The Michaelsen Reunion

The Michaelsen's are Erick's, Dad's, maternal Grandparents. Complicated I know, but anyway, they hold a reunion every August and all of the descendents of the John and Ella Michaelsen family meet in Mayfield, Utah. (Mayfield, if you don't know, is 7 miles south of Manti and is east of Gunnison.) This is a huge gathering of at least 200 people, sometimes more and they get together for the entire first weekend in August to catch-up and meet each other. I went with Erick to it last year when we were dating and it was one of the funnest reunions I have ever been too.
We left early on Friday to go down so that we would have time to go to the Manti Temple and do a session before we officially started the reunion. It was so beautiful inside and it just set the right mood for being around family during the weekend. I got to meet a lot of nice and wonderful people, get reacquainted with family that I had only met on our wedding day, play games, watch movies, and my favorite, dancing. I don't know how to dance, but that evening, the family had hired a DJ to do some disco music as well as other music. Erick taught me how to waltz and we did some of the "deacon shuffle" as well. They had crafts for all ages to do, a volleyball tournament, a soccer game, a fish pond, a candy store, water baseball, and a raffle on Sunday. I actually won a bath kit (for those who don't understand my amazement is that I never win in drawings of any kind. I could have 80 to 90% of the tickets in a drawing and still never have my name pulled out!) So this was an exciting event.
I love that families try to keep connections alive, and Erick and I have tried to hit every one this year because we believe it is important to stay involved with our loved ones, no matter the time, distance, and so forth. This is what the next life is all about, and what a great way to practice doing what we will be doing in the next life - connecting with families and creating more!! What a great weekend!