Family Reunion 2009 -- Photo Post

This year, the reunion was a fairly quiet and calm affair...Mom seemed relaxed and calm and actually spent more time enjoying every one's company than fussing with the assorted edibles and the decorations (She's come a long, long way from the Martha Stewart on Crack that we used to know...I'm so proud of her!)

Grandpa O. Brenda & Joe

In spite of our fervent belief to the contrary, Josh still has at least an inch to go before he can lap his cousin, Mark. They chased each other, watered each other, splashed each other, play video games with each other -- Mark tested the water in the pool by dipping his head into it (it was waaaaayyyyy too cold for swimming, so the cover stayed on....until he "accidentally" fell headfirst into the pool...ahem, it should be mentioned that he "accidentally" fell into the pool twice). That's okay...while they were racing around the yard, Josh clipped a tree trunk with his head. Initial heart failure aside, he was just fine...little bruise, little scrape, and he was off and running in seconds.

Carrie, now that she's the mom o'two, was just as witty as usual, but I've noticed that she's added a bit more steel to her spine...even her voice has changed...of the three oldest of the D. Herd, she was the only one of us that TRULY sounded like an adult, and truly has the demeanor of an adult. Denni was rockin' as the doting auntie, and seemed totally at home in the role. Auntie Suzing couldn't make it as she was vacating in Michigan...apparently, they rented a lovely place on the lake...but since the lake is flippin' cold, I'm not certain how much use they'll get out of it. The sons-in-laws seemed pretty beat, Mark crashed with the new sprog-let, Alex, Matt went coma out on the patio, and was totally oblivious to our teasing of him, and Jon just tried to find quiet places out of the main traffic areas. Norma, Hanford, and Joyce were all looking really well, they've all lost weight, but in a good way. Jay and Dev practices katas with Mark and Josh, and were goofy in every sense of the word. Mom and Dad had just had the new play set setup, and so that was the primary focus of the day...especially when it was discovered that sliding down the slide built up enough electricity to give the folks at the end of the slide a jolt.

We had a cake that was ostensibly for Mom's birthday, but Carrie had asked the poor folks at the bakery to put pretty much every body's names on it. There may have be been more NAME icing than FLOWER icing. We had noodles and ham, and berry cobbler, and Gramma O's Chocolate Velvet Angel Pie...which is like a rich, rich, thick chocolate mouse in a light crust...and I haven't had it in years, and it was just 'wunnerful'.

Josh, Alex, Little Mark

There were more pictures, but I think I'll just keep the post short this time.