ASPEN GROVE Family Reunion 2023 Has Begun!!

Our whole family had been looking forward to going back to Aspen Grove for our 2023 Thomas Family Reunion. We had so much fun there two years ago. Everyone agreed it would be a great place to go again this year. 

Aspen Grove is a family camp located in Provo Canyon not far from Sundance Resort. 

We arrived at the camp by the 3:00 arrival time. Each family checked in to get their room keys and to sign waivers. 

This year we chose to stay in the lodge instead of in a family cabin. The lodge is like a hotel where each family had their individual living space. There was a big open space outside the rooms for us to congregate. 

We had a beautiful view of Mt. Timpanogos from our third floor balcony. There was still snow up on the mountain. 

We were very thankful we had not planned to attend any earlier in June, because the weeks prior to our week had been canceled due to the rough winter and all the snow. 

Our family would have been devastated if we had been told we would be unable to go to Aspen Grove after all of us anticipating it for well over a year.

The back side of the lodge had a rushing river flowing by. We were informed there would be no young children's activities in that part of the camp this year due to the swift river runoff from all the snowmelt.

Further down the river is the craft and pen turning building.

The bridge over the river is where the pottery classes were held.

This building is where classes were held. It also has a small store where you can buy ice cream and treats and check out equipment and games. 

The bridge crosses the road and leads straight to the building where there is a big game room. It is also the place where the youngest children's groups met.

To the left of the bridge is the basketball/dodge ball courts. The building just beyond is where there are racquetball/handball/wallyball courts. Beyond that is an area for 9-square and gaga ball.

To the right of the bridge is the swimming pool.

Beyond the pool is the playground with the big open field that would be used for various activities throughout the week. The road above the playground leads to the tennis/pickleball courts, archery and gun shooting.

But, first things first! The children were excited to get in the pool!! They pretty much had the pool to themselves that first day.

The children played in the water while their older siblings and parents sat nearby and visited. The reunion had officially begun!!!!!

We were so happy to have Ben's whole family at Aspen Grove with us. Because baby Maverick came seven weeks early, Haley was recovered enough to feel like she and the baby could join us for the week of family fun. 

I am sure Ben was happy to have his whole family there with him instead of taking just the two older boys as had been the plan prior to the premature delivery.

We all loved having the newest member of the family--our 20th grandchild--in our midst. He is so adorable!!

We joined in with some of the other families at camp for dinner in the dining hall. There are two meal shifts. We had the late shift the first half of the week and then switched to the early meal times the second half.

After dinner, all the children and youth met their counselors and went off with their age groups to practice for their parts on the program later that evening. It was fun to see the cousins together in their various age groups.

Abe, Wynne and Monty decided to take advantage of the dance party as everyone was gathering for the opening show campfire program at the amphitheater.

Let the show begin! Each group took their short turn on stage. The little ones from our family in this group are Magnus (far left); Kade (behind the boy in green) and Jonah (second from right).

This group has Lincoln (kneeling down) and Wynne (in front wearing white shirt).

Here we have Carson (gray shirt) standing next to Newland (blue hat).

Claire and Madison were standing on the back row of that same group and we caught a glimpse of them when they were exiting the stage (the two girls in white shirts).

Eli (red shorts) with Spencer (right behind him) and Logan (fourth from the right).

Caroline (third from the right).

Emma and Luke (third and fourth from the left) and Brooke (white and blue shirt third from right).

We all donned our new Thomas Family Reunion sweatshirts, designed by Dallas, and headed over to the playground area.

Once we had all gathered, we were ready for the big unveiling of the new t-shirts.

We have been wearing matching t-shirts on every family reunion we have had. It is so fun to see the designs submitted by each of the families with Sarah adding the finishing touches and ordering the shirts. 

She keeps the shirts a secret until we are gathered and all of us can get a look at the shirts at the same time.

Last Aspen Grove reunion, the kids thought it would be funny if Glen put on all the shirts and peeled them off one at a time. That system was voted upon for this year as well. 

Madison appears to be the most anxious grandchild to see the new shirt designs and colors. Let the unveiling begin!!

The light blue shirt is courtesy of Emma from Jacob's family. It has mountains with the Y on the mountain and the words "Y are we here?" Funny!

The white shirt was Abe's idea. It is from the Princess Bride movie. The words say, "Another Thomas Reunion at Aspen Grove? AS YOU WISH." So cute!

The raspberry-colored shirt was designed by Sarah. It has a ball at the base of snow-topped mountains with the words: "THOMAS 9-square world champs." This one was my favorite color in photos.

And then we came to the pièce de résistance...the black shirt. Ahhh...the black shirt...!!!

Cute idea Ben and Haley came up with. A play on the movie Top Gun. "TOP FUN THOMAS." Clever. I like that. It's the faces on it I'm not too fond of. 

Sarah scoured our past blog entries to find the photo of Glen and me wearing headsets when we were flying in a small aircraft over one of the Hawaiian islands. That was clever, too. 

But, SERIOUSLY!! Who wants to walk around all day with your own faces plastered on your chest??!!??

Apparently we did, because we did just that. The family loved that shirt. It made for some good laughs. Thanks, darling children, for your efforts in coming up with yet another year's worth of great family reunion t-shirt souvenirs.

We checked out the game room before turning in for the night. 

Time for bed. What a fun first day at Aspen Grove!!

