I went to a family reunion this weekend, from Friday afternoon to Saturday evening. We stayed on my grandpa's farm, sleeping in tents in a campground that he built in his orchard (actually my sister, her husband, and I chickened out about sleeping in the cold and we slept in on my aunt's living room floor.) But most everyone else camped out in the orchard.
When we arrived on Friday, everyone was getting ready to go swim and canoe in a nearby pond. We went down to the pond and relaxed,
(Jamison, Johnathan, Amy, and Mom)
(Jamison in the tree with Amy looking worried)
canoed,
(Amy and me)
(Chris smiling...it's a miracle!)
and played with my nephew, Johnathan.
After the pond, we went back to the pavilion and campground for dinner. I had a wonderful time chatting with my sister, Nicolle,
doing yoga with Dad,
and eating a delicious dinner. (I'll spare you pictures of the roast pig...my uncle is Tongan and he roasted a whole pig for our dinner that night!)
We stayed up talking about family history, telling stories, and singing songs that my mom sang to us when we were small. My grandma said that the songs were ones that her mother sang to her as a little girl and that they had been sung and passed down for generations, going back to when our family lived in Ireland.
The next morning we went on a small hike up to the freshwater spring that supplies my grandpa's farm with culinary water. The hike was not a difficult one, so most everyone came, even the babies.
Colette brought her walking stick.
But she exhausted herself pretty quickly.
Johnathan was carried up by several different people, at this point he was happy to be with his dad (with Teane carrying Colette in the background.)
We stopped for a break to look down on Grandpa's farm. You can always tell where his farm boundaries are, because his land is always so well taken care of. When you notice the straight lines and the green fields end, that's where the farm ends. (That's my grandpa on the left.)
While we were on the hike, we had an accident. Rob and Jamison (brother and brother-in-law) ran up the mountain face, while the rest of us went up to the spring. You can see them in the middle of the picture if you look closely. Once they got to the top, Jamison climbed up one of those large cliffs at the top of the picture (I think it was the pointy looking one on the right). He was about 30 feet up when his arms gave way and he fell.
Once we got the news, my sister, dad, uncles, and several of my cousins went up to see if they could help him. They thought he had broken his leg and foot, and maybe his arm. I went with the rest of the group back down to the truck to wait.
Jamison went into shock and they life-flighted him to the hospital. The group up with Jamison is right in the middle of the picture, near all the large rocks.
He ended up miraculously with only a broken femur. The break is quite serious and they say he will have problems with it for the rest of his life. We just can't believe that was the only injury (besides a lot of scrapes and bruises) he sustained. We are very grateful for that!
The reunion was a nice experience for me. As I grow older (and wiser, I suppose) I realize how important my family is. I am happy that I had the chance to go and spend time with everyone, during the fun and relaxing times as well as the stressful and scary times. I love my family and am grateful for the love they show for each other. Jamison, who married my sister and hasn't always been in the family, is loved and cared about as well as any of us and I am so happy to belong to such a wonderful group!
and Brett sleeping.
Claudio is the boy kitten, and he has exotic looking spots that make him seem like a little leopard or a cheetah. He was incredibly nervous and I could only get a picture of him sleeping.
They were sweet little cats, and it seemed even Claudio in his anxiety warmed up to me and Brett by the end of the night. He was following me around mewing at me as I was getting ready to leave!
We just got back from visiting Jackie and Joel in Chicago. It was so nice to see them and we had tons of fun. Jackie had to go to work everyday (she took one day off to spend with us, but the rest of the time she worked), and so did Brett. Since Brett works from a remote office he can access his computer anywhere that has an internet, so he was able to work every morning on his vacation. They live on the 32nd floor of a building in downtown Chicago and so Brett was able to work at a corner office while he was there.
The picture is of Joel not working, but it's the view Brett had. I never got a picture of Brett working because I was sleeping. The following is their building (on the left).
Working vacations don't sound appealing to me, even if they are in corner offices, and so I slept in every day. So did Joel, because he doesn't have a summer internship yet. He had a pretty intense year of grad school (with which I can totally sympathize) and so he's using his summer to recover. But our visit and my bossy-ness has motivated him (at least that's what I'd like to think) and today he sent out 5 or 6 resumes.
So all week long we brainstormed baby names. Since we (and I am including Brett and me in on the process) couldn't agree on a name, we started calling her Synthaerika. My choice for the baby was Kate, and I really hope (with an emphasis on me being mad if it doesn't happen) that they decide to name her Kate.
We always have so much fun hanging out with Jackie and Joel. The trip was a bitter-sweet reminder of how we can't hang out as often as we'd like. 
Jackie and I talk about living near each other after Brett and Joel are done with school, so we are struggling to figure a place where we can all be happy. And we thought agreeing on a baby's name was tough! So I went out to Chicago with the question "could I ever live here" in mind. And the answer is definitely. I loved it there. It didn't have quite the hustle and bustle of New York, but it still had the big city feel that Salt Lake really lacks. It felt like a family city to me. Brett says he refuses to live anywhere that has ice storms, but Jackie said the past winter wasn't any worse than a Utah winter. Well, we still have three or so years until Brett graduates, so we'll see where we end up.
to the top of the Sears tower, 
on an Architecture boat tour, 
to Illinois Institute of Technology, which is were Joel attends, 
and to the Shedd Aquarium. 
We ate a lot of good pizza and pub food. The weather was very nice the whole week we were there, although once we were walking through Millennium Park and the weather changed rapidly from sunny to hailing. 
And then back to sunny again when it was time to go home.
(Jamison in the tree with Amy looking worried)
(Amy and me)
(Chris smiling...it's a miracle!)
doing yoga with Dad,
and eating a delicious dinner. (I'll spare you pictures of the roast pig...my uncle is Tongan and he roasted a whole pig for our dinner that night!)
But she exhausted herself pretty quickly.
Johnathan was carried up by several different people, at this point he was happy to be with his dad (with Teane carrying Colette in the background.)
We stopped for a break to look down on Grandpa's farm. You can always tell where his farm boundaries are, because his land is always so well taken care of. When you notice the straight lines and the green fields end, that's where the farm ends. (That's my grandpa on the left.)
While we were on the hike, we had an accident. Rob and Jamison (brother and brother-in-law) ran up the mountain face, while the rest of us went up to the spring. You can see them in the middle of the picture if you look closely. Once they got to the top, Jamison climbed up one of those large cliffs at the top of the picture (I think it was the pointy looking one on the right). He was about 30 feet up when his arms gave way and he fell. 
Once we got the news, my sister, dad, uncles, and several of my cousins went up to see if they could help him. They thought he had broken his leg and foot, and maybe his arm. I went with the rest of the group back down to the truck to wait.
Jamison went into shock and they life-flighted him to the hospital. The group up with Jamison is right in the middle of the picture, near all the large rocks. 
He ended up miraculously with only a broken femur. The break is quite serious and they say he will have problems with it for the rest of his life. We just can't believe that was the only injury (besides a lot of scrapes and bruises) he sustained. We are very grateful for that! 
