The Relatives Came

The title of this post is also the title of a great book by Cynthia Rylant. If you've ever been to a family reunion, you should read it. This last week, we hosted a reunion and it was at least as wonderful as the book.

By Tuesday at midnight, Mom, Dad, Ang, Keith, Jordan, James, Shanae, Kobe, Kort, Dick, Britt, Aaron, Emery and Bryan had all arrived in Kansas for the PReunion. The next morning we fed them cereal and headed off to Adam Ondi Ahman



and Far West, Missouri. Along the way we visited, read church history, watched Bryan scale the roof of a picnic shelter, ate lunch, took pictures


and kissed babies. When we got home we fed people a chicken salad bar and took the people who could stand it to Willa's dance recital. She was definitely the cutest one, as you can see.

Keith was kind enough to take the rowdies to the pool at the same time. After the kids went to bed, just as our brains were completely fried into mush, we played a long-ish game of Mental Floss with those who were still awake and not out getting a burger to augment the measly salad we had for dinner.

Thursday we had a great time seeing Liberty Jail and some of the sights in Independence, Missouri. We decided to do some of the things there we hadn't seen and especially enjoyed Harry Truman's house and the soda fountain he worked in as a teenager. The Community of Christ temple was also interesting. I liked seeing the similarities that remain from our common ancestry as well as the differences that came after their church split from the main LDS church. That evening even more people arrived (Matt, Amy, Miles, Doug, Tracy, Anna, Eli) and we ate a fabulous barbeque dinner we brought home from KC Masterpiece. As a preunion finale we had a stuffed-house sleepover, which worked great in this house. We gave each family a bedroom and all 22 of us fit fine.

The next day the official reunion began as Karen, Michael, Vincent, Steve and Deb all arrived. The best part was the visiting and the fun talent show we had after Alan's fab fajitas. We still can't decide whether the best act was Emery Teresa, the tummy rolling by Aaron and Wyatt, the bike by Kobe, the t-ball demo by Kort, the Thriller dance by Britt and my twins, Shanae's or Willa's dances, the piano performances by Anna, Jordan, James, Mariah, Eliza, or Karen, songs by Kobe, Amy and Karen or the cello performance by Michael. We still wish Bryan would have been there to show us his slack line skills, because he is amazing. It is like a tight-rope he stretched between two of my trees and he can walk it with ease.

Probably my favorite memory of the reunion was kissing Willa, Anna and Shanae goodnight as they were lined up sideways on Willa's bed like three sweet little sausages that night.

Saturday we met at the Holiday Inn everyone had migrated to for breakfast and took the kids for a windy warm swim while the brothers Wim left for their bike ride to the Plaza. Several of us met the bikers at Alan's work and got a fun view into what he does all day. When we got home we were pretty much starved and I was pleased how easy it was to just throw a bunch of sandwich makings on the island and tell people to have at it. That afternoon was perfect for a nap for many of us. It got us all ready for our adult-only dinner at Brio and short walk on the plaza as the sun set. The kids did great tending themselves at a Pizza and Mulan party.

By Sunday things were winding down. We had some early-leavers, some church-goers and some nappers, and had hugged all of them goodbye before 4. Wyatt cried that the reunion was supposed to last much longer. In some ways I agreed with him--it's just never long enough when we get to see family. But I don't know that I have the energy to keep up with that kind of lifestyle forever. Thanks so much to all of you who came and who made it such an easy, fun event to host. We love you!