Reunion

We spent the weekend in Nevada and it was a good time.

Saturday was a reunion at my grandparents' house in Starr Valley.

Clearly it is hard to get that many people looking at the camera at the same time.  Lots of side conversations were happening.

Here's my dad with his siblings:

Demar, Joe, Drew, Mark, Claudia, Olivia and Jennifer

My cousins and sisters and I teased them because the brothers except Demar wore the same shirts.  Did they play a prank on their oldest brother and text him, "Hey!  Wear the purple shirt," and then they all showed up in blue?

The thought of them texting each other about what shirt to wear made us giggle.

Here are the boy cousins in attendance:

Harvey, Ira, Jason, Alexander, Jordan, Micah, Nathan, Enoch and Tabor

Here are the girls (I was wearing heels--you'd better believe I was.  Marianne said it was nice to be at the reunion with our cousins and just be normal and not tall.):

Olivia, Britta, Marianne, Rachel, Molly, Shanon, Danielle, Me, Sarah, Leslie, Gretchen, Catherine, Josie, Jessica and Hannah

 Here are all the cousins.  I counted 7 boys and 6 girls missing:

I look huge in the above picture and Adam said my shirt was "billowy."  Yeah.  We'll go with that.

It was such fun to visit with my cousins.  It feels more fun the older we get.  They are interesting and entertaining and our shared history connects us.

We slipped away from the reunion for a little while (my mom and Katie and some nieces) and went to my parents' house and tried on clothes my mom was getting rid of.  I scored some terrific wool skirts and jackets.

Adam, who thinks I have more jackets than should be legally allowed, stoically packed them in the car.

That night we stayed in Elko and went to church yesterday morning with Enoch and Jennifer and family.  The Knudsens, our family friends growing up, are in that ward and it was wonderful to see them.  I whispered to Adam.  These are my people.

We had a wonderful family dinner at Enoch's house in the afternoon.  Enoch made amazing brisket for us in his Traeger.  Between that and the tri-tip the day before, it was a good weekend for beef!  I enjoyed sitting around the table with my siblings and laughing. I appreciated my mom and sisters talking through wedding stuff with me.  It was fun to interact with my nieces and nephews.

Yes, it's nice to have people.

Circles

I love Memorial Day.  I know it is designed to be a day to honor soldiers that died in battle and I do honor and appreciate them.

I also like my family's take on the holiday.  We go to cemeteries.  Plural.  Because our family tree is rooted in the Salt Lake Valley, specifically in Murray/West Jordan/Sandy/Crescent.

I love how connected I feel.  I love seeing the names in stone, the names of a few people I knew but mostly I knew of.  They're where I came from.  They the builders of the nation.

That circle tightens a little as we inevitably meet up with some of my mom's cousins at the different cemeteries.  At the Sandy Cemetery, my mom's cousin was there with some family and they were clearing off the grass and cleaning the headstones neighboring where my great grandparents and great-great grandparents are buried.

He said, "I got tired of looking at them."

Olivia was impressed with what great neighbors they were.

We were all there honoring the same ancestors and that feels nice.

There are my grandma's (who is 92!) descendants who were there.  It's just a small portion of the family but it makes me happy all the same.

In a tighter circle, I see some of my aunts and uncles.  We hug and catch up a little and joke about little things.  I see some cousins.  We hug and catch up, compare notes on our children's ages, find out "where are you living now?"

I love the tighter circle of seeing my siblings and their kids.

Here Marianne and I are chatting with Morgan.   That's Ammon in the background.

Sisters that stand together (in the same pose) stay together.

I needed the long hugs my sisters gave me.  And the ones from my parents.  There's my dad in the picture above.

Here's my mom with some of the older cousins:

Carolina, Desi, my mom, Emma, Braeden, Liberty, Mark, Lili and Hyrum in the front.

I loved the way the cousins enjoyed each other.  These big ones stood around and talked and laughed and younger ones took off on a series of adventures.

Eventually we headed back home.  My tightest circle.  I loved hearing the kids delight in each other's company.  I looked over at Adam and appreciated him.  He happily spends the day visiting the graves of people he's never met.

That's quality.

Grateful Friday

A baby is God's opinion that life should go on.

