Cool for the Summer

The only way to temper Houston heat. 

The Extended Young Life

We just got back from a very hectic fun-filled week with the Young side of the family. As there are now a grand total of sixteen official Youngs and one possibly pending Young in Matto's girlfriend Beka, we needed a very large cabin up in Eden, UT to hold all of us, but enjoyed every minute of the craziness. 

Luke is now old enough to really interact with his cousins and it was a lot of fun to see; one-on-one he usually did pretty well, but struggled with the entire group, since he was usually more interested in destroying whatever was being played with than actually participating. He was also a bit too rough-housy for the cousins, especially since the older boy cousins would sit there with a look on their face that clearly said "I can't fight back, I'll hurt him!" Luke did not especially like the interference of his younger cousins, and would act all surprised and innocent when they would be upset after he took their toys. ("Baby's crying!")

Kenny was the impetus behind almost every single game played and only sat out of one round of Bohnanza (opting to play a two-player game with Opa D instead), and since there were an average of ten played a day, that's saying quite a lot! He and Owen also managed to avoid any big sibling spats or riotous political debates, which we are all grateful for. And he was able to celebrate his birthday with his fam again! Making up for all of those summers when it was celebrated in a hotel room. 

I participated in most games but petered out towards the end (thankfully dying early in the last game which ended up limping until 2am) and cemented my role as the weird aunt (aka "wilderness mom") when I went camping with some of the kids and adults sans Kenny and Luke. While hiking back to the cars Summer pointed out "So, you're like a sporty mom!" It's unclear if it was meant as a compliment. 

Not pictured: basically everyone. Sorry, I don't know why I have such a hard time taking pictures when we are all together!

Fun Police

Luke is a little tattle-tale. 

Today at a nearby mall with a big indoor playing area I told Luke that we climb up the stairs and go down the slide since he was having a really hard time keeping his balance. He took it upon himself to tell all of the other kids. 

And when some of the bigger ones didn't comply, his little blonde head would come bobbing over and with a very concerned expression he would announce, 

"Mama! Up the stairs and down the slide!"