Here We Are Together

50 years is a long time to be married. And out of it, came 5 children, 21 grandchildren, 1 great-grandchild, and a lot, a lot of memories.

It was a sacrifice, I know, for some to make the trek to Park City for my parents' 50th, but I hope it was worth it for all who came. It was for me. It breaks my heart to live away from my siblings and their spouses, and the nieces and nephews that I love to hold when they're little, and love to talk to and tease when they're older.

It's been a LONG time since we've been all together. 7 years in fact.

True, we were missing Trevor, who is currently serving his mission, and Jared who just started a new job, but other than that, we were all together. Even Jacob made it home from Iraq just in time. And Trevor wasn't really missing; Katrina and Daren made sure that we had a life size Trevor face for the family picture.

I can't even begin to summarize the 4 days we had together in Park City, except to say that it was wonderful!

The weather was lovely, and Park City was beautiful.

The skits/memory sharing from each family were great - sometimes funny, sometimes touching.

The slide show was a hit, especially with all of my Dad's funny expressions.

Each of us went home with a great personal history of my Mom and Dad.

The kids spent a lot of time together playing pool, playing game cube, painting toenails, relaxing in the the hot tub, talking, watching movies, and taking walks. The grown-ups spent a lot of time talking, laughing, rounding up kids, and preparing meals.

Joseph often asks me if I actually have cousins. With this trip, I was able to convince him that I have cousins, and aunts and uncles. And despite my grandma's health, she was able to come out as well.I thought everyone might protest when I asked each family to prepare a devotional, but they didn't. We had devotional in the morning following breakfast, and in the evening before heading for bed. I am SO glad that everyone agreed to do it! The devotionals were my favorite part - hearing everyone sing together, and the thoughts that were shared - it was incredible! Before packing up and leaving Friday morning, my Dad shared his thoughts with us, and then, as a family we sang Love is Spoken Here. It was powerful to sing that song, and look out at the faces of the people that I love so very much.I didn't want to leave. I wish that we all lived closer to each other. 4 days was just too short a time to pack in all that we had to say.