Wright Reunion

 The Wright Reunion was this past weekend, July 11th-13th.  Friday evening was in Bennington at the Farm, and Saturday was at Lava Hot Springs.

On our way up Friday we stopped to visit my Grandma.  She isn't well enough to make the trip to the farm right now, especially with that many people there, so we had to stop and see her.  What would the Wright Reunion be without our Wright grandparents!?

I think this was also the first time that she got to see Tyce!

 Driving into Montpelier is always really nostalgic.  We used to take trips up to the Farm almost every time we visited Utah.  My grandparents would always buy us treats for the car.  He said the "M" on the mountain was for "Mike's Town."  :)

Passing the Ranchhand and then seeing the red roof of the farmhouse is also really nostalgic.  

MAN DO I LOVE THIS PLACE!

I found later that Mandie had made a similar post on Instagram... :)

When we got there a handful of people were already there around the campfire cooking their hot dogs.  Sue and Al's family, and Kathy and Drew were already there with Megan and Mandie.  Aunt Winnie Mae and a few of her grandkids showed up later.  

  

Cute third (?) cousins

I want to say we stayed up and watched a movie or played games with Megan and Mandie, but I'm not positive on that... I can't remember!  I think we may have run into town to get a few breakfast supplies from Broulim's Supermarket.  

We slept in the little bedroom.  We had the pack and play set up for Tyce and Shad slept with us. 

Saturday morning we ate, got dressed, and left for Lava Hot Springs!

 We got to Lava just a little before my parents did.  They slept at Julie's in Aberdeen the night before and came to Lava for the day.  Nate and his girlfriend Ellie came too.  Tanner was still working in Portland, unfortunately.   

  

We started the day with a potluck lunch and playing Kubb.

 Then a bunch of us rented tubes and floated down the river!    

It was a beast to climb down to the water...

 Nate has such a contagious laugh.  I love hearing him laugh...

It was a crazy ride!  Definitely not as chill as floating the Boise River.  The "waterfalls" were much more dangerous and dumped most people off.  And a few places the water got so fast and shallow that if you're feet and rear weren't up you were in trouble.

 We ended up floating it twice.  On our second ride we got trapped amongst a big group of tubes holding onto each other and when we hit a rough spot we collided with a tube that send Jeff and I over the edge.  Unfortunately we were in one of those bad spots and could not get back on our tubes.  Jeff climbed on with Nate and Ellie and I grabbed on with Al and his kids.  I ended up with sore and bruised ankles and lots of adrenaline.  Jeff got a gash on his leg and lost his sunglasses.  Somehow all of our flip flops were found, though I'm not sure how...   

 On that same last ride Mark, Chelsea, Brad, and Perry went over the waterfall in the worst spot, and because they were on a 4-man tube, they really took a tumble, one of those scary ones where you aren't sure if everyone is going to come up conscious.  They all had some scrapes and bruises, and Perry's back was pretty beat up...  

Somehow we all still had fun though!

My parents stayed behind to watch our kids.

Caught!

After the river we went down to the pool to swim.  We went off the high Olympic platforms and went down a few slides.  My dad, Jeff, and I took turns playing with Shad in the shallow end.  My mom hung out in the shade with Tyce, Kathy, and Drew.

Afterwards we said our goodbyes we went our separate ways.  Because Ren was still at the farm we decided to go back to Bennington.  We were the only ones so we slept in the big bedroom and put the kids in the back bedroom this time.  :)  

Waking up Sunday morning to a light breeze blowing through the curtain was kind of surreal.  One of those things you see in a movie or magazine.  It had that fresh sweet country smell and everything.  I wish you could capture something like that in a picture...

When I woke up Jeff and Shad were already outside wandering around.

Shad loved petting and feeding grass to the horses.  

Before we left I had to take a handful of pictures of the farm.  This is one of my favorite places on earth.  I love the history of it:  My Grandpa was born (in the cabin nearby) and raised here, he grew up farming it and raising horses and cattle.  He inherited all 526 (ish) acres and they lease the land now.  It's registered as a "century" farm.  

I have so many memories here; climbing in the barn, running through the fields, riding horses and 4-wheelers through the fields, white-washing the fence, campfires, snowmobiling, playing "No Bears are Out Tonight" at the cemetary, plus boating on Bear Lake...  And I love the way my grandparents have decorated the house now.  I hope the trips there never end!

The barn is struggling, I don't know that it'll be there standing much longer... 

Walking in the front door takes you into the kitchen:

I love the old school stove that is still there!

  

 The kitchen flows into a family room.

 The hallway between the kitchen and family room takes you to a laundry room/ pantry and then bathroom on your left, a master bedroom and double bedroom on your right, and small bedroom at the end.  

We stopped again to visit my Grandma in Pleasant View on our way home.  I sure love this lady!