Passey Reunion Attempt

A few months ago, Kathryn, Amy, Suzanne, Shawna and I decided we needed to have a Passey reunion (my mom's family). So we picked a date and a place and have the most non-reunion reunion I have ever been to. Amy and Suzanne weren't even able to come. (Jason just brought me a little plate with 12 little pieces of watermelon and a toothpick to eat them, how cute). Anyway, not a lot of people could make it, but hopefully next year it will be more organized and more people will be able to come. We went to Canyon Creek (down the Young Road turnoff at the top of the Rim). I rode up with Kathryn Friday morning. It was a hectic morning. I woke up at 6:30am and had to feed and bathe Clara, pack all of the stuff, get myself ready and I had about 2 hours of work I needed to get done... all before 10am when Kathryn was coming. Well, I didn't exactly get the work done I wanted, but I did enough to make the client happy and figured I would worry about it when I got back. I have a habit of bending over backwards to get things done for people as soon as possible even if they were slow in getting me information. Sometimes it is good just to say, I'll do what I can, but I don't need to stress and over do it.

I hadn't been down into this campground for years, which means I haven't seen the devestation from the fire. It was so sad. The camground itself is fine, but so much of the forest as you drive to got fried. As we pulled in, it started to rain. I love sitting under a tarp out in the woods and visiting while it is raining. When it cleared up, we went on a walk. There is a really neat spot in the Creek called Flat Rock. I remember going there as a kid and getting pictures with my cousins. When we got there, I looked down and Clara had a fistful of leaves that she was chewing on. I took them away and a few minutes later, she had more. I couldn't figure out what was going on at first and then I realized she would reach out and grab at the bushes (the path is really overgrown so it was somewhat jungle-like) as I walked past to get leaves. She is so funny. After that I held her hands most of the time.

Jason came up Friday night, but I didn't know when he left because he had class and a bunch of stuff to do before he could leave. My mom went with me to try to find a place to get cell phone coverage, but no luck. Luckily, he showed up about a half hour after we got back so I wasn't worrying too long. Angela and Clint came Friday night too and slept in our "guest room" in our tent. HA! We have this ridiculously large tent (purchased even before we had a kid) that Jason loves because he can stand up in and our heads don't touch the ceiling. It has a divider down the middle so we've had a few people share with us.

Saturday morning I brought stuff for breakfast for everyone, but Dave and my Uncle Danny did all the cooking. Clara woke up super early and was scratching the netting on the pack-n-play (she loves the sound) and later I asked Clint and Angela if it woke them up. Clint said, "Oh, is that what that noise was? We heard it last night and thought it was a creature under our tent so we got out and looked everywhere with the flashlight trying to figure out what it was." That was funny, but then Angela put that story to shame with one of her own... She comes over recovering from a bloody nose... There was a mosquito by her face, she tried to hit it away and accidentally smacked herself and got a bloody nose. I LOVE you Angela, but I can't resist that story. :) After breakfast, I gave Angela my camera and said, take a picture of the two of us (Jason and me). She did and right after, Clint said, "Kay, now take a picture of the three of us." Guys don't say things like that often... but only special guys say what Clint said next, "Kay, now take a picture of just the two of us, Jason and me." HA! Clint makes me laugh often.

That day we went back to the Flat Rock and tried to find the swing (no luck), walked around, went to play in the creek where it goes over the road and went to the fish hatchery. After we couldn't find the swing, we decided to go back to Flat Rock. Lily, Angela and I walked on the side of the creek while Clint, Jason and Clara walked in the FREEZING creek.Jason caught a little water snake while we were down at the creek, so the little kids really liked that. It's a good thing he's around because I would never even think about grabbing a snake, even if it was a little one like this. Yick. Also, Kathryn met a woman that was there from Gilbert and she has girls named Lucy and Elsa... and that's what Kathryn's twins' names are. So that was a crazy coincidence. They took pictures of all four of them together. I really do love camping when it's just for a few days. It is so relaxing. As we were going to bed, I was looking up at the stars thinking how awesome that would be to have grown up a few hundred years ago and been able to look up and see that every night, not just when you are a hundred miles away from a big city. I LOVE a night sky in the woods, it's beautiful.

Jason and I got up and packed up early Sunday morning to make it home from church at 11am. My Aunt Jana convinced us to wait for her sourdough pancakes to get finished. They were very good and I will for sure get the recipe. On our way out we saw a HUGE cow elk and a wile turkey. I really enjoy seeing animals out in the wild like that. For some reason it is much more exciting than the zoo. When we were about half-way home, Jason goes, it feels like there is a bug on my foot and looked down and sure enough, there was a huge June Bug on his foot. He hates bugs and slowed way down to kill the rascal. Who knows how it stowed away in our car. Quick side note: when my mom got back from Silverton, her freezer had been left open and her compressor went out on her fridge. Well, when we got home this morning, I heard an unusual noise in the kitchen and realized it was our fridge and that our freezer door was slightly open. The coincidence... geez. Luckily, only the stuff on the top shelf and the top of the door was unthawed and Jason realized it was because the light melted it. Everything else was still frozen. Some ice cream got ruined and two bags of breast milk was half thawed so I had to toss that (grrr, that stuff is priceless). Other than that and the motor being on overdrive for several hours after we got home (and several more before), I think life will go on.