Family Reunion and Laurel Falls

This past weekend we had a wonderful family reunion at Deer Valley Cabin in Sevierville, TN which is about 20 minutes or so from Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. It's a large cabin that can sleep up to 20 people. Our group was a little over 20, and my sister Dorothy and her family camped in the back yard by choice. For the record (and a little plug for the owners) it is a fabulous cabin, comfortably furnished, and reasonably priced. I would go back there in a minute, and if you're planning any group get-aways to the area I would highly recommend it.

For some reason, I was very remiss in my picture-taking throughout most of our weekend. I did take this one when Connor fell asleep on my niece, Savannah:

However, pictures were taken by others and if I can get my hands on some I'll post some of the better ones here. We gathered on Saturday for the first full reunion since Niel had gotten home from his mission to Peru about 7 1/2 years ago. We were missing a niece and nephew, but otherwise had a full house. The highlight of our reunion was probably our talent show on Sunday night. Who knew we had such skill? Austin wowed us with his guitar abilities, Niel by balancing a broomstick on his nose, and Tristian with his break dancing - and that's just to name a few! Beth sang, Ben told Jeff Foxworthy jokes, and my mother made us laugh while demanding the rent. And we cannot forget our judges (Dorothy, Jimmy and Savannah) that handed out awards at the end and made us all laugh a little bit more. I love my family and can't wait till next time!

On Monday, Ben and I wanted to go hiking with the kids to a waterfall. Dorothy and Jimmy wanted to do the same, so we made our plans to make an easy 2.6 mile round trip hike to Laurel Falls. Although we planned on an early start, we didn't actually go to bed till around 3:00 a.m. the night before, so it was past 11:00 by the time we finally hit the road. Once we got to the falls and found a parking spot way WAY down the road, we started our hike!

Tristian, Olivia, Kelsey and Gwendolyn posing on rocks on the hike up to the falls.

Same people (plus Jimmy), different rocks.

Once we got up to Laurel Falls, we sat down for a rest and a snack.

And the kids got to take off their shoes and play in the water.

Except Connor. Poor fella, he had to stay in the backpack most of the time. He just couldn't be trusted...

But don't feel bad for him. He got in plenty of flirting time with his cousin, Gwendolyn, on the way back down.