Pioneer Day

Josh had to work on Pioneer Day, so Meili and I headed down to Bountiful for their Handcart Days extravaganza. We ate dinner and did fireworks at my sister Emily's house on Tuesday, and on Wednesday went to the fair.

What a difference a year makes! Last year, Meili wouldn't even ride on the little train. This year, she loved all the rides and couldn't get enough!

 This ride may have been made more fun just because of Gigi and Chloe laughing hysterically the whole time.

 I talked Meili into riding the train with Ruby instead of having her face painted, because it was a little expensive for my taste.

 Chloe said she was posing like a butterfly. She's such a ham!

 I don't know what Meili will do in the winter when there are no bounce houses.

 Then, to finish off, we had some yummy food!

 After the fair we headed to Honeyville for the Anderson family extravaganza-which, on the 24th, usually consists of a pinata.

 Kyle

 I told Jared that with Meili's coordination, he wouldn't even need to move the pinata-it would already be hard enough for her to hit it.

 Carson

 Alex

 Andrea

 And Bren saying "I did that!" He sure did.

There was barely enough left for Jensen to take a swing.

Meili was interested in the pinata exactly long enough to hit it. Kami had to gather some candy for her, because she was already back to playing with the ducks, and jumping on the tramp. Too many fun things to do to worry about treats!

Camping

Josh and I went camping this weekend with my college roomate, Hope, and her family. At this point, if we didn't have Hope and Dustin, I don't know if Josh and I would ever go camping. So this is a tradition that can never end :)

 This picture was not while we were camping. It's actually from a couple weeks ago when Hope stopped to see us. But don't her son Noah, and Meili look like they could be siblings?

We got to Montpelier Reservoir on Friday just in time to get a little fishing in.

 The fish were tiny, but I prefer it that way. Then the kids can have their fun, and no fish die in the process.

 Yes, it has been decided that Meili needs her own fishing pole, because she loves it.

 I think everyone caught at least one fish (even myself, because Josh wouldn't let me stop until I caught one) except Hope-but she was pretty occupied watching her 3 children.

 I should probably stop saying that Meili is not my child, because someone will believe me one of these days. But honestly, in all my 20+ years of life, I have never had the urge to touch a fish. And Meili couldn't get enough. So the game became: catch a fish, Meili slaps it around a few times, and then we throw it back, hoping that it learned its lesson.

 Meili was so excited to sleep in the tent, and we got her her own air mattress. 

 Dustin was excited about his new pontoon boat.

 Of course, smores are a must!

K, here's a little story that I hope to NEVER forget. Everyone always talks about how much work it is to go camping, and pack up all your stuff, and bring food, and set up a tent etc. etc. I say totally worth it-if for nothing else than just to have had this experience. 

On Friday night, after fishing, I took Meili in the tent to put her pajamas on. I thought she would never go to bed without eating marshmallows that we had talked about all day. When I tried to get her to leave the tent, she said no. Why? Because it was time for bed. (Her words). So she laid down, and five minutes later, she was out.

On Saturday, we were making our smores, and after Meili had one, I looked over and she was headed to the tent. Josh and I asked what she was doing, and again, she told me it was time for bed. She laid down and was out in five minutes again! Never... in...her...entire...life...has...she...told...me...she...was...ready...for...bed!

Like I said, totally worth it!

And look at how cute she was sleeping! I swear she didn't move all night.

Until next year Hansens!

Lewis Family Reunion

On the 12th and 13th, we had our annual Doyle Lewis Family Reunion. Beginning with a weenie roast and smores in my Aunt Susan's backyard.

Meili's highlight? (Of possibly her life so far) Riding the horse. Meili is a generally fairly happy child. But there is happy, and then there is horse-back riding happy.

I would be lying if I didn't say that in the last few weeks I actually considered the possibility of living in Honeyville just so that having a horse would be feasible.

I'm not there yet. But maybe someday. 

 Randomly, she will still tell people about riding the horse.

And top off the night with smores.

 The next morning, we had breakfast and games for the kids at the park.

My aunt Susan pulled out all the stops with the kids games. We let Meili make up her own rules on a few of them.

 Such as passing the water balloon back and forth between she and Shasta, rather than actually tossing it. Somehow, they still managed to pop the balloons eventually.

Fishing

Again, she was supposed to actually throw the "javelin." But let's face it, there were some adults that couldn't even do it.

While we had a break, we took Meili, Shasta, Chloe, Gigi, and Ruby to Willow Park zoo.

That night we had dinner, and played Bingo for prizes. 

Until next year...

Grandma Sleepover

My mom wanted to have a sleepover with just she and the 4 oldest grand-daughters this year (because they would be old enough to spend the night by themselves-and also because my mom is nuts.) Then, that idea turned into the 4 oldest girls and me coming to supervise Meili and Shasta. Then the idea became my sister, Bethany spending the night as well. Well, Emily's not going to miss out on the fun. So, we just had a girl sleepover! (plus Jackson, minus Sara and Shelby.)

 As if a sleepover with 8 grandkids under 8 isn't enough work, my mom also decided to make them all matching pajamas. They were pretty dang cute, and Meili still loves them.

 Before bed and after the dance party, the girls read stories to each other to help them settle down. Audrey's turn first...

 Somehow Jackson manages to stay happy around all these crazy girls!

 Then Chloe's turn...

 And Emily's last... The girls just laughed and laughed even though they all have this book memorized.

The actually sleeping part of the night was exhausting for everyone! But we can survive anything for one night right?

The next morning, my mom had all the girls paint their pajama shirts.

 My mom thought it was so funny that all the girls were done painting but I was still going on Meili's shirt. Yes, it's true, I could totally get into a sleepover with a dance party, painting my own shirt, and painting nails!

 This was the third time in 2 days that I told Meili that she could just walk in the water but not get totally wet.

Yeah, first-time-mom learning experience-that NEVER works!

See, wet from head to toe!

Even with all the craziness, my mom said she wants to make the grandma sleepover a tradition!