The Collier Family Reunion

We began making plans over a year ago after Grandpa Collier’s memorial. It was SO nice to be together then, that Potts and I decided we wanted to do it again sooner than later. 

To make things easier for Grandma, we decided to bring the reunion to her in Bellevue, Idaho. 

We so seldom use our trailer because it’s pretty expensive to pull, but we decided to fix the water heater which blew out a couple of winters ago and give it a go. It would be nice to have an extra refrigerator and bathroom, if nothing else.

Audrey and Matthew joined us.  We loaded up the trailer and hooked it up to the Tahoe and were ready to pull out when Potts asked, “Do we have the power adapter?” An absolute MUST for a travel trailer. We hunted and hunted and couldn’t find it anywhere. It was 6:00 in the morning! Where were we going to find another one at 6:00 in the morning?!

You know what I say, “If you haven’t prayed, you are wasting your time!” We each said a prayer and guess where Potts found it?  -- wedged between the rain gutter and the house. There is NO WAY we would have found it “on our own.”

Grandma’s nice big yard became a KOA campground. EVERYONE made the extra effort to come. Denny and Marjorie flew in from Hawaii. Sarah, Eric, and Ben drove from Sacramento, and Tim and his girlfriend, Vyvyn came from Seattle. Each of our children and their families were able to come also, which is a feat in and of itself!

Family groups from left to right (kind of) Our daughter, Jenni, and her husband, Mark with their two, Sadie and Payton and one on the way. Randy’s cousin Carol and her husband, Dewey. Potts, me. Second cousin, Ethel and her husband, David. Our son, Michael, and his wife, Desiree, with their two Evylee and Ethan, and one on the way. Grandma Dolly in the center with Potts’ brother, Denny, wife, Marjorie, and daughter, Allison, behind her. My daughter, Emily, (in front of Grandma) with husband, Joseph, and son, Aaron Joseph (AJ). Grandma’s sister-in-law (Potts’ Aunt) Carmen, Potts’ brother, Tim, with friend, Vyvyn. Potts’ sister, Sarah, with husband, Eric, son, Ben, and two dogs, Rosie and Myra. Our daughter, Audrey, with husband, Matthew, and little one on the way. Our son, David, with wife, Katie, and four daughters, Paisley, Kylie, Oakley, and Lily.

There were the indoor people, and the outdoor people. Many who attended weren’t used to noise and crowds (and believe you me, we brought a crowd!); some seemed to prefer the indoors and spent their time mainly in Grandma’s living room, and those of us who didn’t mind the noise and commotion spent our time outside with the children.

But at meal times, we all became outdoor people. The food was the BEST. We divvied it out with different families in charge of different meals. It worked out SO well!

We had face painting (Vyvyn is a renowned tattoo artist and was SO patient! and creative!)

 Even the itty-bitty ones held very still.

Sarah and Eric brought fireworks. 

 

 

And of course we had to dig out our traditional Goldilocks and the Three Bears Skit for the unsuspecting.

We kept the kids busy doing this and that.

 

May I say that when I grow up, I would like to be like Aunt Carmen. She is a wonder!

And had an outing at the river.

Looks like Potts stole Joe's hat!

Of course it wasn’t long before a few of us attempted body rafting. 

What a blast!

We took time-out f0r some R and R. 

Our hammocks were the favored spot.

Sadie turned 4 years old while we were there and we celebrated her birthday with a piñata and delicious lemon-raspberry cupcakes. 

Early Saturday morning, Audrey drove Matthew, Potts, and me to Sun Valley. We biked the 19-mile path (yes, we wore helmets - for the most part) back to Grandma’s house. It was the ride of my dreams - beautiful surroundings, and mostly downhill! We were back within an hour and a half.

But my favorite part of the reunion was watching families mix and have a grand time together.

 Then again, that's what Family Reunions are all about!

A great big hug to all who came!

Breakfast Outdoors

Family Traditions? We kind of like them around here. This one began when I was a child. On the morning  of July 4th, besides playing Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” full blast on the stereo, we would pack up breakfast and take it down to the Twin Falls Canyon. Electricity was generated by the water fall there, so each cement table was equipped with an electrical outlet. We made pancakes and eggs fried or scrambled.

