There we were, in Bedford, Wyoming for the uniquely named "Camp Chadwick". In case it hasn't been clear in the past, Devri's family is distinctly different than my family. While there are a few holdouts, the Saville family tends to try to fill every minute of each day with activities and something for the kids to do. The Chadwicks, however, tend to take it easy and love to have days spent in the cool shade while kids play in nature. Typically there isn't any internet, so devices are not seen as much, and activities are planned at the rate of a few a day for the kids, and not really anything for the adults.
Bedford was beautiful. We had 4 cabins (one was a duplex so there were 5 bedrooms) for the family, and we had everyone there except for Heather, who had just graduated, and Thomas, who joined us on the last day/night. That's 13 adults, 13 grandkids, and 2 grandparents (during one day).
They had these swings that the little kids loved. And apparently Michael, Matthew, and Sarah, who knew?(Devri: Actually, when we first arrived, Gabe said they were BORING, but then the cousins showed up and he forgot they were boring. I guess everything is a little boring if nobody is around enjoy it with).
The best part was this large pavilion that was close to everything, but still far enough away from the cabins that it didn't bother anyone at night if people stayed up talking. It provided a ton of shade, a ton of protection from the rain (which did hit hard at least one day), and a lot of table space to play games or just talk.
Best purchase ever: a Crossnet set (the off-brand version). It's like four square mixed with volleyball.
I think there was a constant line of kids and adults playing the game. Some people even got pretty serious about it (clearly Elijah was the one I'm talking about).
Emily, Pete, and me in a power pose. Only real men cross their legs like that.
I can't hear you, Chelsea! -Emily.
I can't see you! -Pete
I really don't know, and I'm in it.
Games went late sometimes. I'm telling you, this was the best thing there, it kept most of the kids and half of the adults entertained the whole time.
At night we would crowd around Chelsea's feet in a circle while she regaled us with stories of nursing feats such as changing adult diapers and telling dirty old men to keep their hands to themselves.
McCallan (too good for the picture), Ethan, Erika, Charlie, and Cassidy. Some of my favorite people (you know I love you all, right? I just have a special place for the brothers that lived with us for awhile, ok?) and one of my favorite dogs. And I don't even like big dogs, so that's saying something.
The pavilion and crossnet at night. Some say that that one kid is still playing crossnet to this day.
McCallan or Ethan (we don't remember) brought this giant Jenga set that was quite entertaining. Pictured here is Sarah performing her magic. Seriously, this girl can play Jenga, I couldn't believe some of the tricks she pulled off.
The other Jenga whisperer: Erika.
The competition was pretty stiff between these two.
I think Erika won this one, but honestly, it was sixes between them.
As the Chadwick cruise director/primary event planner, Devri usually comes up with ideas for activities with the kids and whatnot. This year, she wanted to do all of the holidays. We started with New Year's Eve. There was supposed to be games, cheese, crackers, and summer sausage (the traditional Chadwick New Year's snacks) but dinner got started later than anticipated and by the time it came to the festivities, we were all too full for the snacks. Instead, we just gave the kids noise makers and poppers, counted down, covered our ears for a solid five minutes, took the noise makers away, and sent them all to bed (the little ones at least).
As we were putting Gabe and Rachel in bed, Devri kept getting texts from her family wondering if we were coming back or when we were coming back. Clearly we were missed, so we decided to put on our aviators and arrive stylishly late to the party (I made this sentence up, but the rest is true). When we sat back down with the family (i.e. the adults), they shocked us with a gift bag of goodies. Apparently the entire family had discussed how much Devri did for these reunions and decided to give her something to say how grateful they were for everything she gave, and then they decided that since I was married to her, they should throw me a bone as well. Not only did they give us an awesome travel bag, it was stuffed with more things like gift cards to Olive Garden and Cinemark, peanut butter M&Ms (her family really gets me), Americana sour patch kids (her family really understands her), books signed by the author, bookmarks, BYU hats, and definitely some other things that we aren't remembering at the moment.
I said "shocked", but I think a better way to describe our reaction was completely and utterly floored. This is not something done by the Chadwicks really, and was a huge shock to us. After months of dealing with heart issues, days of traveling and being with family, this gift really meant the world to both of us, and it still gets me choked up to even write about it. I cannot say how much it meant to us (except to say "it meant the world", which I just said, and which feels inadequate still).
The next morning, we "celebrated" Valentine's Day. Here's cute Abby giving out a valentine.
Crossnet 2: the Wrath of Wyatt.
This little girl just stole everyone's hearts during the week. Literally, that might be Chelsea's heart in her hands.
Especially her Grandma's.
For St. Patrick's Day, Devri wasn't feeling very well and enlisted Matthew's help. She told Matthew where to hide the pot of gold, drew a map, and then he led them in a search to find the treasure. Here he is widely misleading them to make the search take longer.
Every grandkid had a little green pot of gold candy at the end of the hunt.
Gabe here is showing off his green pot of gold, and Evie was unfortunately caught in the crossfire.
For Easter, we hid these "baskets" of little toys throughout the field next to the cabins.
And then we let them loose to find them.
We made some really easy to find (like Abby's), and some ... more difficult, like Michael's that I hid in the tall grass. It took a good 30 minutes for him to finally find it (30 minutes might be an exaggeration).
Amber with her basket.
Evie opening it up. She's clearly disappointed in everything inside.
Rachel with hers, and Elijah working on his balloon in the background.
Notice the color coding? Gabe is always green, Rachel is usually pink (or blue, which I think she likes even better), and Michael is usually blue or black.
Gabe and Elijah decided that it would be fun to take some small bottles of gatorade and throw them in the creek next to the camp site. I can't remember if we were able to get one of them, but there were at least a couple that were completely gone downstream. I was so frustrated with them that I kind of lost it on Gabe. Later on, Gabe brought this note to me.
Gabe is sweet and sour, he can be such a troublemaker, but he is the sweetest little boy when he wants to be. It's good, it keeps him alive.
Devri's Grandma and Grandpa came up and visited during one of the days. It was great to see them even if they didn't stay overnight.
My grandparents have been gone for close to 12 years now, so it's been really fun to have grandparents again and try to soak up some of their wisdom and/or their extra tools (possession is 9/10s of the law, as Devri's Grandpa says...).
All of the Chadwick girls, except some are missing.
There they are! Except I still feel like some are missing.
Nailed it.
Taryn throwing up gang signs at Grandma and Grandpa. They didn't seem to mind.
And this is how Rachel started the great turf war of 2022. We still don't like to talk about it.
In reality, I have no idea what she's doing, but it's funny to look at.
Here we are celebrating July 4th, which we all know is Devri's birthday (and America's, I guess)!! The only proper way to celebrate it is with sparklers, since we weren't legally allowed to do anything else I believe.
They salute you, America. But while everyone else felt the need to put their arms as high up as they could...
Rachel's such a poser.
Attempting to light the sparklers was sometimes more of an adventure than we'd like to admit. Elijah nearly lost a finger here.
Well at least Gabe enjoys the 4th of July. The jury is still out on everyone else.
Someone suggested this, and I had to try it. I know it's me, because that's my hand. And my peanut butter M&Ms.
Coming up in part 2: how did we manage to get any pictures without dogs considering how many were there? Also, the rest of the holidays.
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