Above my Aunt and Uncle and below - Gsmiths and spouses after Saturday's wedding.
Family is what it's all about. In our regular work-a-day world, I sometimes forget how much family means to me. I'm all about getting it done - the work, I mean, both at my job and at home.
It can sometimes feel like a chore to make the effort to see family - especially at a holiday weekend wedding where we have to drive 5 hours each day for an overnight (or even same-day) stay. But when we finally get a chance to be with them - whether it be the Gsmiths or the Bullocks, I am reminded how much I love these people!
Friday night, tired from our late night at the ISU game, we prepared for our quick trip to Illinois for nephew Kurt's wedding and did a grocery shopping date to get ready for my aunt and uncle's visit Sunday. Thank goodness we had cleaned the weekend before and I got new sheets and a quilt for the guest room.
Early Saturday we took off for Ottuwa, Illinois for Erin and Kurt's wedding. Kurt is Paul's bro Larry's boy - one of "the country cousins", five brothers who grew up on the fam farm where Pablo the Poolboy grew up. Kurt is a year older than Amy, and their mom Regina loves kids so ours spent a great deal of time at their house when we'd visit Paul's folks George and Laura at their home in town. We'd drag along the kids' sleeping bags and park them at the farm where they could play Ninja Turtles and board games galore. I'm glad our kids got to experience a little bit of what it was like for Paul growing up on the farm.
Now four of the brothers are married - Chad and wife Michele have a baby and Brad and wife Jen are expecting anytime. Karl is teaching at Valley HS in DM while his wife finishes grad school at ISU. Craig is the only bachelor of the group now. The brothers served as groomsmen of course. The bride is a triplet! Both sets of parents are still married. So pretty unusual families in today's world.
Pablo himself comes from a fam with nine kids - he's the baby. Alas we lost Connie two years ago to breast cancer. The remaining eight were all at the wedding, at least for the day. It's nice to see everyone at a happy occasion. I felt so loved and such love for them sitting there awaiting the reception. It's fun to catch up with them on their lives and what the kids (23), spouses and grandkids are up to. Our nephew Joe, just 30 years old was in a terrible accident in March and is still recovering from head injuries. Tom and wife are adopting twin boys and Peg and partner Brooke have twins.
It was a pretty early night - we were beat - and we took off early yesterday to come home. Jud was here holding down the fort and caring for the pets. He even helped mow and got his laundry done. We got home and got organized for the next fam event - a visit from my relatives - Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Bruce from just south of Tuscan, AZ. The were back attending Jean's AHS class reunion.
The arrive around 4 PM and we visited non-stop the whole time they were here. Jean is my dad's youngest sis, 6 years younger than he was. They are very interesting folks and love to hear our stories too. We prepared our fave meal for out of state folks - Festival of Meat. A variety of Fareway meats grilled to perfection by Chef Paul. I made cheesy potatoes and a rather soggy spinach salad and steak bread. They did seem to like it all!
This a.m. they enjoyed a big breakfast and some more chatting before taking off for the next leg of their trip - Knoxville to the sprint car museum. Bruce is into racin'. After heading to Poplar Bluff, AR and Branson they'll go to Denver where I hope they get to see Amy, and then through the mountains enroute to Cindo and Suso's places.
We'll see the Goldschmidts again in November and Raders again next July at niece Leslie's wedding in LA. Cuz the only bad part about seeing fam is saying goodbye!
It can sometimes feel like a chore to make the effort to see family - especially at a holiday weekend wedding where we have to drive 5 hours each day for an overnight (or even same-day) stay. But when we finally get a chance to be with them - whether it be the Gsmiths or the Bullocks, I am reminded how much I love these people!
Friday night, tired from our late night at the ISU game, we prepared for our quick trip to Illinois for nephew Kurt's wedding and did a grocery shopping date to get ready for my aunt and uncle's visit Sunday. Thank goodness we had cleaned the weekend before and I got new sheets and a quilt for the guest room.
Early Saturday we took off for Ottuwa, Illinois for Erin and Kurt's wedding. Kurt is Paul's bro Larry's boy - one of "the country cousins", five brothers who grew up on the fam farm where Pablo the Poolboy grew up. Kurt is a year older than Amy, and their mom Regina loves kids so ours spent a great deal of time at their house when we'd visit Paul's folks George and Laura at their home in town. We'd drag along the kids' sleeping bags and park them at the farm where they could play Ninja Turtles and board games galore. I'm glad our kids got to experience a little bit of what it was like for Paul growing up on the farm.
Now four of the brothers are married - Chad and wife Michele have a baby and Brad and wife Jen are expecting anytime. Karl is teaching at Valley HS in DM while his wife finishes grad school at ISU. Craig is the only bachelor of the group now. The brothers served as groomsmen of course. The bride is a triplet! Both sets of parents are still married. So pretty unusual families in today's world.
Pablo himself comes from a fam with nine kids - he's the baby. Alas we lost Connie two years ago to breast cancer. The remaining eight were all at the wedding, at least for the day. It's nice to see everyone at a happy occasion. I felt so loved and such love for them sitting there awaiting the reception. It's fun to catch up with them on their lives and what the kids (23), spouses and grandkids are up to. Our nephew Joe, just 30 years old was in a terrible accident in March and is still recovering from head injuries. Tom and wife are adopting twin boys and Peg and partner Brooke have twins.
It was a pretty early night - we were beat - and we took off early yesterday to come home. Jud was here holding down the fort and caring for the pets. He even helped mow and got his laundry done. We got home and got organized for the next fam event - a visit from my relatives - Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Bruce from just south of Tuscan, AZ. The were back attending Jean's AHS class reunion.
The arrive around 4 PM and we visited non-stop the whole time they were here. Jean is my dad's youngest sis, 6 years younger than he was. They are very interesting folks and love to hear our stories too. We prepared our fave meal for out of state folks - Festival of Meat. A variety of Fareway meats grilled to perfection by Chef Paul. I made cheesy potatoes and a rather soggy spinach salad and steak bread. They did seem to like it all!
This a.m. they enjoyed a big breakfast and some more chatting before taking off for the next leg of their trip - Knoxville to the sprint car museum. Bruce is into racin'. After heading to Poplar Bluff, AR and Branson they'll go to Denver where I hope they get to see Amy, and then through the mountains enroute to Cindo and Suso's places.
We'll see the Goldschmidts again in November and Raders again next July at niece Leslie's wedding in LA. Cuz the only bad part about seeing fam is saying goodbye!
1 comment:
with 23 kids to get hitched, there should be some good celebratin'. :) Love the concept of Festival of Meat. Made me feel festive. :)
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