ARIZONA

The first weekend of March Craig and I flew to Mesa, Arizona for a siblings reunion! What a treat to spend a few days with all of his bros & sis (minus one) and their spouses (minus one)along with his parents. We were a group of 17!

They had planned this to allow us to have a full weekend of visiting without trying to entertain and keep track of the 36 grandkids when we all get together for family reunions. It was a success. We got to go out to eat, get manicures, pedicures, go cart racing, hiking, have laughing contests & visit until late at night, etc. Choosing Arizona was an extra bonus because we were allowed to see Craig's aunt and uncles, and cousins from his mom's side.

Friday night we got to go to Bob & Richard's home.

Their home belonged to Craig's late grandparents. It was extra special for them all to be there and talk about memories of that house and their grandparents.

Elzada also played a little piece on the piano for us. It was a priceless moment because there she was in her parents home playing on the piano she learned on.

(video below)

Uncle Bob with Gina
Chris and Rhonda

Dale and Cindy

Meredith and Corinne

Lane and LeAnn, Mitch and Denae, Kent and Heidi

I L*O*V*E this picture of Elzada and her sister Marilyn and brother Bob! I saw it on the wall of their home and took a photo.

Bob's home is a Barbie museum! He has every Barbie and has been to ALL the Barbie conventions. Here are the originals.

More through the ages...

Ahh, here are the 80s. This was my second time being in Bob's home. Each time I got a kick out of seeing "my" Barbies. I love seeing the one's I played with.

1. Cowboy Barbie

2. Perm Barbie (in the yellow dress)

3. The Barbie in the hot pink and purple satin type dress

Those are the ones I remember playing with, with my sisters. (Nann & Nissa do you remember these?)

On Saturday we had a yummy lunch at Uncle Carl and Aunt Marilyn's home. All of their kids came over. It was fun to see all these grown up cousins reconnecting. The girls performed their 'famous' song. They sang it at most of the family weddings. Denae, Corinne, and Rhonda sang it for our wedding luncheon. (Below is the video of it).

Simmons and Jacobson cousins

I had to include this photo. We laughed hard when Dale and Robert realized they had the SAME shoes. Like father like son. It was an even funnier moment because Dale and Cindy were telling us that their kids were laughing at Dale when they had watched the movie Crazy, Stupid, Love because Dale's shoes were like Steve Carell's character.

Saturday evening we went to the grave site of their grandparents...Earl & Helen Young

It was a fabulous sibling reunion with wonderful memories!