"The love of my life.....

....to this little boys is "cherries"....marachino (sp?) cherries. How do I know? 'Cause he told me. We were having milkshakes one night and cherries came on top and Evan swiftly tried to talk everyone out of their cherries. He said, in his own little way..."Oh, 'terries....dare du lub ub my life".....dare; I dust ate du lub ub my life" as he popped one in his mouth. Do you need a translation there? (Cherries are the love of my life. There, I just ate the love of my life). That just made me smile and I truly admire someone that knows exactly what makes him happy...."the love of my life" is something very important to have. Happy Birthday, Evan. You truly are "the love of my life"....and I about eat you up every time I'm with you.

We celebrated in fine style yesterday at Pine Valley and Evan got his cake with his name written in, none other than, cherries.....and, we christened our new fire pit. After the fire marshall coming by two times when we built fires, we decided we'd conform to "every, single, rule and regulation"....it couldn't be more "in code" and guess what, he didn't show up and we had a grand time. Beautiful job, Kyle and JoEllen....and thanks.

Each thing we do is an improvement to our "heaven on earth" and that's what it felt like yesterday with the cloud cover rolling in and the beautiful lush greenery and lots of good food and good company.

We had a few "deer" friends drop in for Evan's birthday party and one of the games was "Red Light, Green Light" that they played with a deer. When she would turn her head, they would quietly creep a little closer with their morsels of food in their hands. Needless to say, they didn't get very close......kids just don't know "quiet".....



Drew and McKay decided they'd chug down a few limes......why????? Oh, well. If that's the stupidest thing they do in their lives, we'll count ourselves blessed.

I do hope each of you (who do I think reads this stuff) count yourself blessed on this last day of July as we wind down an "action-packed" summer. I, for one, am ready to get 'em in school and they aren't even mine....I feel like I'm putting 11 little kids back on a schedule now instead of just my 5 in earlier years. This is "the most won....der....ful time of the year".

Another successful reunion....

.....as the St. George and Eliza Ann Everett Wells Family Reunion ended this past week-end. Lots of great food, fun activities and especially awesome genealogy information shared. We had a few celebreties in the mix......Eliza Ann herself dropped in to fill us all in on the family tree. Elder Robert Wells was a welcome guest as he talked about the Sam Wells line and the Wells influence in the Moapa Valley area.
A few even checked out the family resemblence to Stephen Robert Wells........

Anita prepared a fun activity where we traced the footsteps of our ancestors from Germany and Denmark to their humble roots in Dixie.

The "Wells Women"....(and don't ya just love the t-shirts designed by Jed).

Thanks to Mark and Marian for letting us crash their pad....with zip line, pickle ball, great swings, tramplines and lots of space to spread out and wander...and to all who participated in the Dutch Oven Cook-off and brought pot-luck. There's always good food at anything Wells.

A reunion is never complete without a good ol' campfire (even if the fire marshall keeps comin' by).....lots of memories made this summer.

He would've been right in there....

......."in it to win it" at the Wells Family Annual Dutch Oven Cook-off which is this week-end. He's showing off his "state of the art' dutch-oven cooking set-up that he perfected over the years and loved using it and sharing his cooking skill with friends and family.

Ten years ago this very day, we lost a good man that had learned to love life and live it to the fullest. We are celebrating the St. George and Eliza Ann Everett Wells Family with our reunion in Pine Valley; two of his favorites.....family and Pine Valley so we pay tribute to Scott Gordon Wells this day and celebrate the happy times we had with him and live in gratitude for the lessons we learned from him.

My bucket list...

.....has one less item on it. I did Disneyland solo and I have one more day and still lots to do. With both a season pass and a plane ticket that expire at the end of the month, I just had to do it. I don't profess to be an expert but I know how I like "my Disneyland" and I've pretty much got er done but not quite. Yep, I'm gonna need another day but I did find Mickey tonight......that made me happy.

Anyone that knows how I do Disneyland, knows that I find the Billy Hills first and usually take in anywhere from two to all five shows in a day. I always make new friends at his shows. He has quite a few "groupies".

They were in fine form and no matter how many times I see them, they just make me smile.

After taking in the parade twice and the fireworks, it was nice to find a ride back to the hotel after my first afternoon here.

Today I was able to take in Aladdin, always a favorite....a lunch at Blue Bayou (I got right in. Amazing what you can pull off when it's just "one" of you!)....fireworks (from even a better spot than last night) and quite a few character sightings.....

