Busy + exhausting + so much fun

It was a reunion weekend!

It was great to reunite with Hyrum.  They returned from Ghana late Thursday night.  There was a welcoming party at their house, but I was too tired and went to bed instead.  (Everyone needs that one fun aunt....). He came over Friday on horseback to visit.  We chatted awhile and then we took QE down to see the horse.  She kept saying "neigh! neigh!" and was very excited.  Braeden held her up to sit on the horse and she was a happy little clam.

That night, we had dinner at my parents' house.  All six of us were there and most of our kids.  When I'm together with my siblings we laugh until my face hurts and I love it.  I am pretty sure 98% of my nieces and nephews will end up taller than I am.  A lot of them are already there.  They are delightful and it is fun to see them.

Saturday morning, my dad came by with a wagon full of granddaughters.  I took QE down to see the horses.  My dad said, "Hand her up to Lucette and climb on."

I said, "I'll hand her up to Savannah."

Savannah is about twice as old as Lucette, plus she was in the back of the wagon so it was a shorter hand up.

I climbed onto the seat and held QE on my lap.  She was a little unsure at first but then she loved it. She kept yelling, "Neigh" to the horses.  

In the afternoon, we convened at Marianne's at lunchtime for the big reunion.  All my dad's siblings were there except Aunt Olivia, who, along with Brad, is serving a mission in New York City.  We ate and hugged cousins and connected whose kids were whose and I bragged to everyone who would listen that I was a grandma.  I am the thirteenth grandchild but only Rachel (who is probably 3rd or 4th) and I have the great great grandchildren of Harvey and Margaret.

I loved mingling in and out of conversations.  It is just fun to talk to my cousins.  There were a lot of stories told.  At one point I said something cheeky to Tabor and he said, "There is that Dahl confidence.  I've heard it a lot this weekend."

In stories I heard cousins use the words "fractious" and "askance" and "rivulets."

I was entertained.

We took the requisite pictures:

DeMar, Mark, Drew, Jennifer (she's serving a mission in the family history center in SLC which feels like the dream to me), Joe and Claudia

The girl cousins:

Sarah, Dixie, Leslie, Olivia, Me, Britta, Hannah, Jessica, Molly, Gretchen, Marianne, Catherine and Rachel

In one of the pictures in my grandma's photo album, there is a picture of the girl cousins and my grandma wrote on the back.  "The Dahl Queens."

Here are the boys:

Lincoln, Tabor, Ira Eli, Enoch, Harvey, Jordan, Cedric, Ammon, Alexander, Zachary and Micah

My tall siblings fit right in with our tall cousins (and I had sandals with heels so I was doing OK)!

The picture of the great-grandchildren was an undertaking.  This is the least chaotic one I had:

Each of my aunts and uncles and my dad told some of their memories of growing up (Hannah read something Olivia had sent).

I loved that part of the reunion.  It is good to hear their stories.  I know a lot of the stories, but not all of them and I love the telling.

Most of my cousins came over to see the renovations of our house.  It made me happy to show them and to reminisce about things like Grandma's pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  Cedric asked me if we had any push pops when he walked into the store room and saw the freezer there.  Lincoln and I talked about receiving our patriarchal blessings here (me in the new house; him in the old).  I showed him the Snapfish book I made about the fire and he said quietly, "I remember that day."

It was pretty awful.

We went back to Marianne's for dinner and Marianne is a wonder and that is all.  

Sunday we had breakfast at our house for anyone who wanted to come.  I said it was going to be like a hotel breakfast (not fancy).  I had Costco muffins and a selection of cereal.  Olivia brought cereal and milk and bananas.  My mom brought pumpkin bread and bagels and cream cheese and boiled eggs and juice.  Tabor brought more breads.  Marianne brought strawberries and someone brought cherries.

I told them all that they had missed the point entirely.  I was supposed to be easing their burdens by hosting breakfast, not having them bring stuff.

Try telling them not to bring stuff....  

It was a good breakfast though (improved by their additions for sure).

Ammon Cobian "opened" for Hyrum at church as Olivia said.  (Ammon was a youth speaker). He was adorable.

Clarissa and Hyrum sang, which had no way of not being fantastic, and then Hyrum spoke and he was wonderful.  I loved every word.  It is amazing how missions can make good kids spectacular.

We had lunch at Marianne's (the ultimate hostess with the mostest).  Our kids all went back to Utah and Adam and I stayed another night at Pleasant Hill.

As I type this morning, there is a woodpecker making the pipe of the propane stove vibrate.  We have an entire wood house and it wants to drill into the metal chimney.  I don't know what to say to it.

This morning we head to Seattle.  I am looking forward to seeing family and friends and sitting next to Adam while we drive.