We just got back from The Marler Family Reunion and we had such a great time. It was the first time that the whole family had been together in 3 years, so we had a blast! And these are the 9 grandchildren, getting them to cooperate for a picture is nearly impossible, so this is the best that we could come up with.

Thursday was beach day. Bryce loved to eat the sand, and Brynnly had the time of her life rolling around in it and covered every inch of her body with sand. I am glad that my children aren't afraid of the sand. Brynnly also loved jumping over the ocean waves as they crashed at her feet. Her and the cousins had such a fun time. I realized that my relaxing days at the beach, of sitting back drinking a diet coke and catching some rays is not in the plans anymore. But I guess its worth the sacrafice for my kids to have a good time.

Friday was Lake Day, Brian and the boys headed out early in the morning and the girls and the kiddos met up with them a few hours later. We had a packed boat consisting of 10 adults and 9 children under the age of 8. And still there seemed to be room for more.

We always try to spice up the lake trips by trying to conquer some kind of circus act. Todays was a 4 man pyramid on knee boards. Brian, Stefany and Kim were the bases and I unfortunately topped of the stunt. Brian and I have succesfully done this stunt before, where he was the base on a knee board and I stood on his shoulders. But this time adding more people actually made it more difficult. But our first attempt was a success! Then I guess we got a little confident because we weren't able to do it after that, but we had lots of laughs trying.

Brynnly knee boarded last summer with daddy, but this time she understood a little better about what she was doing and had a fun time. Good thing she has such a tough daddy!

After a long and fun day at the lake the kids had had enough, while I was out doing my tricks this is how my kids were enjoying themselves...

And then it was on to Marler Family Pictures at the beach.

We had a couple hours to hurry and get ready and then we were off.
This is how Brynnly was practicing smiling for the pictures, I knew right then that this was going to be fun...

The sisters & I

And here is our engagement photo... our hands were so awkward.

I can't wait to see how all the pictures turned out. Unfortunately my camera died and so I didn't get many pictures on my own camera. And white and jeans will be retired from anymore family pictures we take. I think I have done my fair share with these colors and will have to find a new favorite for next year.

Saturday morning we started off the day with the famous cream cheese and strawberry french toast and then divided up into our teams and got ready for the AMAZING RACE Marler Style. We had three teams, red, blue and green and the day was filled with fun activities, first starting off with clues and then from there we would find out what our next tasks was. We started off putting our feet in freezing cold ice water having to pick up marbles with only our toes, and then that was followed by the mile long torch run.

Brynnly wasn't too sure what was going on, as we ran down the street hopping in and out of the cars, but she liked all the commotion!
Next, was the bowling, badmitton and skip hop tournament.

To end the race we ended up back at the pool to play a few more games. We had so much fun and can't wait until next year.

Brian & I are really competitive and especially when we are on opposite teams, but even though my team won, we were still able to kiss and make up!

The Three Amigos: AJ, Axel & Bryce

And this poor cat, Brynnly would smother this cat and so it would try to hide from her, but she was pretty good at finding it. It was pretty funny to watch what she would do to it and of course I would let her because their is not a bone in my body that likes cats!

A Marler party would not be complete without a homeade Pazooki that Stef & I make everytime we get together.

Until Next Year...BRING IT ON!!