brady reunion

We had our annual Brady reunion at Heber Valley Camp this summer.  There were not as many of us this year due to the fact that our family was in charge of a larger extended family reunion a couple weeks ago, my nephew Mike was graduating from BYU-I, AND my niece, Kara, is getting married next weekend.  So, those of us who could, got together and had a couple of fun days in the mountains.  We arrived in a pouring rainstorm, but after the rain quit the air was fresh and cool.  It felt so good because it has been such a hot and dry summer. We had a dinner of BBQ pork, sweet n' sour chicken, pasta salad, rolls, and fruit.  We attempted a dutch oven cherry cobbler, but the charcoals ran short on heat before it finished cooking.  We stuck the dutch oven on the propane and finished cooking it -- delicious!  We spent the rest of the evening chatting and playing games.  Saturday morning we headed out to the challenge course.  Mark J was our first brave soul up the high rope challenge, which consisted of climbing a cargo net up to a swinging foot bridge that went across to a zipline down.

 Next up was Ryan on the cargo net...

 to the swinging footbridge...

 Here's a picture of Jacob in his gear and ready to head up.

 Up the cargo net...

 across the bridge...

 and down the zipline!

 Here's Jared...

 up the cargo net and across the bridge.

 Matthew was too small to do this activity full out, so they modified it a bit to let him have a turn. (There's Lisa, Jared, and GayLynn in the background)

 Matthew climbed the cargo net as high as they would let him go (he would have liked to go all the way, but they stopped him!)

 Then, they let him swing on the rope.

 He loved this!  He even managed a one-hander wave before they caught him and dragged him to a stop.

 Ok, here's me.  Yes, I'm closing my eyes and hanging on for dear life as I step off the edge of the nest and head down the zipline! I'm not a fan of this type of heights.  Once off the edge it was a fabulous fun ride down!

Besides the high rope challenge, there are several low challenge course activities.  We did quite a few of those and had a fun time.  The part of those lower courses that I like best are the short discussions we have after the challenges are completed when we come up with analogies to the gospel and the missionaries share their testimonies of gospel principles.  I always feel spiritually uplifted and reminded of the most important things in life.
After lunch we headed on over to the lake to do a little canoeing.

 The camp has lots of deer trotting around.  This one was grazing only a couple feet away from us on the trail.

 This is my Dad, Mom, and Mark J relaxing a bit before cleaning up the camp and heading out.

A good time was had by all, but we missed having everyone there together.  Maybe next year...