Desert Color reunion

I'm grateful to my family for taking the time, making the effort and shelling out money to be a part of our Welch gathering for 6 days at Desert Color in St. George.  Desert Color is a fabulous resort with a 2.5 acre Lagoon that's a riot to swim and paddle board in. The lagoon is heated only by the sun-- so it was refreshing in our 90-degree weather.  We had perfect weather...and our Airbnb was situated just 50 feet from the Lagoon entrance...so that was AWESOME.   

Family reunions can be “ a lot” and at times expectations and reality collide and things can get loud and tense. Still, I’m always grateful for grace, communication, and forgiveness and knowing that family means we love and work things out.  Let's just say, life is 50/50 and so are family reunions. 

It's funny-- we put all of us together in tight quarters, add zero bedtimes, too much food, varying opinions and then expect everyone to be on their best behaviors.   The joy of our Airbnb was we all had our own bedrooms and bathrooms-- this helped -- but still, it's good to take a time out from family members every so often. 

We had plenty of highlights and a ton of laughs and I'm so happy that my people basically get a long pretty well.  We missed Markus.  He couldn't come last minute because of his Marine duties that got changed, which is so sad, because this is the type of active vacation he would love with hiking, pickleball, paddleboarding, swimming, ping pong, air hockey, guitar playing, scooters, hot tubbing, so many treats, games etc...

Something I noticed and appreciated about each of my people this week….. 

Wayne:  willing to jump in and play a game or sit in the background and read. Playing guitar on top deck.  

Addison: Came up with a dolphin/ Snow White graphic so quickly.  Serenading on guitar. Said I’m sorry. Family shirt design. 

Bre:  Making the fam picture happen and being willing to photoshop Markus in.  Donut celebration for Addison's birthday.  Deep conversation with Laila 

Alf: loved the paddle board and playing ping pong.  Painting his lightening bolt rock and placing it at the top of the Aspiration trail. 

Poppy: Wearing her Elsa dress to Tuacahn and her comment after Frozen “ Loved it”  Not wanting to get out of the Lagoon. Scaling the mountainside.  

Geo: Gave himself and Tru new nicknames- Biggie and Sushi.  Loved the hot tub.

Landon: Great in a crisis.  Helped with Lexi’s fall - Got shirt wet for a cold compress. Ran to car and back with ibuprofen, then helped her off the mountain.  Stays upbeat. 

Alex:  Early morning breakfast and conversations with Elsie and Lady. Showed up even though health is poor. 

Andrew: Never complaining about hikes. Loved hearing his trumpet songs.  Spent so much time on his paddle board.

Sophia:  Played soooo many games with kids and adults and did the Scrabble name board to include every kid.  SO fun on her paddleboard and playing pingpong 

Tru: The "dolphin question"  and all of us laughing so hard because of it. Watching the Amanda show snuggled up with Elsie.  So sleepy! 

Monson: “We’re in adventure family now?”   Always up for a game. Singing and playing his guitar. Beating Lexi at Pickleball.

Lexi: Fashion show trying to decide what to wear with each outing. Hard for her to sleep not in her own bed- she comes anyway.  Loves to play games, pickleball and to talk.

Tayla:  Sticking with pickleball and paddle boarding. Very determined to keep up with the big kids.

Lady: Teaching Poppy how to play Trash.   Loves to talk to Alex early in the morning.

Elsie: Saying “literally” a lot. She was sooooo sweaty on the hike she didn’t quite know what to do. 

Laila:  Sharing her life - autism diagnosis which took courage and loved seeing her seek help from her sis in laws.  

The Lagoon at Desert Color was refreshing and fun.  We spent many hours here.

Our Airbnb was lovely.  So big and spacious. 

Alex, Lady and Elsie were the early risers each morning.  They were up hours before any of the rest of us.  Lady and Elsie LOVE talking to Alex and catching up on their lives.  It's really sweet and funny. 

 

We painted rocks for our hike up Aspiration Trail that's lined with painted rocks and encouragement to keep on going.

Our Family shirts were a hit.  SO grateful for Addion's talents.  It features 7 frogs singing and dancing to represent our original family.... plus it's frogs because of the 200 frogs that our kids hid in our home in March.  

Pickleball was awesome.  We went out on two different mornings...and taught the family members who didn't know how to play or score. 

We finally cashed in on the Christmas present we gave to everyone...we went to Tuacahn and saw Frozen- the Broadway Musical.  It didn't start til sunset- 8:45 pm., so we made sure the littles all had a nap on this day.  The snow coming down at the end of the show was awesome.  Everybody enjoyed the show, but the little girls LOVED it!

Another Hike to Gunlock Falls this time...hoping the falls were still flowing, but they were not.  it was a Lexi fall instead.  She got hurt, but at least it happened in the shade!  

After each hike we go for a treat to make sure the kids LOVE hiking.  Monson can't believe we are a hiking family now, but in St. George the Red Rock is gorgeous.

Sophia and Andrew got paddle boards for Christmas and had a great time at the Lagoon.  We also spent evenings playing guitar and singing.  It's nice that Wayne, Addison and Monson all have learned the guitar this year.