DeGOOYERS UNITE!

I'm struggling with this post... although I should be excited to share the events of the past week with you.  Why am I struggling?  My computer lost my pictures.  I lost over 200+ photos of the DeGooyer Family Reunion.  I am dramatic by nature - but I literally sobbed for over an hour.  We've tried to retrieve the pictures with help from many people, but they are gone.  So...  Although I want to share the fun activities and the wonderful times we had with Scott's family, I'm also feeling discouraged and sad that I can't share priceless photos with everyone.
Without (and despite not having) my own pictures, let me just say:

Seeing and spending time with the DeGooyers was AWESOME!  We stayed with Kevin and Kelly.  Stacey and Whitney organized the events.  Mom and Dad (aka Grandma and Grandpa) made the trip despite bad health.  Kerri and Mark hosted the 35+ people for an awesome lasagna dinner at their home.  Brett and Alana made the trek all the way from Arizona to join in.  And everyone had lots of time to visit and laugh and enjoy one anothers company.  I'm so glad we drove (24+ hours straight through) to share the time with everyone!  Families really are FOREVER!  And I'm so blessed to be a part of this one!  They are great!

Father's Day was the first day of the reunion.  We met at the LDS tabernacle to listen to Music and the Spoken Word.  It was fantastic!  The choir sang my favorite song 3 times: a rousing, acapella rendition of Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho.  Then we walked around temple square.  Key Lime Pie and Kotten Kandy don't remember doing it when they were younger so it was fun to show them everything!  Then we went to the May's home for lasagna, visiting and some family pictures.  We were the last ones to leave because we enjoyed spending time with everyone sooooo much!  (Incidentally: It has been WAY too long {5 years} since my daughters have gotten to see their DeGooyer grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles.)

(Thank you, Alana, for sending me a pic of our family... at least I have one to share.)

Monday we all dressed in red, white or blue and took a HUGE family photo (39 people).  Then we picnicked, played games, visited some more, etc.  Since Mom and Dad DeGooyer will have been married for 50 years this August, we played a game getting to know them.  Turns out their pet names for each other are:  Raymond and Dear.  I LOVE pet names!  (Incidentally:  Scott calls me Brightness and I call him DeGooyer.)

Tuesday we spent the day at Lagoon Amusement Park.  Scott and Kotten Kandy were SUPER excited!  They love roller-coasters.  Key Lime Pie even got in on some of the action, although she's REALLY scared of heights.  We played ALL day!  And had a blast!  Scott and Kotten Kandy especially liked riding "the Cannibal" with Kevin, his daughter and Brett and his daughter at the end of the night.  The ride operator let them ride that fearful thing 3 times in a row.  They were pumped.  (Incidentally:  Kevin and Scott were both hoarse after a full day riding coasters - apparently , even when they are lame, you are supposed to scream as loud as you can.)

Wednesday was technically the end of the reunion, but we didn't stop playing.  We toured 4 different temples so the girls could see them and take pictures in front of them.  The new Provo City Center temple was AMAZING!  We also stopped for ice-cream at the BYU Creamery.  Then that evening we had dinner with Mom/Grandma's brothers and sisters and their kids.  And we ended the evening watching an outdoor movie at Kevin's house - one of our favorites: Zootopia.

(I stole this picture off of FB.  Isn't Kai cute?  Isn't my niece adorable?)

Thursday morning was my favorite activity of the whole reunion:  We convinced Mom and Dad to have breakfast with just us before they left to go home.  We met them at Ihop and the 6 of us were able to visit and spend some quality time with them before they took off.  I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY miss my husband's parents.  (I don't like to use the words in-laws because I really think of them as my parents too...)  After breakfast we toured 5 more temples as a family and stopped at the warehouse for Scott's work in Utah.  Then we met up with the Larsens.  I am soooooooooooooo bummed that I lost that photo.  It was great to see Lemon Drop, Doritoes and the gang.  And Nettie Melanson also showed up!  I miss all of those wonderful people!  (Incidentally:  I set up my nephew on a blind date with Nettie.  We all hope it works because they are two of the coolest people in the world!!!!!)  Then we had pizza with Kevin, Kelly and Haagen-Dazs.  Haagen-Dazs also got a new puppy.  She named him Kai.  He is really cute, for a dog.

Friday we said goodbye to Kevin and Kelly and met up with Stacey in downtown Salt Lake.  We got to see the new interactive Family History Center.  It was truly AWESOME!  We could have spent hours there.  We also toured the Church History Museum.  And we visited 3 more temples on the way to North Logan to spend the evening with Stacey and her family.  (Incidentally we saw and took pictures with 12 temples on this trip!)  Once we were at Stacey's, my nephew, Kendall, and his girlfriend came over (so we got to see them too) and we played games.  It was fun times!
Saturday we left to come home.  We again drove straight through and got home on Sunday afternoon.  (Incidentally:  Kotten Kandy's 16th birthday was Sunday.  I'll post about that in a different post.)
We had a great trip!  I'm sooooooooooo glad we went!  Families are Forever!