Reunion..... Severson Style!!

This year, as any even year is, was the Severson Family reunion at Camp Arrah Wanna on Mt. Hood. This year we were 119 strong, and that was with quite a few not in attendance. The reunion starts with Joe's grandparents on down. What an amazing brood, don't you think? We got something special this year because Joe's cousin, Geoff, designed a t-shirt for everyone to wear. It has everyone in the family on it, doing something they like, or are known for. The design was on front and back, it was really awesome!! This is what the front of the shirt looked like. Our whole family is on the front, close to the "Severson Reunion" wording. Can you find all six of us?



Before the reunion started, all of Joe's immediate family came out and stayed at our house (minus Aaron and Em and their kids). There were 31 of us in the house, it was so much fun!! Unfortunately, that is exactly when it decided to get really hot, so no one wanted to sleep upstairs, and we were all crowded downstairs at night, bodies everywhere! Ah well, one can't have everything! Saturday, early, was spent going to the airport for everyone, but then later we went swimming in our pool, and went to a movie in the park (where the sponsors passed out these really nice stuffed bears to all of the kids, and gave everyone all you can eat popcorn. It was a ton of fun, and free!!).


Swimming with the kids, Kaelan is a daredevil. I have to watch him like a hawk.


Luke and Calder, the dynamic duo. These two were inseperable the whole reunion.



Sunday everyone went to church at our ward. It is always so funny to watch the eyes get big when we invade, and then everyone in our ward trying to figure out which one is Joe! The kids all went to primary and attended Levi, Calder, and Ansel's classes (there are 18 grandkids 10 and under!!), I am sure the teachers were a little nervous.

Here is Calder and Luke:
Ansel had Halle and Emma come with him:


Here are all the sister-in-laws in Relief Society (Danielle and Heather were in Nursery):
It goes Elizabeth (sofia), Sarah (Eli), Cami (Kaelan), Becca, and JoAnn.


After Church we went on a Sunday nature walk. We took everyone to Wahclella Falls, one that we had checked out previously. We were very lucky, because on our drive up the Gorge it starting Pouring rain. We were faster than the rain and got to a dry Wahclella Falls. However, we expected it to start raining any minute so we started the walk at a pretty fast clip. But, it never came, the storm must have turned north and we got missed entirely! Good thing we didn't turn around!!

Wahclella Falls

Below Wahclella Falls

A huge boulder that you could climb on top of and look down on everyone

Looking down on everyone from the top of the boulder

Tradition says that first thing after breakfast on the first "real" day we take family pictures, but this year we all had matching t-shirts!! Good thing for anonymous donors!!

All of the cousins from just the Larry/Cheryl clan (Joe's Parents) minus Adele and Samuel.

The theme this year was NSBS (Non Severson Born Seversons) we did alot of activities revolving around that idea. And here we are.... all the in-laws!!

Jodi, Courtney, Alyssa and me hanging out in the Judson Lodge

There was a random gigantic soccer ball, in the lodge, that Ansel LOVED. Here he is mowing over little kids with it.

And, it is never a Severson Reunion without Pinochle, Thanks to Grandpa Severson! Here he is in all his pinochle glory! Nice hat, Grandpa!

Kaelan and his favorite buddies, Amanda and Alyssa.

The camp "Cone"head.........Ansel

After the Reunion, which was a lot of fun, we came back to our house (on the 4th of July) and had fireworks! Everyone participated, unfortunately, some had sensitive ears. We tried a few tactics to solve the problem, but the one that worked was putting them upstairs so they could watch out the window!! They thought that was really cool!!

Ansel made sure the pyrotech (aka Joe) was well equipped with fireworks

Hanging out watching the show.

We did alot of our own, but also all of our neighbors were out doing theirs too, up and down the street. And the arial ones were being shot off all over the place (even though, apparently, they are illegal) We didn't mind! It was really cool!

