The Hazard Chronicles

Welcome back! We have taken quite the vacation from blogging (okay I guess that was just me). We have, however, managed to fill the past six weeks with THREE vacations. That may be a record for us.

Our vacations began with the Almond Family reunion last month (check out the previous blogs), then a few days later the Hazard family reunion was at our home. A few days prior to the Hazard reunion we found out the fun news that Logan's cousin Troy was getting married.... In less than two weeks. When the Hazard reunion was finished we had three days before we all hopped in the car and drove to Utah for a week. We arrived home last Saturday and are enjoying the two weeks before Evelyn begins Kindergarten and Adalie and Jackson begin their preschool co-op (that I am putting together).

Lets take a step back and talk about each of these great events. Somehow I only have a handful of photographs from these vacations! If you have some, please send them my way...

The Hazard Reunion

The Hazard reunion was a whirlwind of children and activities. We had eighteen people staying at our home (8 of them were kids under five), and somehow our house didn't seem overly crowded. It was wonderful! It was a perfect reunion. I think my favorite part was all of the cousin time! I think Nancy and Greg's favorite part was the grandchildren, and I think everyone else's favorite part was having all of us together. It is great to have such wonderful family.

Some of the activities included; going to a bounce house, a half-day boat rental, rafting the Coeur d'Alene river, rock climbing, an adult breakfast, hiking and playing at Q'emlin park, a memorable afternoon of capture the flag, BBQ and campfire, charades, and family pictures (see below).

We don't have many candid pictures from the reunion, but we were constantly taking video and Allison is working hard on making our reunion video.

Our week in Utah

Our surprise week in Utah was filled with more family than we have seen in the last three years! We were lucky to be able to visit with Grandma Hill, Almost the entire Greg and Nancy Hazard family (sadly it was minus Matt and Griffin), and miraculously the entire extended Hazard family. Plus we stayed with my mom and had time with my entire family (minus Brandon).

Some of the fun events included; lunch and shopping with my mom and sisters, escaping with just the Hazard adults to the new mall in Salt Lake, visiting Wheeler Farm with all the cousins, swimming at Jill's pool, and having sit down time with almost all of our extended family.

While we were there we were able to go see Conrad at church for his homecoming talk, and of course we were able to go to Troy and Aubrey's wedding. Their wedding was simple and beautiful. I enjoyed the reception and the kids had a blast dancing. Evelyn got some one on one dance lessons with Hunter and she was SO excited! A few weeks ago I sat with the kids and we watched some of the videos that Hunter had posted on facebook. After we were done the kids danced for a half an hour and pretended to be like Hunter. Ev was really excited when we told her that she would meet him in person at the wedding.

The original plan was to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house for an entire crazy grandchildren weekend. Instead of a whole weekend we had one Friday in the beginning with all of the kids, and two days at the end of the vacation with just our kids. Plans were changed when a horrible flu spread like wildfire throughout the entire Hazard family after the wedding and festivities. Every family was affected with this horrible sickness... The fun weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's house turned into a sick fest with Grandma, Grandpa, me, Jackson and Maren sick with the flu. Logan was able to escape all of this fun because he flew home early for work.

We had a not-so-great finish to a wonderful vacation.

Back home!

We had an excellent vacation, and Adalie summed up perfectly what was in my thoughts. She walked into our house, took a big dramatic breath and announced, "I love this house!" Post Falls is truly home, and we have a great house to come home to. I know it has been a good vacation when I have had a great time and it is just time to be home again.

This week has been full of getting back into the swing of normal life. I had to play a lot of catch up with Heartwood marketing stuff and I am busy putting together the preschool co-op for Adalie and Jackson.

We only have two more short weeks until Kindergarten starts for Evelyn. I feel like I have been prepared for this time for a while (she has had 3 years of preschool!). This last week it has really hit me. My little girl is going to go on a school bus to and from school. I am not going to even be physically in her classroom very often. After having been so involved in her preschools up till now I am already beginning to feel separate from her. It is a weird feeling...

On Monday we had a birthday celebration for Logan at Q'emlin park. We had a picnic on the beach (we were swarmed by bees and had to put our food on another table, and then the seagulls came and ate it all), then we played in the water. It was a fun and relaxing party. Also, Logan's Squeezy Freezy from Adalie, Jackson, and Maren was a HIT! It makes instant slushies out of any drink. It works like magic.

Silverwood

Logan and I took a mini vacation from the kids and went to Silverwood Theme Park. I want to take a minute to say thank you to the Crapo's for taking our kids and allowing this great day to happen!

Roller coasters, a Ferris-wheel ride, a theatrical train ride, good food, fun atmosphere, and great conversation (the entire day without interruption) with the love of my life. It doesn't get much better.

Here are a TON of random pictures:

Our Sunday afternoon volcano project with Papa

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I looked out the window to check on the kids. The picture is far away for a reason... Adalie is completely naked, Jackson is in his underwear, and Evelyn is wearing a curtain that is tied to hang down like a loincloth. We didn't ask questions. We just had them get dressed.