July 2014

We started July with the Ririe family reunion in Sunriver, Oregon.  We had a great 4 days filled with fun activities, food and family time.  A few of our favorite things about the reunion…

Rafting down the Deschutes River, which was great fun and super adventurous.  Bryce figures we spent at least an additional $200 to replace all the stuff I lost in the river, but it was totally worth it! (Thanks for the awesome pictures Rob!!)

The bike scavenger hunt – tons of fun and good exercise too!

Biking and hiking to the falls and taking some family photos

Hanging out, playing games and just having fun!

We also took a weekend camping trip in our old camper for the first time in 4 years.  Even though everything on the camper broke and it pretty much just became a tent with beds, we still had an awesome time hiking, telling stories around the campfire and just being together as a family.  We are lucky to live so close to such a gorgeous canyon – it’s awesome!

Seth was lucky enough to be invited to attend a speed and strength 2 day camp that was done by Olympic track coaches and athletes who are currently training for the Olympics.  He learned a ton and was really inspired, especially by a pair of athletes who currently hold the world record in the 100m for the paralypics (10.4 seconds).  The runner is completely blind and runs tethered to a sighted runner.  They are connected by an 8 inch cord that tethers their hands together and watching them run is quite a sight – from the side they look like one runner as their strides are exactly the same – it’s amazing!!

We continued our fun Fridays with trips to the newly renovated Bean Museum, taking the kids to Cowabunga Bay (a waterslide park), and a hike to Sliding Rock where we all slid down the waterfall rock behind Seth and Autumn in this picture into the pool below – so fun!

We celebrated the 24th of July with a BBQ and fireworks with Brandon and Nicole joining us for the fun.

Devin went to EFY at BYU-Provo with his cousin Trevor and they had an amazing time – both said it was their favorite EFY yet.  One of the highlights was auditioning for the variety show doing a medley of 15 popular songs – they had guys singing, playing the guitar, ukelele, and piano. They were chosen to end the show and brought down the house.  He had a really fun week.

We had a bunch of our Finch family staying with us at the end of the month as everyone came into town for my dad’s 75th birthday celebration.  It was a really fun weekend and so much fun to be with family!!  We had a BBQ, played games, spent a lot of time talking and catching up and had a fun tribute to my dad and shared some of our favorite memories of him.

Megan continues to love life as a missionary in Houston!!  Here she is with the Hernandez family from our ward who moved to Megan’s ward in Houston in June – crazy small world sometimes!

Have a great August!!