Carl Sandburg

When Braeden read on my blog that Enoch was coming to stay, he texted to request a dinner together.  (This is what comes of first teaching your children to read and then writing a blog.  They know about your plans and they want in.)

As the day progressed, I heard the happy news that Jennifer and Boston were coming too.  Boston is my newest little nephew I had yet to meet!  Happy day!

Except it got better because sweet Savannah was coming too.

They were nice enough to meet us in Provo so the busy college kids wouldn't have to drive anywhere far for dinner.  We enjoyed the evening together and before Braeden and Emma hurried off, I snapped this picture:

so much cuteness in one small picture

Back at our house, I ruined Enoch's night by mentioning I wanted to paint my kitchen cabinets.  I like painted wood and Enoch doesn't.  I think it has to be like a Mariners/Red Sox thing.  I think we will just have to agree to disagree.

Enoch fully applauded my idea to replace carpet with wood floor but I did make sure I let him know that I was going to cover the wood with an enormous rug.

Sometimes when you know what will bug your little brother, it's hard to resist saying it.

I did enjoy chatting with them though--hearing about the adventures of their kids and life with a newborn.  They're quality people, all of them and I'm just grateful to be related.

I sat in a chair the next morning and held Boston until he went to sleep while they ate and got their things gathered together.  I told Jennifer I would gladly just sit in that chair all day and hold him and she said, "Good, then I'll go get back in that bed."

Mothering a newborn doesn't exactly mean a good night's sleep.

They headed on their way all too soon and I headed on my way, off to school.

It was a happy few hours to spend together.

Enoch is driving the U-haul for Tabor and Katie and their menagerie as they move to Oklahoma.  In addition to their three darling girls, they are taking 5 horses, a dog, and a cat.

Maybe another thing I'm grateful about is that I'm not moving.

It is not for the faint of heart.

The social event of the year

That's what I began calling it.  Because it was a big deal.  Olivia and I gave Clarissa a bridal shower.  We took a detour to Nevada on our way home from Washington.

Olivia was in charge of food and I was in charge of decorations and games and my mom and Katie and all the sweet girls helped too.

We held the event in Olivia's lovely backyard.  It was smoky like the rest of the West but not too bad.

The pretty napkins were really just sails in the breeze so they didn't get to grace the table.  The  littles had expertly folded them though.  Also, they filled the tiny vases my mom had purchased for party favors.

All the pretty girls--minus Desi who we missed!  Liberty, Clarissa, Carolina, Liliana, Emma, Ruby, Olivia, Charlotte and Savannah

Liliana and Olivia--Clarissa gave us all pretty shell necklaces from Kiribati

Present time:  Clarissa being assisted by Marianne and Carolina.  I loved the delightful cousin audience  (they were eating chocolate dipped fudge courtesy of Katie)

My mom made a quilt top for Clarissa.  She can either tie it or quilt it or whatever she wants.  It's made of pieces of the wedding quilts she made for all of her children.

Carolina, Clarissa and Katie

I didn't get a picture of my mom!  She was there!  And working hard and making everything nice, like she does.

I love these women!

Our trip part 2

Tuesday we went to Jetty Island.  I had never been before and on Sunday night I asked Scott what to expect.  He said, "Bring your book."

I am definitely the oddball in the Davis family.  Everyone feels a magnetic pull toward water except me.  What makes me feel loved is that they're my people anyway.  I'm the pale one over there with the book but they make me feel like I'm their pale one over there with the book.

We don't see enough of Talia and Jackson and it was really fun to have them along too.  Braeden and Mark especially loved getting to know Jackson all over again.

We were there for low tide and everyone went waaaaay out to the water with paddle boards and floaties.  (Is that what you call them?)  They also had to fight the really deep mud right at the water's edge.

I promise that is them--just far away.

I, of course, read my book and didn't get nearly as tired as everyone else.

We played bocce ball on the wet sand and then the boys built a sandcastle.

Seriously the big boys making a sand castle like they did when they were little boys was the cutest thing ever.

