Weekend Fun in California

We got to go to California for the weekend last week and spend some time with my family. We spent the first night there hanging out in the pool and playing with the cousins. Andrew fit right in and was the first to get on Nicole's shoulders to play a game of chicken. A little backwards? I thought so too but Nicole had fun helping Andrew take out the other teams.

Here we are with Brian, Steven, and Nicole. A slightly smaller group of cousins than we have on Andrew's side.Of course Nicole would go into the pool with her sunglasses on.
Andrew started doing tricks into the pool and, of course, the other kids started showing off their cool tricks too.
The group for the weekend. Steven, Gary, Sara, Andrew, Brian, Nicole, and mom. We had a blast and Brian and Steven had a lot of fun getting to know Andrew since they had never met him.
The next day we headed to San Jose to go to my Great Grandma's 95th birthday party. We had fun reading and talking on the 3 hour drive to the house. Andrew and I were really excited about heading out... or something like that.
It was a lot of fun getting to see so much family at the party. The best part was that none of them knew we were coming so we got to surprise everyone when we got there. I thought it was great because I got to see family that I hadn't seen for years and I loved getting to introduce Andrew to everyone.
Here is my Great Grandma Lorraine with all of her great grandchildren -- Brian, Steven, Nicole, Sara, Amanda, Grandma, Henry (back to front). It was fun to see the difference between her and the youngest great grandchild. 95 years and 9 months!
My grandma had to go through a photo shoot with all of the family there. Luckily it looks like she was still enjoying it at this point.
It was a lot of fun to get to see her open all of her presents and give us some entertainment by trying on some of the things that she got.
Here are all of the cousins and their spouses. Brian, Christina, Henry, Barry, Sara, Andrew, Mike, Jackie, Steven, Gary, Debbie, Nicole (we took like 50 pictures and this was the best we could get...)
On the car ride home we stopped and got some snacks. Andrew showed everyone his talent of unwrapping a starburst in his mouth and, of course, we all had to try it. It only took us a few minutes to realize how talented Andrew really was since none of us could do it. Nicole and Steven got close after practicing for a while but couldn't ever get it completely unwrapped.
That night, after we got home, Andrew and I got the family stuck on Family Feud. It was great hearing everyone laugh and play the game with us. We had a great weekend and the next morning had to head back to Utah. It was a quick trip but it was a lot of fun and hopefully it won't be too many years before we get to see them all again!

Well the first annual Jennings family reunion has officially come and gone, and let me tell you, it was historic! Naturally after all of the kids have gotten married and moved out, it is time to start having a family reunion once a year to bring everyone together! It was only fitting that the reunion started out with a bunch of food! Best part of the meal, well the desserts of course. However check out the many cuts of meat brought by one and all...After the meal, which I can only assume was intentionally set up this way so that I would be full and slow and not up to my full potential, we played the game show called Minute to Win it! For those who don't know this game, it is a show in which you have to complete several small tasks with random objects, in one minute (60 seconds)! Things such as shooting 6 empty pop cans off, not just down, but off the table using only rubber bands from about 6 feet away! Or how about moving three cookies (oreos) from your forehead down and into your mouth using nothing but facial muscles! Or how about shaking 8 ping pong balls out of a kleenex box tied to your waist! Or how about keeping 3 balloons in the air. Or how about .... Well you get the idea! It was such a blast and definitely made for some really good pictures! A huge thanks to my sister Hilary for setting it all up for us! Lots of work, and lots of fun! Check out some of the activities...We had a great time, and can't wait until next year for the second annual reunion!

Recent Activities

Well seeing as how we are late bloomers at creating this blog thing, we figured we better cover the last little while in this first post! This first picture is of us on our cruise! This is in Cabo San Lucas! We went on a 7 day cruise and had a blast! The best part of the cruise had to be the food. Sara was eating as much sea food as she could get her hands on, and I was enjoying all the desserts I wanted to eat!

This is a picture of the people we ate with every night for dinner on the cruise! Good thing we wore some pink or this would have been a very dark and bland picture! We probably gained 20 pounds all in all sitting at this table, once you start, you can't stop!

Also on the cruise we found a new favorite activity of playing shuffleboard! Somehow Sara is a natural at this game, and Andrew looked like an uncoordinated ape when playing with her!
Since coming home from the cruise we have been to a couple of Real Salt Lake games! Andrew seems to enjoy them a little bit more than Sara does, but thankfully sometimes they have fireworks at the end of the game so that they are a little bit more tolerable!
We also had the pleasure of going to stadium of fire this year! We saw Carrie Underwood perform, and felt like the only two people in the stadium singing along with her! Well, us and the girl that was sitting next to Sara that is. Despite all of the great music and the flyover and the amazing fireworks in the air, the craziest part of the whole event was that one of the fireworks misfired and shot sideways into the crowd. This happened on the field right in front of us and we saw a man get caught on fire... Unintentionally, and not part of the show, he was caught on fire! It was intense!
Other than these activities, we've just been having fun spending time together, playing together, and experiencing life! We love playing super nintendo together, and we're pretty sure there is no better game than Mario Brothers and Donkey Kong... And QBert!
We are both currently working, and Sara is finishing up her last two classes, one online, and one independent study! After those two classes she is done! Andrew, however, as we have just figured out tonight, if things work out perfectly, will get done with school after the Spring 2012 semester! Lets hope it doesn't drag on too much further after that!
Oh, and people who live without lists are crazy! We have to have lists or we forget stuff and go crazy! Advice for the day: Make a new list!