Lake Tahoe Reunion-2011

The Vorkink Family Reunion 2011

This past summer was filled with adventures and as I slowly make my way down the memories I get teary thinking about all of the fun that we had at the Vorkink Family Reunion at
Lake Tahoe.
This year Jaron and I and my sister Lorrie got to plan the reunion and it really was so much fun! I love my family...in love them so much that I have always considered one of my greatest "talents" my family:) I know that sounds a little silly but most good things in one way or another has come from me being a part of such an amazing family. I still feel that way. So getting plan our family reunion was so exciting!
We selfishly chose Tahoe Tahoe because our family CRAVED mountains and water and trees and all those things that San Antonio, as much as we love it, seems to be missing.

This is where the road started for us! I never imagined I would have my family (Jaron, the kids and I) all in a car with my wonderful parents AND my sister Lorrie! What an adventure! There were a few "bumps" in the road (a blown tire and a ruined bike...just to name a couple:)), but I loved having us all together. Actually, Miaja and Chase drove with cousins so we all could have seat belts but they were in my heart!!!

Can you see that trailor behind Jer, Ayden and I...that was quite the contraption. Jaron is one of the greatest packers ever and he did an awesome job of fitting EVERYTHING on it!


This is the cabin that we rented for the week! It was so great! It had a bazillion rooms (7 plus a loft to be exact), it had two hot tubs and the back yard was was a forested area. I thought it was beautiful!

Here's a shot of some of us enjoying the sun on the back porch! Although the home was HUGE there was no one room that could possibly fit all of us!


Many of the older kids often ate out back.

Jaron helping Thomas at the cousin gift exchange

Jaron had the great idea of bringing our hammock and the kids LOVED it! I think a few adults took advantage of it as well!
So through-out the week each family organized various activities. This night was the Win-It-In-A-Minute game night...we all got into it! This game you had to keep several balloons of the ground for a minute. This is Alexis and Ayden.

My dad and I were partners for this game


My mom and nephew Bryan taking their turn! I love watching everyone's faces.

Lorrie attempting another Win-It-In-A-Minute game
Hannah and Miaja in the background
My brother Keith's daughter Elizabeth. She is such a cute girl and so cute with the kids!


Another favorite was the family skits...This was my oldest sisters family, The Birkholz..they put on quite the show!
Keith and Marcie and kids performing their skit
....I'll have to finish tomorrow it's past my bedtime!!! Love looking at these fun pictures! Family is the greatest!

Fathers and Sons

So I had to quickly post some of my favorite pictures from the spring, (yes I did say spring...I know that I am behind).

Jaron just left for a month in Austin and we all miss him already. I was looking through some pictures and found these from the fathers and sons activities....

Jaron and the boys in heaven campin' out Texas style!!!
Silly faces, (Chase loves his "smolder" as he calls it:))

When most of the daddy's went home in the morning our daddy stayed with another dad and took the boys canoeing. They had such a great time...I love that Jaron is always up for doing fun things with our kids!

I love this picture because I can tell that Thomas is planning something in his head that will most likely get him into trouble:)

Jaron and the boys had sooo much fun! No one could believe that he willingly took ALL three of our boys PLUS our dog Belle! I can believe it though...although Jaron has to work a lot he always makes time for his family and we love him for that!

P.S. Miaja and I had a FABULOUS girls night-out! We went out to eat and got pedicures PLUS we watched Princess Diaries and ate ice-cream (Miaja's favorite)! It was a great weekend for all!

Miaja eating her fav breakfast...Berry Berry Crepes!!!


Lovely picture I know but I actually LOVE it because it is exactly what I want to look back and remember about Miaja and I...we have a lot of fun and we have no problem being super silly!


I love how silly Miaja is...sometimes I have to reign her in a bit but she is hilarious! She loves to laugh and makes others feel happy! She certainly made our night!

Alexis's Wedding!!!

Breakfast at Tiffany's...well, at Grandma's!!!

This summer my oldest niece, Alexis, got married! I still can't really believe it! When I found-out I instantly decided that we to be there and that I had to atleast help throw a shower for her. Lorrie and I had a blast getting ready for the shower and we had so much fun with family and friends!

Since the theme was, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" of course we had to dress-up! The little girls were adorable! This is Miaja with her cousins Megan and Adrianna.

Alexis and her mom Shauna

Here's the guest of honor and bride, Alexis. I remember having sleepovers with her almost every night as a young teeenager. I'd pretend that she was my little sister since I didn't have one. We grew to be quite the buds. She always has a very special place in my heart.

Grandma holding her youngest grandchild, Olivia...Mike & Erin's fourth.

Alexis at the reception...the little girls followed her everywhere!!

My nephew Kyle saving Thomas from trying to jump over the edge! Kyle is getting so grown-up too. He's even taller than me!
The girls eating at the shower...we had french toast with fruit and Tiffany blue sparkling water! So fancy!!!
My mom, niece Sarah and Alexis diggin' in! (Sarah is my brother Keith's oldest and she has grown to be such a beautiful young lady!

The shower turned out so nice! Lorrie went above on beyond to make things look to beautiful...she brought all of these crystals and serving trays! Lorrie is always fun doing just about ANYTHING with!

LOVE this picture of grandpa and Thomas. All of my boys have adored grandpa. See do I.
My parents...cannot believe that they have a grand daughter that is married!


Teresa, Ayden and Chase "helping" serve the cheesecake...I'm sure my boys had atleast five or six slices a piece!

Frank and Alexis...I met Frank for the first time this very night and I must say he's a great guy. I think everyone was teary during this dance.