JoAnn, trying her hand at sparkler art

The official sparkler techs:

Slowly everyone left after that and we had to say goodbye... :( We were really lucky though, because Matt and JoAnn and kids stayed on until Wednesday, so we got to play a little longer. What I thought was really interesting is that the kids (Ours and Matt and JoAnn's) lined up in birth order to play, rather than age. Levi and Amanda were inseparable, as were Calder and Luke, Ansel and Halle were best buds, and even the babies Kaelan and Nathan enjoyed each other. We thought maybe it was because, birth order, in families that are very similar, creates kids that have similar personalities according to where they fall in the family... Who knows, but it was fun to think about.

The June Bug

June was a VERY busy month. School got out the 11th/12th and we had one thing after the next right up to that point, and after. Levi and Calder had Baseball right through all this and by the time it ended I felt like revolting......"No more baseball" that was my mantra. To top this all off, Kaelan got really sick for two weeks (vomiting and Diarrhea) and had to be admitted into the hospital for 2 days because of dehydration. Poor baby. What an awful experience. The IV was the worst part, they spent 25 minutes trying to insert it, his veins were collapsed because he was dehydrated. When they moved on to the second hand and then the foot, Kaelan was beyond consolable. He was in so much pain, and looking at me frantically. Just then, I had a very strong impression to pray, that hit me right between the eyes. It was basically "Pray! Kaelan can't pray for himself". I felt like an idiot. Why hadn't I prayed yet?! I guess I was just too involved with the drama of it all. I immediately prayed, and as soon as I said the words, even before my eyes opened, I heard the nurse say "It's in!! Finally". It was like Heavenly Father was anxiously waiting to bless Kaelan, I just needed to ask, and as soon as I did he acted. I felt so unworthy, and then I realized that I was just the messenger. Kaelan was worthy and he was my responsibility. I had a realization of what it means to be a steward over our children, and how much Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to succeed. I felt Heavenly Father's love for Kaelan, so strongly.

The rest of the stay at the hospital was fine, especially after they gave Kaelan a shot of morphine. It was the Doenbecker's Children's Hospital in Portland and they took very good care of us. I even had a bed. Kaelan had to stay in a cage, but he was, surprisingly, okay with it. He had to stay there until he was eating again and not throwing up. When we were finally given the green light to go home, all the nurses were so sad. They kept saying "you can't take our smiley baby away from us!" He was that, too. He smiled and played with every one of them.



The first week in June, Levi had his piano recital. He is taught by his great-grandma Severson. How many kids can say that?!?! She is a real fire-cracker, and if I am blessed live to be an old lady, I really hope I am as productive and spry as she is. Here she is with all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren that she teaches piano to. Quite amazing, isn't it?! (sorry, grandma, I didn't mean to get you with your eyes closed!) And don't ask me why Levi had that weird expression on his face, because I have no idea what he was thinking!





And yes..... here it comes....... another hike with the Severson clan. This time we went to Wahclella Falls up the Gorge. It was AMAZING!! Unfortunately my camera died half-way through so you don't get to see the best part. But, just look at these photos!


This water fall was so cool, like a water slide. The bridge crossed it right at the foot of the falls. And this was only a side feature, we hadn't reached the real falls yet.



Really neat ferns that have black stems, they almost look unreal, and you have to touch them just to make sure!


We saw a bunch of wild life while we were hiking. Several huge banana slugs, a bald eagle, an alligator lizard and this snake:





I volunteered for the school's field day the last week of school and I was in charge of passing out Otter pops. Kaelan got to try his first Otter pop and was very intrigued. He was so cute. He had a very intense look on his face the whole time he ate it, and he ate the whole thing and then kept sucking on the wrapper just to make sure there was no more.




