We Are Family

I know I'm a little slow on the uptake here.  You've all, most likely, visited here and here and here and here to get the overall experience that is the Jeppson Family Reunion in McCall, ID.  This blessed event occurs once every two years and it is not to be missed.  And why would you miss it?  Well, you wouldn't.  That's all I'm saying.  And just like the Jeppson Reunion, I'm gonna pack all of my pictures and witty commentary into one big huge post.  No breaking it up or giving you time to rest.  My dad would be very disappointed if I did.

No doubt you've already heard about the beach front fun.  Boats for skiing or tubing, a lake trampoline, an enclosed dock area for the littles, canoes, kayaks and sailboats.  And, in the case of these guys, minnow catching.  People come from all around the world to catch minnows in Payette Lake.  What?  You were unaware?  Well now you know.

Where were Gty & JBird?  Oh right.  Well, they decided to enter the golf tournament which, basically, made them MIA for about 60% of the reunion.  The other 40% Gty was playing sand volleyball.  So there's that.

There are much better pics on those other sites than my cell phone pic here of the pinewood derby track my Dad made, but are there some of him at the "command center"with dual computers, speakers, and projectors?  No.  So see below.  He ruled this thing (except for a couple of technical difficulties which about put him through the roof, that is).

I really only got my camera out on one day.  That was horseback riding day.  We "safely" and "legally" stuffed secured six kids in the back storage area of the car and headed over to the Yahoo! Corral for some giddy upping and general cowboying action. 

Here's Kimi looking more excited about Beebs' imminent pony ride than Beebs. 

She loved it.  Duh.

Here's my cutemous neice (the current youngest grandchild) Annie and my SIL Blondee.  Annie didn't exactly RIDE, per say, but she liked sitting in the saddle while I took a couple of pics.  She adores me, btw.   As for Blondee, my Uncle Bil mistook her for me one day at dinner.  Like, had a full on conversation and still thought it was me.  And now he's going to China with my aunt on a mission.  How is he going to tell the Chinese people apart, I ask you?  He's not, that's how.

Here's Annie's brother, Sam.  No need for Aunt Kimi to be makin' the excited face to him.  He's got that covered.

Here's my other cousin Jen.  Mistaken for Me Case #2.  This time by my OWN nieces and nephews!  What the?   I guess there is a little bit of a reason here, however, as our Dads are identical twins. But still.  I know she'd love to know this pic was up on the internet somewhere.  She's tooootally giving me the momface. 

There's no mistaking this cowboy (who is old enough to ride on his own horse this year rather than do the lamerz pony ride--don't tell Beebs it's lamerz, k?).  Goldiloxx Tbone.

These guys got to go on the totally "not lamerz" wagon ride while the rest of us headed off into the sunset on our horses.  Blondee is laughing cuz I was able to capture Sam chugging a Diet Coke.  Apparently she didn't really want that captured on film. In the pic taken right before this one (which I'm too lazy to post) she's trying to get it away from him. Oh well.

Here was my view on the horse trial.  I spared you all the views of horses pooping and peeing right in front of me.  Every time my nephew Zach's horse (seen below in the grey hoodie) would poo or pee he'd turn around and yell "In your face!!"   It was awesome.

And, if you've been paying attention, you also know these Pokemon trainers were joined at the hip for the entire three days.  Now if Memzy could only find her webcam they could Skype like we promised they could as they were crying themselves to sleep the first night they were apart. ::ahem::  Please note the wide spectrum of personalities going on there.  And yet, Pokemon knit their hearts together forever.  I think that if everyone liked Pokemon (I'm looking at you Iraq & friends), world peace would commence immediately.

Family photo op!  Memzy (profesh photog) was standing right there, so why not, right?

And here is my loverly family in its almost complete form.  We are missing Kim's three kids and one of RT's.  Otherwise I think we got it.

And here we are in our natural and unposed state. I don't think a more hideous picture of myself exists.  I suggest zooming in. 

Now for a little side note adventure.  

RT had been kind enough to let us take his Expedition up to the reoon.  We were instructed to "ignore the pinging in the engine" and told it was something with the transmission.  No biggie.  On the drive up it was a little loud, but ran great.  No problems.    On the way home, Gty decided to go golfing one last time with Memzy's brother, Nick that morning.  This meant I was driving the two hours back to Boise by myself with the kids.  RT said he had a bad feeling about the car and maybe I should have someone follow me.  So, of course, AV and her empty rental car saved the day by being my escort down the mountain.  Long story short, the car died in Horseshoe Bend.  It had gotten progressively worse on the drive down, wasn't going up hills at more than 20 mph, getting louder, etc.  I'm just glad I was able to coast it into a Chevron just as it died.

I'm also grateful for this awesome lady who immediately went out to the corner & waited to flag down any family member coming by.  Our main concern was catching my Dad as he had room in the boat he was towing for all our stuff and then we could just jump in with AV.  As you can see, she did a fabulous job.  Perfect form actually.

The beauty of having 160+ peeps at the reunion and only a handful of gas stations between McCall and Boise is that you're bound to run into SOMEONE.  And sure enough, a bunch of my cousins had stopped at this Chevron.  The hood of the Expedition was popped and the problem diagnosed in a matter of minutes upon my arrival.   Here is my rescue squad.

Thank goodness we weren't trying to hurry down and catch a flight that day or something.  We did that the next morning after a fun dinner with my immediate family plus AV that night.

Then we returned home to reality on Sunday . . . and about 9 loads of laundry.

I'm so so so glad we made the effort to go this year.  In two years, when I'm thinking about what a pain it is to get there, I need to come re-read this post (minus the last part).   Good good times.