Tally Lake 2012

 From August 12-17, our family went to Tally Lake. For the first two-three days we were there with Granny and Grandpa Paul, Ken, Tracy and Nathan and Michelle's family. Then we stayed a couple of extra days on our own. We love lots of things about Tally lake...the beautiful mountains, the warm-ish water, the cliffs for jumping, the ability to find glassy water for water skiing, and the nice campsites.We had some great times there again this year.

Monday and Friday were perfect weather for boating. Calm, hot, sunny and with very few boats. On Monday all the cousins took their turns and almost everyone got to do something behind the boat. Tuesday was more windy, especially from the afternoon on. We enjoyed time on the beach that day, and did some crawdad hunting at night. On Wednesday the weather was cool. We helped granny and grandpa and Michelle's family pack up camp, played a few games and went into Kalispell for supper (Alyssa's birthday request). On Thursday, it warmed up, but was still cool in the morning. Friday was just our family and it was an awesome day. I got up on the wakeboard for the first time and Rob got up on his new ski. It was hot and calm and we spent lots of time at the far end of the lake with the most beautiful cliff faces. Sadly, we had to leave that afternoon to get home before the Magrath swim meet on Saturday.

Unfortunately, I didn't get my camera out on the first few days of the trip...except to take this first picture, so you will have to forgive me for missing some of the best photo ops.

We left for Tally Sunday at 5:00, after church. I drove Grandpa's truck pulling the boat and Rob drove our truck pulling the trailer. On the gravel road just south of the border, a rock (or something) hit the windshield on the boat and shattered it. That made for a slow and painful trip to the lake. We met up with Ken and Tracy at Browning and they helped us all along the way. In Browning we tried to tape cardboard over the pane. That wouldn't stick so at East Glacier, we cleaned out most of the glass and took the tarp off the boat so that the wind coming through the missing pane wouldn't wreck the tarp. We had to move all the equipment from the boat into the trailer. I drove a little slowish through the pass, not being experienced at towing on windy roads. At Columbia Falls we stopped at a car wash and vacuumed out the remaining glass. At Whitefish we stopped and filled the boat and all the jerry cans with gas. Needless to say the 3 hr trip took 5.5 and we didn't arrive until nearly 10:30 at night. By then Granny was pretty worried about us. Since there is no cell service at Tally, they had no idea where we were.

Alyssa was trying to learn to jump the wake on the wakeboard.

Tubers

Preston was forced onto the kneeboard

Alyssa was getting quite good at cutting on the fat boy ski

Rob on his new ski which the kids dubbed "the bad boy ski" in contrast to the fat boy.

 

Alyssa had her birthday on Thursday the 16th at the lake. She got an iPod touch.

Our new tent

Carrying Mark over to the boat. What a good dad!

Austin, Alyssa and Mark hang out on the tube on the shore waiting for it to warm up on Thursday morning.

Rob building an inukshuk

We filled Alyssa's tent with balloons for her birthday. How many kids can you spot in this picture?

Austin jumping off the front of the boat.

Alyssa cliff jumping.

I was swimming Preston over to the cliffs. Any idea how hard it is to swim when you are being ridden like a knee board?

Even Rob went cliff jumping

What a beautiful dive

three cute boys!

proof I got up on the wake board.

Interesting "tan lines" Rob's man-boobs, "moobs" seemed to protect part of his stomach from the sun.

Austin standing on the knee board....can't hold the rope, but can go around the lake standing on the knee board. What a kid!

Mark chilling in the boat. I never knew that the seat in the boat can lay down. We made use of that discovery and laid Mark out on a flattened seat. He was quite comfy and happy with sunglasses on to protect his eyes which were looking straight into the sky.

Rob on the rope swimg. Alyssa had a close call on that rope swing. She started high up and when the swing dropped all of a sudden her whole body weight was pulling down and he lost her grip. Unfortunately she was not yet over the deep water and landed in about a foot of water, right at the shore. Luckily, she wasn't hurt too bad. I think her life jacket protected her back.

In the swimming area there is a floating platform. The kids played and played on it.

Prete Family Photo Shoot

Sarah and Brian

Emma, John, Eveyln and Hyrum..and baby girl to be. 

Joe and Haylee and L-R, Olivia, Bella, Emma, Caleb, Hannah and Sara.

Liz and Christian Bryner and L-R, Anna, Pierce (I think), baby Ashley, Ally, Paul , James, Garrett.

Mike and Sam

Mike, Jessica, Sam and Jessica's grandma, Margie.

My brothers and sisters, Sarah, John, Joe, Liz, Me and Mike. I love you guys!

The original Prete family. I am so glad we could all be together!

The entire Roy Prete family!

The Prete Reunion

The Prete Reunion was held August 3-5 at the Bennion Creek Campground, the stake campground of the Mapleton, Utah Stake located in the mountains between Spanish Fork and Price. This reunion had lots of activities and events, including a talent show, an auction, races, a bottle rocket competition, Sunday morning testimony meeting, etc. In addition, all the meals were provided by the reunion organizers (Jerry and Kassy Vance). Many people travelled from far and wide to be there. All of the Roy Prete family was there! My brother-in-law, Brian designed t-shirts for the Roy Prete family which we proudly wore at the reunion. On the front of the shirts is a caricature of my parents and on the back a list of everyone in the family with the cities we live in. Good work Brian!

Pretty much all of my Aunt Babe's family was there too, except one son-in-law. They hadn't all been together in years, so that was neat to see too. Ollie and Leo's family was also well represented.

It turns out that my grandparents, Joseph and Violet Prete currently have 242 descendants. Isn't that amazing?

