Shumate Family 2024 - Vacation Edition
This design was created for our t-shirts, swag bag tags, and stickers!
Jeff and I have four kids, all of them grown and doing their thing all over the country and at times, all over the world. We were last all together in the same place in 2019. Now there are ELEVEN of us and it was an epic gathering of our tribe for a week in Prescott, AZ — our hometown and a great place to create some fantastic new memories together!
We love our family time. We travel to see each of our kids as often as we can, but this was a big operation calling for a plan and a perfect gathering space. Luckily, Prescott has so many great vacation rentals to choose from. We’ve stayed on historic Mount Vernon Street, which is walkable to downtown. We also love the cabins in the pines. For this stay, we wanted to be centrally located, have incredible views, and be in a large home where everyone would have space to relax.
Since we don’t do this very often, we went all out on the planning. I customized an event logo with a design from Creative Market and that was turned into t-shirts, stickers, and tags for the swag bags! Next on the list was the food. Everyone loves to cook, so each couple was asked to create one dinner to share with everyone. Jeff and I also handled one night of cooking, as well as providing breakfast and lunch options. We did everything from acai bowls to baby back ribs smoked around a whole pineapple! It was a blast having everyone bring their favorite recipes together for dinner, too.
We had so much fun creating swag bags to greet everyone in style. They were packed with regional family favorites and custom t-shirts to commemorate the event. Our Prescott Farmer’s Market is filled with local artisans and vendors who make the best and most delicious things! We ordered filled chocolate-covered dates from Beyond Dates, Prescott-themed scented candles from Bee Rooted Candle Company, and rye crackers from Do the Rye Thing. We also picked up locally-made flavored popcorn and Sedona bottled waters from The Edison, a great local coffee and wine shop with a terrific selection of snacks and bites. We finished the bags off with homemade cookies and granola!
We had gathered dark chocolate from many different artisanal chocolatiers around the country to do a chocolate tasting together, including of course, our local favorite, Black Butterfly Chocolates! We also played SO MANY games of Bananagrams and several high stakes rounds of Left Right Center. IYKYK!
Next, we turned our attention to the activities available in Prescott. There’s so much to do here, we’re actually working on a weekend guide that will be available for download in the next few months. Summer is a great time to visit as there are events on the Courthouse Square, as well as so many outdoor options. We booked the fabulous Pickles Lea for a sunset yoga class at the house. It was a favorite activity for everyone. We also surprised everyone by having Ohana 808 Shave Ice Truck drop in and create unlimited shave ice for our family and friends - highly recommend! They make all their own syrups and have the BEST flavor combos! We did several hikes on the many trails and rented kayaks early one morning on Watson Lake. We loved our day trip to Sedona where we hiked Soldier’s Pass Trail and had lunch at the Local Juicery, a fan favorite! The perfect end to the week was a family portrait session with Sigmon Taylor Photography! Yes, photographers also hire incredible photographers to create their family portraits! I’ve included links to all of our faves and I hope it’s inspired you to create some new fun memories with your family, too!