Summer and Family Matters

Summer is here!  Today was the last day of school for most of my district and yesterday was my last day of subbing for the year.  Yesterday I watched the first 45 minutes of A Bug's Life 5 times.  I don't recommend it!  Now that summer is on, I can get to work on completing my teaching credential.  I love working on school from home.  I have a schedule for my day and it's so amazing to get chores and errands done and transition right into writing a paper, without having to work out bus schedules or deadlines.  Loving WGU.

We spent the weekend visiting family in Salt Lake City and sending Taylor off on his mission.  I spent the 10.5 hour drive home thinking on the weekend and reflecting on family.  So often we hear the phrase "Life is too short" but when it comes to family, life is long, especially when you have a big family like I do.

What does that mean and what are the implications?  Think back on the history of your family.  It stretches further than you can think about and someday we'll all be great-great-grandma/pa who did such-and-such. Think about your aunts, uncles, grandparents and how much they have affected your personality, well-being, and experiences.  That's what I mean.  Family life is long, and its effect is far-reaching.  Too often, families can lose perspective and get caught up in short-term situations, losing sight of the long-term effects.

I write the next part of my post, not placing any blame, or making judgments.  Truthfully, it's hard seeing my family these days.  Several factors contribute to this fact, including that several of us live out of state.  I would like to propose some solutions that might remedy our future family relationships.

1. Once in awhile, at least every year or two, we all need to be at the same place at the same time.  We need to set a date in the future that we can all commit to being there. (Taylor's Homecoming? Palm Desert resort weekend?)  Being in the same city doesn't count.  I mean everyone is off-work and attending at least most of the time.

2.  We need to have an itinerary.  If we could all spend all of the meals of only one weekend together, that would be amazing, inexpensive, and doable for everyone's schedule.  Meals need to be planned and everyone contributes.

I was a little heart broken after this weekend.  We spent a lot of time in our hotel room, or walking the downtown streets because we didn't have enough of an itinerary.  We heard about people being here or there, but often two parties invited us at the same times and we felt conflicted turning someone down to see another family member.

I almost didn't write this post.  I am so nervous about offending, but this comes from a place that misses my family so much.  Hopefully we can find a way to get over past issues and create a together family again.

On a much, much lighter note, here are some of my favorite pictures from this weekend.

Adam taking care of sippy cups.

Sweet Adeline

Flashback!  Love this picture that my mom found.  1991?

Daniel's turn at taking care of sippy cups.

Tea Party Crashers