Treasures- Turpin Family Reunion 2014

We got to spend a WHOLE week at the Turpin family reunion this year!  Brian's brother Richard works at Little Lemhi Scout Camp and was able to rent out the whole scout camp at the end of their season.  It was amazing!  We had so many things to do and even though the weather wasn't the greatest, we still had a blast.

The first day was spent cutting firewood down for Brian's parents.  Where they were getting the firewood was a little off the beaten path so we used Lance's UTV and our trailer to make loads up and down the road with the firewood to the big trailer.

ofcourse all the hard work deserves a ride!

While the men and the abled-bodies young ones were able to help do the firewood, the rest of us hung out lower down at camp to watch the young kids.  We each got to have our own little campsite for our family.  We also made our own meals the whole week and then had a big meal at the end of the week.  

the two youngest Turpins- 3 weeks apart

The rest of the week was full of riding the dirt bike up and down the road, playing in the pond by the lodge, going on hikes and tie-dying shirts in the pouring rain!

Mason had his first dirt bike ride!

such a happy camper!

sweet girls

 There was a fun creek by one of the camps that all the kids ofcourse gravitated towards.  They liked to "fish" from the little log bridge.

We also did a lot of biking since there was a fridge and freezer at the lodge which was a little ways down the road. 

We tie-dyed shirts and while we were in the middle of it, the rain started to pour!  It was a little messy with the tie dye and the shirts and the mud, but we still had a blast and our shirts turned out great!

One of the days we went to the Darby Windcaves, which was so much fun!  It did drizzle a little bit on us but it wasn't too bad.  Lily decided to only walk a little ways and then headed back down with her cousin Ladd.  She isn't much of a hiker and that's ok!  Avery loved the hike and Mason did too.

Here we are when we got closer to the caves.

To get into the caves, you had to crawl though a little round opening.  It was sooooo cold through that opening because it was super windy.  Then it was really dark in the cave.  We crawled, climbed and scooted our way through the cave for a little while until it got really tight and we were frozen (it was like winter in there).

There was a sweet waterfall at the end of the tunnels.

Grandpa was kind enough to start back down with Mason while Brian and Amanda went into the cave.

the cave from a distance

Avery was always at the front and had gone in and out of the cave before we even got there.  But he waited for us to come out and headed back down with us.

One of the days we spent just playing at the pond. So much fun jumping off the dock into the quite mossy pond.  Oh well!  We also enjoyed ice cream that we had bought at the square-ice cream shop in Swan Valley (we didn't have a square scoop though). 

Avery loved to paddle around the pond

all the little girls taking a swim

so good!!!!  (lily always closes her eyes when she eats something she finds tasty)

Grandpa and the grandkids!

the pond!

On the last night we had a yummy family dinner and then did a silent auction with things people had brought to sell so we could earn money for the reunion.  It was super crazy and Brian and I got a little over competitive and caught up in the bidding and bought A LOT of things...oh well we were contributing to a good cause.

The next day some of the younger grandkids had made up a play that we all went to watch.  It was quite creative and written by Ladd. 

Sadly, the whole week flew by quickly and then it was time to go home!  But it still was a lot of fun that we always look forward too!   Thanks Richard and Becky and family! Who knows what will happen at the next reunion!