Sack races. 

Some of us played some volleyball. Luckily there were no injuries. The ground was pretty uneven.

Visiting in the shade. Though we all made some efforts to mingle with all the extended family, there was a strong pull uniting the Roy Prete gang. I think we really enjoy being together.

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Alyssa really enjoyed Liz's baby, Ashley.

The line up for food before one meal. Don't worry, the line went fast and the food was great!

The auction. My cousin Evan got to be the auctioneer.

Sam, Anna and Alyssa--the three original Prete grandchildren...looking so grown up now.

Alyssa and Anna. They had a great time at EFY at BYU together.

My brother Mike is so tender with Mark. He and his partner Jessica came to the reunion along with Jessica's grandmother, who happens to be LDS. It was great to see Mike again and to get acquainted with Jess--which was really easy because she has an extremely pleasant and friendly disposition.

The "Week in Between"

In between the Taylor and Prete reunions, we went to Liz's house. Some others came partway through the week and from Wednesday until Friday, we were all together at Liz's (except Alyssa and Anna who were at EFY at BYU). I truly enjoyed the time with my parents, brothers and sisters and their families. Mom and I tried to do some weeding in Liz's garden. Then, one evening we get pretty much everyone out helping. Anyone who filled one grocery bag, or equivalent of weeds got a jumbo Mr. Freeze which we had brought.  I thought it was quite wonderful to carry forward a taste of the gardening tradition of the Prete family.

scheming?

Evelyn buried in tubes

Hannah buried in tubes

On Wednesday, we all went to Seven Peaks waterpark. It was a warm day and everyone had a great time....except maybe Austin. He was too short for a lot of the slides and reportedly when he got turned  down from one slide, he left calling the lifeguard and the park "racist" "discriminating".....so on and so forth. Just ask him how he felt about it and you'll wish you hadn't. Among the other funny rules...They would not let John take his 2 year old on his lap of a double tube with his 4 year old on the back of a non-height restricted slide. Rather, they let John take his 2 year old on a single tube and let 3 four year olds go down a triple tube by themselves!

We took Mark with us on the trip. He was exceptionally good. In this picture he and Rob are sitting on Liz and Christian's new love seat that they picked up on the day we went to 7 peaks.

Preston and Garrett. The other twin is no longer named Pierce. His new name is scar face after his distinguishing feature--a scar across his chin. ...At least I think this is Garrett.

It was so neat to see my brothers having fun together. The three of them on the trampoline. They also went golfing. The brothers golfed as a threesome and the brother--in-laws as another threesome. I'm not sure if they will be allowed back!

The Taylor Reunion

On July 27-29, 2012, we participated in the Gail and Jean Taylor family reunion at the Third Creek campground near Malad, Idaho. Gail and Jean were my mom's parents, so the reunion included my first cousins, aunts and uncles and their families. In addition, my whole family was there except my brother Mike (who arrived in Utah in the week following the reunion.) 

We arrived in the evening on the Friday and left in the morning on Sunday so the main part of the reunion was Saturday. The weather was hot (by my standards), about 38 Celsius or 100+ fahrenheit each of the days. The focus of the reunion was on Grandma Jean Taylor. We got a cookbook with her recipes and ate food that she used to make. We also learned a little about her. 

On Saturday afternoon a bunch of kids and a few adults of the Prete gang were all sitting lethargically trying to find shade under Liz and Christian's canopy. I proposed a water fight. The campround had running...or should I say dripping...water. After some effort I filled up some dish tubs with water and gave the kids each a dixie cup and that started an afternoon of water fighting, which made most people more comfortable. There are a few exceptions, however....Liz was good natured, but didn't seem to like getting water dumped down her back. Likewise, when I threw water at Austin, he responded by swinging his wooden sword at me. He might have hit me too, if Rob hadn't intervened. Rob offered to pay Alyssa and Anna and anyone else $20 to throw water at Emma, but no one would do it. 

Notice in these pictures that we are all wearing matching t-shirts. My cousin Matt paid for them with his business. On the back is a sideways T--the lazy T which was Grandpa Taylor's brand. 

My sister Liz with her baby Ashley. I tried to hold Ashley, but at first, everything I tried made her cry. I later learned that she likes being held facing out with my one arm holding on to her. How could I be so stupid. Every seventh child probably is used to being held in one arm while mom tends to the other 6!

Austin with his cousins, James and Paul Bryner and Sam Walsh-Prete. Those four were practically unseparable for  over a week together.

My brother John is playing "disc golf" (i.e. frisbee golf) with Derek Tucker. Derek boasts having played all the disc golf courses in Utah!

My Aunt Joyce's husband Randy worked with all the kids to make homemade ice cream.

My Aunt Janet is talking to my sister-in-law, Emma. Emma is holding the  Grandma Taylor cookbook which is hiding her baby bump. She is due in October.

Caleb is only Joe and Haylee's 6th child, but notice how she holds him....Do you think I am on to something? He is a sweet baby with a very mild disposition. 

This is Hyrum, John and Emma's son. He is my personal favorite right now. Though he is just  two, he knows all the alphabet letters and their sounds. For the longest time, I played a game with him where I pointed to  letters in a word search puzzle and he told me what letter it was and what sound it makes. In the testimony meeting at the Prete reunion, Hyrum was scribbling on a piece of paper to keep quiet. I wrote his name on his paper. That was a bad choice, because when he saw it he yelled. "Look! There's an H. For Me.  Heu Heu Heu.   Look there's a Y . For me. yeu yeu yeu  ..." I didn't hear the rest of the letters because John had to carry him off at that moment.