He Leadeth Me

One of the things I was most looking forward to at the Family Reunion was watching the Second Cousins Play Together. Getting Ready for the Second Cousins to arrive. Requisite Silly Photo The second cousins being silly with the older cousins and their Great Uncle too. Caleb took every opportunity to hang out with the VanLoenen Second cousins. I think the sun was in their eyes at the Olympic Training Center. These first cousins are definitely BFF's. Popcicles were good on a warm day. Caleb enjoyed being with Sarah and Caitlin. A game of parachute. The instructor didn't know what she was getting herself into. Another popcicle photo. I think this might have been at the Drum Activity. Eating in the fort at Nana and Ducca's house. Ducca had buried some treasure for them to find. Nathan was successful. Aunt Stacie found one! This is the artwork that these two sweet boys made for me. My deck bears witne...

When our family members went to the orientation for the Zip Line Activity, they were asked if they would mind if YMCA video's them.  Of course, they said YES!  Who wouldn't want to get their 15 minutes of fame hurtling down a very steep hill?  So here it is (if it works).

Our Family Reunion was in July. I have been so busy since then that I haven't spent a lot of time blogging. So for the next few posts, you are going to get to see my precious family and the beautiful  YMCA of the Rockies at Estes Park. Sweetie is the matriarch of the family so she gets to be featured in the first blog post. Here she is with all of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Missing from the photo are: Emily, Philip, and Sarah who were all at the reunion but had to leave before pictures were taken.   Gail and Jon created a fun game of family bingo. Newest great grandchild--Cora Elise. You might be wondering what Josh is thinking. We often wonder that!  Her own private escort to the picture taking location. Sweetie with her children. Not pictured is Aunt Terry who had to stay home for classes to become a chaplain.  We missed her! We teasingly told Kim that we should have taken a picture of the "original three" but...

This is what my freezer looks like as we prepare for our 2013 Family Reunion. Several, including family members have wondered why I am doing so much cooking. There are several reasons: #1  I enjoy spoiling my family. #2  I want to be able to enjoy visiting while everyone is here, so if I cook ahead of time, I just have to take it out of the freezer and heat it up. #3  It was fun going through my cookbook and picking out some old family favorites and thinking of those people while I was cooking. #4   THE MOST IMPORTANT We had a family reunion 2 years ago. My family came after my first chemo treatment.  My wonderful oncologist timed my first chemo so that I would be feeling good by the time family arrived. The JOY of being with family at that reunion and the HAPPY MEMORIES literally carried me through my time of recovery. Because they spoiled me 2 years ago, it is my turn to spoil them now!!! Texas Trash They guys especially like this. G...