Father's Day Surprise Gift From Abe's Family; Update on Glen's Health; Kidney Stone Success

Abe's family was with us for a month. Along with Newland participating in both a football and a basketball camp at BYU, Wynne participated in a gymnastics camp at BYU. 

One of their adventures while they were down in Provo after one of the camp days was hiking the mountain up to the big Y. It is a very steep climb. But they did it!!

The children had a fun time whenever they went to a park.

I had a fun time taking Caroline to one of her ice skating lessons. She was impressing me with her little hops, her ability to skate backwards and her skill of being able to spin. Amazing!

Rebecca's family met up with us at the splash pad in Bountiful. I love the fun area for the children to play in the water in the summer. In the winter, on the other half of the park, is an area for outdoor ice skating. 

Madison, Spencer and Newland are standing on the ice skating track. The dragon artwork behind them was fascinating to look at once you can see it is made out of a lot of Utah license plates. So cool!!

On Father's Day we went to Andy and Amanda's backyard for a Ward family dinner. The little children love their yard so much. The adults love their yard so much because it is perfect for enjoying the outdoors while eating and visiting together. 

We took a family photo of my parents and five of their six children. Mark was missing! But not for long. His family would be stopping by in July when they were on their way to St. George for Michelle's family's annual reunion. 

Abe's family was anxious to have Glen open the Father's Day gift they had gotten for him. 

We were both shocked to see the new accordion they had so thoughtfully bought for him. Glen used to play the accordion when he was young. It brought back a lot of good memories for him, and it brought back memories of me watching my friend Ann practicing her accordion. It is a fun instrument.

Abe got some new pillows for his Father's Day gift--to use for the month they were staying with us (and it is a gift that keeps on giving because the pillows will be here for him to use next time they come to visit).

Glen was so good at remembering how to play the accordion that he started playing a little jig for the kids to dance to.

Love these two and their sense of fun and adventure and surprises and love.

Glen got really serious about practicing up on the accordion with the goal of learning the Happy Birthday Song so he could play it at Aspen Grove when Caroline would be celebrating her 14th birthday. 

Glen continues to be very studious in practicing the piano every day. Abe captured one of his lessons where we were playing a duet together. 

Lots of piano books out as Newland and Wynne were also practicing every day and Abe has been honing up his piano skills as well. Piano playing brings peace to the soul.

Wynne was so excited to lose one of her teeth while she was staying with us. And not only did she lose this tooth, but she lost the tooth next to it a short time later. She was worried the tooth fairy would not be able to find her, but her fears were unfounded. 

Newland went with us one day to borrow my dad's car while Jacob's family was in town. It was fun for Newland to see his great-grandfather's big elk trophy head, and it was fun for Dad to tell Newland all about the hunt.

There were a few opportunities for Abe and Klarissa to sneak away together for some dinner dates and a temple date. 

GLEN'S UPDATE:

Here's an update on Glen's health after his visit to the urgent care 2 1/2 months ago, and then was admitted to the hospital the next day when he was exhibiting heart attack symptoms. 

Since then, he has had all sorts of heart tests done. He had a stress test (inconclusive) and an angiocardiogram (no blockage and no evidence of artery disease). Nothing was relieving his chest pain and shortness of breath. 

The cardiologist had him on one heart medication along with two diuretics to control swelling. After a month she switched him to another heart medication. None of those medications were helping relieve the chest pain and shortness of breath. 

It is still so frustrating that they couldn't really find anything wrong with his heart, yet he was sent home from the hospital with the diagnosis of heart failure.

He went to his regular doctor for a follow-up visit and Glen was prescribed an antacid. Shockingly, Glen was feeling so much better by the next day. That proved to be a super big blessing for him as he started that medication right before we went to Aspen Grove. I was so worried about how his breathing would be at the higher altitude in the mountains. He did just fine!!

It took a while for Glen's chest to quit hurting because he was joining in with all the children on the rigorous games at Aspen Grove. He did feel like the original pain was subsiding, though.

This past week Glen has been sick with bronchitis and he has been having a whole different kind of chest pain from the intense coughing he has been doing. He got put on an antibiotic on Monday and has been coughing his head off!! Thankfully, he has been coughing much less today. We are hoping he is on the mend.

Glen finally had a sleep apnea test done which we had to wait for weeks to get the results back. He learned he averaged 38 "events" per hour during the night. They told him his is one of the worst cases they have seen. Despite that, he has to wait almost a month to get in to find out his course of treatment. It is crazy how long everything takes to get medical help.

He bought himself an Apple Watch when all these health issues began and it shows lots of things, one of which is his oxygen rate. He is notoriously low during the night--in the low 80s, sometimes getting into the 70s. It is crazy how low that is. Hopefully, he will get everything figured out and will start feeling much better soon.

DALLAS'S UPDATE:

Rebecca's husband Dallas has been suffering with kidney stone pain off and on the past couple of months. He would get so sick and be throwing up and would need some big pain killers to get through his episodes. He was told he had a 3 cm stone that would need to pass on its own. 

Well, the diagnosis was questioned since then as he has passed many small grains and also several larger stones--the biggest of which was 5 cm. CRAZY!! The saddest part of the story is he had been doing pretty well and then went on trek with Caroline and their ward's youth. That is when his latest episode happened. He got so sick.

But, thankfully, he survived and then a few days later he had success expelling the stones. Praying for him that he doesn't have to endure that ever again.