Day Five: Goodbye Elder Hunter

Jackson saying goodbye. He is such a sweet little boy and even though he didn't fully understand what was going on, he still ran and gave Jordan a big huge hug.

Grandpa Fife and Jordan

Getting a picture of 5 grandkids under 6 can be difficult...to say the least. Poor Jacob was missing all the fun during his nap.

Jordan and the Thomas' Boys

The Bro's

It was a bittersweet morning, seeing Jordan off. The MTC has a new system where you pretty much pull up and drop off the missionary, which is why we said our goodbyes at the house. Jordan was so ready to go and born to be a missionary. I know he will be great. In the weeks following his farewell, his letters have always been positive and filled with the spirit regardless of how hard it has been. We love you Jord! I know how much he will grow and learn about himself and his faith, but I miss him. Who are we going to pick on for the next two years?

?

?

I guess Julia will do.

(just kidding Ju-Ju)

Mike, Me, Julia and our boys hit 7 peaks later that afternoon while the others headed home. It was so much fun and brought back a ton of summer memories from my childhood. There were a TON of new rides! The lazy river and wavepool weren't nearly as big/fast as I remember them being... Mikey was a champion and hid his fear pretty well. We had one breakdown at the top of the Cave Run. He was quietly saying that he wanted to go on a different ride the whole way up but we were encouraging him with pep talks. I felt so bad when we hit the very top and were about to go in. I looked over at him and he was silently balling. Tears streaming and all. The nice little lifeguard assured him that it really wasn't that bad. He trucked through it though! What is funny to me is he went on the half-pipe one with Mike and LOVED IT earlier in the day. To me, that one is the scariest looking! We let the camera get some much needed rest for this excursion.

After 7 peaks we went to Stan's for some tasty fried good-ness and Ah-maz-ing milk shakes.

What else do you do with an alphabet of stickers and an eternal 12 hour drive home from Utah?

This concludes the Hunter Family Reunion. Thank you all for bearing with me while I stretched it on for two months.

Day Four: 5K, Gardening and Party at Lana's

Day Four was our lay-low day. Some of us woke up early and ran a 5k, others slept in, but I won't name names...

After the 5k, we rallied together to do a little yard work in Grandpa's front yard. We didn't snap any pictures of the event, which is surprising for the Hunter family.

Later that evening we went to my Aunt Lana's house to have a party. It was a blast but the cameras didn't make it there either! WTHeck!

Mikey watches Jordan like a hawk when he plays!

I don't know what is up with Jordan's faces in these pictures...

It was so nice to have a 'relaxing' day. It is rare on a Hunter family vacation that's for sure!

Day Three: LAGOON!

Ok. I'm just going to throw this out there: FEEL FREE TO SKIM. There is seriously picture overload below. I won't be offended. In fact, I won't even know.

Day three was one of the boy's favorites for sure!! We walked into Lagoon and there was a water feature that you had to walk around-or through- and you can guess which route the boys took.

Mikey picked up a map and was trying to navigate our group.

Who's having more fun?

Jackson is not sure how he feels about this one. This was our first stop, so he was still getting the feel of things.

Lagoon has a whole water park now, which is where Mikey wanted to stay all day. I love this picture!

Jordan humoring the boys!

The last time I was at Lagoon, I rode the sky coaster. I was 11. I swore I would never do it again but somehow Julia talked me into it. We ended up getting everyone to go! If you have never seen it before, it is a huge 'swing'. You get pulled up super high and then you have to grab the rip cord and release yourself to swing. I made Julia pull it because if it were me, we would still be hanging there.

Mike is not a big fan of heights either but we talked him and Jordan into it. Sort of a last fling for Jord before his mission. Mike's logic in pairing up with Jordan was that they wouldn't die because Jordan was called to serve the Lord. I guess he was right. :)

Tilt-A-Whirl!!

Mike and the boys!

Caden and Mikey won these prizes playing basketball!

Of course, Mikey had to hit the water fountain on the way out. It was such a fun day!

Day Two: Church, the Park and Mikey's Birthday

This picture is actually from Day One but I forgot to include it. What more could anyone want than a slumber party under a ping-pong table while watching A Bugs Life on the laptop?

Drumroll Please...

Elder Hunter

The whole Hunter family + Grandpa Fife - Jeff. We took this picture in Grandpa's front yard. I love the green grass everywhere! I can't get over it! (Now all I have to do is start whistling hymns and admiring the flowers and I'll be my mother)

Jacob crawled just like spider-man and he is so quick it is unbelievable! This picture doesn't quite capture the hilarity of him chasing Grandpa's cane. He was all over that thing and to be honest, I don't know who was having a better time!

Look at that great big smile! We love you Bapes!

Representing Detroit and Uncle Jeff!

Umm....Ya...Not much else to say with this one. 6 year old with a knife, that's cool right?

Sweet Mai-Mai! I Looooove this picture of her.

Maia's entourage trying to make her smile. (We all know that Auntie Dana's technique was the most successful but that may be because it's her favorite aunt...)

Mikey's Loot. We celebrated his 6th birthday here at the park complete with Transformers theme. We just so happened to stumble upon some Transformers cups at the local circle K. They were pretty awesome but the fact that they were filled with suicide slurpees made them the pinnacle of ultimate cool birthday fun. (Ya I said it)

These boys were so obsessed with this water fountain. Hunter and Jacob were playing in the rocks surrounding it (sanitary? what's sanitary?) while the older boys were dousing themselves with the water.

Mikey is such a trooper with my picture taking obsession.

WHOOOO!! CLOTHES!!!!

Mikey's new bike! His first big-kid bike!

How many men does it take to hang a Pinatta?

think my dad had more fun with this than anyone.

This on top of slurpees and cake!? What was I thinking?!

Pinatta Spectators.

Wardy, it's for the kids!

Jessika scared Nick pretty good while he was 'resting his eyes'. Nick is the king of scaring people. He made Heather Mills (Lamb) scream for a minute straight once and Julia turned and walked right into a wall*. I think that is why I love this picture. If you have ever been scared by Nick, revel in this with me.

What a day! I don't have any pictures from our baseball game, which was a blast. Let us not forget about the community dog/razor scooters. Only in Utah.

(For those of you who have never been to this park in Utah there was a dog with a collar that read: Property of Blah Park. Please Do Not Remove. Umm...Ok. So the dog would just wander from group to group hanging out and then moving on. I guess he lived off of scraps from people's picnics. Then, there were razor scooters that were Park property as well. What amazed me is that they were still there. In AZ they would have been long gone!)

*Ask Nick about the Heather/Julia scare story.

This concludes Day Two of the HFR.