Got Chips?

Oh please?
Can I haz sum?

Just one... please!

Oh thank you..
See? That wasn't so hard?

Yeah, enough already!

Family Reunion: Picture time...

How to document such a thing?

A Family Reunion is like...a box of chocolates....
Wait no.. it's like stubbing your toe in the dark...
Wait... it's like a giant hen house of cackling hens with the baby chicks running everywhere...
Or.. more like a zoo? The mess? The monkeys? The FUN!
Heaven... or Hell? Sometimes a little of both.

I come from one of THOSE kinds of families. The really big kind.

Please meet my big fat Mormon Family. 65+cousins on my mom's side alone... Those 65+ cousins are nearly all grown and have children of their own.. how many you ask?? We lose count at 175+? Some of those cousins already have grand-kids. In fact I am a great aunt 3x over!

We get together every other year, rotating through my mother's siblings like a roulette wheel. This past summer my mom was the 'host'. This means everyone was invited back to our homestead in Eastern Utah... where 4Wheelin' is King and staying dry while river rafting is NOT an option!


Who might you find at this big fat Mormon reunion?

A Dad with his baby... (OMGosh you did NOT just say THAT!)

A Grandma...(contemplating the dishes for that many..again!)

A Great-Grandma—My Dad's Mom, My Dad's grand-daughter (and my daughter).

And a Happy Couple along with cousins teaching each other how to create earth shattering ARMpit Farts!

And one more for good measure...


It was pointed out to me recently that I'm not in any of the pictures from our recent trip to Utah? Um.. does anyone else have this problem? Where it appears that the whole family went on vacation and LEFT MOM HOME???

---

Next week.. the anniversary trip.. and I promise I AM in some of the pictures!

A Twofer Cuz I'm humbled

I was all set to write up this great (and snarky) post about how my parents came to visit over the weekend. They got in town just after New Year's and they brought my little old grandma, who is pushing 90. She has early onset Alzheimer's Disease and she hasn't fully adjusted to not living on her own. And while her short term memory is non-existent, she can recall with full clarity and even annoyity (forgive my fake word) the smallest details about a trip they all took down the California coast 30+ years ago!

(4 generations)

I was going to write how my parents have raised 10 kids with a few extras sprinkled in for good measure. And they have really never lived alone empty nest style more than about 6 months at a time. A sibling (along with their kids and/or spouse) moves back in while waiting for a house to get built, or while waiting for a divorce to finalize or while some other part of their good & crazy life gets settled. And now they have my grandma living with them who is little more than a kid. Complete with the fact that she goes to daycare during the day!

I was going to write how my parents traveled over 10 hours to visit us for only a few days so they could support my 8yrold who was getting baptized. How the weather get's scary in this part of the country and the roads...ahem... aren't always cleared very quickly.. (grrr).

I was going to write a thank you to my parents for all they have done for me and are still willing to do.... (And I'll still get to that.)

But instead...

I'm writing a giant thank you to Jay over at Half Time Lessons.

(And to Deb from Dirty Socks and Pizza)

A Jay and Deb Production.

I'm not even sure why? Why would he chose to be a woman if he could? Why he compared Jyl and I and Mom It Forward to Mother Theresa... Or was it Jenny McCarthy??

#GNO started because I was lonely. And I selfishly figured if I taught a couple online friends the Twitter ropes on a Tuesday night in September '08, I would get some more social fulfillment... And I did. Boy did I ever and MORE! #GNO-- where everybody knows your na-a-ame....

Wow, it's amazing to see the stories and willingness unfold from so many women through #GNO (and men...yes you... Jay and Chris and Steve). And humbling. Even surprising that there are so many people who 'get' the Mom It Forward vision. Can we help each other while strengthening ourselves and our families and our communities... Yes We Can! (thanks Bob). And Thanks Jay. I plan to visit you in YOUR community and Mom It Forward... Don't be scared I'll give you warning first!

A letter from my mom...

It turns out I'm not the only one living with a Four Year Old...
I'm reprinting a paragraph from an email my mom just sent me. It had me laughing and wincing at the same time. It's about my grandmother, my father's mother who has recently moved in with my parents...

I so want to get over there before snow flies but with Gma and all - it's going to be difficult. As far as that goes - I doubt she will be with us for very long???? She is very unhappy - doesn't want to be with us, doesn't want to be in Utah, if we can leave her most of the day by herself-why can't she live alone!!!--Just a few of her complaints. We do have a niece coming over for a few hours every morning and I go home for lunch and fix her something to eat and call a couple of other times of the day. I have found out that if I just fix her something to eat and tell her to come and eat - she will do it. If I ask her if she is hungry or wants something to eat - she refuses. She has gone a couple of days without eating but my doctor assures me that that is okay - don't worry about it. When she is hungry - she will eat. We have tried to make her comfortable in one of the rooms upstairs and she does seem to navigate the stairs quite well (we installed another handrail) but last night she refused to go up to bed and sat up on the couch all night dozing on and off. She wants to use the phone to call someone to come and get her and it is useless to tell her that they would be in trouble with the court if they did. We have allowed her access to the phone all she wants but we have to take it into our room at night to keep her from calling ALL NIGHT LONG!! Over Labor Day weekend she wanted to call an attorney and if they aren't in their office - she wants to call them at home!! She has been appointed an attorney and the attorney called her last Thursday and talked to her about an hour - and Gma has no memory of even talking to her! This is so much harder than I thought it would be! She swore to make our lives a living hell - and I now believe she can do it! Oh Yes, she has run away twice!!! Enough about her.