Family Reunion and Such

We've had a series of family events in the last few weeks.  On the 15th, Ruth Albina was sealed to Melissa Johnson and her family.  They adopted her from Kyrgyzstan. She is 5 years old and is blind.  It was a very happy and special occasion.  After the sealing, Ruth gave everybody hugs and kisses as we congratulated them.

Ruth Albina's sealing to the Johnson Family at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple

After the sealing, we spent some time hiking with Jonathan and his family.  We did the Bell Canyon hike which went to a reservoir that the kids had fun playing at while Rebecca and I finished the rest of the hike to a waterfall. Then they stayed at our house that night.

Thunder, Wilcken, and Austin

My parents stayed with us that Monday, and then Brian's family stayed at our house for the next couple nights after the sealing. Austin enjoyed playing with Jackson and Avonley.

The week after the sealing, we had the Wilcken family reunion at the Heber Valley Camp owned by the LDS Church.  We did a ropes course that Friday afternoon where you climb up steps on a hanging log, walk across a wire and then slide down a zip line.

There was also a "low course" where we had to work together to get everyone through a rope net without touching the ropes or re-using any openings.

Lee and Nate dragging Austin through the net.

Lee and Nate passing Lee's daughter through an opening.

Nate hitting the rope, thus unleashing
the dreadful punishment on the group
of singing the ABCs.

A family of deer that came through camp

The Wilcken Family

Wilcken Family Siblings & Spouses

After breakfast Saturday morning, we went on a short hike and played some volleyball.

Austin playing in the sand before our turn on the lake.
He was trying to wash all of the toys.

During our turn on the lake Saturday afternoon, we raced around in a canoe.  When we encountered others from our group we tried splashing them with our paddles.  To avoid their returned splashes, Timothy and I leaned away and ended up capsizing our canoe! That was pretty dumb of us.  But Austin got to ride the motor boat after they came to rescue us, which he really enjoyed.  Rebecca wasn't so thrilled. She was very glad though that she had decided to return her camera to the shore before the incident.

Nate, Austin and Timothy

The week after the Wilcken Reunion, my brothers and dad and I all went to the CONCACAF gold cup championship soccer game in San Jose.  We also went to the California Great America theme park since the game didn't start till the evening.  Aaron and Daniel and I took an early morning flight from SLC to San Jose and had breakfast at Denny's.  We got to the park before it opened and were able to ride a few rides without any lines before meeting the rest of the group who were driving from Sacramento.

Aaron, Daniel, Michael, Floyd,
Jonathan, Brian, Timothy, and Nate

USA won 2:1 against Jamaica