Here we are about to get on the ferry to return back to the mainland:

Adam, Megan, Geri, Mark, Talia, Emma, Jackson, Raelyn, Braeden and me

Talia, Jackson, Braeden and Emma decided to go to the movie and to dinner so Geri and Megan and Adam and I went to Kafe Neo, which is our favorite Greek restaurant we haven't found a good Utah replacement for.

It was delicious.

Wednesday we went to Snohomish to visit all the shops that make my heart skip a beat.  So many pretty things!

We had dinner with the Jorgensens that night and Emma and Braeden and I went early for a playdate (Mark was sequestered away with his friends.)

Just like forever and always, it was wonderful to be with the Jorgensens.  They feel like family and seeing these two boys together again made my heart happy.

Happily, the Jorgensens are coming to stay with us later this week because they are bringing Leif and Freja to BYU.  Proximity to BYU is pretty much where it's at!  The four big kids went to the movie again and Mark slipped back to Finn's house and Adam and I visited with Janet and Eric.

We never seem to run out of things to say.

Happy New Year

We took a quick trip to Nevada to celebrate the new year with our people there.  On Sunday, before getting to Starr Valley, we stopped in Wells to see Enoch's family (since they weren't going to the party--Enoch had just returned from a trip).  I always love spending a little time with them.  Isaiah is significantly taller than Mark is now.  I guess you look at Enoch and then at Adam and it is no surprise.  We saw some of their Christmas haul and the boys had a nerf battle that extended into the room where we were sitting a few times.  It's what happens when four boys get together.  It doesn't matter how big they are.

The party was at Marianne's.  They had had a sort of traumatic day with Hyrum fainting and hitting his head which knocked him unconscious and a trip to the ER and 16 stitches (which all happened at church...except the ER part).  You can't keep a good family down though and the party went on.

We had a lovely time eating an incredible amount of incredible food and playing games and laughing.  Around 11:00, my dad and I left to go back to their house and go to bed.  It seems like more often than not, I'm the Ebenezer Scrooge of any given holiday.  I had even been "training" by staying up later than usual, but switching to Pacific Time proved too much for me.  I've never been very good at late nights.

I was up fairly early though (because I also have never been much for sleeping late) and had a nice visit with my parents.

We had our annual ladies' brunch hosted by Olivia and Liliana.

Here they are with the final touches.  It was delicious as always.

We had our traditional topic of conversation, presented by Olivia and we went around the table and talked about the past year and at least all the adult women and a few of the girls cried.  Like I told Liliana, it's genetic, you can't help it.

I love those women.  Without exception they bless my life and give me joy.

We visited some more and wrote wishes for ourselves and each other for the coming year and played games.

Even though it was getting time that we had to get on with other things, we played a round of After the Manner of the Adverb because it's what you do at brunch, at least our brunch.

I had to snap a picture of these darling girls:

Their adverb was honestly and they were being "interviewed" about what they wanted to do this upcoming year and their honest answers were lovely and revealed their sweet and good natures.  I love that these girls are in the world.

We took the obligatory pictures:

Olivia being Olivia

I loved being there with my girl.  I love doing anything with my girl.

We went back to my parents and had another delicious meal and hit the road for home.

There was an amazing moon that guided the way.  It was just rising as we made our way over Moor Hill:

We listened to music, passing the phone around to pick the next song.  Time flies when the music is good.

Our final stop before home was Del Taco City (our family's designation for the group of restaurants at the Tooele exit).

While we waiting for our tacos in the empty restaurant, the boys went and played in the play structure.  (Adam asked the teenager behind the counter if it was OK first.  He said yes.)

What a nearly 21 year old's shoes look like in the little shoe bin.

weirdos

I went straight to bed when we got home, a happy but tired traveler.

I'm grateful for my family, both immediate and extended.  I love them and enjoy our time spent together.  I am looking forward to a fresh start and a new year.  I love the potential of a blank calendar.

Heritage

July seems the sort of month to look back with gratitude at your heritage.  There's the patriotism, there are the pioneer remembrances (the Mormon pioneers first reached the Salt Lake Valley on July 24), there are my grandparents:

Margaret and Harvey Dahl.

They have the same birthday (maybe that's why marrying someone with my same birthday seemed like such a good idea), July 7.  My July childhood memories revolve around a Dahl reunion to celebrate their birthday.

