We had an Anderson family reunion/ Grandma Anderson birthday celebration At Uncle Ryan & Aunt Jan's beautiful newly remodeled home in Madera this weekend. It's hard having a husband paid hourly because we had to squeeze our time at the reunion in between his work shifts. He was able to get a few shifts moved around, but with it being Mother's Day weekend, he couldn't get out of working Friday lunch and Sunday lunch (his one Sunday a year... sigh...). We were going to drive separately Friday evening and Sunday morning, but Mom didn't want Mandy to miss school and wanted to be back in time for Patrick's Sunday phone call at 2 on Sunday, and they wouldn't have been able to attend church if they had left Sunday morning with Ryan's church being so late, so long story short... We all made the quick trip together. We were sad it was so quick, but since Mom & Isaac had serious allegies out there, and I ended up feeling sick for the last week, we were probably not very much fun, so maybe it was better we weren't there for a long time.
It was fun to see everyone. I hadn't seen several of them in years. Pyper was an adorable talking little girl who liked playing with (and complaining about :)) our dog, and I don't think we'd seen her since her baby blessing, or maybe Grandpa's funeral. All in all, we had Grandma, her five kids & four of their spouses, sixteen grandkids & 3 signifcant others, 2 great-grandkids, and four dogs. It was quite a full house! We were only missing Bryce & Dena, Patrick on the mission in CO, Brittany & Michael, and Uncle Bob.
We gave Grandma a memory book that Jan put a million hours into with contributions from most family members aforementioned, siblings and friends. Jan did a beautiful job. Sarah brought her magazines from the year she was born (1928), and Kimberly brought her a small pot to float flowers in. My cousins are so creative. The presents we gave her back on her real birthday in April were not nearly so clever. Anyway, it was cute to see Grandma lookng through it with the little kids huddled around her looking for their pictures. Mom said if I ever put her on he spot like that (Grandma had to sit in the middle of the circle while we all stared at her), she would kill me. Note to self: Do not do something like this for Mom. At least not in public.
Everyone talked and played games (volleyball, ultimate frisbee, cards, etc.), and I mostly watched the dog, my little cousin Sarah, talked, and tried to avoid getting anyone else sick. I hope I succeeded. No one around here seems to be sick, not even Isaac.
All in all, it was a lovely trip, and I'm glad we made it, even if not for very long. Hugs to Ryan and Jan for taking such good care of all of us!
