Risenmay Reunion 2013

Oh the Risenmay Family Reunion! It was a blast! This year the reunion was in a small town in Utah. The reunion lasted for a whole week but we headed up a little earlier to enjoy 4th of July and be a part of the pre-reunion festivities. On the 12 hour drive there, we decided to stop at the visitors center at the St. George Temple. That temple is really gorgeous. It is so white, it's blinding. The flowers are also so pretty, so I had to take the shot below. The picture doesn't do it justice however. In the visitors center there were two missionaries, one from France. I took French for a little bit at school and told her my favorite sentence (I think it's really pretty): Aujourd'hui vendredi. She laughed because it means 'Today is Friday'. She said it in a real French accent and of course my point was proven that it is a really pretty sentence. 

Well, we stayed at Matt and Katelyn's beautiful house and had a wonderful time. We played freeze tag with a ball, and don't touch the ground on the swing set. We even saw someone walking their goat!

 We visited BYU campus and ate burgers on 4th of July along with the stuff on the last post. We went to a fancy movie theater with mexican food, burgers, crepes, and a lot of other selections. We ended up seeing Despicable Me 2. For some reason Maverick was crazy about chicken. In their yard we found a cool snake that wasn't dangerous.

 On Saturday the women ran to Costco and got all the food and drinks for the reunion! It took hours to get food for 37 people. After the big run we drove up to the cabin we were staying in.
It was awesome. It had a movie room (which we gladly watched Duck Dynasty in), a hot tub, a massage chair (spent a lot of time in that), three floors, a ping pong table, dart boards, and a lot more! It was super fun! It was the perfect size for all of our families.

 The First day of the reunion was Sunday so we all got ready and headed to church. The church had really pretty stain glass windows inside. Going into the church, all of the Risenmays were probably half of their ward. It was kind of funny. After church we played a lot of ping pong and had F.H.E. taught by Grandma and Grandpa. It was a very interactive lesson with presentations and pictures with stickers. That day everyone got birthday presents for the year and some of the boys got helicopters that if they got to fly through an obstacle course in the garage, they would get 20 bucks. Few succeeded. 

 On Monday we chilled at the house and played lots of ping pong. I mean A LOT. Later we played Minute to Win It. (every night someone was in charge of a game or activity everyone could play) There were challenges involving cookies, ping pong balls and peanut butter, stacking cups, and other doable but challenging challenges. Team One (I was on that team) ended up winning!

 The next day we went on the Alpine Slide and ate snow cones and stopped at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. The Alpine Slide is a long slide where you can go really fast. It was fun! Later we went to a Big Top circus. There was a girl swinging by her ponytail, a trapeze artist, uni-cyclists, lions and tigers, little dogs, and other fun stuff to watch. It was all super cool, but those Big Tops are really hot. 

 Later we played Fear Factor. We cracked eggs on our heads, tasted baby food, stuffed marsh mallows in our faces, grabbed marbles out of ice cold water, and did other gross stuff. And then, there were the food challenges. One for the kids and one for the adults. The kids won 20 dollars and the adults one 40 dollars. There were sardines, tomato juice, lemons, pigs feet, hot sauce, green beans, spam, and other disturbing food. Walker and Rulon won the kid contest. Ephraim won the adult one. I got out on the Spam. I

 The day after that we went to Temple Square. We stopped at the Joseph Smith building and watched a movie. We also stopped and gazed at the Salt Lake City Temple. Throughout Temple Square there were lots of water features and Bode was attracted to every single one of them. That kid is a water baby. 

 We stopped at City Creek, had some McDonalds and frozen yogurt and played at the mall's dinosaur themed play area. It was pretty fun. Later that night it was our turn for the game night. We did a Risenmay Family Quiz Show that I put together on IMovie. There were home videos with quotes where you had to guess who said it. There were also little activities where you had to name different things the fastest and other challenges where  you had to recreate an old dance. Team Grandma ended up winning by one point!

 The next day all the kids were playing Ghost in the Graveyard in the movie room/exercise room when I tripped and someone hit me on accident and I got a cut near my eye. Luckily, we have John who is a doctor. My cut got glued and is healing! Every reunion someone gets hurt. That day everyone went to an aquatic center and got ice cream afterwards. That night the adults played Duke and the older kids went in the hot tub. We saw a bob cat!