We'd convene at their house and there would be jockeying for position in the complicated social structure that was the girl cousins.  (Talk about queen bees and wannabes!)  We'd have lunch and crab apple fights and play in the creek and lilac bushes and barn and climb up to the treehouses and get in trouble for climbing out on the roof from the attic window and get gloriously dirty.

We'd have a wiener roast around dinnertime with hotdogs slid onto freshly cut willow sticks, sharpened by boy cousins' pocketknives.  Our parents would sit around in a circle, cowboy hats tipped at angles to avoid the sun.

We'd play No Bears Are Out Tonight after dark and then all kneel for prayer before we went home.

It was marvelous.

Saturday, even though my grandparents have both passed away, we met at their home for a reunion.  Happily some of my very favorite cousins were there.  All of the fraught cousin interaction is long gone and forgotten.  There doesn't even seem to be much difference in age any more.  There was reconnecting and pointing out our children to each other and there was asking each other surreptitiously, "now who is that?" about spouses or children we didn't recognize.

We laughed about the childhood things only we know about and the aunts and uncles sat around in a circle with the cowboy hats in place.  It felt right (and we missed everyone who wasn't there).

When it was time for pictures, Leslie first requested "the adults" and she meant this (thank you Marianne for sharing your pictures):

my dad, Drew, Jennifer, Demar and Joe

Not pictured are Olivia who is serving a mission with her husband Brad in Sweden and Claudia who was watching some granddaughters in a rodeo but came later.

There are 38 cousins so this is just a small sampling for you, not even half:

back row:  Britta, Hannah (unfortunately not looking at the camera but trust me she's beautiful--the struggle was real with a lot of people taking pictures at the same time), Olivia, Marianne, me, Sarah, Dixie, Jessica and Leslie  front row: Alexander, Cedric, Enoch, Nathan, Tabor, Ira, Lincoln, Micah (he really is as goofy as he looks in this picture--that kid cracks me up), and Jordan

I just saw another picture on Olivia's blog.  Hannah's facing forward in this picture but I'm keeping the other one too.  Mostly because Micah.

Through some sort of optical illusion, I appear to be the shortest (and there's a bit of a slant and Dixie Jessica and Leslie are downhill).  Where was Elizabeth during this picture?  She is the only one that is shorter than I am.
 
Late in the day, Lincoln built a fire and pocketknife sharpened willow sticks were produced.  The wiener roast commenced, complete with kids rinsing off the ash from their hot dogs in the nearby
ditch.

Around that time too, two distant fires erupted from lightning strikes.  My dad and his brothers stood together in a little clump and decided one of the fires looked like it was in a field where my uncle Demar has some cattle.

First Demar and his wife Lora went to check it out, then eventually Enoch and my dad and Lincoln and his son Isaiah all joined the effort, taking horses to go move the cattle away from the fire.

Another part of my childhood (and I hate lightning).

Adam chatted with people (happily Robert is one of his favorite people in the world so that's convenient) and patiently stood by but after about 9 hours of reunioning, he was ready to be done.  I feel like I could have stayed another few days.  It was just wonderful.

It all made me miss my grandparents.  I still see them in my mind's eye, standing on the front porch when we used to depart.  My grandpa would have his arm draped around my grandma's shoulder and they would call, "Come again!"

At church yesterday, Robert was there and presiding over the meeting as a member of the stake presidency.  He had Lincoln and Tabor speak briefly.  They are both bishops and spoke eloquently and wisely.  Listening to their words, I thought more about my grandparents.  They loved the Lord and served wherever they were asked.   They would be proud of those two and grateful for their lives.

I have to think that maybe Grandma and Grandpa took a little break from whatever it is they are doing in heaven and looked down on us briefly.  If they had, they would have seen kids playing in the barn, a volleyball game over by the orchard, little ones playing in the creek, catching snakes and crawdads.  They would have seen their sons and daughters and their spouses enjoying each others' company.  They would have seen their grandchildren hugging and reconnecting and laughing and remembering them very very fondly.

I think they would look down and see all of us and think, "We had something to do with that."

I think they would call out, "Come again!"