We haven’t yet found such a place here, so we have adapted with breakfast in our own backyard. This year, my sister, Linda, was in town, so I invited each of my siblings and their families too. I made french toast from a batch of homemade sourdough bread and had everyone bring something to enjoy with it.

It was the first time MY family members have been together for quite some time. Why I didn’t get a picture of all of us together with Dad? I just wasn’t thinking! 

My dad - "Papa"

With my sister, Linda.

My brother, David

and Mark

Grandson, Ethan

Son, Michael

David's wife, Connie

Nieces, Savanna and Melissa

Melissa's daughter, River

Of course swimming was included! Those who didn’t bring swimming suits wish they had... and a few of THEM decided to just jump in clothes and all. 

Granddaughter, Evylee

Audrey and Matthew

Linda's husband, Bob, with grand baby, Jordanne

Melissa's son, Isaac

Niece, Sierra, with son, Porter

Mark's wife, Alice -- a kid magnet!

Niece, Mikayla

Freedom Fire

Photo by Kristiana
who captured this with her iPhone
when she should have been playing! :O)

Playing for Craig Jessop and the American Festival Chorus involved two more drives to Logan. (I’ve logged a lot of car miles this week!) Their big Independence Day Freedom Fire event was held at the USU stadium and featured the rock group KANSAS. Only one piece, “Dust in the Wind,” was familiar to me. Maybe I would have recognized more if I could have heard ANYTHING other than the drummer! So glad for ear plugs!

But hey! Dinner at El Toro Viejo and a trip to Gossner Cheese Factory (yes, more cheese), made the Logan excursions memorable.

"Tour" to Sun Valley with the American Festival Chorus

So after Joe’s party in Boise we raced, and I mean RACED to Sun Valley. We had less than two hours to make the 2.5 hour trip. On the way we had a food discussion with Audrey and Matthew. (They came along with us to see Grandma and such.) Given the choice, would you rather have ice cream or something cheesy. Well Randy selected ice cream, of course, and I chose cheese. (No surprise there either.) Audrey? Ice Cream. Matthew? Cheese. 

We didn’t have time to grab lunch before my rehearsal at the Sun Valley Pavilion, so I asked Randy if he could bring me something.-- which he did -- a Snackable from the grocery store and an entire BRICK of cheese. Funny, funny Randy.

photo source

The guest artist for the evening’s concert was Alyson Cambridge, a gifted, young, and beautiful soprano. She was fantastic! You’ll hear of her in years to come, I am certain.

We spent the night at Grandma Collier’s, then drove home, catching church midway with my sister, Linda, in Twin Falls. I’m so grateful I didn’t have to take the bus to Logan after the concert and then drive home in the wee hours of the morning like some did! -- Thanks, Grandma, for the much appreciated “bed and breakfast”!

The Mustache Bash

Joe is a good sport ‘cause the girls were really teasing him with their mustache motif for his birthday. You see, now that he is 25-years-old, he can finally kind of grow one! 

There were plastic ones, and chocolate ones, 

and young ones, 

and not-so-young ones. 

Emily and Jenni planned it all. They scheduled it as a Saturday morning brunch at Julia Davis park so we could make it as a round-about-waypoint on our journey to Sun Valley.

Funny, Emily!

It was nice to be in Boise again. What a beautiful place with all the amenities of a big city in a little package. I can’t believe it’s been eighteen years since we lived there. Joe and Emily are there for eight or so weeks for an internship. In August they will return to Virginia. It’s so nice to have them a days driving distance at least for a little while. They hope to make this their permanent residence when law school is all said and done.

Oakley's Blessing

I love attending the blessing of babies. It seems to me a sweet way to welcome them into mortality and to equip them with blessings that will help them on their journey here. Oakley was blessed by her father, David, in their home ward. Randy, Michael, and Matthew joined in the circle of Priesthood Brethren.

P.S. I took this photo because Randy couldn’t put the camera up to his eye. (He helped me though.)

This is How It Went Down (or maybe I should say, This is How HE Went Down)

Thursday, June 21 -- The sun was setting, it was a beautiful evening, so Potts and I decided to take a leisurely bike ride around the neighborhood. 