 On Friday everyone went back to the aquatic center and the same ice cream place. That night we played 3-Deep which is really fun! Everyone gets handed a piece of paper with a word on it that is part of a category. Three pieces of paper make up one category. For example: red, blue, green. To mix up the papers someone says 'mingle' and everyone passes their papers around. Then after that, you yell out your word and try to find other people who fit in your category. You want to find them fast! Also on your paper is either the letters T (top), M (middle), or B (bottom). Once you find your other two partners, whoever has the B on their paper sits on the bottom, M in the middle, and T on the top. You do not want to be the last team to sit down. The last team is eliminated and it goes on with fewer people until there are three people left. It is really awesome!

 On Saturday, everyone had to back home. The reunion was super fun and I can't wait until 2015!

4th of July

I know. I know. I'm not good at this. Last post was in November. But, whatever. I'm skipping to 4th of July!
I hope everyone had an awesome and festive 4th of July. We headed up to Utah days before and stayed with family. The Risenmay reunion started on the 6th so we decided to head up a little earlier and enjoy some cooler weather up there.
On 4th of July we went swimming at the McCustians for hours, played on swing sets, watched some movies, ate Hi Chews (they are reeeeeaaalllly good), played tag, squirted each other with water guns, and flung ourselves onto bean bags. We had barbecue and watermelon (one of the best food combinations there is in my opinion), salad, and onion dip and chips. We chilled for awhile and hung out with family.
After that, we started to have fun with some fireworks in a parking lot. In Utah, the big aerial fireworks are allowed so of course we had to buy some. Unfortunately, I didn't get the greatest pictures of the big ones since we did those pretty early. But, I did manage to snap these:

We had a big variety of fireworks. We had the big ones, the color ones, the tank ones, the ones that spin, sparklers, those ones that you throw and then they pop, and lots more. We ended up saving fireworks for the next night.As all of the fireworks were going off, Brooks was chilling with Lisa on the sidewalk. Brooks surprisingly loved the fireworks. 

Later that night we headed over to another house that lived across from a big elementary school that does an outstanding firework show. The streets were lined with cars and people were everywhere. We had  candied popcorn and root beer floats along with glow sticks as we watched the firework show. It was pretty cool. After that we decided that we should probably head home and go to bed. It was a pretty fun 4th of July if you ask me.

Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Brooks

 Man. I was so on top of this blogging thing a few months back. I had caught up, and was posting weekly (sort of). I have failed again. I did not post for a little over two months. Way to go, Aubrey. Huh, I'm going to briefly go over what happened in each month. (Oh, and if you didn't already read it, go look at the post before this, it's about our cute little Brooks)

September passed and we came to October. The month went by very quickly. Let's just say it wasn't one of the most exciting months that we had had that year. We decorated for fall and put out our cobwebs, and signs.We bought our candy and spread it out for a little bit of sweet decoration. We also got out costumes. I guess, this was where the month picked up. I was a Greek goddess, Walker was a ninja (for the third year in a row), Maverick was a skeleton, Ainsley was a vampire, and Bode was an Angry Bird. Which he was very proud of. Ainsley was also proud of her costume. At first when we asked her what she wanted to be that year, she said a flower. She quickly changed her mind to a vampire. But not just any vampire, a very creepy, scary, and freaky vampire. I had been a vampire a couple years back, so we decided to just use that costume. But it was too big, so Mom decided that she was going to pin it and hem it. We didn't have many pins, so Mom had to go to the store. Ainsley really wanted her costume finished, so she asked every single day for Mom to get it done. It got annoying really quickly. But, on Halloween we had a lot of fun. A couple nights before, we went to the church's Trunk or Treat and got a bunch of candy. So, it was even more fun to get more candy. We went trick or treating for thirty minutes before we called it a day.