The weekend

We celebrated Emma's birthday on Friday.  Emma left school early and Adam and I had lunch with the two older kids at Emma's favorite spot, Harmon's.  Yes, the grocery store.  I don't know.  She just loves the place.  We played games and went out for Thai food for dinner.  I love needing a table for five again.  Later, Grandma and Grandpa Dahl stopped by.  It was a happy celebration.

Saturday morning we continued the party and had Kneader's french toast which is all kinds of delicious but the kind of thing you can only do occasionally.

We played more games and happily received more visitors.  I didn't get pictures of everyone but here are some:

Olivia, Braeden and Edgar

Missionaries--future, present and past:  Desi goes to Hong Kong in June, Braeden is heading back to VA soon-ish, and Clarissa returned from New Zealand in December

I love how much these cousins love each other (Emma had left for work).  Most of them were looking at Marianne while she took a picture but Carolina is looking right at me.  She said, accurately, "This is going on the blog."

In between hands of Monopoly Deal and UNO and rounds of Codenames, Braeden and Mark have been spending some quality Lego time together.  I love hearing them laugh.  Saturday afternoon I walked downstairs and Braeden said, "Mom, Mark is hilarious!"

When Braeden left, Mark was his lovable and sort of pesky younger brother.  Now, they seem to be closer to the same age.  And it's true, Mark does entertain me every day of my life.

Sunday we had what I fondly refer to as the BYU Babes over, Clarissa and Desi.  (Sometimes Clarissa's roommate Hannah comes too.)  We had dinner and played Codenames.  It was Emma and the girls against the boys and me.   The boys and I lost every round.

Today is no school because of President's Day.  Every day sort of feels like a holiday though.

Table for five.

Memorial Day 2016

My grandma has pictures of herself on Memorial Day at the Murray Cemetery starting from 1933.  It's kind of a Thing in our family.  It wasn't until I was an adult that I learned Memorial Day is about fallen soldiers.  I always thought it was about going to the cemeteries where all your ancestors are buried that just so happen to all be in the same valley.

Tabor and his family stayed with us Sunday night so we were a tad late on Monday morning, but we made it.

Here's the group:

I'm peeking over Tabor's shoulder.  Adam told me to move up and I said, "I'm good."  Also I was wearing heels and standing on a little rise so I could blend in a little with the tall folk.

It was so much fun to see everyone.  I especially enjoyed connecting with my cousin David.  Marianne is the oldest cousin, then me, then Olivia and David.  We grew up together playing Rook and laughing at the crazy competitive firebrands that were Enoch and David's brother Craig.  Marianne and Olivia and I quizzed David a lot about his latest girlfriend.  I think we're the big sisters he's glad he's never had.

This picture isn't so very flattering (why is my head twice as big as Olivia's?  Is that real life?) but here I go anyway.  Because I had that much fun visiting with David.

Also, Olivia is completely on her tip toes.  Who knows why Olivia does things.  (So much for me wearing heels.)

After the Murray cemetery (where I have a lot of kindred dead buried from both sides), we went to the Sandy cemetery.  My great grandma, Arvella Jaynes, is buried there.

We ran into my mom's cousins (from different sides of the family) at each cemetery.  Also in the Murray cemetery, someone came up and talked to Tabor (he swears he has a sign over his head that says Come and Talk to Me) who was also a descendant of Archibald Gardner (who isn't?).  We chatted with their family and realized we're even from the really crazy town part of the Gardner family that doesn't branch.  The part where double cousins married each other.

See?  Don't you just love Memorial Day?

We stopped at the Crescent Cemetery to see where some great great grandparents were buried.  From there we went to Golden Corral (which was a highlight for Mark--teenage boy + buffet = pure bliss).  My grandma had reserved a room to keep us all corralled (see what I did there?) and treated us all to lunch.

After lunch, most of the family dropped out and went on their way but my parents and sisters and we forged on.  We went to the West Jordan cemetery where both sets of my dad's grandparents are buried within 20 feet of each other.  We found a lot of my dad's relations in that cemetery and I said to Adam, "My roots go down really deep in this valley!" All of my parents grandparents lived within miles of each other.

Here are my dad and Hyrum in the West Jordan cemetery, leaning up against one of my dad's Egbert relation's headstone.  I was talking with my sisters about some other ancestors on the other side then turned around and saw them reclining.  I had to snap a picture.

