Every year, my dad, his siblings, and their descendants get together for a reunion on the ranch where they grew up. I look forward to it so much. It grounds me and reminds me of where and who I come from. I'm grateful my children have been able to go almost every year of their lives. They know these aunts and uncles that are so important to me. Most of all, they know how important I think family is. Tiffani usually goes too. My brothers seldom go.
I love my dad.
It's a looong drive from Provo, Utah, to Mancos, Colorado - just over 5 hours.
My kids make fun of me because I get emotional once we hit the red rocks of Southern Utah.
We stopped in Moab for lunch. We found a place surrounded by food trucks, so we were all able to get what we wanted.
I introduced my kids to Sangria. They liked it!
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The ranch is across the street from beautiful Mesa Verde. It's not fancy, but it fills my heart.
I didn't get any pictures of the Verbo, but Tiff and Cameron met us at a Verbo we rented above Dolores. It was further away than we had expected, but it was just what we needed and the price was right. It was nice to all stay in the same place instead of in different hotel rooms.
My cousin Cody made me these cool dragon figurines. They light up. I love them. And him.
I love these people so much. Most of them are a huge part of my childhood.
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| Grandad, Lyman, Jean, Preston, Misty |
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Me, Bill, Julie, Mikki, Morgan, and Tazie
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| Saige and Kelby |
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| Hal, Kerri, Sherry, Joshua, Brycen |
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| Kay & Tiffani |
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| Brittany, Stacee, Brayden, and Cameron |
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| Alicia, Jean, Lyman, and Mom |
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| Mark and Gary |
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| Justin and me |
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| Bunch of grands |
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| How adorable is this little girl in her chaps?! |
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| Dennis, Tyler, and me |
Titan was quite the hit with the little girls.
Jalen likes him too.
We love the Antique Corral in Cortez. It's incredible. You can find things that are out of this world.
They also have a wonderful café.
That night Justine and her kids made us Navajo tacos. So amazing!!!
Bayles kids are dang cute.
Even the old geezers (who are younger than me) are good looking.
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| Shawn and Kelly |
Baylie and Jalen love to explore without boundaries - something there aren't many places you can do that anymore.
Baylie took pictures of Jalen "frolicking."
Not sure what he's doing here.
Wide open spaces.
More puppy love.
They went and explored the cedars with Grandad.
Sagebrush - something I only see on the ranch these days.
They found lots of shards of glass. Aunt Mikki and Grandad think they're probably remnants of Granny's dishes and bottles that exploded when the ranch house burned down.
My favorite part of the reunion is the testimony meeting. My family comes in all shades and stages, but our love for each other is unconditional. My testimony has been formed by the examples of my dad and his siblings. I love hearing them bear their testimonies. It is a blessing that they are all still with us.
We remembered and then forgot that Saturday was Grammy and Grandad's 58th wedding anniversary. We stopped to eat lunch before heading home in order to celebrate together.
There's a rest stop outside Moab where we like to stop and climb a little. We didn't have much time. Jalen wanted to climb Wilson's Arch, but we were too tired. One day, I need to take my kids to do that and also see Dead Horse Point. They saw Newspaper Rock when they were little, but we need to do that again because I doubt they remember it.
We knew the flights were bad heading home the next day, but it looked like it would only get worse so we went for it anyway.
We were excited to see that Brad Wilcox was on our flight (that we got bumped off of). He is in the General Young Men's Presidency and is in Grammy's and Grandad's ward. He is a good man.
He interviewed the kids about their experience at FSY. The videos were to long to post, so I'll link to them in YouTube.
We got bumped off of several flights so I took the kids to Café Rio for some lunch.
In the end, we decided to try for Houston just so we could get out of SLC. We knew we wouldn't make it to Columbia, but we thought maybe we could make it to Charlotte. I can't remember if these pictures were in SLC or Houston. We spent a lot of time in airports.
At one point we missed every chance to go to South Carolina and had to spend the night in Houston. George Bush Intercontinental Airport used to be such a great airport. I spent a ton of time there. It is a hot mess now. There is tons of construction and the signage is awful. The shuttles are picked up in a garage between terminals. It's very confusing and uncomfortable. We waited way too long for a shuttle to a Holiday Inn. The hotel was awful and we ended up getting double billed for the room. I'm still trying to get reimbursed.
The next morning, we got up early only to get bumped. I should have let the kids sleep in. They were so tired. We learned that my sweet friend Sandy Rodriguez was also at the airport. (We should have spent the night at her house!) I was so happy to see her. She is one of the sweetest people I know.
We went to get some Blue Bell ice cream - because, Texas.
A few hours later, Baylie was able to get on a flight to Charlotte. They had a seat for Jalen, but since I wasn't flying, he was an unaccompanied minor and they didn't have the paperwork for that so they didn't let him board. Jalen and I spent all day and got bumped off several flights. It was a long day.
The only good part was spending time with Sandy.
Finally, after hours and hours, we made a flight to Greenville that had 65 open seats!
Baylie and David had hung out all day and went to a movie while they waited for us. We were so grateful to finally all be home.
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