Nielson Family Reunion in Sunriver

The first Nielson Family Reunion in many, many years! It was so fun, even though there were some cousins and family members that were unable to make it to all or part of the week long reunion. The reunion was with my dad's family (his parents, siblings, and their kids) in Sunriver, Oregon. A beautiful location where we had had reunions before (funnily enough, with both my dad's and mom's families). The picture above and below are missing a few people that were at the reunion (mainly a few of the adults), but it was most of us!

The reunion was the first week of August, and the weather in Sunriver was HOT. The high each day was around 100 degrees. The whole family, numbering around 20 people with everyone there, was split between two houses that were about half a mile from each other. Unfortunately, neither of these houses had AC, so we got a little warm during the day, haha. But fortunately, the weather in Sunriver cooled down drastically at night to down in the 40s, so we were able to cool the houses down pretty well from the hot days.

In general, the mornings and evenings were spent all together in the bigger of the two houses, playing games, chatting, and eating. Many nights, the older cousins around our age stayed up well past midnight playing games (the main game of the week was Werewolf). Then, each day, the whole family typically did one bigger activity, and if not, we would head to the local pool. On this blog post, I'll write a little bit about each activity and post some pictures if I have them :)

Lava River Cave Hike

This little hike is in the nearby city of Bend. The majority of this hike is in a pitch black and chilly lava cave, which was a nice relief from the outside weather. At some points, the cave got so small that we were crouching to get through. Overall, the hike was about two miles roundtrip with little elevation gain.

Paulina Falls

Very pretty 60 foot falls! You have the option of taking a short stroll from the parking lot to an overlook, or taking a tiny but little bit steep hike right down to the base of the falls. This hike is only about half a mile roundtrip, which was still manageable for most of the family. Again, it was refreshing to be near the water on such a hot day.

Paulina Peak

Right after visiting Paulina Falls, we drove up to the top of Paulina Peak that is in the Newberry Caldera area. From there, we had an incredible view of the surrounding areas. From there, we could see a big obsidian flow and two lakes, Paulina Lake and East Lake.

Big Obsidian Flow

On the way back down the mountain from Paulina Peak, we stopped at the Big Obsidian Flow. From my experience with obsidian, I pictured the whole thing/area would look like a giant pile of shiny, black rock. Apparently, that's not the case, haha. But it was still neat! It was still a giant pile of rock, but instead with bits and pieces were shiny, black rock I imagined.

Paulina Lake

The final stop on this day trip around the Newberry Caldera area was at Paulina Lake. We stopped there to take a dip and eat a late lunch before heading back to Sunriver. The water was very chilly and refreshing, but the beach wasn't the best so we didn't stay long. Which unfortunately means, no pictures!

Mountain Biking

I think Dustan went mountain biking every single morning we were in Sunriver, usually driving up to Bend to go. I joined him on an easier ride that I actually really enjoyed! It was a lot more gentle (less steep uphill and downhill) compared to Utah riding. My dad, my aunt and uncle Leslie and Pete, and my cousin Sam joined us. It was fun! We went early in the morning so we wouldn't miss much during the day.

SHARC

The SHARC is a large aquatic center in the neighborhood. It was nice to go to when we had some downtime, since the houses we were staying at came with SHARC annual passes for us to use. Again, no pictures...

Reggae Music Festival

One evening, we went to a Reggae Music Night in Bend. There were lots of high people dancing to the music, which was super funny and entertaining to watch. There were also food trucks there, Dustan and I shared some scrumptious dumplings and a shaved ice. Aaaaaaand once more, no pictures! I need to be better about taking pictures with my phone even when we don't have our nice camera on us. At least my mom takes some good pictures and helped me out with this blog post!

Shopping at the Sunriver Village

Yay for shopping! This was Dustan's favorite activity ;) We stopped in some fun stores, got some neat/adorable pants for Eloise (pictured below), and bought yummy ice cream. There was also an arts fair going on in the Village. Dustan and I especially liked looking at the photography booths.

Our week long reunion came to an end too quick! It was so much fun, and I hope we have reunions more often than every like eight plus years like this time. I have such a fun family! And I can't wait to see most of them again at Christmastime when we visit Washington again. Family reunions are the BEST!!

Lots of new blog posts below!!

Jaker's Pumpkin Patch

If you don't want see just a ton of cute pictures of Eloise, stop looking now, haha.

To get in the fall spirit, we decided to go to our first pumpkin patch!! Somehow, neither Dustan or I had ever been to a pumpkin patch, and of course neither had Eloise. So we headed down to Jaker's Jack-O-Lanterns down in Springville, Utah. And it was so fun!! It had a cheap entrance fee, and once inside all the activities (corn pit, petting zoo, corn maze, hay ride, etc.) were all free. We thought it was darling, and Eloise loved playing there.

Our first stop once we got inside was to take some pictures of Eloise amongst the pumpkins while we waited for Dustan's brother Garrett and his wife Lindsay to arrive. And oh my gosh, they turned out SO CUTE. Pretty sure we have a little baby model, no big deal. It helps that Eloise loved playing with the pumpkins. Apparently they are very exciting, haha.

Our next stop was at the corn pit, another stop that Eloise loved. We were surprised at how deep the pit was, Dustan and I sunk down far. Of course, we had to stop Lou from eating all the corn kernels, but nothing new there.

