News del Mercado: Eden

As I mentioned in my last post, my mom wanted to do a family reunion with my siblings and me and our kids. We found a very nice Airbnb in Eden, UT that sleeps 20 people, so we took it! It was about 15 minutes from Pineview Reservoir where we could use Grandma's kayak and the paddleboards that my siblings own. There was a pool nearby that we could use, as part of the HOA included with the home. The home itself included a hot tub, pool table, ping pong table, ski board, and everything you need in a kitchen. All the adults could sleep as couples in our own rooms and there were enough bunk beds in enough rooms to make the kid arrangements perfect!

We rolled in Orem at my mom's house on Father's Day and headed up to Eden the next afternoon. It was constant entertainment after that between the pool table and other fun games at the home. We found the swimming pool in the neighborhood after longer than we expected, but the kids still had a bit of time to swim before it closed. It only allowed certain numbers of people in the water at a time, so the kids usually swam in different groups like the younger group and the teenage/preteen group while the adults observed and chatted.

My niece, Mariah, had a nasty fall down a waterfall the day before Father's Day. She fell 20 feet down the falls and somehow managed to swim out of the water before being taken down the next fall. She had to go get some MRIs during the beginning of our stay and at the end had another appointment to go to. She got around very well on her crutches and seemed to enjoy the company to keep her mind off things. When my sister had to leave a little early to get back to her nursing job, she took Mariah with her for another appointment. She broke something in her femur and had some injuries in her foot. We're glad we could visit with her!

Other than exercising, cooking/eating, playing, and talking, we swam at the pool and hung out at the lake. We're so glad it worked out with everyone's work schedules! Thanks Grandma Pat and Grandpa Jim!

Erik brought his stuffed bear, "Big Jim" all the way out, unbeknownst to us until it was too late. Here they are with Grandpa Jim.

Cousins connecting right away in Grandpa's treehouse.

Comparing heights with Calvin who is 12 1/2. The prediction is that next summer he will be taller than Victoria.

More height comparisons. Karina is trying to desperately show that she's not much shorter than Natalie! Mariah is taller than us all, but on crutches currently.

Grandma's hammock is another favorite.

View from our place in Eden.

These boys played games for hours!

More games...

When we finally found the pool, we had to wait so someone could get the key to go in!

Private hot tub at the home.

Private poker table too!

Dan and Derek are training for an Iron Man and Natalie is on the cross country team, so she got up to do a trail run with us. Derek had told me he was going to take me on a 15-mile trail run. I prepared for that, but was happy it was only a little over 10. I don't do much trail running where I live, unless you count running on a dirt road a trail run, but it's not the same as running up the trail of a mountain with rocks and roots. I tripped at least 7 times, and fell all those times! I was not used to looking directly under my feet for things to trip me up! I got a few battle wounds, but it was super fun and not as hard as I thought. That's a good way to have a lot of conversations about what's going on in our country right now....

After our run, Natalie had to prove she could walk a mile in 10 minutes or less. Karissa and Layla rolled and biked by her side to make sure she didn't break into a jog! She earned her $20 when she completed it in just about the right time with just about no jogging ;)