Summertime is Family Reunion Time: Part 2

There is an Ingrid Michaelson song that I’m obsessed with. The words go like this…”Everybody, everybody wants to love. Everybody, everybody wants to be loved. Oh, oh, oh…oh, oh, oh." Sing it Ingrid!

It’s a good thing we have families in this life, because if you want to love and be loved (like everybody does…so Ingrid says) you can count on a family to provide.

Last weekend was the Johnson (my mom’s side of the family) reunion. We’ve been having these reunions every other year for 18 years (we are much, much greater in number now than when we started, the picture above is only about half of us). I have so many cherished memories from these reunions and this weekend we made even more.

We’ve started some reunion traditions over the years and this year we stayed true to those. We had, among other things…dancing (square this year, which Mary Kate says is the most fun thing she’s done all summer), a tennis tournament, Muggles Quidditch, stacks of Little Caesars pizza, plenty of water balloons, missionary night, amazing food, and a multimedia presentation to end things with a bang.

A few visuals…

Dean: tennis tournament CEO

Alex: tennis tournament champion (along with Aunt Kathy)

Lyndey: budding tennis pro

Tennis Tournament snacks: I cannot emphasize enough how good these pastries were. Uncle Todd found out that only one box had been ordered for the tennis tournament breakfast…he promptly called and ordered two more boxes. Good thing too because we ate every last one.

Kids everywhere!!! Lots and lots of kids. More than ever this year…just as is should be.

Johnson Reunions are good for Little Caesars Pizza profits

We play lots of field games at Johnson Reunions, but everyone’s hands-down favorite is Muggles Quidditch, a game created by some of my cousins many reunions ago. Since then we’ve never had a reunion without playing it.

Even Ginger (my cousin Alisa’s dog) joined in our Quidditch game this year. All was going well until she cased down and popped the ball. She’s so sweet though, everyone forgave her instantly.

Food is always top priority at a Johnson reunion. Saturday night’s dinner was part of missionary night. People brought food native to the places where they served missions. We have over 30 missionaries in our family so the selection was incredible. Curry from Indonesia, lettuce wraps from Korea, fruit soup from Norway, cheese bread puffs from Brazil, cookies from Switzerland to name only a few selections on the menu. Satisfaction was guaranteed.

Like I said, we always end each reunion with a multi-media presentation, usually a recap of the previous years and the current reunion activities. This year was a bit different…my brother Eric put together a movie that looked back on the memories of past reunions over 18 years. It was fantastic and I have to admit, I got a bit emotional and weepy being reminded of all the good times past. I love these people!

 

A big thanks to all those who worked so hard to make the reunion happen this year. It was a fantastic reunion…nearly perfect, except for one big thing…there were too many people missing. Every year it get harder to have everyone come. We are getting larger and larger in number, people are busy and live far, far away…some have even passed on (it won’t ever be the same without Grandma and Grandpa, although I know they were there in spirit). For those family members who weren’t with us, know that you were greatly missed and that is wasn’t the same without you. You were in our thoughts. Especially you Mom and Dad. We all missed you terribly!