The road trip re-cap

We welcomed July and celebrated our nation's independence with my whole ginormous family at Yellowstone Park. It was no small fete, considering we are two and a half dozen people and some of us hail from Chile!

There is nothing like the grandeur and majesty of the American West, and Yellowstone is the ultimate. It was a week of adventuring and swimming, laughing and snacking, story telling and loving. {For my poor mother I think it was mostly a week of worriedly counting heads, but we all survived!}

I'm a huge advocate for family reunions. It's a ton of work to haul food for 30 for a week two states away. It requires hours of planning and communicating. Sometimes it's pure chaos. But to watch my boys forming relationships with their far-away cousins and laugh my guts out with my siblings I would do just about anything.

{from the top: Rog and Blaine are BEST friends these days, Uncle Brian with the 3 amigos, Blaine adored cousin Bridget (as did I), me + 4 boys at Yellowstone's Grand Canyon, cousies wating for Old Faithful to erupt (totally lived up to the hype!), Seamus the 14-year-old giant (was darling with Rog!) and my twin brother, Steven, Blaine the Science Kid couldn't get enough of the geo thermal landscape}

{Jon works the bedhead (at the breakfast table where 3,476 bowls of lucky charms were consumed--GROSS!), baby Steven and baby Carter, Nana and Carter}

On our last day there were gifts from Chile and North Carolina and a big fat talent show.

And, because I love you, here is a video clip of my sister, Liz and me doing a 'tap-off' for the talent show. It has been a decade plus since we've tapped and it was all we could do to not laugh our heads off. Wow, thanks for the lessons, Dad. Totally worth your money, don't you think? {Liz, can you ever forgive me for posting this?}

Now, try to stop laughing at me while I tell you about the second, more solemn part of my trip. Taylor, the boys, and I cut out of the family festivities early to dash down to Utah for the funeral of our dear friend, Wes. His wife, Lori, has made several appearances here at Bloom, so I thought you'd want to know about her loss. We can't stop crying about it and hurting for Lori and her children. It was a privilege to know Wes. We hope you'll remember the Trumans in your prayers.

xoxoxo
anne