JFFR 2010

Every summer when my family gets together we have a family meeting. Among other things, we decide when and where the next reunion will be and who will be in charge. Last summer Matt and I were living in Moses Lake when we had the family meeting. We had no immediate plans of moving and were, therefore, excited to be voted in as the reunion planners for 2010. And the reunion was to be held in Washington for our convenience.

And that's exactly how life works, isn't it?

After we moved across the country, there was some discussion about changing the site, date, and/or planners of the reunion. That's when we learned that it's virtually impossible to change the plans of 11 individual families once all of our calendars and summer plans had been put in place.

So we got creative.

A big thanks to my Dad and my sisters, Ashley and Cassidy for making the 84 total hours of driving from Johnstown, PA to Cle Elum, WA and back again with me and my four noisy children.



Matt didn't have the time to do all that driving. He flew directly to Seattle and was there for the actual reunion and then flew back home for work.


I'm glad we got to drive across the country, though. I like my kids to know what the different regions of the country look like. We saw the rolling, tree covered mountains of the east. We saw the flat farmland of the midwest. We saw the dramatic and gorgeous red rocks of Wyoming and the tall snow capped mountains in Utah. We saw the sage brush covered desert of Idaho and some pretty dramatic mountains and evergreens in Oregon. We travelled through 11 states in all and we slept atleast one night in each of the four time zones of the continental United States. We were more than a little weary when we finally made it to Cle Elum, Washington, home of Ensign Ranch, a church ranch run by the LDS church for girls camps, youth conferences, and the odd family reunion.Our reunion fell in an unfortunate window of time. My brother, Derek, had just left on his mission a couple of weeks before and my sister, Whitney, would return only a couple of weeks after the reunion. My parents were missing three kids in all (my brother Dillon was at Aaronic Priesthood Camp). It's still a pretty hefty group, don't ya think?





Ensign Ranch has a lot to offer. Canoeing, Hiking, Horseback Riding and a Giant Water Slide, Running Trails and All the sports equipment you can imagine, to name a few.

And what church camp is complete without handcart rides?


A lot of our fun was the homemade kind. We stayed in a nice big lodge with 7 bedrooms and a huge industrial kitchen. It also had a big main room where we had meetings and activities. There was a dance-off...
If I liked you better I might post pictures of myself dancing. I think these of my parents are sufficiently humiliating.





We also had a talent show...

We also had more serious meetings. We had a family history meeting, a testimony meeting and a missionary meeting...
That's all the kids wearing their parents' missionary nametags.

Of course we took family pictures, too. This year I wasn't the family photographer! Ashley took all of the pictures at this reunion and did a great job! Thanks, Ash!


Overall, it was a long trip and a lot of sacrifice. But it was worth it. My kids had a blast with their cousins and Matt and I loved being reunited with some of our best friends in the whole world. We love our family! Thanks for the fun time guys!

Only a Dad

This is my favorite picture of Matt. As you can tell, I did something to it and I don't think I even still have the original negatives. It is scrapbooked alongside my very favorite poem about Fathers. The pictures below are more recent evidences of Matt's wonderful fathering. I'm so grateful to have him! My kids and I are very lucky.

Oh, and here's that poem:

Only a Dad

Only a dad with a tired face,

Coming home from the daily race,

Bringing little of gold or fame

To show how well he has played the game;

But glad in his heart that his own rejoice

To see him come and to hear his voice.

Only a dad with a brood of four,

One of ten thousand men or more

Plodding along in the daily strife,

Bearing the whips and the scorns of life,

With never a whimper of pain or hate,

For the sake of those who at home await.

Only a dad, neither rich nor proud,

Merely one of the surging crowd,

Toiling, striving from day to day,

Facing whatever may come his way,

Silent whenever the harsh condemn,

And bearing it all for the love of them.

Only a dad but he gives his all,

To smooth the way for his children small,

Doing with courage stern and grim

The deeds that his father did for him.

This is the line that for him I pen:

Only a dad, but the best of men.

--Edgar A. Guest

We are so glad to be back home with our Daddy. We survived the long trip across the country. I'll catch up later with lots of photos!

May Catch-Up

I sure do love Heather, but now it's time to catch up on all the things I didn't tell you during May. First of all, Jack turned four. We took M&M cupcakes and balloons to share at preschool. He was very popular that day.

Most of the month of May was devoted to soccer. Merrody and Joel both played and loved it!

This is what Joel looks like after he makes a goal...

Merrody loved being goalee.

Norah's favorite part was running onto the field during the game and giggling while her Mom chased behind her.

We had fun visists from the Curtises (friends from Morgantown) and my sister, Bethany's family.

It's been a pretty busy month. School is over in two days and then my sister Ashley is coming to drive across the country with me and my kids! It should be wild! I'll check back in towards the end of June!