WOW! We had such a grand ol' time at the first annual (I hope) Christensen Family Reunion, held in Indianola, WA at my Uncle Paul and Aunt Colleen's house. First of all, I have to say that I absolutely LOVE their house. It is so pretty and is decorated with a flair of someone who's lived outside the USA for some time and in South or Central America. So, since I have lived in South America (Chile, for those of you who don't know), I felt right at home with the bold colors my aunt uses for painting her walls. I say, "you go girl!" (as if she needed or wanted my approval...:) )
We had a really great time getting acquainted with my Utah cousins that we didn't grow up with. Scott, Eric, Amy, and Katie, all came with their significant others, if there was one (sorry Amy) and kids also. Uncle John and Aunt Nancy came as well. I hadn't seen them since Grandma Helen's funeral when Tommy was just barely born. So it was good seeing them as well. I hope that when we see each other next time it will be even "easier" with them. The whole greeting thing was kind of awkward for me. I didn't know if I should just say hi from afar, shake hands, hug, etc. This whole side of the family have always been strangers to me, the proverbial "cousins who live in Utah and we live in Washington and never the twain shall meet" situation, so it was weird for the first 30 seconds. Then it was like we'd never been apart. Funny how with family it just doesn't matter. I like that.
My kids had a ball. Their house sits on 2 1/2 acres of land, most of it woods. So it was very peaceful, all except the guy down the street wood chipping. Darn him! :) Really, though, we didn't really mind. It kind of lent itself to the whole woodsy vibe anyway.
Then their son, Jared, who came up with his wife, Shawna and their 3 adorable kids, grilled the yummy chicken and we had about 5 or 6 different salds to sample. Gotta love my aunt. She and my mom are cut from the same mold. Growing up, Mom would have me make jello, fruit salad, and a toss green salad for every dinner. It just wasn't complete without it. Oh, and don't forget the cooked vegetable dish and the main dish. Of course though, if it was taco night, we'd just have the fruit and jello salads. We had our veggies in our tacos, of which we piled high with mostly lettuce, tomatoes, olives, green chilis, etc. I'm really not hungry, just pointing out the insanity of my mom and her salads. (I love you, Mom. Am I still your favorite now?)
Well here's the picture of us at the reunion. Uncle Paul had fun trying to get all of us in the picture, so we decided to put a tier of benches to stand/sit on to get levels of people. It seemed to work better. I do have to brag here that I had the idea with Shawna, and then it just happened.
We took the ferry from Edmonds to Kingston and drove. I'll post those ferry pics later. It was Emma's first ferry ride and she loved it! (except for the time we were outside on the front, or aft side, and her hair kept blowing into her eyes. Think of the movie "Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou" and the line George Clooney kept saying, "My hair." That was Emma!!!)
More later. I'm tired and am going to bed.
