Five Generations!!!

I loved our family reunion!! I had a great time with all of our family and to have that many generations all together at the same time, what a blessing. I hope that everyone else enjoyed their time together. I hope that you enjoy a few pictures from the reunion. It will be fun to get the picture CD. Thanks in advance, Emily.

Some of our family went out on our inflatable raft and paddled around Spring Lake where we spent the better part of the Saturday of the reunion. As you can see the geese were not intimidated by the kids or the boat.
Other family members swam or rented peddle boats they used for an hour.









I loved our talent show. The talents of this family far exceeded my expectations. It was absolutely wonderful. Thank you all for sharing. When I have pictures of some of the performances, I will put them here too.

A few of us who were still here on Tuesday went up to the resort where the Texas family stayed to spend their last evening here with them. We had a fabulous dinner of BBQ pork rib steaks, watermelon & cantaloupe, Broccoli Salad, Chips, and Soda. We had ice cream for dessert. Christy did the BBQing and it was delicious!! It was really hot so some of us took advantage of the swimming pool and spa. Then some of us played the “Rock Band” video game complete with drums, guitars, and vocals. Richard and I had a great time watching everyone but forgot to take pictures. Darn that would have been good. Then Christy got out her Kareoke (sp?) machine and Emily, Christy and I tried it. It is much harder than it looks. But it was fun. Ari and her son Dustin and Beth’s friend Erika were also there.













The really hot, triple digit weather waited till the reunion was over which was a great blessing for all of us. We had 5 days of it which is unusual for Santa Rosa/ Sonoma County. To escape the heat and avoid cooking, Richard and I went to a movie last Saturday. We saw Indiana Jones and the Crystal skull. We loved it! It was a crazy, unrealistic, fantasy that was humorous, filled with action and suspense, and highly entertaining. Then we used our gift card and enjoyed a meal at Olive Garden. It was a great day!

This week is back to normal and work. Richard got a new crown in his mouth yesterday, and we’ve been breathing in ashes and smoke the last few days from all the fires burning in northern California. The Air is horrible…worse than LA they say. I’m so grateful that all that came after our reunion and not before.

Memorial Day Week!!

The Saturday before Memorial day we had a super surprise...Chris and Emily had flown to Utah to attend Emily's sisters wedding . That we knew but what we didn't know was that Jeff and Rachelle were driving to Santa Rosa with her grandparents to attend her sister, Becca's, Graduation from High School. They had it all arranged and traded apartments so each of them were the others house sitters. They popped in at our house Saturday night about 9:30 really surprising us. What a great surprise, just like when the Philpotts surprised us on Christmas eve. I love family surprises. Here are some photos from our week.

There is an annual breakfast at Armstrong Grove starting at 8 AM every Memorial Day that we went to last year and loved so we went again. It started with the Dunfords and some of their friends from their ward and has grown. Here is a picture where we are playing "Butt Man" after eating Pancakes, eggs and fruit. Richard is at the back then there is Rachelle, Jeff, Becca, and Cazra (Rachelle's sister-in-law)

Cindy Dunford was keeping her granddaughter, Ava, occupied for a while. Ava was having a great time playing with Grandma's hair.

After Breakfast we all took the hike through the beautiful redwoods to the Amphitheater where they played red light/green light on the benches. That is a Dunford and friends family tradition. I missed out last year due to my broken ankle. How grateful I was to be able to take the beautiful walk this year! On the way back we noticed this enormous redwood tree that had fallen over some time this past year and shed some of it's bark when it landed. You can see how huge it is by the size of Richard next to it. It was quite a sight!

When Jeff and his brothers were little, we took a trip to the redwoods and we have a picture of the 3 of them in this tree. I wanted to get a picture of him there now as an adult and then add his beautiful wife too. Some day we'll get pictures of "Their" children in this tree to complete the cycle!!

Tuesday night, Richard left work early and we took a mid-week trip to the temple. That is something I think we have only done once before in all the years we have been married. It was a good idea and we really enjoyed the fewer people being there as compared to the weekends.
We are going to plan on doing that again.

Tuesday morning, Jeff and Rachelle came over to help me paint our family room. I have wanted to do that for a long time and I was so grateful for the help. It's much more fun doing things like that with family. It turned out really nice and looks very different from the dirty eggshell color it was before. Wednesday morning I did the trim and then Jeff and Rachelle came over and helped me hang the sign that they gave me for Christmas. You can see part of it below but wait till you see it completed. I love it and I look forward to putting up the pictures I have planned to complete the feeling the sign gives. Thank you Jeff and Rachelle for all your help!!