Despain Family Reunion

Lauren Stahle Add Comment Edit

FAMILY REUNION

Thursday

My family (alie, mom, nate and I), caravanned with my grandpa, and one other family. They wanted to stop at Horseshoe bend on the way, so we met pretty early. Larry came in clutch and brought doughnuts for us all. He even made 2 different stops to appease everyone.

Pretty packed.

Thanks Al.

Our puppy.

Horseshoe bend was kinda a nightmare. It was 105 degrees by the time we got there. You have to do a mini "hike" to get to the look out. It's really not a hard hike, other than the little sand hill. 2 of my relatives ended up getting heat stroke, so that was crazy. I ran back to the car, and got an umbrella and some water. They were eventually able to make it back down. The other negative was that we were all sweaty and gross for the last 2 hours of our drive.

It was quite the trouble trying to find the cabin. Luckily Derrick and I shared our locations earlier that day, so we were able to find the right address. Sending Morgan (who was driving down with Conrad) the right address was a little stressful. Once we got to the cabin, we had no service. We had wifi but we didn't know if she was also out of range. She was smart and parked at a church, used the wifi and texted us. We then were able to find her and bring her back. Al and I jumped in her car so fast to see our favorite baby boy.

The rest of the evening was just getting settled, celebrating Spencer's birthday and chatting.

Oh and on the drive up, we decided the Stahle family would do a dance in the talent show feat all the popular dances. So that evening I spent time mashing all the songs together.

Conrad loved the horses.

He looks too cute not to share.

Natalie and I are sorority girls.

Friday

We spent the morning at Bryce Canyon. You could either just enjoy the lookout, or do the 1.4 mile hike. A majority of the group did the hike. There were a lot of cool views that made it totally work it. Derrick was my main hiking buddy, which of course made it fun.

Isn't that the coolest??

Switchbacks at the end.

Once we got back to the cabin we played Psychiatrist/Smurf for a few hours. Eventually everyone joined which was even more fun.

That evening we had a devotional from my grandpa and then did a lip sync battle. We typically just play a lot of games, so it was fun to switch it up. Especially seeing the quieter uncles paired with crazy girls and following their lead.

45 minutes away, towns were evacuated for a forest fire that started in a town called Brian Head. Friday night, it was so close that some of the smoke was in our back yard. Also Payson noticed ash falling from the sky. We hoped that if our town was evacuated, we'd hear about it, or see it on our phones.

Saturday

We knew we wanted to go to Zion National Park and hike angels landing but it is one of the top 3 most visited parks in the nation. Plus it was only going to get hotter as the day went. We wanted to beat the crowd and heat so we LEFT at 430. It was freakin early. Especially since it was actually 3:30 AZ time. The drive over, I definitely got car sick, but once we got out of the car and felt the breeze, I felt a million times better.

Our shuttle over was PACKED.

Oh I should probably mention that before the hike even started, my knee wasn't feeling too hot. I couldn't not go on the hike though so I didn't say anything and just kept stretching it. I knew going up I'd be fine, but coming down would be rough. By that point I would be so close to finished.

We had quite the range of "skill"? I don't know that skill is the right word. Some people also had massive backpacks, so we all took turns taking the load. We also tried to help my 77 year old grandpa. He of course still rocked it, just had to go slower.

Lolz, perfect timing Derrick.

Sunrise

After hiking all the switch backs with a solid incline, you hit Angels Landing. There are pictures all over the internet that make it look super sketch. I mean there is a chain for crying out loud. So yeah it is slightly dangerous. And there is a major drop off to death if you fall (6 deaths in the last 11 years). But it was actually a super fun challenge. Derrick and I were buddies up the mountain and hardly talked because we were so focused. This part of the hike was my favorite thing we did all week.

This is the end of Angels Landing. There are 3 other "humps" you have to go on.

Phone didn't stay outside of my backpack long, so I don't have pictures of any of the super cool parts.

The top didn't have as great of a view because of the smoke from the forest fires.

Also there were chipmunks that would climb all over you if you had food out.

I was not about that life.

That shows how skinny it is.

FINISHED.

Coming down was the scariest part. It would be so easy to slip and slide on off the mountain. I ended up sitting and using my hands on some parts. Otherwise I probably would have been a goner. As we were coming down, it was getting pretty crowded. I was really happy we left so early and beat the crowd. Also my knee did not do too hot coming down, so I tried to mostly just run.

Also proud of us for doing the whole hike in under 4 hours, including a break for 20 minutes on top of the mountain.

When we got into town, we went to a German Bakery for a treat.

My opa and oma served in Germany so anything German related is a Despain must.

Everyone met up with you, so you better believe we ran straight for Conrad.

Conrad ended up being the only one who actually liked it.

Signing "more"

We did a not so fun thing. All the granddaughters went through my grandma's jewelry. It was not exactly what we wanted to do. Al, Morgan and I were definitely a wreck. I'm hoping that maybe it can be a positive thing now as we wear the things we claimed. Just another reminder of her legacy.

That evening we had our traditional talent show.

We "brought it" with our dance. Conrad definitely stole the show though ;)

Sunday

We had church together. My grandpa taught us about the Godhead and shared things I had never thought about before. It was a great discussion. After we had "sunday school". We each went around the circle and shared a scripture, quote, picture or something related to my grandma. We talked about how we would carry on that christ like attribute. There were definitely a lot of tears, but I think it was a very positive discussion.

My family was in charge of lunch, so it was kind of nice getting to work after. Otherwise we probably would have sat and cried.

Jaden, the kid next to me was hilarious. He has some special needs. But anyway, he refused to help his family when it was their turn to prepare a meal, but graciously volunteered to help us. His family was like, what the heck?? He said, "I'm helping out the laaaaaadies". It was too funny and cute.

In the mean time, Conrad went to my Uncle Stephen which was a MIRACLE because he was terrified of every male.

The remainder of the day, we played Code Names. We are all obsessed with it now, and ordered our own copies. I'm not exaggerating when I say we played the remainder of the day.