One of the main reasons we went to Utah this summer was for the Burningham Family Reunion at Aspen Grove. It was quite the adventure!
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| All 35 Burninghams at Aspen Grove |
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| Jason's family |
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| Cousin silliness! |
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| Trying to get a family picture...and a few people not cooperating....not mentioning any names :) |
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| Best family shot we could get |
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| Grandma and Grandpa Burningham |
We stayed in a lodge at the base of Mount Timpanogos. The setting was absolutely gorgeous! I love the mountains. It's one of my favorite places to be...especially the Rocky Mountains! Aspen Grove Family Camp was a super fun experience. They had plenty of fun activities for both children and adults and we had all of our meals taken of. I wish I could have taken more pictures that captured our experience, but the lack of pictures tells you that I was too busy to be able to thing about taking pictures. Mostly that busyness was a mix of doing fun things while also taking care of the demands of young children. Unfortunately Ethan, Lydia, me, and Jason all took turns being sick....in that order. Being sick took some of the fun out of it, but we still managed to do most of the activities.
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| Our Family Lodge |
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| Celebrating Grandma's 60th Birthday |
While we were there, we celebrated Mom B's 60th Birthday from a few weeks before. We gave her a quilt with the hand print of all the grandchildren and went around the circle to share what we admired and loved about her. And of course we played a game together. She really enjoyed all of it.
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| Admiring the quilt |
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| Playing games |
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| The best picture we could get of these four....haha. Mik, Eli, Lydia, and Maisy all born within 2 months |
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| Our attempt at our first family hike. It was short, but still nice even if Lydia was sick and Ethan fell down and got hurt and we temporarily lost Lydia's lamb. :) |
We borrowed Keith and Kim’s backpack carrier and took
Lydia and Ethan a little ways up the trail of Stewart Falls. It was more
difficult with the two little ones than we realized, but we still went a little
ways up it and helped Ethan experience somewhat of his first “hike” in the
mountains. We came back down and arrived about 2:45pm so we could check into
our lodge only to discover Lydia’s lamb that she had been holding had somehow
fallen out and was lost. So Jason ran back up the trail partway and was able to
find it on a bush next to the trail that someone else had apparently found and
placed there. As Jason ran back past the people on the trail he called after them,
“I found the lost lamb.” :)
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| Nightly devotional time |
Each night we had family devotionals where we shared a story from an ancestor. Jason shared a story from the Burningham side migrating from England after they joined the church. It was fun and interesting to hear all of the stories shared and I think everyone else enjoyed it too.
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| It's a good thing we had the pacifier. It was heavily used this trip. |
While at Aspen Grove, Jason and I were able to do some fun things with the other
adults…although sometimes we weren’t together because one of us was trying to
help Lydia and sometimes Ethan or sick ourselves. We enjoyed the lectures given by Kerry Muhlestein
from BYU. He gave some interesting lectures on the facsimiles in the book of Abraham
and on the Bible and New Testament. I also did two different ropes courses. I did
the old one and then I did a new one that they just opened midweek that was a
lot of fun. Ropes courses and climbing are one of my favorite pastimes. :) We also played laser tag around some cabins and pine trees. That was
also a lot of fun to play with the adults. They had a big slip n’ slide down a
big hill just for the adults that was fun, and of course they had a lot of
sports activities from Ping Pong and Gaga ball (a type of dodge ball game) to basketball, racquetball, badminton,
volleyball, swimming, mini golf, and lots more. Jason had fun playing 5-on-5
and 3-on-3 basketball tournaments throughout the week with his brothers. On
Wednesday, most of the adults (except Mike, Chelsey, and Jason) hiked Stewart
Falls in the mid-morning. That was the day Jason didn’t feel well and stayed
behind to tend kids and rest. I really enjoyed the hike. It’s another one of my
favorite things to do. I love to be in the mountains close to nature. It is so
beautiful there!
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| Basketball games were definitely one of the highlights |
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| Ethan getting a chance to play |
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| Ethan and Josh were buddies at the Family Camp. Ethan loves to play in the sand. |
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| Playing laser tag in the woods. Very fun! |
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| Walking back from laser tag |
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| Riding the train at Frontier Night |
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| One of the games we played as part of Frontier Night. The goal was to get the bucket up on a stick before your opponent did. |
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| Our Team Name was "Slam it, Jam it, Burningham it" and our Team Cheer was "Feel the Burn!" |
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| One of the activities at the Field Day |
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| Ethan was in the Trompers group and they did fun things like dress up like pirates, go swimming, nature hikes, play with play doh, and play outside on a really fun playground. |
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| One day the adults hiked to Stuart Falls, unfortunately Jason was sick that day and didn't come with us. |
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| Fun times at the swimming pool |
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| Shooting hoops with Dad |
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| Lydia walking across the bridge to our lodge...she's exhausted and rubbing her eyes...a common occurrence here |
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| Grandma and Grandpa on the bridge through camp with Mt Timp in back |
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| Giant slip n' slide |
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| Dirt on the face after flying down the slip n' slide |
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| Lydia loving the sunglasses |
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| Ethan's dance moves |
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Not a great picture but one of my favorite activities ....ropes course. I'm actually sitting on the balls trying to get across.
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I'm glad we have some good memories here at Aspen Grove!