Next, we headed over to the petting zoo. Another fun stop! I loved feeding goats hay, and Eloise even snuck in some petting. I was a little bummed the llama never came near enough to pet, but that's okay haha.

As we were walking over the pumpkin tower, We decided that hay bales also make for some good backdrops. And please pay attention to Lou's smile with Garrett and Lindsay *heart eyes*.

Last, we went to the pumpkin tower and overlook, which made for some cute family pictures :) I just couldn't resist taking tons of pictures of our girl in front of the pumpkins!

We had been planning on also doing the corn maze, but sadly it got dark quicker than we expected, so the activities began to close for the night. We ended the evening by buying some darling pumpkins and driving over to Orange Peel for some delicious boba drinks. It was such a fun evening, and I want to make pumpkin patches (especially if they are as good as Jaker's) part of our family fall tradition!

Eloise at Eleven Months

CLOTHES SIZE: 3-6 months, 6-9 months
DIAPER SIZE: Three

LIKES:
 - Dishwasher and oven
 - Seeing herself in mirrors and phones
 - Toilet and shower
 - Stuffed animals
 - Reading books! (FINALLY)
 - Drinking from a straw
 - Any and all water activities
 - Crawling up stairs
 - Mall play areas
 - Knocking down block/cup towers
 - Rolling around balls and chasing them
 - Playing peek-a-boo
 - Fruit (especially raspberries and frozen blueberries), yogurt, and buttered toast
 - Watching adults crawl
 - Strumming the guitar
 - Pulling everything off shelves/out of drawers
 - Balloons
 - Crawling over and under objects and people, rather than around them

DISLIKES:
 - Getting woken up from a nap
 - Getting her clothes changed
 - Most veggies
 - Loud, crowded, and generally overstimulating situations
 - Getting her face wiped after eating
 - Being left alone in a room (unless there is something in that room she isn't supposed to get in to...)
 - Teething

FIRSTS/MILESTONES:
 - Usually repeating "wow" and "uh oh" when asked (44 weeks)
 - Pincer grasp (44 weeks)
 - Walking along furniture (44 weeks)
 - Signing "drink" when thirsty (44 weeks)
 - Drinking from a straw (45 weeks)
 - Waving (46 weeks)
 - Pumpkin Patch (47 weeks)
 - First STEPS!!--four in a row! (47 weeks)

RANDOM NOTES:
 - Now has five teeth total, and is working on a sixth!
 - Singing typically calms Lou down (she loves Wheels on the Bus, and How Far I'll Go from Moana)
 - Wants to be participating in whatever you are doing
 - Drinks about 18 ounces of formula and eats three meals on a normal day
 - Takes two naps each day (the first is usually about an hour, the second an hour and a half)
 - We are SOOO excited for two hour church arriving in January, because church is currently the hardest part of our week haha--can nursery actually be for one year olds please?
 - Giggles and smiles more easily than ever.
 - Max number of steps so far is seven steps in a row.
 - Very social little babe, smiles and plays peek-a-boo with strangers and is very willing to go to other people.
 - Doesn't play very well on her own right now, Lou wants you on the floor right next to her as she is playing (AKA it is very hard to get anything else done when she is awake).

It has really become more apparent recently how adventurous and daring Eloise is. She is willing to try everything and go everywhere. We're a little shocked she hasn't seriously injured herself yet with the things she has gotten into, haha. She climbs in cabinets and over shelves, she tips over chairs and walks along the couch. If there is anything in her path, she prefers to try to go over it rather than around it. Eloise JUST took her first steps this week! Her maximum so far is seven steps, but she seems to be getting more balanced every day. I can't wait until she is walking, so the knees of all her pants stop turning brown and I can take her outside when it is wet haha.

The ultimate tower!! And cute background :)

Eloise's schedule is still almost the exact same as it was last month (found here), except we switched around her morning bottle and breakfast. Lou likes eating at the same time as us, so we eat breakfast altogether soon after she wakes up, then she has her first bottle before her morning nap. All her bottles are before she sleeps now, which I like.

Eloise has gotten sooo much better at eating the last couple months, it is wonderful! Yay for figuring out the pincer grasp finally! She still loves purees (how do I wean her off these?!) and wants them after eating quite a bit of other food at each meal, which I'm fine with for now. She still isn't a big fan of most vegetables and meats, but she will sometimes try them and like them. Compared to many babies, I still wouldn't say Eloise is a great eater. She is a bit picky. But she is so much better than she used to be! Here is what Lou eats most often throughout the day with lots of fruit, her favorite:

Breakfast - Fruit, buttered toast (sometimes with a nut butter and/or jam), and some of whatever we are eating (often eggs, breakfast casserole, pancakes, oatmeal, etc.)
Lunch - Fruit, crackers/bread, plain yogurt mixed with vegetable puree (the only way I can get her to eat veggies is mixed with yogurt, so disgusting), and sometimes dinner leftovers
Dinner - Fruit, cheese, puree with baby cereal mixed in, and some of whatever we are eating (pasta, meat, bread, sweet potato, veggies, etc.)

It's funny when we get together with friends who have babies that are ages similar to Eloise. Compared to those babies, Eloise is so energetic, wild, and loud haha. It can be a little exhausting sometimes, but we love having such a fun and active (and all consuming and busy) little babe WHO IS ALMOST ONE!!

Coming soon, the pumpkin patch post with more pictures of Eloise with pumpkins like the one above *heart eyes forever*