One day that week, we had a dog for a few hours. I went to go get the mail, and this very beautiful Golden Retriever was sitting on our front porch. As soon as I opened the door she made a break for it and ran into our house, like she owned the place. She acted very anxious and it was clear that she was lost. I took her out into our backyard where she instantly bonded to our boys. They had a great time playing with her. She kept whining at me, though, like she was saying "please help me find my home". I looked on her dog tags and called Animal Control, who then looked up her info and gave me the number to the dogs owner. Whom, it turned out, just lives around the corner. I immediately called and left a message and a little while later I got a call back, from a very grateful dog owner. The dad came over when he got home and took her off our hands, the boys trailed her to the front door with very sad faces. They were so hoping they got to keep her!




The last day of school was spent going from one kid's class party to the next and back again. First I went to Levi's class and watched his skit. It was hilarious. They performed "The Three little pigs" Levi was the smart/hardworking little pig and he and the wolf really played off one another well. It was great. Well, I can't get the video to load, so I am going to do another post with it in it.




Next was Calder's party (fortunately their classes are right next door -- how is that for convenience?) They had pizza and then were going to do games outside.


Here is Calder and his Student teacher Ms. Olsen (on the left) and his real teacher, Ms. Scheitinger (on the right).


After I helped out with the pizza, I ran down the hill to Levi's party (oh, did I mention I had Ansel and Kaelan with me too?!) Levi's class had a water balloon fight and pizza in the park. Here is Levi with his wonderful teacher, Ms. Gates. He had her for two years and we will really miss her. She is a fantastic teacher.


Then I helped get all of Levi's class back up the hill into the school and ran out to the playground to help out with Calder's class party, which had moved outdoors.

Kaelan loved drawing with chalk

Ansel loved hitting the ball.

These two girls, in Calder's class , loved Kaelan. They played with him the whole time.

YAY!! Home from school for the summer!!!!

What happened......

Well, it has been way too long. Life sometimes has a way of taking off without you, and that is what it did to us this summer. First, I wanted to give you all an update on the "Mormon's Suck" blog. We didn't even hear anything in the news, so I asked one of my babysitters, who attends that school, what she knew of the incident. Tatiana told me that she knew the girls who did it and that they won't ever get charged because they can't prove it, even though the girls boasted about doing it. She said these girls (seniors) were notorious for pranks and this one just kind of got out of control. In some ways I am relieved. I would hate for these girls to have their lives so severely scarred by these stupid actions. However, I am not sure that not getting caught really help them either. Hopefully, they got a good scare and won't try a prank like that again. And that is the end of that saga.

Here are a few other things that happened in May:

Kaelan turned 1!!!

He is allergic to eggs so we had to be creative with the cake. I ended up making him a Strawberry Shortcake from scratch (everything has to be made from scratch for him, because of egg derivatives, even the whip cream because the store bought kind has egg product in it too.) He loved it, and it was good for him too!

We had one VERY hot weekend where it got into the 100's, and so the boys took advantage and slept outside on the tramp. It was still hot at 3am when Ansel came inside because of a bad dream.

I got a major haircut, 10 inches off. It was so much fun!! I love the new 'do too. So easy to do and it always looks done. Very glad I had the guts to do it!

We didn't end up going to Burney over Memorial Day Weekend because of a very yucky forecast. But, we lucked out that my sister and her husband and another couple came out and stayed the weekend with us! We went on a few hikes and played games until the wee hours!!

Willamette Primary School's Carnival was the end of May, and the boys were so excited to go. We grumbled, a bit, at the cost, but it was going to a good cause so we had to just grin and bear it. They had inflatables and carnival games all over the school, the boys were jumping from one thing to the next. I kept running into people from church who "just had to come and tell me that they really LOVE my Relief Society Lessons and that they can't wait for me to teach again" . After about the 3rd one I turned to Joe and said, "Hey maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to come to the Carnival, if it means I get complimented the whole time!"

We, of course, went on more hikes, because that is what we do. When it is so beautiful outside how can you stay away?! Plus Joe and I are getting pumped up for our 50 miler back packing trip the first of August. This one was to Silver Creek falls, one we have done many times before, but still just as amazing as the first time. Kaelan biffed it at the end, though, and really scratched up his face, poor baby.