This weekend we had a lot of family togetherness time with Scott's family! We were headed to Bluffdale for the Neilson Family Reunion. Our close friends Nick & Julie were up from Arizona with their kids so it seemed the perfect time to celebrate Ryan's 8th birthday! This year he wanted an Army party. I modified it a little and we headed to the Aerospace Museum at Hill Field.
To go with the "theme" all of the kids wore their camo! I personally think they are the cutest "soldiers" ever! Grandpa Neilson made each of the kids their own dog tags.
The whole gang!
Scott's dad was in the Air Force. It was fun going and having him show the kids what planes he flew. This being one of them. Gage was in total amazement how big the planes were!
Wally checking out the "small" plane he flew!
Jaydee & McKady were amazed that the tires were bigger than them!
All of the party goers testing their luck on a missile!We had a great time at the museum. We went to the park, had a picnic and played "games" with water guns! Ryan got some fun things for his birthday and had a great time! Thanks for everyone for coming!! Also, thanks Grandma and Grandpa for taking time out of your crazy weekend and giving us the tour!
Friday, July 10th was the annual Jay Wallace Neilson Family Reunion. Jay was above and beyond the call of duty for this reunion. This is the sight that everyone was greeted with when the reunion began - our own Neilson Family Scottish Castle!
We all had our own family tartans!
We were the "St. Andrew" Clan. Since the "Neilson" Clan was Mom and Dad we had to come up with our own family clan name. Scott's middle name is Andrew and one of his grandfather's from Scotland was Andrew. We thought the name was appropriate. Of course everyone knows who the saint is in our family!!!
After the March of the Tartans we had a surprise visitor!
She plays for one of the Bagpipe bands that were competing at the Payson Scottish Festival. She was great to answer any questions and played incredibly! It was so neat to have her come. Gage was fascinated and now wants to play the bagpipes. It definitely got us into the "Scottish" mood and made the kids excited for the festival!
Friday, July 10th was the annual Jay Wallace Neilson Family Reunion. Jay was above and beyond the call of duty for this reunion. This is the sight that everyone was greeted with when the reunion began - our own Neilson Family Scottish Castle!
We all had our own family tartans!
We were the "St. Andrew" Clan. Since the "Neilson" Clan was Mom and Dad we had to come up with our own family clan name. Scott's middle name is Andrew and one of his grandfather's from Scotland was Andrew. We thought the name was appropriate. Of course everyone knows who the saint is in our family!!!
After the March of the Tartans we had a surprise visitor!
She plays for one of the Bagpipe bands that were competing at the Payson Scottish Festival. She was great to answer any questions and played incredibly! It was so neat to have her come. Gage was fascinated and now wants to play the bagpipes. It definitely got us into the "Scottish" mood and made the kids excited for the festival!
Jay made a great book on our Scottish heritage. It also had a lot of great information about Scotland!
After the program, there were Scottish games for the kids. The Caber Toss was the first game of the night. The participant picks up the caber. The object is to flip it all the way over and have it land straight in front of you, like 12:00 on a clock. Any "minutes" off of the 12:00 hour is points deducted! Gage tried out the Caber Toss. It was just a little too long!
Jaydee was able to throw up the Caber and toss it just right!
Doing the Caber Toss the night before gave the kids an appreciation for the real thing at the festival the next day. Thank goodness theirs didn't weigh as much as this one!
Next was the Sheaf Toss. The kids had a pillow in a case that they were suppose to fling back over the bar. Here Jay is "helping" Gage get it over the bar!
Jaydee was born to play Scottish games! She had the perfect arm to fling the pillow over the bar!
Ryan was too quick tossing his. Here he is getting ready for his second fling of the pillow case!
For the "real" Sheaf Toss the participant takes a pitch fork and "pitches" the sheaf over the bar. It typically is 20 to 30 lbs and full of straw.
As we were checking things out we noticed a "giant". They were asking for volunteers to "fight" the giant!
Ryan suited up for battle! 
Jaydee joined him!
They headed out to the battle field. They were able to get the giant down on his knees!
VICTORY!
Our visitor's band!
Competing in the "Battle of the Bands"!
After the festival we had a great time swimming at Camp Williams and then came back to our castle after a very successful day!
Thanks Uncle Jay for all of your hard work! We had a great time. Thanks Mom & Dad for letting us invade your backyard again. Camping in your yard is the Best!!!
After the program, there were Scottish games for the kids. The Caber Toss was the first game of the night. The participant picks up the caber. The object is to flip it all the way over and have it land straight in front of you, like 12:00 on a clock. Any "minutes" off of the 12:00 hour is points deducted! Gage tried out the Caber Toss. It was just a little too long!
Jaydee was able to throw up the Caber and toss it just right!
Doing the Caber Toss the night before gave the kids an appreciation for the real thing at the festival the next day. Thank goodness theirs didn't weigh as much as this one!
Next was the Sheaf Toss. The kids had a pillow in a case that they were suppose to fling back over the bar. Here Jay is "helping" Gage get it over the bar!
Jaydee was born to play Scottish games! She had the perfect arm to fling the pillow over the bar!
Ryan was too quick tossing his. Here he is getting ready for his second fling of the pillow case!
For the "real" Sheaf Toss the participant takes a pitch fork and "pitches" the sheaf over the bar. It typically is 20 to 30 lbs and full of straw.
As we were checking things out we noticed a "giant". They were asking for volunteers to "fight" the giant!
Ryan suited up for battle! 
Jaydee joined him!
They headed out to the battle field. They were able to get the giant down on his knees!
VICTORY!
Our visitor's band!
Competing in the "Battle of the Bands"!
After the festival we had a great time swimming at Camp Williams and then came back to our castle after a very successful day!
Thanks Uncle Jay for all of your hard work! We had a great time. Thanks Mom & Dad for letting us invade your backyard again. Camping in your yard is the Best!!!
2 comments:
Holy Cow! What a cool experience! It looks like you had tons of fun! Must not have been too hot to be able to wear the armor for fighting the giant. I have always LOVED bagpipes. They are amazing!
Tiffany,
It's Kristi from Meridian - and this is a pretty funny story but I found your blog by accident. My kids go to a charter school here in West Jordan and I check the blog of one of the ladies who works there. She happened to have on her blog list the Peacocks whose name I recognized from the school so I go over there and check it out and as I am reading back I start putting two and two together and find out that she is the sister of Scott - then I look on her blog list and find you. Small world.
It sounds like you and your family are all doing awesome in Wyoming. We are still here in the same place - still work at Meridian from home. We have a blog you will have to check out - it is actually our son's blog that we started when we found out he had some very severe medical issues immediately after birth. There are sometimes pictures of our family - but it is mostly about our little man Carter. He was born with down syndrome and has had several surgeries including open heart surgery to correct a heart defect. He is certainly special and we can't imagine him any other way - but it has been a tough, trying and joyful experience all in one. Anyway, just thought I would leave you a comment and let you know I had found you.
You have a cute family and it looks like you do lots of fun things! It was fun to read about what you have been up to lately.
Kristi
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