
Last week we went to a family reunion for Matt's Mom's family. The Jenkins Family Reunion!!! She has nine brothers and sisters so there were about 70 people altogether. We were going to leave early Wednesday morning but Matt needed to stay and work for a while. Good thing he went in. His front desk man didn't show for work and told Matt, "Yah, I'm gonna have to quit." You know with people losing their jobs lately you would think he would do anything to keep his job. Needless to say this put a damper on the trip. My Dad works with Matt so he held the fort down but it was just bad timing. So we left about 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. I had the whole car packed when Matt came home. I am so efficient :). We stopped by Barnes & Noble on the way out because I wanted Tori Spelling's new book but it was on back order.
I drove from Surprise to Flagstaff where we stopped to get Arby's. Then Matt drove from Flag to almost Page. We took a detour on the 89A through Lee's Ferry and Jacob Lake. Don't ever do it. It is a winding road and very narrow. I got car sick so I ended up driving the rest of the way. Matt loved it.
We pulled into Bryce Canyon at about 7:00-7:30pm. We stayed at the Ruby's Inn. It was busy there. Lots of people from different countries. Two of Matt's Aunts brought RV's and were camping right next to the hotel. They reserved a grassy area so we could gather and make meals. That night we had Hawaiian Haystacks. After that I brought my Dad's projector out and we watched "Over The Hedge" outside. It was fun but we were tired and needed to go to our room. The rooms were better than what I had expected. I had brought food for the kids and there was a microwave and refrigerator.
On Thursday we woke up had cereal and headed over to Panguitch for a Pioneer Day Parade. It was a very small parade but the kids loved it because the people on the floats threw candy at them. The fire trucks even sprayed water up into the air and blasting the kids when it came back down. After that we headed to a local park for a fireman's lunch. I had packed Shea and Carsie PB&J sandwiches. They played on the playground while Matt waited in a long line for our food. He came back with salad, pulled pork and potatoes in huge portions. We went back to our room, swam and took a nice nap. That night we gathered for Taco Salad.
We had a talent show that night. The family had reserved a conference room. Lots of people played the piano and sang. Ben's kids did a series of jokes they were so cute. We did a puppet show with our "Oobi" eyes and hands. I made Shea's hand a tutu and we both had blonde hair. I will have to get a picture of it. So during our puppet show Matt played the theme song from "The Tonight Show w/ Johnny Carson" and introduced each one of us. We then danced (with our hands) to a song from "YO Gabba Gabba" - The most disturbing kids show I have ever seen. Then Matt said we had one more introduction. Shea's hand came up with another set of eyes and a baby bib. He played "Rock-a-bye baby". So yes, we are pregnant and I am 13 weeks tomorrow. After that we had choreographed a dance to the song
"Everybody Dance Now". It was fun. I think some were shocked. We wanted to wait and tell his family in a fun way. After the talent show we went back to our rooms and went to bed. Shea slept with me and Carson slept with Matt. I could hardly sleep the whole time because the beds were so hard. Shea said "They are made out of bricks!"
Shea at the Parade

Shea and Grace

Picnic in Panguitch

Carson and his cousin, Elias

Swimming at the hotel

Carson praying (So Cute!!!)

The grassy area where we ate and frolicked.