Jeppson Reunion "Must Have's"...

Must have family watch your children so you can enjoy an AWESOME Jack Johnson concert!!! Although the venue was quite the place...it confirmed to Jord and I that we will NEVER be moving to West Valley! TRAFFIC!! It was a great concert and we had GREAT seats!! We actually saw a family who used to live by us in Washington. They now live in Utah. Small world. Jack was wonderful! He messed up on a song because he got distracted by what a fan was yelling/saying so he had to stop and start the song over! I'd love to see him in his element though...Hawaii. Thanks to many family members we were worry free of children that evening!! Aunt Sharon, Uncle Jerod, Jess, Jaz, Uncle John, Aunt Heather & many more....)

Must have sleep overs!! Even though there was not a sleep over this night...I know that Isabella had fun sleeping over at Jaden's one night and well...there was always a sleep over going on at Sarah's place! It was fun to hear that the girls stayed up talking...some serious bonding taking place!!!

Must have blanket races down the stairs...Oops, to all the parents who didn't know about this one! They were having SOOOOO much fun, How could I possibly be the one to stop the entertainment? This went on for about an hour!! IMPORTANT: Not a soul was hurt & they made some GREAT memories!!

Must have piggy back rides from anyone who is willing to give them! Uncle John has always been so great about giving Luke piggy's. When Luke wasn't on Chase's back he was his little shadow. Luke misses Chase so much!!! He got up the other morning saying, "I think we need to go visit Utah again!" I said, "why?" He said, "because I miss my bestest buddie (Chase)!" Ahhh, I love Family reunions! I know it's been said a lot lately...but so TRUE... Our extended family relationships are a direct result of our reunions! Thanks Mom & Dad!!!

Must have cousin's game of "Go Fish!" Yes, some feelings may have been hurt! BUT we all still LOVE each other! Right? Speaking of fish...On the first day, the kids got to experience something really exciting! A water snake eating a huge fish!! GROSS!! They LOVED it!!

Must have GREAT nieces & nephews who will follow your kiddo's around so you don't have to worry too much about them!

(Aunt Heather & Sarah...)

Must have a wonderful niece, Sarah (who will be leaving at the end of September to serve a mission in Chile) who shared with ALL...one of her favorite loves, Berry (?) licorice that you can only get in Canada. Sarah, you really put me (almost) to tears a couple times with your unselfishness toward others on this trip! Watch out Chile, you are getting ONE AWESOME young lady!! We love you SO much!!

Must have our annual softball game! Well, actually it ended up being kickball. One of us decided not to wear tennis shoes (Bella) so she opted to have some of her own fun on the side lines. She probably talked Jaden into staying with her!! Sorry Heather & John. After a super close game we all decided to split off. Some went shopping at the outlet mall, some went back to Circle J to swim & the rest of us (all the very athletic Jeppson boys) decided to stay at the park and play a game of softball.

(what a perfect handstand, Tyson!)

Must have handstand contests in the pool! What is a Park City Reunion without a little pool time?...OKAY, A LOT of pool time! The kids had so much fun showing off their new found braveness of jumping into the pool with out any assistance!! (Yes, even Luke..4ft) I think he must have consumed over a couple of gallons of pool water in just one day...gross! I don't have any pictures of this, but the kids loved when grandpa got in to play "Shark" with them. Luke could have done with out the game...but the others had FUN!!! We found ourselves here almost everyday!!! What perfect weather we had this year!!
Sarah was such a great sport in taking the kids on her back!!

Pretty much all SMILES when your having fun in the pool!

Must have downtown Park City stroll night! Almost the whole family who was around took a stroll down main street. We thought it was funny that the only available parking spot was directly in front of LDS Family History building. We went in and talked with the Sisters & Brothers there. We are missing many fam members but decided to take a picture in front of the giant tree!

Our family on the gondola in Park City (picture courtesy of Sarah...thanks!)

Cousins...Sarah, Luke, Bella, Jaden & kaleb

Must have a private Jeppson beach at Lake Jordanelle!!

Thanks to Uncle Jerod & Aunt Sharon & their friend, They were able to take the boat to the lake quite a few times! Thanks Uncle Jerod...who after a loooong while would have preferred to relax on the beach for a bit...but instead he kept taking out whoever wanted to go!!! Thank you!!

Question: How many Jeppson boys does it take to fix a water tube?
Thanks to Uncle Jerod, Uncle John & dad...many were able to do this...

Yeah, You go Jaz, Jess & LUKE!!!

Jordan enjoyed the peace and the tranquility that the Jeppson Island offered! While others had to get creative from getting bored!

Kaleb & Luke waiting patiently for the others to get back!

Must have unique talents for the Jeppson Talent Show so that we can laugh & talk about them for years to come!! Rachel (who will start her first official year of teaching in SLC in a couple days!! Yeah Rach!! Good luck!) and Josh are showing off their 2-person cartwheel!! Very impressive!! Luke & Chase showed us some wrestling skills & Jaden showed off that she has a very promising career as a gymnast!!

Some more must have's...that I didn't get pictures of. Watch a good dose of the 2008 Beijing Olympics nightly (sometimes daily too). Wake up every morning to go on a walk or hike! Spend time together during meal time. Jordan & I missed the dinner with ALL of the family on Monday night because of the concert, but were able to have some more meals together during the week! I'm sure that I missed many other "must have's"!! We missed Ashley, Jill, Darren, Cole, Ben, Tyler, Uncle Jim, Aunt Janette, Leah, Becca, Anna, Miriam, & Jake. We hope too see you all next year!!! You are ALWAYS welcome to our HOME ANYTIME!!!

Uncle Jerod, Chase & Aunt Sharon

Wow, look at these beauties!! Jessica & Sharon

Josh & Jaden
Oh yeah, I cannot forget about this...

Isn't it a beauty? Jordan has been fighting off looks this weekend where ever we go. (Domestic violence) Last Thursday…Jord and his bro’s say..."Let’s play tennis." So, we are warming up when all of a sudden the ball is coming at me way fast. It’s heading for out of bounds but as an inexperienced tennis player, I go to hit it and the ball lands on the side of the racket, then my forearm, then here on my face. It kind of hurt when it happened but didn’t think much of it until Jordan came up to ask me a question 20 minutes later and started laughing…” You have a shiner!” NICE!!! I've had some interesting things happen since this beauty! I had a guy at Albertson's follow me to my car and ask me if I was OK! I've also had a gal at church say, "Amanda, don't you know you are supposed to put you eyeshadow on the top of your eyes instead of the bottom? Haa. Haa. Very Funny! It doesn't hurt at all and I will be just fine!

MUST HAVE...a wonderful Mom & Dad who loves each of us so much and are such great examples to us in many ways!! We thank you SOOO much for the wonderul week at the Jeppson Reunion and look forward to seeing you soon!!! We LOVE you!

Sausage Dip Recipe...courtesy of Jill Nelson Family

1 pkg. cooked Jimmy Deam Sausage (I used an extra lg one because the whole thing was only 99 cents-marked down, orig. $10 bucks...so I guess the point I'm making is that there was twice as much sausage)

2 reg. cans of Rotel tomatoes (I used 1 orig. & 1 mild) with juices and all.

2 pkg. of Cream Cheese, softened

Mix all together and serve warm. Yummy. Serve with cut up slices of fresh bagette bread or tort. chips.