I don't think Samuel would have minded a bit.

Our final cemetery was the Salt Lake cemetery.  We saw the showy gravesite of the prolific Archibald Gardner and we found some ancestors from my mom's side too who had come to Salt Lake at great peril.  Marianne was telling me the story and we both started crying. 

Everything I have and value most can be traced back to decisions made by these people.  I'm grateful to them and grateful for my heritage and for the confidence that wells up in me when I think of my pioneer ancestors.  Their blood is in my veins.  I've got this!

I lifted all these pictures off of Olivia's blog.  She is stellar in so many ways and family history is one of them.

It's been good

The past week was sort of blurry.  Busy and good.

Thursday and Friday I went to Women's Conference at BYU.  I love everything about Women's Conference at BYU, except for maybe the line for the bathroom.  (Here's an insider tip...the bathroom in the ASB is empty.)

My mom and Aunt Olivia were there as well as my sister Olivia, my SIL Katie, my cousins Britta and Hannah and about 10,000 other women.  Maybe more.

(Judging from the line in the bathroom, it was more.)

I go to Women's Conference like a sponge.  I soak up as much goodness and wisdom and insight that I can hold and then some seeps out (a.k.a. I cry).  I loved every class I attended.  I loved seeing my delightful kinswomen.  I loved skipping a session and just sitting in the sunshine and visiting with Hannah.  (It's possible we both cried too...it was one of those kinds of conversations.)  I have a lot of cousins.  Statistically speaking, it makes sense that some of them would be amazing like Hannah.

I went away from the conference like usual, feeling lighter and encouraged and with a desire to do better and be better.  I don't know what more I could ask for.

(Except to be more photogenic.)

Here's a picture of our group.  It's not my most flattering picture, but it's also not my least flattering (because yikes I've taken some bad ones), and I love the people in it.

Olivia, Britta, Katie, my mom, me, Hannah and Olivia--Olivia bookends

Also, happily, this week my text messages have been peppered with pictures of Braeden and kind texts from people he is interacting with in Virginia.  I can't express my gratitude enough for these happy glimpses of his dear face.  I was one of those mothers, passing my phone up and down the row at Women's Conference, showing pictures of my son.

I love how the little guy in front is wearing Braeden's name tag.

I could try to tell you how much I love and miss that boy but I don't have the words.  It's just that a piece of my heart is in Virginia Beach.  (I am happily waiting for Mother's Day when I will get to talk to him on the phone.)

Today marks 8 months--1/3 of the way done!  (But who's counting?  Besides me, obviously....)

A really big part of last week was Mark's play.  It deserves its own post though.  Stay tuned.

Christmas trains

Sunday we got together with Adam's cousin Pam's family.

I love their family.  I have always liked Pam.  Her twin boys are seniors this year and we were standing by the stove while she was keeping an eye on the soup and breadsticks and we were crying over our boys growing up.

Crying mothers just bond you together, you know?

Branson, one of her handsome boys walked by and smiled and just shook his head.  Mothers. 

After the tears and the soup which was delicious, we got down to the business of making trains.  They are experts at it.  Watching Pam get prepared was a thing of beauty.

in the bottom corner is another of Adam's cousins, Doug and his family

Every time we see Pam, I tell Adam over and over, "I really like her."

Because I really do.

Spontaneous

Thursday, Enoch texted me and wondered if Adam wanted to referee some basketball games in Wells, Nevada on Saturday.  My first thought was, probably.

Awhile ago, Enoch and Adam talked about basketball and refereeing and one of them said something about how Adam should go to Nevada and ref sometime.

I didn't know they were serious.

But I texted Adam and he was all in.

I called my mom and she said we could come and stay.

So we did.

We left Friday after Adam got home from work and Emma did a quick and intense homework session.  (That girl is all kinds of busy.  And she does such a good job on everything that it makes the time crunch worse.  Why did I get a perfectionist for a daughter?!?)

