Family Reunion Weekend

This last weekend was my family reunion and I will briefly tell you about my experiences.
Friday, I met up with Mom and Dad and drove with them, as well as Grandma Hope. Andrew and I sat in the back and had a great time. We got to the big house/old chuch place early and the Tuft's and Juett's were already there. I can't remember what we did that evening, but Saturday morning we got an early start at the reservoir. The Tufts rented two jet ski's and I even took a turn on them. I admit that it was a little nerve-wracking and I didn't take another turn. I noticed that all the young adult cousins were drawn to the ski's and were taking numerous rides - including Andrew. I just hung out at the other end of side of the water, near our reserved bowry. I just swam in the cold water by myself all morning - then David and Sheila showed up and they swam with me. Soon, more of the family showed up and more were playing in the water, besides hanging out in the bowry or riding the ski's. I kept on slathering sunblock on my face and arms and neck, but I did end up with a partial sun burn on the right side of my neck - and my hair part got burned and it's still pink and tender even today. Oh, well, it could have been worse! (You should have seen Lani's legs or Mikayla's back!) After a long day, we were all tired and later some were a little sick. I think dehydration was a problem for many - including myself. (It also could have been the chili in the American taco salad we had for dinner).

Sunday, after breakfast we had a devotional. I was asked to give a short talk, 5 min, about Charity. Gentree was also asked to speak. Right before Blaine, who was leading the meeting, shared his testimony and I was on the verge of tears - so when I got up I had a hard time speaking for a bit. I finally got my composure and shared my thoughts and stories. Hopefully the Spirit was felt. I tried to gear my talk to all ages, so I found some stories from a talk in the Friend that were great with my topic. The talk was about loving friends and it was from 1974 - still applicable! The one story I was most looking for was the one about he the little girl who needs a blood transfusion and they ask the brother to help out. He says yes and soon afterwards he asks when he die. He thought that giving his blood would kill him, and he willingly gave it to his sister. Isn't that a sweet story? Who knows if it's real or not. After my talk, the four singing aunts sang a nice hymn and then Gentree spoke about the Atonement and perfection. It was great. After the devotional, we all got in our cars and took a drive to see some petroglyph's and pictographs in the rocks - those were pretty cool. Then we went to the viewpoint for the "little grand canyon". It was a little scary because there was no railing or anything. I almost tripped once and got myself all nervous that I could have fallen off the side or something. (hehe) Well, I'm glad to report that no problems were had. Later, after dinner, some watched movies on the big screen t.v., some played volleyball. I did a little of both. Then, they started a fire and we made s'mores. Well, you can imagine what happened next. Yep, the traditional marshmallow fight. I heard Jocelyn mention earlier that she had bought a few extra bags for just this reason - it was way fun. It is too bad that we did start it before everyone had a chance to make a s'more - like Mom. That's ok.

Monday morning, everyone got all packed up and started leaving. Some stayed to play on some four-wheelers - but we had to get Grandma home. It was a good reunion and I'm glad I was able to go.
So, back to my normal humdrum life. I have worked both in the county and city more than once already this week and I had two job shifts tomorrow. Phew! I hope I can get through this week!