...but this dance was where I really lost it. When my brother brought my niece out onto the dance floor my heart was so full watching them. I cannot imagine what it would feel like, (nor do I want to), to look into the eyes of your child and realize that they are grown-up and now starting their own family. No more going down to their room to talk, no more getting after them for coming in late. Jason and Shauna are both such amazing parents and I look up to them so much. They did a great job with Alexis.
(Wish I had pictures at the temple but I don't...Frank and Alexis were married in the
Bountiful Temple.)

What a Great Weekend!

GO COUGARS!!!

We had such a GREAT weekend here at our house! Actually, we had a three day weekend! Thursday my brother Keith came from Utah to visit for a couple of days and my kids were SOOOOO excited! Keith was great with all of the attention. From reading stories to the kids at bedtime to playing crack-the-egg on the trampoline the kids thought that Uncle Keith was the best!!!

Friday we headed to the fabulous San Antonio Zoo and enjoyed one of the kids favorite spots before the sun came-out too much and we all melted away!
After the zoo my brother and I got to have a little brother/sister time which I always love. I have always felt like the luckiest girl around. I have the greatest siblings and I look-up to each of them so very much. Getting to sit back and just visit with Keith was priceless. He is such a good brother and person.
That night we all headed downtown and took the "luxurious" river tour seeing the beautiful sights of San Antonio via boat! It was actually really fun and of course the kids loved it! Then we took Keith to our favorite Mexican restaurant in San Antonio...Mi Tierra! This place is so fantastic! Full of color and lights and live music...it's a true fiesta every time we go!
If you know my family......at all you know what Saturday was all about...BYU football! The kids woke to the ceremonial hanging of our BYU flag, (of course our neighbors, who happen to be Utes fans hung theirs at the same time)!
Jaron & I, Keith and our good friends Julie & Micah Bahr all headed to Austin fully decked-out in our "BYU blue"!
The game was amazing. The UT stadium was so impressive and we were SUPER close so it was great! Both Jaron and I nearly lost our voices! The UT fans were really great to watch a game with so it was a success, (well...for me who isn't as concerned as to whether or not BYU actually won or not...I hate that someone has to lose:))
All-in-all, we had such a great time! The entire weekend was just so fun and I can't say enough how grateful I was for my brothers visit. I am so grateful for family. As we all get older and see each other less I think that I appreciate even more my amazing family!
I haven't downloaded even half of my pictures but here's a few from the game.



The Hanging of our flag...I wonder sometimes if Thomas EVER wears clothing!


Jaron worked for literally three-four HOURS on this sign! He's too funny! I gotta give it to him, we got LOTs of comments PLUS the BYU team gave us the thumbs-up when they left the field at half-time!


Micah, Julie, myself and my brother Keith...couldn't have asked for better company (and Jaron of course, he was taking the picture)! Like Julie and I matching hats...BYU twinners and we both went to UVSC but I did grow-up loving going to the games:)

There he is...the artist! I love going to the games with Jaron...he still has to explain the rules to me and he doesn't even seem to mind!

Where in the World Is Daddy????

So you might wonder...where is Jaron??? Well, I had to answer that question a TON this past month! Jaron has been working a bunch out-of-town on mandatory rotation then he did go on a elective service trip to the Dominican Republic. In fact just two days ago did we finally get in him back "for good". He went from being in Houston to the DR. Then he was home for two weeks then he spent the next two months in Austin (one of those months we were in Utah)! It's been a long few months but we ALL have made the best of it! Jaron has some amazing stories from the cases he was able to be a part of and the kids and I just keep going on! Hopefully it will be awhile before another away rotation.

Jaron got to help lot of these cute little babies get some health care and meds that hey needed

They actually ran into the LDS missionaries there and they ended-up doing most of the translating for the group. Go missionaries!!!
The ambulance there...looks kinda like the A-Team of something.

The lines of people waiting for help. Jaron said that each day the lines got longer because more people found-out they were there. This was the first day.
This is what they did for fun...fill prescription bottles!

Aunt Lola We LOVE You!!!

One of our favorite parts of living away from family...is the visits from family. Aunt Lola is our most loyal visitor and we LOVE her to death. The kids pretty much cannot get enough of her silly dances and parties, the dress-ups (of course), her cuddles & stories, great cooking and the list goes on-and-on!

Just outside the Toy Story on Ice Show
Lola w/ the kiddos...those souvenirs were RIDICULOUSLY expensive! We could barely afford a drink & popcorn! Still fun though!
Our Girl Scout troop got tickets together so it was one BIG party!
There they are doing their thing! It was actually really impressive. I would be sweatin' bullets in those costumes.
Lola made it for Easter
Kids decorating cupcake for our Birthday bash! Lola had the idea to celebrate all of our birthdays together in on BIG night of FUN...boy did we have fun!
We all had "carefully" chosen our attire and felt fabulous!

My kids REALLY wanted me to wear this dress of mine from a high school dance!
Dancing the night away!

Daddy Daughter Date!!

Jaron is quite busy most of the time BUT when he is home he is the best daddy ever. He loves taking the kids for bike rides, jumping on the trampoline, making forts ...Whatever!!! Well, Jaron decided that it was time for he and Miaja to go on their first date so the two of them went to the new Peter Piper Pizza and got pizza (of course,) and then spent the next hour playing games and winning some "awesome" prizes! One thing about Miaja is that if there is something she LOVES it is ice-cream so the date had to end with a trip past Coldstone Creamery! Miaja felt like a princess, as she should!

Now that's a girl that feels special!


Getting ready to hit the road!