The Ballard Bunch

This was started on the 3rd, thus the way-past date. I'm having problems uploading pictures again, so this is going to be text heavy with pictures to follow as soon as I get this working again. So sorry!!!

The first item on our "agenda" this weekend was the Ball Family Reunion (Beau's mother's mother's side of the family) up in Heber. We got a late start because Beau wasn't able to get off as early as he'd have liked to and ended up getting up to the reunion at around 7:45 or so. We had yummy dinner, caught up with lots of family, played some fun games and had a great time. We had planned to sleep in our bags under the stars out on the front lawn, but a storm changed our plans. Shanna, Travis and their kids and Beau, Tatum and I all decided to drive up to their Uncle Gary and Aunt Melissa's cabin to spend the night in beds. After an hour drive (I thought it was only supposed to be about 30 minutes) we arrived and found that not only were we on empty in our car (no gas stations in site) but that Travis and Beau couldn't find the key to the cabin! Luckily, they were able to find a few gallons of gas in the cabin shed (they had to do a little maneuvering to get in) and as we were preparing to drive back to camp and brave the rain, Beau stumbled upon the key buried in the dirt somewhat near the area it was supposed to be hanging. It was a late, frustrating night, but we did get to sleep in comfy beds!

Once the kids were all up and ready, we headed back down to the reunion for breakfast and then boating at Jordanelle. The water was surprisingly tolerable - once you were in for a few minutes that is. Tatum loved playing out in the water with her dad and spent any other time running around the beach trying to be a big kid. She discovered the water noodles and occupied a good part of the afternoon playing with those on shore. Despite gobs and gobs of sunscreen all day long, we all got a little sunburnt. Beau's back and shoulders got the worst of it for him - he's in the sun all day at work, but the areas under his clothing don't see the rays too often so his "farmer tan" got a good working on. Tatum got a little burnt on her lower back (no idea why) and now has a cute little bikini line from her suit in the front. I don't feel too burnt myself, but I did get a lot of sun and now need to start working on getting RID of the tan line - the maternity suit I found is a halter and leaves an awfully visible tan line on my chest and shoulders.

Saturday night we were able to meet up with Tanya, Mat, Teo, Amanda and Jordan for dinner. It was so fun to see everyone - I can't believe it's been as long as it has! Teo is the cutest thing ever with his big brown eyes and amazing demeanor! He and Tatum had a good time "talking" to each other and giving lots of kisses. Mat and Tanya are going to forward me the pictures - as soon as I get those I'll post them for you all to see. Amanda and Jordan are doing great, too and I can't wait to find out what they are having! Tatum did take a fall while we all ate dessert at our house after dinner - she was running out of the kitchen with a strawberry in hand and tripped and hit her face on the tile somehow. With all the blood you'd have thought she lost a tooth or something, but after it was all over I think she had just bit her tongue. The fall combined with a very long day made for a hard to console baby girl. Once she calmed down she was just fine and slept well that night. Now she's got her big girl bed (straight from Ikea in Canada - thanks Nan!) and will make the transition to that pretty soon!

We spent the day Sunday sleeping (through church - oops) and having dinner at Glen and Tammy's house. Nothing beats a Sunday roast dinner...I love it!

The 4th was spent at Grandma and Grandpa Fullmer's house for a BBQ and a dazzling fireworks display by Chet. :) Tatum lasted all of five minutes and crashed for the fireworks - she'd had a very long day playing with the big kids. We all had a great time!

Now I'm in major nesting mode - cleaning everything, setting up the girls' room, making final purchases, packing my bag - you name it. I think I'm driving Beau nuts, but we've only got (potentially) 4 weeks left until it's baby #2 time! Hey, at least the house is getting cleaned very regularly, right?

Hope all is well with each of you!

loves,
Evonne