One of my favorite treats in the park are Apple Fritters with pineapple dipping sauce....gotta have a few.

I'm here to tell ya, this is not the time to bring kids. Never seen it so crowded and quite a little heat wave. It borders on child abuse to drag the kids around and maneuver around these crowds....but for me, I've enjoyed having the time to take it easy, stop when I need to stop and find some shade. There's always room for one more when you find a spot of shade. It's been great and I'm glad I came. The best time still for families is "off season" and in the rain....(rain keeps the locals away). Would I do Disneyland alone again? You bet....but it's still more fun to share the joy so come on and join me. It's always a great escape.

'Tis the season.....

.....for family reunions and I hope you've had your share of them cuz they're fun and as we are heading into our "St. George Wells Family Reunion" this coming week-end, I forgot to post some pictures from a very important one....The Hal Sullivan Family Reunion that we held in Pine Valley on the 4th of July. It's a long-standing tradition to gather at Mom's for pizza and fireworks but we decided to spend the day in the cool mountain air in honor of my dad who would have been right there with us and boy would he have loved a good game of Cornhole....speaking of which, Shawna and Mason won the championship this year.
We loved some "porch" time then headed down the mountain for the usual viewing of the fireworks.

We've been doing this for a lot of years.....and hopefully many more years to come and hopefully the Pine Valley tradition will endure as well. Happy reunioning folks.

Can I just say a couple of things about my family here....and know that I'm really sentimental this time of year but I just gotta say how much I love being surrounded by them. We have been so blessed to have my mom welcome us to her home for all these occasions....and every Sunday night. Life isn't perfect and a lot of "stuff" happens to each of us but we have "family"....the one constant in our lives to give us something to smile about and it seems we can always find the smiles and laughs when we are together. So....as we remember those that came before, may we all honor their hard work and sacrifice so that we can have the good life we have today and appreciate the "reunion" for what it is.....a time to celebrate our roots and rub shoulders with those who share the blessing of "family". Happy 24th of July one and all.
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SOME THINGS I FORGOT TO BLOG.......
Traci couldn't come to town without a trip to Pine Valley and we did just that with the activity of the day being cake decorating......

.....and you know the little boys couldn't be kept away very long......

The finished product. I think we all did a pretty good job. Thanks, Lauri. You are a pro. I've always wanted to learn how to make those pretty roses that they put on cakes.

...and a trip to St. George isn't complete without a visit to the Town Center.....

....and now we have a Carousel............

....and a little nostalgia with Judd's right across the street.

Our own little "Stars Hollow" if you ask me.

"A happy family....

.....is but an earlier heaven" - George Bernard Shaw. I was in heaven this past week as my family gathered to honor our family and celebrate our home that is 30 years old this month. We gathered early to "work" and work "they" did.....as my trees were trimmed, sidewalks swept and cobwebs removed and years of neglect were wiped away in an hour or two of really hard work. The little ones did "job jar" inside while the big ones cleaned up outside and Traci and I tended the babies.

Pretty much this yard is more than I can keep up but it was good to give it a good "over-haul" and hopefully I'll try a little harder and give it the attention it deserves. Happy 30th birthday to our house and yard. It's served us well through the years.

A little work and a lot of play was the theme of the day as we headed out to the pool for the rest of the afternoon....

....and a yummy bar-b -que hosted by Mason.

The rest of the activities of the day were very well planned and orchestrated by Lauri and Traci from awards for all of the kids achievements and a trip to Snow Shack to spend their dollars, to the cute shirts for the kids which they all signed, to a fun and creative treasure hunt through the 'hood, to a rockin' talent show and ending with Candy Bar Bingo. It has warmed my heart to have my family join me this past week and I need them all to know what fun I had watching them all interact, laugh and participate and truly enjoy being together.

When the family gets together....

.....try to get a good picture. I had my entire family here and we had a great time but this post will have to "be continued" and I can't wait to share. Lauri and Traci did a great job of rounding us all up and "gettin' er done".

Check in later for more great "Wells Family Reunion" pics.......

I'm old....

....but not too old to have some fun! Nothin' like Lake Powell to take off the years....for a day at least. Love the sun, the water and the wind blowin' in my face!

The fish were a bitin'......

...and the water was high, (it really was). The favorite was the tube.

....and the little ones were lovin' the boogy board tubey thingy.

Rube a dube dube, 2 dudes in a tube....

Thanks Mase, for letting me tag along. It was a fun-filled day.