Halloween passed and Thanksgiving came. Thanksgiving took a lot of planning. Especially, because we had a newborn baby. My Grandma Clark came down to help with the baby so therefore, she would be help in making Thanksgiving come peacefully to our home. We decided that we were going to make a homemade centerpiece. The Mayflower. We cut out some cardboard in the shape of a boat and painted all of it brown (we ran to Michael's to get our craft supplies). We then got a different cardboard box, cut it to fit in the boat, then covered it with wet brown construction paper. We made three little holes in the box. Before we did that step, we cut out different fall colored construction paper, punched two holes in it and stuck a straw in (we taped it so it wouldn't move). It made a great centerpiece:

We also made cute watercolor leaves which you can see in the above picture. (sorry for it being blurry) Everybody watercolor painted fall colors onto sheets of computer paper. Even Bode helped with the project. We let it dry, then drew leaves onto the papers. We cut them out and voila! We were done with the leaves. Also, we made cute pieces of paper that said 'Thankful For' on them that were then folded to hold a gold napkin and out silverware. Now for the cooking. We made lots of food. We made green bean casserole, seven layer dip, deviled eggs, orange rolls, turkey ( of course ), pies, and a lot more. A cute thing that we made was found on Pinterest. Pilgrim hats!

It was Reeses peanut butter cup miniatures, oreos, and icing. They were fun and very easy to make. Everything for Thanksgiving, turned out really nice. We played outside and ate lots of food. Now, it's time for Christmas!

He is born!

  The newest Risenmay baby boy has finally arrived! He was born on November 19, a 9 pound 2 oz. and 21 in. long baby. Yes, a very big boy. And, he is a twin to Ainsley. He has really dark brown fuzzy hair (Mom hopes that he'll keep Dad's hair) round head, and chubby thighs. Very chubby thighs. Oh, and his name is (drum roll) .................................................................................................................Brooks Brad Risenmay. And he totally pulls off the sweet name. He is very calm and doesn't cry a whole ton. And on his first night home, he gave Mom six hours of sleep! Way to go, Brooks. But, last night he woke up every two hours. It's a work in progress. :) At least, Bode and Ainsley have coped with him being here. When Mom and Dad pulled up in the garage to bring Brooks home, we all ran out to see him. (My Grandma Clark came down to help with the new baby, so she had been watching us at the time). As soon as they got Brooks out of the car, and Bode got a clear view of Brooks, Bode said (and I quote) "I don't want a brother. I don't want him to take my blankie and my bed". He went inside after that. Ainsley then looked at her new brother and said "It's a boy! We already have a lot of boys." They are better now. Bode now thinks that Brooks is funny. When he cries  it sounds like a kitty meowing and Bode thinks it is hilarious. He likes Brooks now. Ainsley on the other hand, doesn't really seem to pay much attention to Brooks. She is an even child (she was the 4th kid), so she does her own thing. Anyways, Brooks is a sweet and serene (hopefully he stays that way) addition to the Chris Risenmay Family.

Back to School!

 I may be posting this a little late, but school has started again! In the Risenmay household, this is both good and bad. For instance, Walker gets to see his friend who goes up to Montana for the summer when school starts but, he has to do a lot of reading and has to give up his addiction to video games (for those who are interested, he has...kind of...quit). For Maverick, he gets to talk to his friends and play on the playground but, he has longer days at school that are full of math and grammar. Ainsley, well, there really is no downside to her story. She goes to pre-school for three hours and grows plants, reads animal books, paints, draws, builds with blocks, learns to write her name better, talks to her little crush :) (we'll get to that later...), and make things like this:

 Yep. I won't forget who drew that one. For Mom I have two words when school starts: "Sorry" and "Bode". He is just a big ball of energy and naughty. He has trashed the bathrooms, broke some of our Ikea vases, filled the bathtub with water and decided to throw all of the clean towels in with soap for a little scrub, and even  scribbled on the walls with PERMANENT marker. Luckily we have some paint left over from the house makeover. But, as naughty as he is, he is the cutest thing ever! He'll sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in the sweetest voice, help wash the windows, play with the dog, and attempt to do his hair.
Hopefully you get my point. Anyways, we have already been in school for about a month! Woo hoo! I can't believe that I have survived all the homework thus far! There has been a lot of homework, well, I can't say a lot. More than I used to is better wording for this situation.But, school has officially started (those first few weeks of school don't really count because you don't learn anything).
 Apparently autumn has officially started too. Though, down here, it doesn't really feel like that. It was 106 degrees today. Ugh... It'll start to cool down soon, maybe. We've tried to stay inside and keep ourselves busy:

