges out on the field.  Our Vore cheer was "Good, Better, Best, Never let it rest until your good gets better and your better gets best! Go Vores!"

Each family was timed in fun, different challenges such as rolling a ball through wholes in tarp or building huge puzzles.

Charity, Angelique, Bree, Lauron, Holden and Tanner

The CRAZY hikers!  Brian M., Kerry and Adam did an all day hike to Timpanogos.

The kids LOVED the arts and crafts room.  They spent hours and hours in there. Tanner would beg to skip class so he could buy another ceramic.  Actually, thanks Uncle Chris, Uncle Kerry and Gram because I am pretty sure they forked up money for our kids to do a craft at one time or another.  (Stevie and Brinley)
 

  The scenery was beautiful.  (Charlotte, Ang, Brit and Grandpa)
 

Parker was brave.  He sat in the old fashioned dunking booth!

Aubrey was in the watermelon eating contest.  It was against adults too and she almost won!  It was impressive.

Uncle Chris enjoying some mini-golf with his boys.

Holden and Tanner looking tough wearing the ninja headbands they made in their group.

Max, Benja and Joseph being goofy.  (We loved that Max and Mason were able to join in the trip even though their parents could not.  Their dad is my first cousin.)   

Meals were a great place to meet up together again and mingle with cousins, grandparents, and aunts and uncles. We usually took 3-4 tables and everyone just sat were there was an opening.  I usually ended up at a table with one or two of our kids or with Brian, but I don't think we ever sat all at the same table.  (Hudson, Tanner and Braddock)

Mason spent lots of time teaching Tanner some basketball skills.
 

Ropes course!  Crazy fun! (Mason, Parker, Charity and Bryn)

We loved being in BYU country!  Hudson was able to go to BYU with Brit, Ang and Joseph.

This was such a fun day!  We took my parents rental car and squished the five ladies, plus baby Charlotte, into it for a girls day in Orem.  We hit the mall and Deseret Book.  We enjoyed a delicious meal at PF Changs.  It was fun to be off the mountain and hanging out just with the Vore girls for a few hours. (Beck, Brit w/ Charlotte, Me, Ang and my beautiful mom)
 

Going home.  Charlotte, Lauron, and Aub Daub

Unless you've done it, you just can't explain traveling with a group of  twenty plus family members all day long. It makes me tired just looking at these photos!   It takes a loooong time to get from Provo Canyon to Odessa.  It was cute to see everyone in little groups and one family helping another.  We tried to get a little area and keep things calm and contained.  I have to say I look at my sisters and am so glad I am passed the baby/toddler stage.  It is much, much easier to travel now! On a side note, one really nice man ordered a huge pizza from Sbarros and walked over and gave it to us.  It was so kind and really made me realize I should do more random acts of service.  All in all, another wonderful family trip spent with family, and it was so fun to come home to our new house that we had only lived in for three weeks!

Extra days to play!

June 2013
     After the Gwilliam reunion, we had nine days before our Vore family vacation up in Utah.  We decided the most cost effective way for our fam would be to try to stay up that way while Brian flew home for work in between reunions.  Bruce, Denise and family were awesome and let us basically take over their basement. (And lets be honest, their house.)  Megan and Kyle let us use their rooms and Megan even let us take her car whenever we needed.  Thanks kind teenagers!!!  I was very concerned because I think there is some truth Benjamin Franklin saying "guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days."  However, they are so open and welcoming and fun, we really felt very welcomed.
     Denise is a goer and planned TONS of activities at every turn.  The kids, of course, LOVED that!  Dollar movies, half-priced shakes, hikes, Seven Peaks, parties out back, Scheels and more.  I kept teasing her about wearing me out....I am a big wimp apparently!  We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed hanging with Lindsey Lou, Tyson, Megan, Kyle, Denise and Bruce just a little bit more this summer! 

                                           
                                             Bruce and Tyson snuggling on the couch!

                                         
                                              Touring BYU (Aubrey, Parker, and Brinley)

                   Parker, Tanner, Aubrey, Brinley, and our helpful tour guide who showed around.


BYU shirts!  (Bryn's needed a tank top.)

Cosmo!

Go Cougars!

Wiped out! 

We toured Temple Square for a bit one day but left early.  Brinley was feeling horribly.  Turns out our poor baby had a bad case of strep throat.  It took several days for her to be able to join in the festivities with the group.  Denise was awesome. While I was home nursing Bryn, she took my group, Lindsey and Tyson and just kept the party going.  It was impressive. 

Seven Peaks!  We bought a "pass of all passes" which was on sale for $10 for a year.  We used it four times at the water park.  Sweet deal!

Brinley and Parker enjoying Tyson's cool bike.

As Aubrey would say "ooh, la, la, como, esta!"  (Why she says this....I'm not sure.   I guess it's a kindergarten thing!)

Brinley

!

Lindsey

We used our "Pass of all Passes" and went to a Bees game for free.

 

Scheels!  Parker was in heaven.  It is a huge sporting shop with photo opportunities and a ferris wheel too!
Back: Tanner, Meg, Kyle
Front: Lindsey, Bree, Bryn and Park

Yikes!!!

Denise took us on a fun hike to a little waterfall.  My kids were amazed at the opportunity to climb up the mountain side and explore the outdoors.

 

Lindsey was a pro.  They did this hike for Activity Day girls earlier in the year.

Megan was amazing.  She allowed Aubrey to fix her hair over and over and over throughout the trip.

Our last day.  Aubrey and Tyson were having fun playing in the sand inside on a blanket in the basement. 

We had a wonderful time with Bruce, Denise and family.  Thanks for letting us crash!.