Why I Love A Good Family Reunion !!!

We held our family reunion last week and are in recuperating mode right now. Was it worth it? "Heck Yeah!!" Did I enjoy it? "You better believe it!" Would you do it again? "Darn Right, am open for suggestions when to do it again, and where to hold it?"

What did you enjoy most? Was there any special moments? "Hey! Just watch the clip of the Tahitian dancing by the young wahine cousins!" The young cousins really got things going during the family luau. With just a short amount of training from our island connection, Rachel, those young wahines really could shake'um.

The five cousins plus one auntie put on a show for the crowd. We even had a dance off or shake'um competition with the kane of boy cousins participating. "It was all good."

At the reunion, we had four of our five children and their families attend. Luckily, we had enough housing locally to put up all the out of towners. Having Sunday dinner together was a bit of an experience with everyone at our home. No one complained, the dog did her bit to help out, and there was lots of hands to help with the cleanup.

Was there any special things to remember aside from the "Tahitian dancing?" Like what? "The older boy cousins hung out alot, the girl cousins got along really well, they all liked being together because they're cousins. The uncle and aunties treated all the kids well, their own included. Later, the uncle and aunties played games, went to the movies after the kids were asleep, grandpa watched them, and had a fun time. When you have 18 grandchildren, first rule established by Grandma, the mommies and daddies were responsible to clean up their little ones, including nasty diapers. Hey, we had our turn doing that! The activities were cheap or free, like going to the swimming pool to cool off, or to Thanksgiving point for $2 Tuesdays, a museum trip at BYU campus, and a day trip up the canyon. One thing we didn't do well was take a group family photo. Nothing wrong with the camera stuff but the timing was just before dinner, the afternoon sun, and being hungry like Hungry Hungry Hippos! Again, it was all good!"

There were some other highlights like bringing each family to BYU to see Grandmas co-workers and brag about the grandchildren. There was even making a church statement, that we can occupy more than one row of church pews during Sacrament Meeting.

While looking through some older family photos, I notice that Ruby looks alot like Erin at a similar age, so does Gabby looking a lot like Nikki at a similar age. The same goes for Wyatt looking like Rachel and Anna looking like Leslie but without curly hair. Of course, my granddaughter Klai look darker than Grandpa because she's been in the sun more.

We were joined in our reunion by Uncle Dick and Aunt Joan and cousin Jarom and our dear friends the Funns. We had a blast, making lasting memories. Special thanks to our sons-inlaws, Troy, Dan, Mark, and Jase for bringing their families to happy valley this past week and a half. Also special thanks to Leslie, our program director/planner, Erin for the chicken long rice and taking the family portrait photos and scheduling the swimming activity. Special thanks to Rachel for the Halau O hula shakem up style training and #20 moopuna, and to Nikki for #'s 18 and 19 and soon #21. We love the little ones. We did miss Jesse and Amy and the boy, out on the east coast. We were all thinking of you all. Mahalo, to all.