Talk of doing a family reunion/holiday vacation began two years ago. It went from Christmas on a cruise ship, to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico, to nothing, to finally Thanksgiving in St. George. It became clear that this was the most feasible for the most people. So, the planning began! Flights were booked (for some), arrangements were made, and my mom, Stephanie, and I set about planning activities, lodging, meals, and entertainment for (give or take) about 40 people!
I'm happy to report, that it was a big success! Itineraries went out about a week before the trip, and once we all got there, the FUN began! I'm going to break the trip up into more manageable posts, but here is a look at how it began....
The flight! After a series of flight delays, and bad flight times to begin with, it took us over 12 hours to get to St. George. But thank goodness for the USO! We spent hours at the USO in Houston (and again at LAX on the way home) and the kids felt like celebrities. Free food, entertainment, all the candy they could eat...they were in heaven! Even though it was midnight when we arrived in St. George (1am Texas time!), the kids were so good and easy.
We got there late Saturday evening. We had two townhouses rented that were right next to each other (for the four siblings and their families). Stephanie & Brian and Chris & Donna ended up staying up until we arrived, and they had beds set up and ready for our kids. Super nice. We should have known, and soon discovered, that sleep was not a high priority this trip.....
The next day, despite the fact that the kids should have been exhausted after a long day of travel and a late night, they were up at the crack of dawn playing and playing. Since we arrived in the middle of the night, at about 5:00 AM someone in the kids' room woke up and noticed this. They were all so excited they couldn't just go back to sleep!? As I mentioned, sleep was not a priority this trip (that could have contributed to the fact that we all got SICK!!) The good news for me was the the little kids (the ones up at 5am) were next door in Stephanie and Brian's condo! The teenagers in our condo slept in just fine. But boy did those kids have a blast all week together. Later that morning we all went over to Steve and Bethanne's house that they have in St. George. They made us all an omelet brunch. It was in such a beautiful location, with gorgeous red rocks right in their backyard. After brunch, we all loaded up and went BOWLING! Look at that group!!! My mom thought it would be a great idea (and hilarious) to make a life size cardboard cut-out of Masen to bring to the reunion, since he was serving his mission in San Diego and couldn't be there. We had some fun with cardboard Masen....haha! We ended the night at Golden Corral! Where better to feed 40+ people?!
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