Wood family reunion

We spent Friday playing in my parents pool and hot tub. Then Saturday we headed to our cabin in Oregon. On the way there we stopped at my dad's store, The Country Mercantile, where we picked up some yummy food. You can check out his store's web page here, and see all the fun things he sells there.
I have to explain the picture of my sister's dressed in BYU gear and the tortured Ute doll. My youngest sister Coriann plays basketball for BYU and a couple of her good friends play for U of U. One of her good friends sent her this doll, so Aaron thought it would be funny to hang it from the back of the Tahoe on our two hour trip to the cabin.
It was so nice hanging out with family and for the cousins to play together. Kali and Michael did really well together. Seth (my sisters boyfriend) and Aaron spent most of their time fishing. Aaron was extactic that Janica was dating a guy who liked to fish as much as he did. Sad to say the Wood clan are not big fisherman. Last time we went to the cabin Aaron spent many lonely hours out on the dock. Now he has a fishing buddy, YAY, for Seth. While I am on the topic of Seth, I am going to tell you a little about this guy. Janica has dated LOTS, and naturally I am not going to blog about every guy she dates but this guy is different, he is by far the best guy she has ever dated. He fits right in to our family. So as you can see I am really routing for this one to work out. He is an amazing writer, check out is blog for some excellent literature. Along with being a good writer he is extremely smart, athletic, and most importantly a honorable priesthood holder, a strong member of the church who grew up very similiar to how our family did, BIG BONUS:)
At the cabin we spend our time on the canoe, jet ski, and paddle boat. We ski, wakeboard, and inner tube. The kids (and my mom:) love to feed the ducks. Every once in a while a deer will walk across our lawn which is always exciting. Janica spent a lot of her time trying to finish up on the last of the Twilight series, "Breaking Dawn." Most of you know I am not a reader, I will pick up a book every once in a while if it is supposed to be REALLY good, you know like the Book of Mormon, but I really have no interest in this vampire love story that every girl is now obsessed with. I know I am planning on getting a lot of hate mail after making this last statement but sorry girls, not interested. When Janica wasn't reading, she was getting pushed in the lake by Aaron:) We of course had to take family pictures and I am extremely excited about putting together a my publisher book of the whole reunion.
Nights at the cabin are spent around a campfire, eating smores and Dad telling us some awesome spiritual stories. On Sunday we spent our day together as a family holding our own church meeting and having one of the most spiritual and memorable days as a family. Mom and Dad told us more about their thoughts and feelings when they met and then all of us children talked about memories growing up together. It was such an amazing day.
On Monday we went to Jubilee lake for a little hike and walk around the camp grounds.

10 year High School Reunion

It was pretty cool getting together with all of my old friends from High School. It was interesting finding out what everyone was up to, ten years later. The fun part was that you could pretty much talk to anyone. It did seem as though you gravitate to your closest friends or the people you stay in contact with, but most everyone walked around and just talked not caring what group you were a part of in High School, I guess that comes with age a maturity. These pics are most of my girl friends in High School, the top one is of my BFF's except for Wendy, who could not make it and she was definitely missed:( F.Y.I. for all of you who will one day have your 10 year High School reunion, if you do have a couples night at a bar, do your spouse a favor and leave them at home. Aaron got lucky, we met up with Tamara and Hauni to drive with them to the reunion not realizing their husbands did not make the trip, so Aaron got off the hook and headed home to hang out with my fam. Any spouses you did come, ended up hanging out in the corner getting to know each other while the rest of us ran around a mingled.

playing catch up

So we returned from our vacation on Tuesday afternoon, and now it is Thursday night and I am not sure where the last few days went, the kids and I pretty much have been playing catch up on our sleep. So now time to update you on a WHOLE LOT of things.

First of all before the vacation Kali had an Ipu making day for her school at Hau'ula beach park and Angie got some awesome pictures with Brylie, Kaiya and Kali with the finished product:)


For school on Wednesday we went to Kahana Valley and the kids made canoes out of Hawaiian tree parts. They have an awesome shop that we went to and saw how they make Hawaiian hats, wooden bowls and spoons, they showed us how they work with stone and make poi pounders and round stones to play ancient Hawaiian games. pretty cool.

Reunion

We are off to Washington till next Tuesday for my 10 year High School Reunion and my Wood Family Reunion! So I am taking a blogging break until I return. I will miss you all ever more, ever more, ever more:) (name that movie)

Happy 2nd Birthday Kaiya

Kaiya celebrated her birthday in style in Ko'Olina Kai at the private pool. We had a BBQ of hot dogs, hamburgers and ribs. The kids enjoyed their favorite food, Doritos:) We swam, relaxed in the jacuzzi, enjoyed the company, sang, enjoyed some delicious cake, which Melissa made and decorated herself, VERY IMPRESSIVE! Then opened all of Kaiya's fabulous presents. And of course the best present of the day from nana and papa, a new tricycle. In close second, also from nana and papa, a doggy, which she named, "TWO!" How appropriate:) Thanks you Crosby's for a nice celebration of your little angel.

Happy 30th Birthday:)

happy birthday big brother:) Can't wait to see you in a week. I hope you have a wonderful day!










Brandon Jason Wood
husband
father of two handsome boys (Michael and Jayce)
lover of movies (especially super heroes)
enjoys playing video games
has a good collection of music
always happy, optimistic, enjoys life
very caring, big heart
keeps us laughing, comedian
very spiritual, honors his priesthood

I love you Brandon and I am so grateful you are my older brother.
The baby pictures are of their son Jayce, he is almost two months old. So cute:)

Jo Jo

Thanks Hillary for letting me take pictures of your beautiful little girl Jocelyn. I am excited about learning this whole art of photography. It has been cool just by playing around, I am starting to understand the whole "lighting" issue, everyone always talks about. Time now for trial and error. A cute little story. The other day after we left Hillary's house, Kali said, "bye, Jo Jo" then she turned to me and said, "why do we call her Jo Jo, when her name is Jocelyn." I told her it was her nickname. Brylie was outside and over heard us, so she asked me to explain, what a nickname was. I told her for example when I call her Bry, that is a nickname I gave her. She seemed to understand and was satisfied with that explanation. A little bit later the girls were playing and Brylie announced, "OK everyone, you can call me by my nickname, it's Alicia." LOL! So I guess my explanation wasn't as good as I thought.:)