Family Reunion...A New Tradition??

This past weekend my immediate family went to my aunt's houses down at the Lake of the Ozarks in mid-Missouri. My sister Kristi and her husband Steve and their son Bryce came up from Oklahoma City. There were 12 adults and 6 kids. It was hilarious and fun and crazy and relaxing.

To start with the funniest story, I have to give some context. So I just found out about Kristi in June of 2007 and this was the first time we had seen her since then. So on Friday Lawrence and William and I arrive down at the Lake around 6pm. We all eat dinner and unwind and then get the kids to bed. Finally when it is just the adults, we grab some beers and hang out on the porch just talking and laughing. Now, you need to understand my little brother has a warped sense of humor and he's always harassing me. So in the first few hours of being there he has probably walked by me and twisted my nipple like 18 times.

At some point I go in the house to grab a beer and I'm in there for a while talking to my sister Lori. Finally we go back out into the dark and as I'm walking around the table I scoot by my brother and I reach out and twist his nipple. He says: "Thank you" and I keep going around the table. I sit down and look next to me and my little brother is sitting there with his mouth open. Time stops as the realization of what I had just done washes over me. I had walked by Kristi's husband Steve and twisted his nipple. This man who I had met once in my life. The most ironic part is that of course it was the gay brother who does this and Steve is in the military. Nice!

Luckily Steve has a great sense of humor and I was mortified enough for everyone. My little brother wouldn't let it go of course and kept coming up with new horrible nicknames...the nippler, the nip-burglar, etc. None of them were funny. =)

The rest of the weekend was less eventful. We chilled, swam, jet skied, tubed, hung out, played cards, etc. I love going down there anyway because it's just relaxing, but this time it was extra special.

My favorite part was sitting up one night talking about how the three of us (Kristi, my mom, and me) have this weird connection with the spirit world. That sounds strange, but we all have had experiences with ghosts or spirits. And Kristi and me both have dreams that come true, like real premonitions. I think it was reassuring for Kristi to know that she has family that has the same "weird" experiences and for us it is just always kind of fun to find someone else that has those kind of stories.

This was the weekend that Hurricane Ike came up from the south through Missouri. It passed through the lake later in evening on Saturday. The wind was pretty strong and it poured buckets of water. In fact, the other funny story of the weekend is waking up on Sunday morning to a 20 degree temperature drop and my little brother finding that the little fishing boat had sunk. If it hadn't of been tied to the dock it would have been gone. It took all of us to tip it enough that we could get enough water out of it so that it would float. Aaron being the youngest and the bravest? dumbest? jumped in the water and pulled the boat to shore. It was quite the adventure.

William loves being down at the lake. He loves fishing. LOVES being in the water. And I think it is just one of those places where a boy can be a boy. He gets dirty and doesn't have to shower because he sort of bathes in the lake. =) I mean let's be honest. Lawrence gets grossed out because I still will go down to the lake for a long weekend and I won't shower the whole time either. So why would I make our 9 year old bathe! William also seemed to hit it off with Bryce. They have a bit in common in that they both like the outdoors, are both pretty athletic, both like video games, etc. So that was really cool also.

My favorite picture from the weekend is our huge family pic. It just makes me smile! Notice the ham in the lower right corner throwing out one of his weird kissy faces.

Audrey's Third Birthday

The above picture just cracks me up. For one, it is just too cute. Audrey (in the middle) was about a month away from her birthday in this picture. She just looks so big. And then there is the protective big brother, Alex, holding onto her. With Justin, the silly middle brother, with his hand in his armpit.

Meanwhile, Maya is just too cool! "Look at me world!"

So, I can't believe Audrey is three. She's the youngest of the nieces and nephews. They grow up so quick. As with tradition in their family, Audrey has now transitioned into a big girl bed and she started preschool. She is really, really into Angelina Ballerina and is taking ballet lessons. Of course, surprise, she picked an Angelina birthday cake.

She got a doll house from her mom and dad too, which she had to show to everyone. I think William even played with it a little bit.


It was a fun birthday party. I mean how can you go wrong when cake and ice cream are involved! My favorite part of the whole party was when we were opening presents and I looked over and William was sitting between grandpa's legs. I got a little choked up thinking about leaning my head on my dad's shoulder during church growing up. It seems like yesterday.

William has taken to my parents so quickly. He already calls them Grandma Paulette and Grandpa Ken. Of course, since they specialize in spoiling grandkids rotten I figured it wouldn't take them long to suck him in. He loves spending the night at their house...chilling in the hot tub... playing on grandpa's playstation...fishing in the lake...riding his scooter around the lake...etc. He never wants to leave. Of course I think he talks them into giving him soda, which we won't give him, so that helps in the bribery category!

Anyway, I had a picture of him and grandpa from the party, but our camera got stolen. So instead, it has to just be one of those mental memories. Picturing the two of them just makes me revert back to being nine years old and knowing I was safe as long as my dad was around...