We took Sweet Allis Chalmers which is what Adam insists on calling his car even though the rest of us think it should be called The Illiad (because we also have an Odyssey).  It's nice and snug and has heated seats in the front and back which are ideal for cold fall evenings.  When we were passing Tooele (a.k.a. leaving civilization), Adam said, "Oh, I didn't think about filling up before we left.  The car says we can go 120 miles.  Can we make it to Wendover? (a.k.a. not really civilization but they do have gas stations...and enormous casinos)

I said, "Of course we can make it to Wendover.  It's only about 80 miles away."

But then we were driving straight into the wind.  We watched the gas gauge drop drop drop and I have to say, it kept us awake.

Finally, we were below empty and had about 20 miles to go.  Adam said, "Maybe you should say a prayer."

I told him I already had.

Emma was sleeping and Mark had on his headphones (roadtrips where I had to entertain bored toddlers are a distant memory).  I got Mark's attention and told him to say a prayer.  Mark's prayers are always good ones.  We finally rolled into a gas station at the exit for the Bonneville Speedway.  We had been going on fumes and prayers.  The car has an 18 gallon gas tank and we got 18 gallons of gas.

The rest of the drive was less exciting.

It was lovely as always to stay with my parents.  I like sitting around their living room, visiting.  Saturday morning, Adam went to referee and Mark and I went to Olivia's to visit her.  (My parents went to an early morning health fair in Elko, but then my mom joined our visiting later.)  Marianne's family except Morgan were at cross country state so were sad not to see them.

The boys were all playing outside and Omar who is three came to Grandma for help with his coat.  It used to be Braeden's and then Mark's coat!  Were those guys ever so small?  It melted my heart a little.

We all went into town for the 11:00 game.  Adam refereed and Enoch coached and Isaiah and Luke and Morgan played.  Adam did a fine job and enjoyed himself.  I felt like offering Enoch a throat lozenge pretty early in the game.  That kid gets hoarse.  It's not so much that he yells, but he speaks loudly.  With a lot of enthusiasm.

I felt like offering the boys a trophy.  Wowee wow wow.  Isaiah, who gets up early every morning to practice basketball is a superstar.  He is tall and lanky and coordinated.  It's a good combination for basketball.  I loved when he would pass the ball to Luke and Luke would make a basket (of course he would).  They'd run down the court and point and smile at each other.  Luke is too young for the team, but he knows a guy (the coach) and he can hold his own against much older kids.  Also, Luke gives the best hugs in the world, but that is irrelevant to basketball.... Morgan also made a basket and I loved watching him bite his lip and concentrate on defense.

I completely hit the jackpot in the nephew department.  I love all of them.

I also loved sitting by Jennifer during the game.  She watched with all the intensity of a mother bear watching her young but the only time she got truly animated was when she was worried that Isaiah was going to hurt another kid.  "Oh, be careful!" she would call.  She has the kindest heart you'll ever find.

We went back to my parents for a delicious meal and more visiting and my dad fixed my necklace.

In the late afternoon we headed home and it was a lovely little trip.

Lucette's day

Sunday we celebrated Lucette's blessing.  We went to church with Ammon and Melanee.  Lucette wore the incredible dress Melanee had crocheted for her and Ammon gave her a beautiful blessing.  It's possible I teared up a little hearing my baby brother give his sweet baby a blessing.  That Ammon turned out well.  My sisters and I try to take credit because we mothered him as much as possible, but I doubt we deserve too much credit.

After church we convened at their house for a lovely dinner.

Living in the next town over from this delightful family is one of the great blessings of my life.

Here's a closeup (stolen from Melanee's facebook page) so you can see the dress:

Isn't she the cutest cherub you've ever seen?  The chubby perfection! And that dress!

Here's the Grandma and Grandpa shot:

Grandchild number 23

I had high hopes and good intentions of taking a lot of pictures so I could send them to Braeden and I sort of failed.

I did get these two pretty ladies:

And Adam took this:

Never enough sister time.  I love those girls.

Since it is soon Cormac's birthday, Melanee made these great light sabers out of pool noodles and the little boys went to town in huge battles.  It was pretty much perfect.

I particularly loved the way they stored their light sabers when they were not in use.

Cormac opened some gifts and I think he liked the Yoda.

Speaking of gifts, Hyrum told his mom he wants a baby sister for Christmas. 

I'll let you know what happens on that one....