ray reunion - day 5

on sunday we went to sacrament meeting along with 2000 of our closest friends. it was seriously crazy, i've never seen such a huge sacrament meeting. the whole chapel, the whole cultural hall, even adding chairs to the ends of the rows throughout the meeting, and the whole stage. and people in the halls. it was huge.

  after sacrament meeting we headed over to the temple for pictures.

we tried to get a nice group shot of the cousins we had with us.

not so easy, i gotta tell ya.

and laney's outta there.

okay, let's try the steps!

aaaaand, scene.

every family brought pincnicky stuff to share and we hit the park behind the temple for a big ol' family break-the-fast.

after eating and visiting we drove out to carthage.

this picture was taken before the revenge of hyrum. the kids, being kids, loved these statues of joseph and hyrum. they climbed the steps and played and climbed between their legs, you know, like kids. 3-year-old jack is a wild one, and he tried to climb between hyrum's legs, but then tried to stand up and got his head stuck. he screamed, we laughed, we rescued. hyrum got revenge. joseph might be the stick pulling champion, but hyrum's got some mad wrestling skills - standing head scissor skills to be precise.
(i looked it up). 

((hopefully we are not too terribly irreverent. we know joseph had a wonderful sense of humor. i like to think they would have been laughing at poor jack just as hard as we were.))

we were able to take a tour of the jail from this nice missionary.

it's kind of a surreal place to be. reverent, but not sad. i am not an eloquent writer, 

(especially not in the midst of the longest blog marathon ever)

but it's a special place with a special spirit, and i am thankful for the opportunities our family has had to visit.

delaney had been sleeping but woke up as our tour ended. we walked around, watched the movie, and then headed back to fort madison.

the grandkids gathered around grandpa's computer to watch matilda. 

delaney and i had an impromptu photo shoot in the hallway.

i love the effect of the long hallway and lighting.

 gives me some ideas for our upcoming family pictures.

she's discovered her tongue. with a vengeance.

i know, i know... but she's my baby!

ok. i'm done.

wait, one more. 

peek a boo!

we all hung out in grandpas room and i tried again (in vain) to get a cute cousins picture. and addie isn't crying, she's just being a goof. and laney's photo bomb is courtesy of auntie cami.

she kinda stole the show, right?

she definitely stole their attention. :)

these guys.

4 of the 7 sons.

james, grandpa, mike, matt, and glenn.

i told you, she loves glasses!

addie. i swear.

these two brown-eyed girls are only 2 months apart. getting ready for kindergarten up in here!

we're kind of an apple family.

we finally set the bigger kids up with a movie in m and c's room, got the little ones to bed with lexi watching tv in our room, and j and s's little ones sleeping with chris watching tv in their room. with the kids gone, i brought out the munchies!

chantell was a little tired.

that was a fun night to visit together as adults. it doesn't happen nearly enough, but when it does, it's always a good time. we planned out our last day together, stayed up late and ate lots of junk food. perfect night!