I was just ahead of him on Bluffview (just five or so blocks from home) when I heard an “AHHHH!”, a horrible crashing sound, and turned around to see Randy and bike flat on the pavement. Blood was literally GUSHING out of his head. I ran to the nearest house and knocked and rang frantically. It took some time, but an elderly man finally came out in his bathrobe. I probably startled him to death, but asked for a cloth which he immediately procured. 

I was THIS close to calling an ambulance, but bravely decided to take a look at Randy’s head first. I had had some experience with head wounds (after Jenni’s bike crash when she was five, and after accidentally bashing David in the head with a cutting board when he was little) and I knew wounds to the head tended to bleed A LOT! This was a lot more than A LOT, but I told Potts (who miraculously had not blacked out) to keep pressure on his head, raced on my bike home to get the car, leaving him with startled neighbors. By the time I returned, the bleeding was under control.

I drove him to the nearby St. Mark’s Lone Peak Emergency Center and asked, “What in the world happened?”

All that Potts could recall was that he noticed something was amiss with one of the lines to his brakes. He reached under the bars to “fix it” and before he knew it, the handlebars turned sideways, stopping his bike short. He flew over the bike landing face first into the pavement.

Doctor Hunt spent nearly an hour digging gravel and grass out of Pott’s head and scrubbing his wounds clean. Then he deadened them (which about killed Potts off) and stitched his foot (which Potts thinks got ripped on one of the gears) his nose, and what he could of his forehead (much of this was gouged out and their was nothing to stitch.) 

The nurse wrapped him up then sent him to get a CAT scan to make certain nothing was broken. Miraculously he was still all in one piece.

All in all, he was treated in the ER for over three hours. 

I found out that I do not faint at the sight of blood, but I sure got light-headed during the cleaning out and stitching up part.

Potts will be okay. I think it damaged him emotionally more than physically, but we’re giving him loads of love and attention.

(I hesitate to mention that just two days ago while riding our bikes, he ran smack dab into a parked car.) I think I’m going to buy him some body  armor before I let him ride again.

Friday, June 22 -- Randy slept well, but awoke pretty sore. Our children were terrific and gave him loads of attention. Michael brought Smoothies, David and Katie brought pizza. The boys gave him a priesthood blessing of comfort and healing. Emily and Jenni called and cheered him up. Audrey and Matthew came in the evening and brought Frosties from Wendy’s.

It took over two hours to soak the gauze off his wounds. I’ll tell you, that was a labor of love on my part. I hope the worst of all this is over.

Take a look at his smashed glasses. Notice the nose pieces are totally bent backwards!

AJ for a Week

Emily, Joe, and AJ are living in Boise for the summer. Joe is clerking with Chief Judge Winmill. Having them just six hours away feels a lot better than clear across the country. They were able to come for Memorial Day which was THE BEST!

After the ballgame and food fun, Joe headed back to work in Boise and Emily prepared cupcakes for a friends wedding in Arizona. She left the next day and...

AJ was with me for a whole week! What an easy-going little guy. I don’t know how his parents did it, but he LOVES nap-time and takes two lengthy ones a day. I just laid him in the portable bed, gave him his binky and soft puppy, and covered him with his blanket.  He SMILED at me as if to THANK me! No whining, no fussing. It was unbelievable! Then again, Katie and David’s little Paisley does the same thing. Maybe little ones are just different these days.

Does he ever like to imitate! Here is AJ mimicking Potts’ watermelon-eating face.

We made a visit to Potts’ studio --

The Old Couch

We retired our green leather couch and love seat and replaced them with a nice new set from Costco. 

Lucky for us, Sandy has a clean-up day when we can put nearly anything INCLUDING the kitchen sink curbside to be picked up and thrown away.  So... we put our broken couch by the curb.

I busied myself, as I do weekly, mowing the lawn.  (Potts does the more difficult edging and trimming for which I am MORE than grateful.) As I finished up, I realized that I hadn’t seen Potts for awhile.... 

Well, I found him.  He was curbside, lounging in the old green couch chatting with the neighbor boys. It was a pretty adorable sight. That man will always be a young boy at heart; that's one of the things I love about him.