Family Reunion

I have no eloquent way to start this post off so.... Hey guess what? We had a family reunion! 

Okay now that that's over with, let's move forward, shall we?

Okay

It was on my dad's side of the family. He has 8 living siblings and they all have kids so I have A LOT of cousins, all of which are a lot younger than me so June hangs out with them and calls them her cousins. So there's that.

The family from out of town came in for a couple weeks. There were activities during the week like the kids did a space camp and went to the Curiosity Museum, the adults all went and did some temple work of family names. One of the last days we all went to "This is the Place" park. I had never been before but I loved it! It's built around the spot up on the mountain side where the first Mormon pioneers came and the prophet Brigham Young declared, as he looked out on the valley, "This is the place!" and here we all are now. So they built an old pioneer town and there is lots to do so we all played there before doing a service project. We got to ride horses, pan for gold, ride a train, shop for candy, watch Native American dancers, play in the splash pad and wander. And there was still so much to do!

Then that weekend we went to a huge ranch in Spanish Fork canyon. It was beautiful and quiet there (aside from all of us!) Each family had a large bedroom with a bathroom and all the boy cousins got thrown in a bunk room. And the view wasn't half bad either.

June went fishing for the first time!

The other side of all my photos. My camera and me and... my skewampus shirt?

June and her new-ish Uncle Dan

We got to ride horses on the ranch and everyone loved that. My grandpa even got up on one! He used to ride all the time as a kid but at 81 years old it's been a while.  He was a pro though.

This girl and horses!

Paparazzi row. We have sooo many photos of this reunion. And of June.

 

June and her great grandpa. She loves him. I hope that she will keep some memories of him and her great grandma. :)

The last night there we had a family history night where we looked at old photos and listened to my grandparents and aunts and uncles tell stories and jokes about their parents and grandparents. There were some funny stories and we were all laughing and then the next moment there were tears with some of the special tales. It was a night I'll never forget. I come from a very special family and I'm proud of my roots. 

This is a photo of most of the people in the room that night. Crazy!

The rest of the time was spent playing games and doing crafts and eating and there was even a talent show one night.

It's kind of a cheesy quote but it's perfect for this- "All because two people fell in love." My grandparents have been faithful and raised their kids that way and it shows. It helps me to see that I need to stay strong not just for myself and the "here and now" but for those who will come after me. We are not on this earth to just live for ourselves, we are all in this together. I learned that fighting for your family is the most important thing you can do (whether your family is blood or friends or pets.) Taking care of my corner of this world is worth every part of my self and time.

Thank you family for a great time! See you in another four years? Good.