The beginning of this week was spent getting my Mom and Dad ready to move. They are moving back to the house they own. While we will miss them every day, we know that this is a great move for them, and there are a lot of good reasons they need to be there.
Thursday morning, we left together, me driving the 26-foot U-Haul
with a trailer behind it,
and Mary driving Grandma and Grandpa in their car. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of it, but this is what it looked like:
It was pretty awesome! The hardest part was getting in and out of gas stations, but we made it all right. It is really something though, when you think about driving 99% of someone's earthly possessions down the road! But Peter and Libby were with me in the cab of the U-Haul, and they helped me a ton. Bruce said he felt comfortable with it as long as I had Peter with me. I said, "I might take offense to that except for the fact that I felt the same way." ha ha
When we arrived at Mom and Dad's house, a bunch of cousins and Aunts and Uncles were waiting for us there, ready to unload the trailer. So fun! The Bishop and 3-4 other neighbors came, 21 people in all, to help unpack, and we were done within an hour! We had a fun dinner at Angie's house, with Jumex no less! And then Bruce & Julie set up beds, tables and the china hutch, while I unpacked boxes in the kitchen. Clark played Risk with Ethan and Peter and got skunked! :)
The next morning, we got up early and sang to Peter for his birthday! Happy Birthday to Peter! Mary, Libby and I sang Las Mañanitas to him, with Aunt Angie helping along. Later in the morning we were counting, and Peter has only had a birthday at home two times that he can rememeber! We're always on some kind of reunion or vacation! But we are having a Birthday Party with his friends on Tuesday night, so we will celebrate some more then.
After singing to Peter, we got ready and headed over to Craig & Jenette's house and ate some great pancakes that Angie and Clark cooked for us! Then we took off to climb a local butte. We climbed up the back side of the mountain.
It is a lava rock formation. It was a beautiful view form the top and overall a great hike! Bruce didn't come with us because of his foot, for one, but also because he didn't come until that night because of work.
After the hike, we went up to Ricks Gardens and had a beautiful walk around the lovely gardens there. I had no idea they had gardens there! And Craig gave us a great presentation at the Special Collections in the Library. So interesting! One of the items he showed us that was my favorite was the hand-written Bible in Latin. Amazing!
That evening, we ate dinner and relaxed in Craig's backyard.
Peter had a request for his birthday - that we play Wizards, Knights and Dwarves. OK! We got teams together and played back and forth, back and forth for half an hour or more. So fun!!
During the game, Jesse and Kevin (Jesse's boyfriend) arrived! You can see Jesse in the middle on the right side, lining up for the game. And check out Peter here - he's already running before they've even done the signal! (Cheater!) Peter says that he did the signal, and then took off. :) And check out Hannah too! She got run over one time, and bounced right back up like nothing had happened. That girl is going to be an amazing soccer player!
And then we got the idea to do one-on-one competitions. So here's how it matched up (according to age!):
Aunt Julie made a chocolate cake for Peter's birthday! Kevin said later that he was really surprised at how many Birthday songs we knew, even ones in foreign languages. Ha ha! Bruce arrived that night - it was great to see him!
The next morning, our family cooked Breakfast Burritos for everyone, and then after discussing the reunion for next year, we took off to a local waterfall. The drive up there was beautiful, through luscious farmland with pine tree covered hills in the backdrop.
The falls were gorgeous!
Thursday morning, we left together, me driving the 26-foot U-Haul
When we arrived at Mom and Dad's house, a bunch of cousins and Aunts and Uncles were waiting for us there, ready to unload the trailer. So fun! The Bishop and 3-4 other neighbors came, 21 people in all, to help unpack, and we were done within an hour! We had a fun dinner at Angie's house, with Jumex no less! And then Bruce & Julie set up beds, tables and the china hutch, while I unpacked boxes in the kitchen. Clark played Risk with Ethan and Peter and got skunked! :)
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| Mary took really good care of Grandpa through the whole move. |
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| Mary, Grandma and Julie taking a break from unpacking. |
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| Julie, Uncle Bruce and Clark |
After singing to Peter, we got ready and headed over to Craig & Jenette's house and ate some great pancakes that Angie and Clark cooked for us! Then we took off to climb a local butte. We climbed up the back side of the mountain.
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| Josh, Peter, Mary, Caleb, Alyssa, Libby, Darcy, Lucas |
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| Aunt Julie and Uncle Bruce |
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| Josh, Peter, Libby, Lorena, Mary |
After the hike, we went up to Ricks Gardens and had a beautiful walk around the lovely gardens there. I had no idea they had gardens there! And Craig gave us a great presentation at the Special Collections in the Library. So interesting! One of the items he showed us that was my favorite was the hand-written Bible in Latin. Amazing!
That evening, we ate dinner and relaxed in Craig's backyard.
And then we got the idea to do one-on-one competitions. So here's how it matched up (according to age!):
Clark vs. Bruce
Julie vs. Lorena
Angie vs. Craig
Jarom vs. Darcy
Lucas vs. Adam
Lindsey vs. Kevin
Josh vs. Jesse
Mary vs. Peter
Ethan vs. Libby
Alyssa vs. Caleb
Caleb vs. Carson
The funniest ones were Caleb vs. Carson. I wish I could show the video that Angie took. They did Wizards and Knights, and stood there for probably 3-4 seconds, trying to figure out who should run where. We were laughing so hard! If I could pick out a favorite moment of the reunion, that was probably it.
The next morning, our family cooked Breakfast Burritos for everyone, and then after discussing the reunion for next year, we took off to a local waterfall. The drive up there was beautiful, through luscious farmland with pine tree covered hills in the backdrop.
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| Kevin and Jesse |
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| Peter and Jesse |
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| Clark, Peter, Mary, Lindsey & Adam |
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| Clark, Lucas, Jarom, Josh, Adam, Bruce, Darcy, Lindsey, Mary, Lorena, Angie, Peter, Jesse & Kevin |
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| Josh, Lorena Peter, Bruce, Mary, Jesse & Kevin (I don't know where Libby was!) |
That afternoon, some people relaxed on couches, some played Settlers of Cattan, and Clark, Craig, Jarom, Bruce and I discussed current events, especially in the Middle East. We pretty much figured out the who and what behind everything and anything. ha ha ha And then we were off to float the river! We pumped up 19 tubes at the local Les Schwab Tires, and then went to float the river. It was a really calm river, so there weren't any rapids to worry about. The water was cool, but not too bad once you got in. "Man, we're having fun!" was the general sentiment. Towards the end we had an interesting discussion about who had kissed who. Revelations were made that I'm still trying to process... ha ha ha!
The next event was Grant's blessing! There were many in the circle, including the Bishop, and more sitting around the living room while Craig gave Grant a beautiful blessing! What I remember the most was the impression of Grant being one who brings peace. I was honored to be there for his blessing!
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| Here's our family enjoying that adorable little Grant! |
On both Friday and Saturday night, a lot of the "younger set" went down to the park and played basketball, ultimate frisbee and other games.
Overall it was a wonderful reunion. I was so grateful for all those who made an effort to come, and missed everyone else who couldn't make it!
Today we went to a married student ward for Sacrament Meeting and then drove home in the Impala. We had to fit a lot of Josh's stuff with us, since he is moving home for 7 weeks, so it was a tight squeeze, but we made it!
We made it in time for the fireside put on by the Stake Presidency, inviting us to be more involved in missionary work. Our Stake is going to host an Open House periodically, and we are to invite people to be a part of that. It is a great challenge and I am looking forward to the extra impetus.
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