utah - verl garrett family reunion

friday night we stayed in park city with uncle leo and aunt bonnie (who are really my mom's aunt and uncle).  it was wonderful to sleep in their cool basement cuddled up in blankets instead of roasting in our bed back in california.

saturday was the big verl garrett family reunion with my grandpa's siblings and their families.  grandpa hasn't had very good health the last few years and hasn't wanted to get out too much so it was great to see him come down to syracuse from logan.  all of my mom's siblings, except uncle jeff and aunt julie, were there with several of their kids.  it was was fun to see so many people we don't see too often any more.

aunt shirley brought a game we did way back at family reunions when i was a little kid.  she filled a swimming pool with sawdust and then dropped in a roll of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, plus a few half dollars.  the younger kids took turns trying to find as much money as they could.

 caitlin and ashlee found quite a lot (with beth's help) and ashlee said they'd have a party and take me out for ice cream, but i'd have to come to their house....and i could come to their house any time.  

thanks, ash.

cody's favorite friend was my uncle brad (who we stayed with on our oregon trip in may).  he could be crying and crying and the second uncle brad picked him up he'd be happy as can be.  uncle brad and some of his kids, samuel, thomas, and sarah, were so nice to follow cody all over the yard and keep him out of the water while i got to chat with cousins.

uncle dean, who hosted the event, had two bounce houses set up.  one was a water toy and the other a regular bounce house.  the wet toy was a little too crazy with older kids playing, but cody loved going down the slide on the dry one. 

we caught a couple of quick pictures with grandma and grandpa before they left.

classic four generation picture

i'm so grateful i could see so much of my bishop and garrett families and they could finally meet cody.  knowing we could end up anywhere next year for residency, it was especially nice to be able to spend some time with family i don't see too often.