Family Reunion Week

Wow! This week flew by, and yet it feels like it was actually two weeks instead of just one. We attended two different reunions this week -- both for Matt's side of the family. Isn't interesting just how different family reunions can be? We really enjoyed seeing everyone, and we still get to visit with three of Matt's sisters (yes, Susan made it all the way from England!!) and his Mom. I'm putting in some pictures of the different things. I know that I could make a slide show of all of the pictures, but because I want to make this a blog book next year, I'm just adding pictures. Don't worry, I'll just put in some of the highlights of the week.

Before the reunions started, we held a mini-birthday celebration for Matt's mom and sister-in-law. Here's the cake I made for them. Yes, I stick with the "simple" kinds of cakes, but they're still fun to do.

The first reunion was on Matt's mom's side. (I don't have many pictures from that one.) The family rented a ranch house for a few days. One of the highlights was the lake with the canoe. Matt even organized canoe races for one day, and they were a big hit! Here he is with his older sister rowing away.

The second half of the week was spent with relatives from Matt's dad's side of the family. We stayed at Matt's aunt's house nearby. The reunion was for his grandparents' 61st anniversary. What a special occasion! They bore their testimonies and gave a family prayer. All of their kids and almost all of their grandkids and great-grandkids were there, too. I think I can understand a bit of what Nephi must have felt as Lehi gave his "last lecture."
We rode the train into town to visit the planetarium. Jackson loved the ride.
At the planetarium, we got to visit Mars! Boy, what a hot planet!


Also, I couldn't help but put this picture in. We took a portable CD player to keep Jackson entertained. He made friends with his GGMA on Matt's side by having her help him change CDs. She was tickled that he wanted her help. (Sorry about the funny look, Grandma -- I guess that's what happens when you have to look through bifocals. Jackson gives the same look sometimes when he's looking through his glasses.)

All in all it was such a fun week. To finish it off, we lit all of our store-bought fireworks tonight in our driveway. For the second year in a row, Jackson preferred watching them from the living room window.