Happy Memories

What a wonderful few days I had at our first annual Immediate Family Reunion! The last time the children were together was at their grandfather's 90th Birthday last July. It was such a joy to have them here at our house and visit and visit and visit till wee hours of night every night. Mika and Jessie and Luke arrived Wednesday morning after having driven 22 hours straight. They were surprisingly chipper and excited to be here even after such a long road trip. They all look SO GOOD! That evening we went out to dinner at TED and ALLEN's here at Hurricane and pulled out photo albums of my Finnish family. Jessie pointed out Mika didn't know much about my family and she wanted to see what they all look like and where I really came from. It was nice to talk about my family - I have not done that in a long time.

Jaana, ,Paul and Jake arrived Wednesday early evening and we all just visited and needed to catch up with each other. Pizza was good and we all needed a little sleep to get ready for the next day. Sand Hollow Reservoir is a beautiful place to hang out on Thursday. We had lots of floaties and inner tubes to float on the water, and Mika found a little area to go fishing with Markus. Jorel was so cute and loved the water! After looking like prunes we went to get ready for a dinner that Ron and I provided at Wildcat Willies in Springdale. Food was great and I think everyone had a wonderful time.

Friday we all went for a ride to Price Canyon - what a breathtaking place that is! Even though I have seen it a few times it never stops amazing me. It truly looks like Disney was there and put it all together. Hard to believe it is all real and natural! We had fun and Mika and Jessie got me a beautiful bracelett as a momento from the park. Jaana and Paul took a lot of pictures - I will include some of them in this blog. Friday night we experiemented with Reese's Pieces smores - yummy over the bond fire at the back yard. I decided to go to bed by 12:30am but I think the kids stayed till past three am.

All in all this was the best time I have had with all the children in forever. I have never been very good at just having fun, because I was always taught that work comes before play. Hardly ever have I made time to just play! So this was good for me as well as for the rest of the family I think.

I also had a chance to have a talk with Jaana, my oldest daughter. Actually she initiated it and I love her for that. She is a great daughter and she has a lot of courage - more than I do. We got some things discussed that needed to be aired out and I have learned a whole lot on how my actions and choices have affected not only Jaana but the rest of the children as well. It is not easy to stand accountable for my choices and the affect they have had on others. I am grateful that I have another day to perhaps fix some things I screwed up earlier and get clear on what I was feeling and thinking surrounding the kids' dad and the divorce. It has not been talked about really, and now I realize I should have conitinued to just say what was and what is now. Thanks daughter - you are awesome!

Can't wait to do this again - hoping we will get together next year and have a chance to just spend time together. I suppose the older I get the more important family relationships become for what else is there really? This is where it really counts to carpe diem or seize the day!