Family "Onion"

At our 1997 Eatough Reunion, my younger sister Kristen (who was four) called it the family "onion." We just had another this past weekend, and there were Eatoughs coming out of the wood work. There were about 100 of us from three generations, all descended from Richard II, my Great-Grandpa Eatough.

Here's out lovely family (minus Kim and Lauren, who couldn't make it). EVERYONE stayed at our tiny little apartment. We had two toddlers, two teenagers, two grandparents and more, if you can imagine the chaos. Oh, and our apartment does not have A/C, and it's July. Hurray for more body heat!

Uncle Gordy, Aunt Mel and Robin.

My uncles (who planned the reunion) rented Jolly Ranch on Friday for everyone to hang out at. There was a wading creek, a park, a huge pavillion, big fields and a camping area.

Tyler and Adam wore themselves out inspecting every inch of it.

We're glad so many were able to come spend time with us, but we're also pretty relieved to have our house to ourselves again :)

And a big thanks to Aunt Kristen (the onion sister) who stayed with us for a week before the reunion. We miss you! Yard sales won't be the same without you!

Grafitti

This just made my day:



Thanks, hooligans.

Real Workaholics

There's some witty similarity to be noted between this story and the one about the boy throwing the starfish one by one back into the ocean, but it's late, I'm tired, and I can't think it up.

California Trip Dos

It's a good summer to get married! Here's some pictures of Mary Anne Case Byer's wedding (#2 out of 4 we've been invited to so far this summer). I have known this girl since fourth grade, when I stole some Jolly Ranchers out of her bag on the school bus.

at her bridal shower.

Left to right: Brittany Ellis, Mary Anne, me, Shaundra Palhegyi. All friends since grade school.

This was my present to Mary Anne. She opened it, gasped, put it back in the bag, and said "Thank you, Katie!!" before any mothers or grandmothers could see what it was :)

the wedding.

I didn't get any pictures of the actual ceremony, which was at Kimberly Crest, but this was Tyler's little wedding outfit. Cute little man!

Kristen and I at the ceremony. We got asked three times if we were twins.

the reception.

Lauren and me at the reception. Her little preggo belly is getting so cute! She and her hubby Brandon found out last week that it's going to be a girl! They decided on Annie Skye Parsons for her name.

Mary Anne and Robbie.

High fives for Shaundra, for a job well done as maid of honor.

swimming.

Swimming in Grandma's pool.

Oh, if only any of these three could reach that tennis ball.

going home.

Fun times at Circus Circus! Aunt Kristen drove home with us, and is staying at our place until my family comes up on Wednesday for the Eatough family reunion! Woo!

Mt. Nebo

Before Katie comes home from California and steals my thunder with her report from California, I figure I better log my hike yesterday up Mount Nebo. May as well do it now while my aching body recovers. For those those of you not from around here, Mount Nebo is the highest point in Utah that's near civilization, basically. Anyway, with Katie out of town, I decided to join up with my friend Devin, whose wife was, interestingly enough, also out of town.

We left at about 5am, and hit the trail around 6. It started out pleasant enough. I mean, this looks nice enough, doesn't it? Very green, scenic, not terribly steep.

We saw some deer on the trail.

This was cool. We saw some glaciers (snow fields, technically) up on the mountain, then in the valley you could see a path of destruction that the avalanches leave behind in the winter.

The first couple of hours were pretty tough, but the views were great.

Finally, after some exhausting climbing, the end is in sight. I'm tired and ready to be done. We just need to get to the top and we can finally rest. What you see here takes about an hour to climb- it really is about as steep as it looks. I feel like I'm dying.
We finally get to the top of this, and here is what we see:






There is another peak to climb. We pretty much just climb up the ridge here, which takes about another 45 min. or so. Fortunately, there are no more peaks- we're on the top:

Me and Devin here- lucky Devin's wife happened to have left this lovely wool knit jacket in the car that he was able to grab before we hit the trail. Rest assured, he is a very manly man. Unfortunately, it was freezing up there and the wind was blowing.

Some clouds rolled in with the wind, and we could see it raining all over the valley.




We even got pelted with some freezing rain (little ice balls) for a minute up there.



Ever wonder where ladybugs come from? They all hatch on Mt. Nebo. All of them. In the world. There were thousands of them, tens of thousands, crawling all over the rocks, concentrated in one particular spot on the peak.



Finally came the descent. Getting down from the highest 1/2 mile or so of the peak itself was almost as difficult as getting up was exhausting:


I had to check out these rocks on the way down. Where's a good lake for skipping rocks on when you need one?


It was a fun hike to do. The views were spectacular and it was great to get out. Would I do it again? Not a chance. Not in the kind of shape I'm in, anyhow. I've done a lot of mountain hiking, but this was a killer. I'm afraid me and mountain hiking are going to have to part ways for a while. Maybe I'll go back and hike Timpanogos and probably Angel's Landing again one day. In the meantime, though, I wish the mountains the best. We've had some good times. I hold you in high regards, Nebo, but I think this is for the best for both of us.

Separation Anxiety

Provo really gets into the Fourth of July celebrations. Our little family went to most all of the activities and events, but...

Our camera is missing. (Let's hope it didn't join my cell phone.)

So, for your viewing pleasure, I have improvised a few Tyler Independence Day pictures.

The Freedom Festival Grand Parade:

The Stadium of Fire, featuring the Jonas Brothers! Shriek! (we didn't actually go to the Stadium of Fire; we went up the mountain and watched the performances from outside)

Hurray for Photoshop!

And really, we did have a good time. We went to our friends' house after all the fireworks for homemade ice cream and to play games. Thanks for having us over, Devin and Megan!


UPDATE: We found the camera stuffed in an overflowing laundry basket. Hmmm...