Some Shots from the Shaha Reunion, Draper, UT, 24-26 July 2014

Ran into this awesome blonde at the top of the Rockies in Wyoming. Mom and I had a GREAT time with the family able to make it to the Reunion, and we all sorely missed all who were not able to attend with us.

Buffie had arranged to have a wooden puzzle made for Gramma of one of our old Reunion photos--the one with the floating Katie.

Little Claire Shaha (Jimmy's third daughter, 2 yrs old) was pretty much a terror behind the wheel of this battery powered toy car--you can see the reluctance to take even small suggestions as to possibly reducing speed from Jack.

James, Jin and little Reggie made it by Friday--another handsome family to the mix. I think Reggie and Jamesy Wamsey (Ben and Marinda's son) will get along well--both focus mainly on smiling and eating.

Lizzie (Jake and Melinda's daughter) insisted on entertaining the group with her dancing, which was truly entertaining amidst the other constant chaos.

For some reason Gramma acquired a number of major awards to bestow to winners of the various games. I unfortunately won a game and the little girls in the group insisted on testing out my major award and having a photo taken. Yes, as the T-shirt from Katie says, "It's all good in the hood." I had another photo we took of all the major award winners but for some reason it won't load (probably another fat-finger job by yours truly).

Another of the usual events. If you look closely you can see a yellow water balloon headed strait for Shea--Uncle Steve can see it but Shea appears distracted by the other balloon that just missed him and landed by Steve's feet. It was another fun event, especially so when Jake started tossing the balloons into the crowd just to make things interesting.



Stacy added a new event that turned out a winner--pickleball (I think that's how it's spelled). Only don't rely on flip flops to offer good footing for this event--better bring some real shoes.



A couple other pics would not load, but here's one of Mom and I headed back to Kansas--had a farewell eclaire in Gramma Shaha's honor at the Kneaders bakery in Heber. It was awesome, especially with Timpanogos as a backdrop.

Mom and I stopped to visit the Dinosaur national monument park on our way through eastern Utah--very interesting.

Speaking of fossils, how about the dude in this photo!! I found this marker about somebody named Escalante crossing the river at this point back in the 18th century--I'll have to look up who he was. The odd looking hills in the background is where the ground upheaval exposed all those fossils at the national monument.
Well, that's all about Grampa small. We are very much looking forward to seeing all our children and their families in November.

more from Grandma's funeral

Grandma Williams' funeral was beautiful. I wish you all could have been there! I didn't get to know her for very long, so it was fun to learn about her life from those who loved her most. Nancy gave a great talk, focusing on Grandma's sense of humor. Everything was wonderful. The Williams family is so genuine and kind. I always feel welcome when we visit Jerome.

This is the madness called "getting the great grandkids together for a picture:"

And a few more pictures from our Jerome visit:

Thanks to the change in time zones, we got to go for a swim at our hotel at 5:30 a.m...... because we had already been up for an hour and a half and had nothing else to do. 

The shortest of all the cousins. :) 

Natalie was so sweet with Oakley. And Oakley loved it.

Rob Williams family (Pat didn't get this shot because he was digging around in the car for something).

Some Photos from Gramma Fae Williams' Service

Feeding the group at In-n-Out as we head back from the airport to Katie and Shea's new pad--veeerry niiiiicce it is (and the burgers and fries weren't bad either).



Oakely's much prettier face on--and that's a great stwabewwy shake.



When we got to Brian Williams' home the party was already in full swing so we wandered around and ate and drank and visited. Though I can't show it, Chris put on a masterful fireworks display--would rival most any city's display. So one again the Williams clan pulled out all the stops!

So we tried to get all our reps together before the sun went down and the pyrotechnicals got out of control--great looking group, eh?!

In the family prayer just before the funeral service in Jerome.

Gramma would be well pleased with this group of men--except maybe the payaso at the end. Thank you all for supporting having your husbands there. The only grandchild unable to make it was Craig.

At the graveside service; Ben offered the dedicatory prayer.

All the Shaha boys were asked to be pallbearers.

Gramma Fae's grandchildren.

Jeff's clan.

Pat and Linda's clan.

Found these two princesses roaming the church hallways.



This is, from left to right, in the front row: Betty Damron, Jackie Last. Mary Kay Sloat; and in the back left to right: Becky Last, Annette Damron, and Nancy Fae.



And here's the Pat and Nancy clan.




Switzerlalnd!

Ok, it took me a little while, but here are the pics from Switzerland.  They don't do it justice, but hopefully will give you an idea of how beautiful it was.  We stayed in the Lauterbrunen Valley, which is near Interlaken.  Supposedly it's the most beautiful part of the country (or so says my guide book).  It had waterfalls galore and on a clear day you can see three famous peaks:  Jungfrau, the Shilthorn, and I forget the other… haha!

We took a cable car up to a "car less" village… a town only accessible by cable car, train, or foot!  It was awesome because we didn't have to worry about our kids walking down the middle of the street. And it was very quiet. We found a fab restaurant with a great view of the valley below.

He just ate a graham cracker

The kids got tuckered out as we hiked along the ridge, so they took the train back down but Katie and I continued back to Lauterbrunnen by foot because we're hardcore like that.  It was a grand adventure.  I love this shot of Katie.

Jack was totally falling asleep when we took this picture.  It was hilarious. 

We took another cable car up to this great little playground with spectacular views… it rained on us but it was still fun.

Then we switched off taking turns and rode the "Trotti" bikes down the mountain… a hybrid of a bike a scooter.  It was crazy fun. 

There's Ben with his trotti

The other fun thing we did was a "rodelbahn" or Alpine Slide.  Unfortunately, I don't have any awesome photos of it.  Katie and Shea??

A cool cemetery we stumbled upon

Ben got a kick out of this depiction.  Maybe because he relates all too well

More cowbell!

This little creek was right outside the apartment we stayed in

Katie taught me how to French braid.  Yay!  She's got mad skills

Hanging at Lake Brienz, which had stunning turquoise water

Ben about gave me a heart attack trying to get the "perfect" photo of James airborn. 

Took this picture on the way home… you wouldn't think it, but we had to leapfrog across a busy road and fight our way through a bunch of Asian tourists on multiple tour buses, but we got the shot!