my family gets together alot in utah because the 3 older siblings live here and my parents and two little brothers are in california - but there always seems to be some kind of event going on in utah so my parents and little brothers come up alot. BUT, this was our declared, official balmforth family reunion this weekend. nothing fancy, we went to a cousin's wedding reception, the zoo, a little water park and had a bbq.
most of my pics are from the zoo. it was super hot and muggy that day, and genius that i am, i wore a sweater-ish cardigan (it was cloudy when we left but then it got hot...) but other than that, it was pretty fun!
i love this picture of penny and my dad. they both look so happy!

watching the elephants.

even derek was having a good time...

as was jordan.

where's paul?

oh, he's with the bears.

(it's kind of a tradition actually. everywhere we go, if there's a statue of a bear, or a painting, or a stuffed animal, etc. we always get a picture of paul with a bear. it's kind of cheesey, but it's because i always thought he looked like a bear, so i started to call him that sometimes, even before we were married. doesn't he look like a bear? i think so. this is a long caption.)
you get a dollar if you spot the penguins!

a hedgehog! we used to have a hedgehog once (my family in ca, i mean). his name was cuddles.

awww, look who's all tuckered out from the zoo. it sure is hard being pushed around in a stroller.

my mom and dad in grandparent bliss.


it was so funny, there was like 3 of us taking these last 2 pictures and everyone was shouting, whooping, hollering, you name it to get the grandbabies to smile. it seriously sounded like a madhouse.
thanks for a fun weekend mom and dad!