A Family Reunion and Birthday Bash
celebrations, family, paintings, Travel 
My husband's mom turned 85 in July and we all gathered at a lake house in Wyoming, generously loaned to us by brothers of a family member. The home had beautiful views from every angle, some looked over the lake, others to the mountains. This is the sunrise I saw from my bedroom window!
The lake house was spacious, with two kitchens and a gazillion beds. Still, we were worried about our hermit-ish son, Ryan and hauled the camper across country so he would have a private space to hangout in and get away if crowds made him nervous. We called it the world's biggest rolling suitcase, and filled it with belongings from all eleven of us who were coming from Kansas.
My husband was firm in making Ryan come on the trip, even though he doesn't like to travel or be in crowds. Ryan has a sensory processing disorder that makes him shy away from noise and gatherings. Two years ago, we cajoled him into flying to Florida with us too, and while there were moments that he wasn't thrilled with it, he had a good time, and ended up being my rock when there were some issues I was having trouble with and could always be counted on for a smile or a joke.
And once again, my husband was right to insist that Ryan join us, because that guy spent the whole week grinning and having fun. (We were at the lake house 3 nights, then off to Colorado to spend a few days with just our branch of the family)
How could anyone do anything but have a ton of fun when surrounded by these people??? I am blessed to not only be married to Rich, but also to be a part of his loving, and fun loving family.
I consider his siblings, my sibs too.
(Terry is a big time, Birdsong helper and is donating this hand woven shawl as a door prize at Snowbird's Song in November)
Joan's 85th birthday was an excellent excuse to come together from every part of the country. We spent time sitting on the rooftop deck, watching clouds and rainbows…
exploring the hills behind the house….
(see the tiny people up on the ridgeline?)
going through and laughing over stacks of photo albums…
hula hooping…
competing in a day long, ping pong challenge…
(which ended up being so much fun that we didn't even go down to the lake that day, the first two days, most of the group were out on jet skis and boats)
learning some circus tricks…
(my kids brought their rig for a grand performance, and gave lessons to anyone who wanted to learn)
lots of circus fun…
being serenaded by a professional actress and songstress…
(Aunt Carol gave a lovely performance of Joan's favorite songs as well as baking the best carrot cake ever)
collecting pretty rocks….
hanging out in a Wyoming style playhouse…
crafting with cousins…
being goofy…
relaxing…
super relaxing…
getting hugs…
lots of hugs…
more hugs…
did I mention hugs?…
yes, there was hugging…
laughing…
loving…
coloring…
(The house was newly renovated, we were the first to stay in it. Many of the frames on the wall were straight from the store, not filled in yet, so one sister added her coloring page to a frame. I'd brought a tub full of craft supplies and others brought colored pens, we had a craft table covered in art work of various stages, it was left up to drop in and work on when the whim struck)
and cooking, cooking, cooking….
(each branch of the family had a meal to be in charge of, but we all pitched in to help each other)
Everything that an ideal family reunion should be.
Did I mention that I was blessed to be a part of this group?
Yep, I sure am.