Family Reunion in St. George

 We have family reunions every year, in July.  This year Chris and Jessica were in charge.  They found a lovely place in St. George, Utah, in a new development that was made for recreational renting.  The homes came in all sizes; Chris found one that would hold 30+ people and we rented it for 5 days.  It was a nine hour drive to get there from Star, Idaho.  Chris and Jessica, Ben and Jessica and babes stayed the night at our house to break up their drive from Seattle.  We all started out fairly early Monday morning.  

Seth and Angelica stayed home, as they were scheduled to fly home to Taiwan on Tuesday.  

We arrived in good time Monday afternoon.  But Ben and Jessica had car problems that limited their speed to about 30 mph going up hill and coasting faster downhill.  So they took longer to arrive, but they made it safely too.  Everyone was there by Monday evening.  It was a very nice place with lots of amenities.  We especially liked the air conditioning as St. George had temperatures over 100 degrees. But inside we were comfortable as can be.  Here's a snapshot of the house.

We spent time inside the house talking, playing games and using the large theater that was located upstairs.  That was lots of fun.  Here you can see just about all of us gathered in it for a group picture.

One of the games we played was a puzzle contest.  We divided into three teams and each had the same puzzle.  The first team to put the puzzle together was the winner.  I am not known for my puzzle skill, but, surprise, surprise, my team won!  Here are my teammates, Gemma, Reed, Jacqueline and Peyton.

We didn't do much outside in St. George, but several hikes took some of us to cooler spots.  There were pools to swim in too.  We spent Wednesday in Cedar City, attending a Renaissance Faire, and Tia's baptism (Ben and Jessica's number 7).  I've never been to a Renaissance Faire so I was looking forward to seeing what it was all about.  In Cedar City, this year, it was a bit underwhelming.  There were various booths in a local park that resembled Farmer's Markets held here in Star.  But it was fun.  Gemma and Abigail got henna tatoos.  Here's Gemma sporting hers.  It was done from one of her original drawings.

Probably the funnest part of the Faire was being caught in the rain.  A thunderstorm moved in and filled the park with heavy rain and hail.  It was exciting!  Fortunately we were able to take cover under a large gazebo.  So fun!  Here's Jessica and Gemma, in the gazebo just before the storm hit.

Our sweet Tia was baptized in her grandparents Ault's (Ben's Jessica's parents) ward building.  I got to give the baptism talk and her other grandma, Judy, gave the Holy Ghost talk.  It was so fun and she was such a sweet little doll.  I love those babes.

That night lots of us attended a Shakespearean play, A Comedy of Errors.  I wasn't especially looking forward to it, but decided to go anyhow.  It was held in a theater much like one Shakespeare's plays were performed in back in his day; open to the sky.  The problem was, it was still raining and thundering.  Much of our family were seated in the front seats, open to the sky.  But I sat with Audrey and Rayne, under the balcony, which provided a nice shield from the rain.  Here were are, waiting for the play to begin.  Yup, thats a blanket around us; the rain really cooled things down.

The performance was delayed, hoping for the rain to pause.  But it didn't.  Light raincoats were made available to the audience in the front seats.  The stage was out in the open, taking the rain in full force.  Here you can see the colorful stage and the raincoat clad audience.  It was actually quite fun and charming and the play hadn't even begun yet! 

Finally the play began, in the rain.  In between scenes, workers came out and wiped down the stage.  But by the end of the play the rain had stopped.  What a charming caper the story turned out to be.  You could catch the drift of the story even without the script.  Yet the script added such happy dimension and laughter to the whole mixed up story.  We all loved it!  I'm so glad I went.

Our Mongolian foster daughter, Brynn, her husband Roy and their two boys joined us for part of our reunion.  They blended right in and were embraced by all.  Nephew Mark and his daughter, Heather, also came by. What fun to have us all together.  Here's Brynn and Roy.

  

Our last day we drove to Cedar Breaks National Monument, near Cedar City.  It took us up 10,000 feet.  You can imagine that it was pretty cool up there and a nice break from the heat.  We started out on a trail that took us even higher.  I found it hard to breathe, felt light headed and a little dizzy.  So Layne came with me back to lower ground while the rest finished the hike.  The views were lovely.  Here is one I caught before returning.

Red rock country is hard to beat for beauty.  If I could choose my dirt, it would be red!  

Reunions are so much fun and so exhausting all at once.  With surplus amounts of food packed away, we began the drive home on Saturday.  Chris and Jessica joined us for an overnight that night and drove the rest of the way home on Sunday.  It was over.  All but the clean-up mess.  But, it was worth it.

Layne and I spent this past week cleaning the house and yard, eating all the leftovers, and washing all sorts of things.  But we were both so tired.  I would do a little and rest.  That was our whole week.  Maybe we are beginning to feel the limitations of age after all.  Bed looked like the best of all places to be this past week.

Seth and Angelica are in quarantine in Taipei beginning last week when they arrived, and into this.  By the end of the week they will be out and able to be with their family in Feng Yuan.  Two weeks is a long time to be locked up.  They tested negative for the virus before leaving so it is hard to understand why such isolation is necessary.  I'm a bit tired of the whole Co-Vid thing.  I want to live again.  Let's do.