Swift Reunion 2021

We took a few days break and then headed back to Bear Lake for the Swift family reunion.

We had a ton of fun.  The best part of both was spending time with our family that we don't get to see often enough.

2021 Woestman Reunion

We were so happy to have two reunions this year at Bear Lake.  The first one was on the Woestman side.

We had a blast!

Ogden with Ben and Jacee

We were so happy to go back to the states for a few weeks this summer.  It had been three years since we saw many of our family members and it was great to see them again.  Catching the flight was horrible.  We got soaked going to the train.  Then the train didn't leave, they were having many delays.  So we asked a friend to quickly drive us to the airport.  That ended up taking forever because the toll roads were shut down due to mudslides.  It was raining hard!  It ended up being super stresful, but they held the plane for us and we made it!

Our first stop was at Ben and Jacee's house in Ogden.  We kind of used them as a home base and went back to stay with them three separate times during the trip.  They were amazing to us! We even had to stay there longer two times, once because bob was puking his guts out and another time because of a cancelled flight.

Their kids are little cowboys.  It is adorable.

Bob's parents also came to visit in Ogden.  It was nice to spend time with them as well.

Jacee and I went on a insanely hot jog together.  I think it was over 100 degrees outside.  We also spend some time shopping.  It was fun to go to all the American stores that I can't usually visit.

One day we went to the farm.  We got to see the dairy cows and ride four wheelers and even a tracktor.

The girls made cakes and even brought one to a neighbor.

We shot a BB gun.

I didn't get any pictures but we also played a lot of baseball in the backyard.  Solomon is really into it.  It was really cute.

Sapporo Temple

Aside from the snow festival the second main reason we went to Sapporo was for the temple.  The Tokyo temple is closed so even though it is a plane ride away Sapporo is probably the easiest temple for us to get to.

We even stayed in the patron housing and each night either Bob or I went to do an endowment session.  Bob and Tucker also got to do baptisms together.  

 Scarlett found some icicles on the temple grounds.

The kids are showing how much it snowed in just one night.  They had that bench cleared off the day before.

 I think everything was beautiful covered in snow.  So peaceful.

 I really do miss the snow, especially how it looks on the pine trees.

 Check out the bike.

 The patron housing was really nice.  We stayed in a family room and it was perfect for us. 

Getting snow gear on and off the kids is a crazy amount of work!  It took at least 20 minutes and that is with both Bob and I helping, and the older kids doing it mostly on their own.  The hard part is once someone is ready they are so very hot until everyone is ready to go outside.  We had to let the older kids go out alone before Beatrix and Calista were ready.  Each time Beatrix would scream from the moment she was dressed until she was outside.  It is not surprising though, we had them very bundled up.

The toilet lid would open with a sensor every time you opened the bathroom door.  At first I thought it was pretty cool, but it got old fast.  Everyone kept going in there to change and setting their clothes on the toilet lid only to have them fall off a second later when the lid popped open.

All in all the temple is what really made the trip worth it to Bob and I.  The kids thought it was so fun to just play in the snow.  They didn't really care about the snow sculptures at all.  It is going to be nice once the Tokyo temple opens up again, which will probably be the very end of this year.  I think we need to make a point next year to drive somewhere with the kids to just play in the snow for a day.  They really loved it, and we don't need to get on a plane to get to snow in the winter time.