Farrell Reunion Tahoe Style - The end!

Wednesday night we had our traditional reunion talent show.  It. was. awesome!  Jason and Lindsay were our fabulous hosts.

Steve and Debbie gave us a little glimpse at what they'll look like another 20 years down the road. They did a hilarious skit about the Farrell family of the future.

Emma did some gymnastics

Matthew balanced a balloon (yeah, we threw our acts together pretty last minute...) and then Jon did a little Photoshop demo.

Matt, Nicki, and Owen sang "You've Got A Friend In Me".

Jason and Lindsay did a hilarious and slightly frightening drumming, dancing, act.

Michelle, Jenny, and Fij showed us an awesome music video that they had made

Then we had a crazy dance party

Thursday, we all went bowling, which was really fun. I'm pretty sure Steve creamed us all both games.

Thursday night hot tubbing with glow sticks. So fun!

Friday morning we packed up and headed home. It was such a fun week. Thank you Farrells for another fabulous reunion!

Farrell Reunion Tahoe Style- Part 2

Monday morning, the guys all got up early to go mountain biking. They rode the Flume Trail and all survived to tell about it, though they were exhausted the rest of the day.

Tuesday was our girls day. Debbie treated us to a delicious lunch and then we walked around and checked out some little shops.

When we got back to the cabin we finished off our girls day with pedicures and chocolate.  :)

We spent the rest of the afternoon (and a good portion of the week) playing games. Uno, Lord of the Rings, Nerts, Five Crowns.....lots and lots of games.

That evening the married siblings (and Michelle because we love her!) all went out on a little date. A friend had told me they did gondola rides at Northstar, so we decided to do that. Unfortunately, they shut everything down at night, so the whole little village was deserted, except for the candy store. We grabbed some treats and visited around one of the fire pits they have around their skating rink. It ended up being a fun little outing.

And the perfect way to end a night out...

Wednesday was another beach day. Steve and Debbie headed to the beach EARLY to make sure we got the perfect spot. And it really was the perfect spot. The kids had a small, shallow swimming hole,  and the beach wasn't crowded. The weather was a little cooler this day (but still warm) which made it a lot more bearable than our first beach day. I'm pretty sure this was hands down the favorite reunion day for everyone.

Jon and Ellie going for a ride

Hard-core Michelle

Grandma and Emma

Gorgeous Michelle and cute little Nora

Jason and Lindsay

Jon caught this animal (crab, lobster, ?)....or it caught him...

Love the picture, love the kids

Ellie just chilling. I love that she's clutching a rock in each hand and crossing her feet

Emma gave "free raft rides" to anyone who wanted

This was Matthew's choice of shoes for most of the week. Two mismatched LEFT shoes. Oh that boy cracks me up!

Some of the braver souls did some cliff jumping.

My favorite quote of the week was this day. I was pushing the kids in the raft out to this rock. I was trying to ease myself into the cold water while the kids were begging me to go faster. I told them I was going slow because the water was really cold. Emma looked up, sighed loudly, and said, "Gosh Mom, you just need to learn how to have fun." I laughed out loud, which caught her off guard, and we eventually did make it to our destination.

After a fun FULL day at the beach, we all reluctantly headed home.

Jon and I were in charge of dinner that night and we had a Make Your Own Pizza night. Homemade pizza is just the best!

As is tradition, Jon made a MASSIVE calzone. :)

Such a fun day, and we still had a fun evening ahead.

Farrell Reunion Tahoe Style- Part 1

Last week we spent 7 days at Lake Tahoe with Jon's immediate family. This was their 3rd family reunion and it was a blast!

We came home with over 1000 pictures....it's really overwhelming! So, here are some of the highlights...

Owen and Matthew could be found here at almost any given time. If they weren't here, we could almost always find them down in the kid's room playing pirates. They were hilarious together!

Every night we had a little devotional after the kids went to bed. We had some great lessons and discussions about a variety of topics. I love these devotionals.

Saturday was our first beach day. It was hot that day and the water was perfect. Jon's parents rented a kayak and a paddle board, which were a blast. We spent about 7 hours at the lake and most of us left with a sunburn to prove it.

Owen, Matthew, and Ellie digging in the sand

Jon, Ellie, and I went on a little ride on the raft

Love this shot of Fij

Grandma and Buddy relaxing

And I love this shot of the siblings

Saturday night we watched Chopped: Farrell Family Edition. Back in December, we all got together and had a Chopped competition. We filmed it all and then Jon edited it and cut it all together. It turned out really cool and was a lot of fun to watch.

On the way to Tahoe we stopped at the Jelly Belly Factory to buy a few bags of Belly Flops. The Belly Flops are all of the irregularly shaped jelly beans and any that are stuck together or missing the logo. They are basically the best part of the Jelly Belly Factory. So we bought a few bags and ate way too many Jelly Bellies over the course of the week....clearly!

Sunday morning we went to church, where we just happened to run into TWO families that we know...it's a small world in Tahoe!

After church Jenny and Fij helped the kids paint some bird houses, which they LOVED.

Then it was time for games. Matt and Nicki were in charge of the game night. They went all out and it was awesome. We divided up into 3 teams for some Minute to Win It games. It was serious business.

The first game- putting an oreo on your forehead and then eating it without using your hands. The kids never figured out how to do it.

Jason figured out that the trick is jumping and then catching the cookie in your mouth. It was hilarious to watch.

Next up, a little booty shaking to get ping pong balls out of the tissue box on their back. Also hilarious to watch.

Meanwhile, Ellie enjoyed some Oreos...

A crowd favorite....sucking Skittles onto a straw and then dropping them in another bowl.

And this was funny to watch, but so so painful to do. Each person had a pedometer on their head and had to shake/move/jump to register the most steps.

The grand finale of game night was Farrell Family Scene It. They did an awesome job putting together a dvd of baby pictures, trivia questions, etc about each of the family members.

Awww....baby snuggling

Sweet baby Nora

We tried to get all the kids to jump at the same time...it never worked out, but we got some fun pictures of Emma.

Sunday was also our 7th anniversary

and Jason and Lindsay's 1st anniversary