Despain Family Reunion

I had a prolonged moment of insanity and decided to drive to Provo alone with my kids.  Rinar did a brothers trip and since he was going to be gone for the week, I thought, "oh, why not?"

Did you know it takes over 8 hours to get there?

Sheesh.

But we still had fun. We stayed the first night in Wendover and I pulled in to the hotel registry Thursday night at about 10pm. I was tired and I just wanted to get my kids to bed.  First, I couldn't find the room and thought I was going to go crazy. Then, I go to open the door. It is three floors up, Eli is asleep in my arms and my older ones have to go to the bathroom. The key did not work! I got so mad and frantic I decided to take it out on the door so I kicked it as hard as I could. I had on my sandals, so I only managed to stub my big toes pretty bad.

After a trying ordeal of trying to get the babies to go to sleep, they finally succumbed to their eyelids and I fell asleep, sort of.   But I had this really achy big toe. It felt like it was broken.  What an idiot!

We spent Friday with my good friend Melanie and her crew. It was a blast. Except, because of sleep deprivation, Harry and Julia were horrible. So I strapped them into their car seats, turned on a movie, turned on the car and left it idling for about 1.5 hours. I say it is cheaper than a babysitter and can you really put a price on sanity?

 Isn't this the most scrumptious little baby? This is Melanie and Jared's latest girl, Taryn. She is a good little baby.

On Saturday I went the the Despain Family Reunion in Provo. Despain is my grandmother's grandmother's family and her posterity. There were a lot of people there. They have quite the posterity.  Here is my Grandma N. and my uncles Barry and Dave.

They just had a little moment here.  Brotherly love, you know?

My sister Catye is getting married in October and here is her man, Mike. My kids LOVE him.  Hence, I love him. He will make a great addition to the family.

My Great-Grandmother May was one of 12 children. She was number 5. The church sent her parents to Lovell, Wyoming in 1905 on a mission to settle the area. It was one of the last wagon trains.  The guy standing up in this picture is Gordon. He is one of two surviving kids and my Grandma's uncle. I am not sure who the other two are, but I bet they are important.

We belong to the May faction.

On the drive back, Raef wanted to touch the salt. This is the famous salt flats. This is where they break land speed records and where the unfortunate Donner party planted the seeds of a horrible demise in the Sierra Nevadas.


We limped to the finish, but we made it all in one piece. The more I see Nevada, the more I realize that it is an incredible beautiful state. Elko and Winnemucca are beautiful country and I look forward to going back that way again.