Skip to main content

Family Reunion, Part 2: Thursday evening-Saturday morning

Thursday night featured a few more events--the rest of the talent show and the young adults getting the ever-popular raspberry shakes. 



On Friday, breakfast was by Susanna and Jay who served breakfast burritos. Later, most of the adults played pickleball while the kids played on the playground.



 Afterwards we went on a hike near Bear Lake which we have done several times.  It has a pretty cool tree where we have taken many pictures over the years.MiCayla wasn't feeling up to a hike (being 8 months pregnant) so their family didn't go on the hike.



After lunch by Jan and Sallie of croissant sandwiches and grapes, we did some crafts and played a Dungeons and Dragons game. Caroline organized a tote bag decorating activity. Jay sponsored the Dungeons and Dragons which Camille especially loved.


I tried to do a snow substitute craft that involved shaving cream and corn starch. I can't say it was all that successful but Scott made a snowman for me!

After dinner by David and Violet of chimichurri sauce with carne asada burritos, we took family pictures and then enjoyed some s'mores around the fire pit. We hope to get a more complete family picture in the fall when our Latvian family comes to visit!


Here's us with the grandchildren and then a picture of the people who were trying to get the grandchildren to smile which I thought was pretty entertaining.





After the small children went to bed, some of the adults stayed up and played board games which I did not get a picture of since I was ready for bed myself. On Saturday morning, we cleaned up and went home. It was a fun reunion and I'm glad it worked out really well!







Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Visiting Susquehanna: The Priesthood Restoration Site

On our way home from Palmyra, we decided to go a couple of hours out of our way to visit the recently opened Priesthood Restoration Site along the Susquehanna River.  This is where we believe that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist which gave them the authority to baptize.  This site also has the restored Isaac and Elizabeth Hale home where Joseph and Emma lived for a year as well as the home where Joseph and Emma lived on their own. We spent a couple of hours there and I wouldn't have minded a few more minutes but we had a long way to go that night.  It's a beautiful setting, very much in rural Pennsylvania.  However, on the day we were there, cars at a racetrack nearby were detracting from the peace and quiet.  I'm guessing that's not as big of a problem on weekdays. The Hale Family was quite well-off for their day so their home was probably nicely decorated with wallpaper and carpet. ...

Book Review: Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

This is a juvenile fiction book about a young girl named Melody with severe cerebral palsy.  Her body doesn't allow her to feed herself, speak, or do much at all.  She's very intelligent with a photographic memory but she can't really communicate.  Finally, in 5th grade, she gets a "Medi-Talker" which is a computer that speaks what she types in.  Finally she has a voice. This book explores what it is like to be severely physically disabled but not mentally disabled. It seems like one of the most frustrating of all scenarios.  She is completely aware of all the cruelty (subtle and otherwise) that her classmates inflict on her because they don't really want to include her in their activities.  One of the saddest moments in the book comes when she realizes that every one of her special ed classmates is kind, where the "normal" ones are not.  Who really has the worse disability? The book was a quick read and fairly enjoyable.  Wha...

Hansen Family Plot in the Provo Cemetery

On Memorial Day this year, our family went to the Provo Cemetery, as we do almost every year. We spent some time at the Hansen Family plot which contains the grave of my 2nd great-grandparents, Peter and Mary Hansen. They both emigrated from Denmark with their spouses to Utah. My grandfather lost his first wife Ane to cholera on the plains outside of St. Joseph, Missouri, along with three of his little boys within a very short time--about one month. It's a sad story but it's also one of admirable resilience. He brought his one surviving son, Jorgen, to Utah. He married his second wife Maren (Anglicized to Mary) some 9 years later in Utah  She had been married before but lost her first husband at an unknown date. I wish I knew more about her but she left very few records, although I could do more research! Peter and Maren had 6 more children together. The youngest two were twins, Enoch and Ephraim. Ephraim is my great-grandfather and is buried in California. He is the father of ...