The Gunnell Family: Wells Family Reunion

Labor Day Weekend we had our annual Wells Family Reunion at the cabin. 30+ people together in close surroundings for 3 days.... I don't think many families could make it through in one piece. But amazingly there were no real problems (granted I slept out in the van the second night due to all the snoring, but that was as big as the problems came)!

We had so much fun. My brother brought out the rock star in all of us with Rock Band. I have been trying to convince Brad to get this for me for Christmas ever since, but have not succeeded! I ROCKED at the drums ( I took it pretty serious)! And Tanner loved to dance to our music. My kids favorite song now is, "Eye of the Tiger!"

My sister Tiffany was so excited to FINALLY live close enough to come to the reunion this year, and we were just as excited to have her family there. She brought t-shirts for everyone to make. This was a huge hit with both the kids, and the adults.

My sister Kambria and I took it upon ourselves to created shirts for the 4 Wells girls... if you get the inside joke you can laugh along with us, if not just move on! We were laughing so hard as we presented the shirts to my mom and sister Tiffany... we thought we were pretty clever! (Kaydria didn't understand our joke, but wanted to be in the picture!)

We had all sorts of fun activities and treats! Lollipops, play dough charades, long walks, moose sightings, yummy food, 4-wheeler rides, truck rides, walking the dogs....

One of the best things my mom came up with was the ticket system. She gave a lesson about service and helping others and then she gave the adults a bunch of tickets to give to the kids when they saw them doing something good. We would write the kids name on the ticket and then at the end of the weekend they got to redeem their tickets for prizes. It made a huge difference in how the kids got along, and how much they helped out.... BRILLIANT! Even Tanner caught some of the spirit of it!

There was a lot of lounging in the hammock and hanging out with cousins, Ashlyn and Sam were always working on some puzzle.

Campfires, marshmallows, smores and roasted starburst...

How lucky we are to have so many great cousins for our kids to grow up with. My kids adore their older cousins and they are so good to them. And they love having cousins their age that are some of their best friends. Ashlyn would hug everyone goodnight and love knowing they would all be their in the morning when she woke up.
Our family at the campfire... trying hard to let the kids have fun while still being paranoid one would fall in the fire or get poked with a hot roasting stick!

And these are the two we have to thank for all of this! I seriously don't know how they did it, or how they do it now. 6 kids is a lot of work, but how thankful I am that they had 6 kids and didn't stop at 5! My parents are the BEST! And how rewarding it must be to have their entire family together! I know it wasn't an easy weekend to plan, but it was all worth it!

The very last day we headed up to the lake. It was windy and the water was freezing, but that didn't stop some! Tanner was a maniac with a squirt gun, and I think Ashlyn was the first in the water!