Family Meetings

I'm so grateful to my darling husband for moving heaven and earth so I could go to my Grandpa Curtis' funeral.  This is a very busy time for everyone in my family, but we all know how important it is to be together during sad times.  Before the sad times, we had some happy times.  On my plane ride from St. Paul to SLC, my cousin Andrea was on the same flight.  We asked the ladies sitting next to us to move it or lose it so we could talk nonstop for three hours.

Nicole was kind enough to spend the day entertaining sisters and picking them up from the airport.  Katy and Bryce arrived first and then they came to get me and take me to City Creek in downtown Salt Lake City.  I was so happy to meet my newest nephew!

He got the dimples!  Admit you're a lucky dog, Bryce.

My brother, Aaron, and his fiancé, Lori, met us for dessert so we could finally meet her and she could see that he's good with kids.

What a catch!

 

Then we all walked around temple square while we waited for Allyn's plane to arrive.

Aaron and Lori are getting married there next month.  It'll do.

The next morning we all drove up to Idaho to stay with my parents.  Makenzie and her kids and Rob and his family were there, too, along with Jen.  Once we were all finally together, it was time to eat.

Back in the day we used to eat at a table half that size.  My mom and dad would sit at either end and we'd sit four to a bench on either side.  No elbow room back in the day.  We were happy Uncle Don and Aunt Candace (my dad's sister) could join us.

Ruby, Gabriel and Ian spent some time hazing Bryce. 

You know the first rule of Cousin Fight Club, right?

Makenzie and Aunt Candace joyfully cleaned up dinner.  It was strange being surrounded by so many redheads last weekend.  We decided we had to take a redhead picture.

My cousins Sheri and Andrea are on the far left.  When they were kids, Sheri told Andrea that they were supposed to be in our family, but my dad didn't want them so my uncle adopted them.  Andrea said she was mad at my dad for years for giving her up.  HA!  Once when we were kids I told Makenzie she was adopted.  She looked at me like I was a moron and said, "Nuh uh."