First Annual Ken Foster Family Reunion

Last weekend, my immediate family had our first family reunion down in St. George. So my parents, siblings, and the whole boatload of nieces and nephews headed down for some southern sun.  We rented a big house in Hurricane from my mom's friend which was about 5 minutes away from Sand Hallow Reservoir.

We drove down on Wednesday night with my parents and the rest of the family joined us on Thursday afternoon. The first thing we wanted to do was cool off since it was about 105 degrees. So we drove over to these really cool waterfalls near Gunlock Reservoir. It was so nice to play in the cool water since it was so hot outside. 

 

We crawled over the rocks and found some fun pools for all the kids to play in and for the adults to go cliff jumping. These pools were really small so you had to jump right in the middle or go SPLAT on the rocks. Fun, huh?

Dan jumped....eventually.

 I jumped too.

Yes, I'm a nose-holder and I'm pretty sure I kicked my pointed my toes the whole way down.

Ethan sat and splashed with his cousin Blake in some of the smaller trickles. He wasn't as avid a splasher as Blake was though. Dan and Ethan enjoyed the sun for a bit. Well...Dan was enjoying it. 

On Friday, we went to Sand Hallow Reservoir. It was awesome that it was so close and, due to my brother Kevin's awesome hookups, we had a sweet boat the whole day to play on. We camped out with sunshades, pack-n-plays, and camp chairs on a pretty nice beach for the whole day. 

 Ethan didn't really like splashing in the lake but did enjoy riding on the boat. In fact, he loved it so much he fell asleep.

Dan and Ethan went tubing.

 Ethan fell asleep again.

Dan went tubing.

Dan and I both went wakeboarding. And we both got up!

Somehow, pictures of me wakeboarding were either never taken or mysteriously vanished...but I did get up--even if I didn't stay there for very long.

On Saturday, we went hiking in Zion National Park. My family used to go camping and hiking down in Zion's a lot when we were younger but I haven't been back in about 17+ years so it was really fun. We didn't do any of the big hikes, like Angel's Landing, since we had so many kids with us. 

My parents got me this awesome hiking backpack for my birthday last month and Ethan took it like a champ and rode in style.

 

The squirrels down there were freaking me out because they wouldn't run away like a normal squirrel. They'd walk right up next to you.  I bet they'd crawl right up your leg if you had enough food.

  We hiked to the trailhead of the Narrows. The water was too high so we couldn't actually go up the Narrows but it was still beautiful.

Resting at the beginning of the Narrows.

 I love how easy this backpack made it to carry Ethan!

 We also hiked up to Weeping Rock. My younger brother, Spencer, thought he'd take a crack at carrying Ethan's backpack.

 

We tried to get a good family picture but, as usual, we still had a few heads turned or looking down. Oh, and Lisa and Cody went and hiked Angel's Landing by themselves.

What's a trip to St. George if you don't stop by and see the temple?

 Beautiful as always.

 

We had a great vacation and it was so fun spending time with all my family for the whole weekend. I'm excited for us to make this family reunion an annual event!