I attended 2 years of Ricks College and loved just about every moment. There were some moments at 7:00 a.m. when it was dark and very, very cold that I didn't love it but then I would turn off my alarm, curl up in my fuzzy blanket and by 10:00 a.m., I loved it again. When I left though, I thought I had said good-bye forever. I couldn't fathom why I would ever be back.
Apparently my imagination just wasn't big enough.
Several years later I would be headed back to Idaho to meet Chris' family. And I have to say I fell in love all over again. I am very, very lucky that I married into this family. They are amazing people that never fail to make me feel loved...and very happy.
This last month we all gathered together to celebrate the beginning of this family that happened 50 years ago. And gathering this family is no small feat...there are 9 children, 8 spouses, one boyfriend, and lots of grandchildren. One of the grandchildren was 4 weeks old, one sister-in-law had a C-section 4 weeks ago, another sister-in-law flew in from Guatemala, and we desperately missed our 5 missionary boys! (They are spread to the 4 corners...Phillipines, Japan, Romania, California, and soon to be France.)
The family reunion began with a beautiful garden reception. My amazing sister assisted in much of the planning and all of the catering. It was elegant, delicious, and exquisitely lovely! The colors were yellow & white with a healthy sprinkling of yellow & white daisies...all memories from a wedding reception 50 years ago.
All the relatives came...even the really strange ones!
One of my uber talented sister-in-laws whipped up 2 beautiful yellow silk dresses for the 2 youngest girls...those dresses made them feel fancy and beautiful all night long!
Oh how I love that face!
The "big" girls all wore white dresses with yellow sashes. Oh how I adore these nieces of mine! They are the most beautiful, fun, creative, strong young women I know. I love each of them dearly.
I love their individual personalities and imaginations!
My nephews are equally handsome,charming, adventurous and creative. And believe it or not, nobody posed them for these pictures. I simply asked if I could take their picture and this is what I got! Aren't they clever?
It was the perfect way to begin a family celebration!
The next day, the whole family gathered again to eat lots of leftovers and to witness the blessing of my newest nephew.
Monday morning, the family took off for the next portion of the family reunion...the part that involved climbing, hiking, swimming, swinging, lounging, eating, and playing. We drove to an amazing place in Utah and began a non-stop, fun filled, no sleep 4 days of adventure!
Here is hoping for 50 more years of this kind of happy!
Thank you for an amazing week! Let's do it again real soon...
10 comments:
Look at all that HAPPY! That kind of family fun is just heaven on earth. What an amazing family you married into! You lucky girl. I love the pictures of you in the hammock. I love to see you relaxing after all of the busy running around doing things for your family. You deserve more moments like those. I feel so happy inside just having seen these happy pictures. Thanks!
The good times never STOP with you girl!! Love all your happy.
And love the yellow lemonade in the precious glass dispenser and daisy cake.. possibly more than my own offspring. (Is it wrong to love darling, inantimate objects so dearly??)
It looks truly amazing! Love the beatiful pictures of beautiful people! That little girl of yours makes my heart skip a beat she is so darling!
I booked our reunion at the same place for next summer! I must have more details :)!
That picture of the boys on the swingset is so cool. I can't believe it wasn't posed! We LOVED staying with you. Andrew keeps saying and doing things that I don't recall hearing before and when I ask where he learned that, it's always the same: my cousins. I don't know if I told you the day before we left Andrew said, "Wouldn't it be great if we lived in Utah, Mom!" When I asked why it would be so great, he said it was so he could see his cousins any time he wanted! We have a thank you card and a happy little care package on the way to our favorite family of five in AF, Utah sometime later this week.
SO beautiful and happy! Lucky, girl. Aren't great in-laws such a blessing?! (And such adorable children never hurt.)
Heaven Heaven Heaven!! I love the amazing statistics of that couple and their children...I am grateful for the one they raised too, because he is so delightful and I am so happy that my sister married him. What a fun time...oh, I love family reunions and yummy food, games and matching t shirts!! And I LOVE the white dresses and sashes.
How blessed you are to marry into such a wonderful family! What a happy happy time! Let's aim for a similar celebration in oh, let's say about 9 years from now! Save all those great ideas!
Amy, you have no idea the giant sigh of relief we all heaved when you joined our family. You have added so much. We all love you and are grateful for your patience with us.
This is such a great post with amazing pictures, and poetic commentary. I made a walmart.com photo book for our parents with the pictures I took, but now I want to delete it all and just copy your post. Is that legal?
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