Knowles Family Reunion 2009!!!

This past weekend (July 9th - 12th) the Knowles side of the family had our annual AWESOME family reunion! We all headed up to Idaho Falls, ID to Steve's parents' house to spend a long weekend there. It was so fun to see everyone, it's hard sometimes to be far away from family, and we missed everyone so much. It's true that you don't realize what you have until it's not there anymore. Steve and I enjoyed watching Jake be able to interact with his cousins and vice versa. They all had a great time with each other, with minimal fighting, which is always a plus! :) With a house full of 27 people it can get pretty crazy, but we like it that way, most of the time, haha. We also got to meet little Savannah for the first time, and she is a DOLL!! She's 3 weeks older than Jake, so we got to enjoy TWO new additions to the family. The weekend was complete with a day at the lake where we did boating, tubing, swimming, eating and chatting; we had a fun afternoon at Tautphaus Park with tennis, Fun-Park rides, horseshoes, softball, more eating :) and relaxing; we played games, had a BBQ, watched movies, made s'mores, did some more eating, and most of all, we laughed a LOT!! We had a great time with each other, and made some awesome memories. We are already looking forward to the reunion next year!!!

Sadly, one of Steve's sisters, Natalie, and her family were not able to make it.. :( We missed them SO SO SO much, and it was definitely not the same without them. So, I've included LOTS of pictures for them, and to (hopefully) help them feel like they were actually there! :) We love you Natalie, Josh, Adam, Faith and Leah!!!!!!

Jake enjoying the view out the airplane window on our way to Idaho!!

Yummy breakfast: Swedish pancakes! A Knowles Favorite

Adorable little Savannah :)

Handsome little Jake!

Cousin time

At the lake

Sweet Kate, she's really grown up!

Grandpa Knowles with Jake and Savannah

He was hesitant at first...

...But then he loved it!

Fun in the water!!

The proud parents of Savannah: Jon and Leila :)

Mother -and -Daughter -bonding

Whoa, this picture is a little bright! We did a lot of relaxing....

....As you can see!

Haha, it looks like he's screaming, but he's really just squinting from the sun!

Heather on the tube

Captain Steve!

More cousin time... aww

Ha, we gave Jake and Savannah a bath together....

.... and they ended up sharing toys! hehe

Another yummy breakfast! Pancakes+ bacon+ eggs= SCRUMPTIOUS

At the park

More relaxing... and much needed relaxing!

S'mores!!!

Jake's first taste of graham cracker! He REALLY liked it.

Sammy, he's so cute :)

Goofy kids!

Grandma Knowles with Sam and Jake

Loungin around

Heather and Jake :)

Haha, this was the best picture I could get of Brooklyn, she was really tired!

The all-time favorite: Wacky Six!!!!

Jake cleaning off Grandma's chair

Getting in some last-minute cousin time...

We had to get the s'mores-making action on video! It was a hit.