Maxwell Reunion

Well I have a lot to catch up on! We ended our summer break with a bang! Bang = three family reunions, travels to Littleton, Midway, Mack's Inn/Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, plus throw in a 36-mile high-adventure for the boys. 2,500 miles in two weeks. It was a lot! But a lot of fun, too!

Ben headed out on a Saturday with the girls. I was busy helping run Youth Conference and my boys were there, too, so we couldn't leave until the next day. But by Sunday evening most of the Jim and Diana Maxwell clan had gathered at their home. We were missing two of Laura's kids (along with their wives and children) and Sam, Joe and Britt's son serving a mission. But everyone else was there - which came to 28 of us, I think.

We enjoyed being together, doing get-to-know-you-games, going on different outings, eating dinners together, etc. We sure wished we lived closer and saw each other more often!

 Ben took the girls to the Littleton Historic Museume - a favorite activity of his! There were some adorable baby pigs there - they reminded me of Bella. :)

 Ben giving a morning devotional.

 We took a stroll on the beloved Highline Canal.

 Jonas with his cousin Nicholas.

 Our family + Nicholas got up bring and early one morning to hike to Devil's Head - an old fire look-out tower. It was so awesome!

 The dogs had to be leashed, but that was okay. Brigham helped pull up the boys. :)

 We made it to the stairs - 143 steps. Brigham did not like going up! He was shaking. But he did fine going down.

 The tower - the view up here was awesome!

 There's one of the many view-points.

 Lucy really wanted a picture with Smokey. :)

 This was a train-ride at a local park. Ben's grandpa was the train's "conductor" for a time during Ben's childhood.

 We took Denver's light-rail to a Colorado Rockies baseball game. This picture was taken before a slightly sketchy situation: we were at a stop and a man hops in right behind the boys and crosses to the other side's door. Apparently he had grabbed a bag belonging to a lady - she began yelling at and screaming at him for stealing her food, etc. He didn't get on the bus, so we aren't sure how it was all resolved. Emmy was in shock for the rest of the ride. :)

 Baseball game! Jim came, as well as most of Debbie's family. It was a lot of fun - especially for Emmy! Emmy loved it and was totally bummed that we left with half an inning to go. :)

 It was a beautiful night for it!

 Casa Bonita - always quite the experience. The kids loved it.

 This is one of our niece's girls - Elena. What a doll! Emily (our niece) had two adorable girls that my girls had a blast playing with.

 My girls with their cousin Grace. Grace works at her gym during "open-night" and so my girls got to go and had a wonderful time! So fun.

The boys left Wednesday late-afternoon to get back to Montrose for Miles' and Jonas' high-adventure. . .  The girls and I headed out to Utah on Thursday morning. . .