The Cowboy State

Chris' family reunion was hosted by his brother James and his wife Katrina. They live in Sheridan, WY and have a pretty sweet piece of property there that was plenty big enough for Chris' whole family (about 50 people). We camped in their backyard and were there for there for 5 days during Sheridan Rodeo Days. Our days were filled with activities for the kids and adults and we spent evenings under the stars, at the rodeo, swimming, eating dutch oven dinners and campfire programs. It was a great time and once again I'm dreading the year we 'get' to host the reunion (2012). It's a LOT of work and we appreciated all you guys did James and Katrina!

One way to keep Jackson happy during a 3+ hour rodeo: let him suck on a can of Sprite!

Chris playing horseshoes with the guys. Chris and his brothers were constantly competing with each other on this trip. They made up obstacle courses at parks, played golf, pool, fishing, arm wrestling, horseshoes, I can't even remember what else!

Uncle James helped the kids make their own rockets and launch them in the backyard. They loved it! The kids played on the trampoline, slip-n-slide, water balloons, and caught turtles and snakes in the creek. Never a dull moment when you have 30 cousins to play with!

Jackson and the little kids loved this little slide.

This is Chris' Dad leading the girls in some campfire music! We had a very enjoyable evening around the campfire our last night. Each of Chris' brothers and sisters shared memories of their childhood and stories that I always enjoy hearing (mostly of all the trouble Chris and Brent got into all the time)! They all have different versions of the same story and we have to decide who's story is true! Chris' Mom shared stories about her Rodeo days and his Dad shared stories of lessons he learned from his dad, Grandpa Lester. We really enjoyed all his stories and look forward to reading the book "Lester" that Chris' Aunt Neva wrote.

I had to snap this picture of Nathan in the middle of the Center boys (some real cowboy cousins). He just loves these boys.

Aunt Heather showing Nathan how to tie-down a calf. Too bad her knot couldn't hold him down during the whole rodeo!

Chris' parents with all 10 of their children. Love this family!

The Black Hills of South Dakota

When we found out the Mathews' reunion was in Wyoming this year, my SIL encouraged us to go to Rapid City, SD for a little sightseeing. I wasn't expecting it to be so beautiful and mountainous. I thought SD was nothing but plains and buffalos. The above picture was our home for 4 days- isn't she pretty? We traveled there with Chris' brothers Brent, Scott and his sister Maria. There were 12 of us in the cabin and we fit comfortably in it's 4 rooms. We cooked most of our meals together and enjoyed the pool table, hot tub, and beautiful veiws from the deck.

We drove around quite a bit before we found this buffalo, standing right by the road. I thought it was a statue or something, cause you couldn't see it move for the longest time.

We drove through Bear Country wildlife park and saw everything from bears and wolves to elk and mountain lions. We even witnessed a dumb wolf trying to steal food from a bear- he got smacked pretty good by the bear! They walked right in front of our car. A reindeer almost knocked on our window with its antlers too.

Mt. Rushmore was a highlight for everyone I think. It's amazing how they carved those faces with such amazing detail on the side of the mountain. We did a little hike around the monument so you could see it closer and from all different angles.

Nathan was getting a closer look at Theodore Rosevelt's glasses

Chris' older brother Paul and his family of 9 met up with us there too. This was our whole group at Mt. Rushmore (half of Chris' family). I was pretty proud of myself to get this picture!

Brent and Lindsay have 4 kids and Nathan enjoyed playing outside the cabin with them. They collected scavenger hunt items, had stick fights and played games. We had a couple BBQ's out on the deck and enjoyed the cool mountain air!

So much fun playing with cousins!

These boys are all within two years of each other. We met up with Paul and his family again at Reptile Gardens- picture Sea World, but with reptiles. There were bird, snake and alligator shows and lots of reptiles to look at. These boys touched a baby alligator and snakes along with giant tortoises.

We went down into one of the country's longest caves, Jewel Cave. Jackson was happy for awhile and then he was not so much fun down there anymore. It was pretty cool to see the different formations inside the cave.

You can't go to the Black Hills and not check out the dinosaur museum. There were lots of fossils and bones found in the Black Hills. Meet Stan: one of the largest and most complete skeleton of a T-Rex found in South Dakota. Nathan, as you could imagine, thought this was pretty cool. They also had many other dinosaur bones and a skull of a mammoth.

Jackson being a cute little gold miner at Tunderhead Falls

We did a dinky little hike into an old gold mine to see an underground waterfall. It was a little less than spectacular, but I got a good group shot anyway.

This little train was the highlight of the gold mine. We could have let the kids play here all day!

Well, I'll end for now, but I still have pictures from the second half of our trip. The actual Mathews' Reunion and all we did in the Cowboy State!