Rowley Reunion 2009.... well overdue!

**** Warning: This is a very long post - lots of pictures.

The Fourth of July weekend for us was a blast! Actually, I should say Wednesday-Sunday of that week was a blast!! My mom put together our first family reunion (just my immediate family) and it was so much fun. She got us these cool matching hats/visors that say Rowley Reunion 2009 on them. She also planned out some dang good meals... and lots of "bad for you" snacks that I just couldn't resist! It was great to spend time with family during the holiday and especially wonderful to be surrounded by the beauties of the earth. We went to a place called Dworshack Reservoir. There is a big dam up there. The mountains come right down to the reservoir and as the sun sets, it is breathtaking. I loved it!! We spent most all of Thursday and Friday out on the boat and that is where most of these pictures were taken. Enjoy!

A lot of my younger brothers are really into this hopping hippos game where you basically just try to hop and switch tubes until you have been on each of them a few times. I tried it for a few minutes and that was all for me... I got sick of having to move every minute I guess... and most of the time the switching was what caused the crashes. In the picture above, my younger brother Blake is on the feft tube holding hands with Brother Garrett who is in our ward back home. Brother Garrett & my dad actually co-own the boat. Brother Garrett is just as crazy as the youngins though! He is the one holding hand with Blake on the tube on the right. They are trying to pull their tubes together (while the boat is going at full speed) so that they can switch spots/tubes.

This was pretty funny... I think it may have happened more than once. Brother Garrett went to jump to another tube and he took the tube with him!

Three people on the middle tube... crazy kids.

This is a picture of a floating public toilet and it is really used like a toilet... sick, huh?!

This is my little sister Rachel. She decided she wanted to try water skiing because so many of us big kids were doing it. She did not make it up but she did give it a good shot. I am proud of her for being so brave.

Left to right: Crystal (sister), Sharon (sister), Brandon and I

This view was one that we drove to... so beautiful!

And here is my lovely mother, getting ready to clean the grill after breakfast.

All three of my sisters decided they wanted their hair braided the second day of our reunion. So I decided I had better give in too... Here is my sister Sharon braiding my hair (certainly not the best picture of me!)

Ok... This picture pretty much ROCKS!

After boating all day Thursday, we decided to take the boat out again just before the sun went down and go fishing. We drove the boat out to a little cove and it was probably my favorite part of the day just because it was so beautiful... surrounded on three sides by the thick of the beautiful dark green trees on the hillsides. I wanted to just sit back and enjoy the scenery!!

This is my littlest brother Stewart. He cracks me up. He is the only kid I know who has a serious fear of riding on a boat. Stewart thinks he is going to die the whole time and I swear he almost has a heart attack every time. So we mostly don't take him out... but we did take him fishing and I tried to get him to smile... this is the best I could do. Doesn't he look so calm? We actually got him to go on a very slow tube ride with Brandon and Gary (my sister's husband) and apparently it was pretty hillarious. He just kept saying, "I'm dead. I'm dead. I'm already dead!" So funny!

Here's Brandon just before water skiing (sorry- these picts are definitely not in any sensible order).

Left: My sister Rachel climbing back into the boat after cooling off, Right: My sister Crystal

Check out those cute braids!!

One of our favorite things to do is stop the boat and jump in the water to cool off.

I love this picture.

This is my littlest sister Crystal and she is definitely the cutest in the family, don't you think?!

Here is our flag girl- my other little sister Rachel.

My brother Doug just before water skiing

Yeah, yeah! That's my husband. :)

I love this picture... such a cute smile! I think she gets away with a lot because of it. :)

Me, Crystal, and my brother Doug.

Crystal was so brave! It took us a while to convince her to go on the "screamer" tube with us but she did it!

Me, my sister Rachel, and Doug. Let's just say we were going pretty slow and Doug and I got kind of bored.

And here is my dad... captain John Rowley!

Another one of this cute girl... I don't think she looks too enthused.

Me, Rachel, and Doug... going VERY slow. We were proud of Rachel though for going on the tube with us.

These next few pictures are of my crazy brothers and sister playing their hopping hippos game.

My brother Doug is the craziest tuber and I love it! He loves tubing... more than water skiing I think. He loves to whipped around too... so wild! I think that is why he always chose the doughnut tube- because it is definitely the one that gets thrown around the easiest.

A moment of rest....

Here's what a lot of the hopping looks like.

Here is my dad- the all-time water skiier... what a pro!

This was only the second time Brandon has water skiied. I was so proud of him!! However, his second run he had a super bad fall and actually tore his hamstring... we are hoping it heals fast and that it is nothing serious... it still hurts him though I know. I am crossing my fingers that he it is not bad enough for an MRI... only time will tell I suppose.

This isn't the greatest picture but my sister is pretty desent at water skiing. She definitely showed me up.

Me... sorry the picture is so dark!

My brother Doug

Sharon's husband Gary... yeah, he is slalom skiing here... and he pretty much showed everyone up. I think he grew up water skiing so that's why he is so good.

My brother Tom tried slalom skiing (skiing on one ski) for the first time... I think Gary inspired him. He did great though... we were all very impressed at how fast he caught on.

Tom just before his slalom skiing

My brother Blake

We took some of my younger siblings fishing again the second night we were at Dworshack... except this time we fished on land. Stewart refused to get back on the boat but he was the one that really wanted to fish. So we just fished off the shore... not good fishing... no one even had any bites so it was a short fishing trip that night.

Me and my brother Doug.

I am really bummed that most of these fishing pictures are pretty dark. This one shows my dad trying to get his fishing line out of the tree branch. We were kind of fishing in between a thicket of trees and so about every other cast we ran into them... sad but true!

There were a few times we thought we had something but it was only the fish hooks getting caught on things at the bottom of the lake. Shucks!

Ok... so first of all... these videos are quite embarassing so you cannot laugh... but I wanted to post them mostly just to prove that we can both water ski. Neither of us have really had much experience water skiing. My dad got his boat after I graduated from High School and left for college (go figure)... so I have not had much experience. Luckily we live close to my family now so we should hopefully get some good practice going for us the rest of the summer.