Family Reunion

We are alone here in Idaho.  Apart from family I mean.  That is the only thing I don't like about Idaho.  So we were especially happy to welcome son Gerald and his family over a week ago, visiting from Taiwan.  Gerald was in charge of our yearly family reunion this year.  We've been talking about it and planning it for some months now.  It finally happened this past week.  It was such fun!

Everyone came here, to our Idaho place, and we found room for every body.  Everyone was here, plus a few extras, except for Ben and Jessica, who are spending the summer in Hong Kong.  Grandsons Miles and Vincent came a week early to spend some time with grandson Seth.  I loved having those boys!  They are unusually fine in intelligence, character and good looks.  I suppose you think I'm getting carried away, but look at these faces:

Vincent, left, has Seth's glasses on.  Miles is in the middle.  These boys had lots of fun together and even helped out a bit.  One of their main entertainments was playing with rubics cubes.  They worked on them for hours.  

The rest of the family arrived last Monday.  We began our week with a work project.  Ger really wanted a home project to "bring everyone together."  So everyone took great delight in tearing out our rather useless deck, which once surrounded a surface pool.  There is something about tearing things up that seems to be especially pleasurable.  Everyone took part.

The three boys put together a series of PVC pipes to form a structure for playing a game of 9 square.  They built it from a drawing Layne did up for them.  It turned out to be a very fun game that appealed to various groups all through the week.

We went to a water park, attended an outdoor play, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", went zip lining, played volley ball, went shooting.  Chase organized target practice for the kids and all who went loved it, even the girls.

Chase and Morgan came on Thursday and stayed until Friday.  Since their little baby, Hunter, was very new, they didn't want to stay the whole week.  But they stayed long enough for all the girls to become quite enchanted with Hunter.  Here's Peyton holding him.

One of the best things we did was spend an evening at the Church.  Thursday night we had dinner there, I showed the family a slide show of Layne's and my life (in honor of our 50th anniversary) and another show on Carmen.  I have decided to do a show on Carmen every year so we never forget her. Then I taught everyone a line dance to "Elvira".  I have to admit that there are not many in the family who take to dancing.  That is a disappointment.  Basketball filled the rest of the evening.  It was a lot of fun.

The kids went together and got us a porch swing for our anniversary.  I love it!  Once Chris and Cliff installed it, it became a magnet for just about everyone.  I think its going to be a wonderful addition.  I'm so grateful for a caring family.  We all got along very well.  There were no fights among the kids; everyone looked out after everyone else.  It made my mother's heart happy.  

Here's Chris and Jess trying out the new swing.

My nephew, Russell, and his three kids spent the night with us Friday night.  They joined right in with our noisy bunch.  All the kids wound up sleeping in bags together upstairs.  All the adults managed to have their own rooms.  Everyone was gone by Saturday afternoon.  We went from noisy, happy fun to a quiet, empty house.

Here's our family on Saturday morning:

Rayne, Cliff and Audrey Adams-Hart.  Chase and Morgan left for their home earlier.  Isaiah and Allegra are on missions.  They have an empty nest!  And they are grandparents!

OK SO THE PICTURE IS MISSING, BY REQUEST OF AUDREY.  BUT IT WAS OF THE THREE OF THEM MENTIONED ABOVE.  

Chris and Jess Gendreau with Peyton, Miles and Gemma.

Reed and Dorothy Galbraith with Vincent (right), nephews Michael and Ben, Timothy (right) and Bruce.  James stayed home to work and Scott is on his mission.

Gerald and Frances Galbraith.  Seth is left, Angelica is in the middle.  They brought two sisters from Taiwan, Yvonne on the left and Michelle on the right.

Our family is growing up.  There were missing ones this time.  I'm not sure how family reunions will go when the grandchildren are all grown.  That will be a new experience that we will have to figure out.  Like being a great-grandmother.  Which brings me to Hunter.  Chase sent me a series of pictures of him and their new family.  They deserve another post.  Which you undoubtedly have already noticed.  Life never stops bringing changes.  I'm trying to keep up.