Dennis Family Reunion

Family Reunion #2 for the summer was at Bear Lake with the Dennis side of the family. It was great! Mom Dennis planned the whole thing and made all the food. We enjoyed ourselves immensely. There was relaxing and bonding and a really good balance of structured activities and free time. 

We survived the hardest part first: family pictures. Actually, it was nearly painless. But I think there's some generational trauma from when the kids were growing up and everyone would complain so hard about getting dressed up and taking photos. Julie feels bad for putting people through it, but the pictures turned out great. And I didn't hear any complaints! I think it helps that in our modern era we are posing for a photo every other moment from the day we are born. Don't look too closely at our family photo because you'll be seeing it again on your yearly Christmas card.  

Scotty is finally catching up to Annie!

We had a day on the lake and rented a jet ski which was so fun! I surprised by how much I loved driving it. So much power. So much speed. Nobody was flung out to sea on my watch. Aaron was a less careful driver. Aaron's brother and sister-in-law also brought their boat, so Annie and Scotty got to try wake-boarding. They both had fun; Scotty thought it was the coolest thing ever. It was really nice to escape the heat of Texas and enjoy the lovely, lovely weather up there. And the lake is impossibly blue. So pretty!

Lake hair coolness photo-bombed by your enthusiastic sister

Other activities included ping pong, badminton, games, puzzles, family sharing time, raspberry shakes, kitchen duty, and s'mores. John and Julie prepped a bunch of family history stories and brought posters with pictures of ancestors. They let the kids choose which ancestor to learn about. The kids loved listening! Adults loved it, too, but I was surprised by how it captured the kids' attention. I think kids like learning where they came from. John shared the story his mom wrote about when he was born. The story really struck me because his birth (6th child) was the first time she was aware of what was happening and not drugged and out of it. That was what they routinely did for birthing mothers in her day. She was really excited to be able to feel and fully experience a natural birth. I could relate because when I had Annie via C-section, I felt robbed of something really important. The Lord has since redeemed that experience for me, but it was really hard! So I knew how John's mom felt. And I was cheering for her in finally getting to fully experience a birth. It makes me think of other hard things in my life. Looking back, I wouldn't want those things taken away from me because experiencing them taught me so much. (Side note: This is not me casting shade on any mother who chooses to have an epidural or other pain relief during labor. Go for that if it's what you want! John's mom didn't want it and felt forced into having it with other births. Yay for women being able to make choices in how they birth their children!)

Behold the Cup Holder of Awesome! John and Julie designed and made this. Worked great! They could start a side hustle selling them.

The talent show was fun. Scotty played a recorder piece, and it wasn't squeaky at all! He played My Shepherd Will Supply My Need. He's got skills! Annie sang Taylor, the Latte Boy and totally nailed it. So funny! There was more singing and an original song by John that included a mention of every member of the family. And other adorable offerings by the young'uns. And Alan did an epic juggling/comedy routine. Fun times!

On the last full day of the reunion, I snuck down to Taylorsville to go to my niece's wedding. It was a lot of driving. I listened to the new Emma M. Lion audiobooks on the way. Delightful! Did we expect anything less? It was nice to see my McCombs and Sandberg peeps. 

After the reunion, we hung out in Utah county for a couple of days. Had a picnic, toured BYU campus, and celebrated Felicia's birthday with her. It's kind of fun because she was here in Texas during my birthday and I was in Utah for hers. We hiked in Bountiful and flew home on Monday. 

There are lots of new buildings on campus, but the main thing that made me realize time had passed was how much the trees had grown! I have been away from BYU long enough now to get nostalgic about it. 

Remember this guy?? It's Massasoit. There's a statue of him on campus. For a minute there, Family Search was telling my kids that they were direct descendants of Massasoit! The veracity of this was called into question by certain parties in our household. It could be a bug in their system. But Scotty got a selfie with his (maybe) grandpa, just in case.

I gave Felicia The Q for her birthday. I am a Beth Brower super fan!

Hiking! Turns out it can be hot in Utah, too.

We're grateful for our awesome families!