 Mom went furniture shopping for the house, again. We played "Hit the Target" with my stretchy headbands. You can tell how that ended up, on the chandelier. And we even did science smell experiments. Some of the "fragrances" didn't turn out as expected. But, at least we are not just watching TV.
 I'm not saying we don't go outside. Believe me, we have had our share of outside. Maverick and Ainsley had their soccer games today (Luckily Walker and I start our games later) and apparently Ainsley and Maverick are pretty good.

The Beach Trip

My family just LOVES the beach. The week before school we took a trip with the Broadheads down to San Diego where we rented the top floor and bottom floor of a beach house for a week. Can I just say, everyone was so relaxed and everyone had a blast. We were a minutes walk away from the Mission Beach and a minutes walk away from a really fantastic pizza shop and Mexican Food place. The house we stayed in was really nice and had pretty trees and flowers surrounding it. You could smell the sea and the best part about it was, there was no stress. There was no alarm clock buzzing off early in the morning. There was no rush to go and do something.

We sat in our chairs under an E-Z Up and read books or just watched the sunset go down. We made sand castles. We walked down to the boardwalk. We collected sea shells, rode our bikes down the street by the beach, and even skateboarded a little on the Broadhead's skateboards. Now Walker decided that he wants a skateboard of his own and is saving up. We went boogie boarding (even my pregnant Mom) and caught some awesome waves. We snatched up sand crabs (the ugliest creatures on the planet). We played paddle ball. We watched the sunset. And all the while, managed to catch some great shots. (I'll have to put some more on later)

We did a lot of fun stuff on the beach. However, we did go some places. We decided to head over to the San Diego Zoo and watch the animals and surprisingly, almost all of the animals were up and about, doing their thing when they usually just sleep. Specifically the koalas. We saw a lion and lioness walking around yawning.  We saw the jaguar cubs playing around with their mom and we saw the rhinos roaming. We even saw a monkey that looked exactly like Bode. 

We had a fun time at the zoo. But, later in the week my parents and some of the others headed to the temple which is beautiful. The Broadhead boys babysat the Risenmay clan. 

 I don't want to forget it so I'm going to have to say it, the beach meals were the best! We had pulled pork sandwiches, watermelon, corn on the cob, steak, potato salad, potatoes. All the food tasted really delicious. Especially the tacos from Sarah's Mexican food down the street from our beach house.

Everything was so fun, except for four things. 1. Some of us got sunburned.(those did turn into good tans though) 2. Some of us got rashes. 3. Maverick had a stomach ache (Maverick had some Tums to make his stomach feel better and said they tasted like candy so, Bode decided he would try some) and 4. The weather was so nice that we didn't want to leave

The Cake Color

As most of you know, Mom is pregnant and is 7 months along. Another thing most of you know, is that my Mom likes to be surprised when finding out the gender of her baby that she usually guesses wrong (Out of all five children, she has only guessed right once 1/5). Dad on the other hand, would rather just know. For me, my Mom just decided to find out as soon as possible. And for Dubya, they found out as soon as possible. But, for Maverick, my Mom and Dad made a deal. Dad could find out, but was not allowed to tell Mom, tell others, or even give hints. If he slipped, Mom would get full naming rights. My Dad kept the secret for nine days. Nice Dad. Both my Mom and Dad were surprised for Ainsley. Go figure. For Bode, they found out as soon as possible and now, Mom found out through a cake.

Mom let Dad find out what the gender was for the sixth Risenmay baby. Dad then ordered a cake from Costco filled with frosting that was either pink or blue (pink for a girl, blue for a boy). We were going to get the cake and invite a lot of friends over to cut and eat it to find out whether I was going to have a baby brother or a baby sister. Well, we did just that. I will have a baby.........................................brother!
There will be four boys and two girls in the Risenmay Family!