Washburn Family Reunion

Last week my family came up to Utah for a huge family reunion. When I mean huge, I mean there were 350 people there, but technically there are like 700 people in the family.

Great Grandma Washburn had 10 kids (not necessarily in this order):
Verde (deceased)
Vela (deceased)
Lark
Berk (deceased)
AlDean (deceased)
ValGene (my gma)
JB
Velyn
Veloy
Virginia

And each of those 10 kids had, like, 10 kids. My family (from Grandma ValGene Ogles on down) wore a neon green t-shirt that had the logo "iOgles" on it.
Part of the family reunion are the traditional races. Yes. Races. As in running races for every age.
Yes, I mean every age.

Ages 2-3
Ages 20-25
(That would be me, Sarah, Brent, and Melissa in the neon green):
Ages 40-49
(That would be my parents, and a few of my aunts and uncles--my Uncle Craig Bodily on the left totally beat everyone):

As you can tell by these next photos, I didn't really branch out from my more immediate family. I knew a few second cousins my age from BYU, but other than that.... I'm a horrible family reunioner.

My cousins Trevor and Afton... Um. Adorable? I think so.

Let me tell you the miracle of this next picture. Trevor is like the ultimate people-hater. He seriously doesn't like strangers, let alone some of his family. But he immediately took to my brother Bryan. He worships Bryan and followed him around.

My girly cousins: Lydia, Mo, Liz and Amy.

Amy, Mo and Lydia. They are America's Next Top Models, no?

More girly cousins--Darcy, Sadie, Olivia and Melissa:
Needless to say, I love my family.

Amy:

Amy and Sadie:

Me and Ty:

Aunt Anne and Great Uncle Lark:
(PS - Uncle Lark has looked the same his whole life--his beard, the plaid shirt and the suspenders, or sometimes overalls). He's famous for his red rock sculptures in Blanding, Utah like this one:
Which, funnily enough, our family jokes about it being an OSHA nightmare. ;D

GramO

It was my Grandma Ogles 79th birthday on Saturday.

The Ogles side of my family (mama's side) are emailers. Like, seriously, I get 20 a day that are mass-emailed to everyone in my family.

But this week, all the emails have been things we love about GramO. I thought I'd share:

Uncle Callis: I think the words that describe Grandma O the best are “Long reach” and “strong pincher”. Just a warning to all you grand kids. Don’t ever sit on the same bench with her in church… it doesn’t matter how far away you are! If you are on the same bench “Beware!”. Don’t say I didn’t warn you….

Cousin Amy: The best way to describe how I feel about my Grandma Ogles would be to give her a great big hug and kiss! I love her so much. If there was one word that could describe Grandma O it would be LOVE.

Sister Sarah: Grandma is famous for her faithful temple attendance, indexing records, bell collection, and citrus centerpieces. She takes very good care of her dear adopted dog, Lola, and will feed visitors any time of the day or night.

Cousin Mo: I love how she always sends us wonderful emails, and how she spoils us, and she always makes sure we have enough to eat. She is the most unselfish person that I know.

Cousin Ty: The best way for me to share what Grandma O means to me would be to give her a big big hug... but since she's not around and that wouldn't work well electronically... I'll just write a few things. I really admire Grandma's love and care for her family. In a mixed up world it's nice to have people like grandma to look up to who have their priorities where they should be.

Cousin Melissa: She is always so supportive and complimenting. After leaving grandmas my self esteem has raised to the top! She just believes in all of us so much! She listens to any story about my day despite how boring it might be. She has the best advice and knows so much. I admire her love that she has for EVERYONE! I don't know where I would be in life without her example and influence in my life.

Aunt Georgia: My favorite thing about Mom right now (besides that she always cooks wonderful meals for me) is her devotion to family history. You may have been lucky enough to visit her when she had a long drawerful of couples waiting to be sealed - she let us take a peek. She has the true spirit and longs to find all the Hayes, Ogles, etc. that she can.

Cousin Max: GramO worries about everyone but that's only because she's so compassionate and charitable....She let Lisa and I drive her car to Oregon and I felt bad for taking the car so long....I hope Lola kept her company since she couldn't leave the house to drive to the gym and lift weights like she usually does....And she let us borrow the car again when I made the mistake of trying to fix my clutch....she's a very sweet and compassionate woman who loves to do temple work and throw family parties......especially karaoke...

Me: Grandma Ogles is one of the most extraordinary women. Her whole world revolves around the family and the gospel. I feel like we all sometimes get distracted by other things in life, but Grandma's sole focus is always on the family--whether it is through phone calls or emails, or visits out to lunch with Sue or her sisters, or temple work, or wanting to know about and encouraging the dating lives of all of us college kids. =D Not only that, but she is constantly bettering herself through scripture study and service. She also raised my Mom (and yes, you other 8 wonderful children). But my mom wouldn't be the mother she is if Grandma Ogles didn't raise her the way she did.


ps - Yes, we call my Grandma Ogles "Gramma Oh." I don't know who started it, but everyone does it. And then she started signing her emails to the family as GramO. So we do it now too. She's becoming an expert in internet lingo. At least we cured her of all caps. She did that for a long time AND I ALWAYS FELT LIKE SHE WAS YELLING AT ME THROUGH HER EMAILS.

ode to marie

Marie had a senior year photo shoot. She is so gorgeous.

Gotta admit, I'm a little jealous that she got all the good genes. =D

stealing news

I have no interesting news of my own. Sad huh?

My boring news:

1. I'm stuck in Utah until the end of the summer because i can't find anyone to buy my contract that ends Aug 24th.

2. My cousin Liz moved in with me. This makes life slightly more interesting and fun. Liz and I have both had Tuesdays off for the last couple of weeks. We have gotten into the strange routine of waking up early, putting on a movie and falling asleep again on the couch. Yes, we have very exciting lives.

3. I get to switch back to Compliance from Reception at my company for the rest of the summer. They need me. Oh, to feel needed.

4. I have no vacations planned this summer. No camping trips, no weekend trips, no trips home (until I move in August). I feel slightly pathetic.



So, on to interesting news that is not mine, but feels mine because it is family-related.

1. Jackie Bodily (my cousin) is leaving soon for the MTC. She got her mission call to the Budapest Hungary Mission. And I am going up to Plain City, Utah (yes, they have a town in Utah by that name) this weekend to hear Jackie give her talk tomorrow in her home ward. Jackie is seriously one of the most amazing people I've ever met. I feel like all of my cousins are extremely talented and smart. But Jackie just blows 'em all out of the water. =D

2. Marie has had a very eventful last few months of her senior year in high school. I'm sad that I can't be there for her graduation on June 10th. But considering she didn't come to my college graduation, and I threatened to not go to her graduation in return, I guess I'm just following through on a threat.

Marie in her senior spring play: Alice in Wonderland. (She was the White Queen). And Hillary Burlew was Alice!!

Marie went to Senior Prom with Cooper Brown.

With her friends. Aren't they gorgeous?

3. Sarah is engaged! Here is the information in her own words:



"I'm sure you all have been waiting for the details, so here they are!

Brent Monson and I are getting married in the Provo Temple on Thursday, August 12th at 10:30 am. :-) We are having a reception that night in the Provo Library/Old Academy building in the ballroom on the top floor. Then we are having a reception in California the next weekend. You are all invited!!! :-)

Brent is so amazing! He just graduated from BYU with his masters in accounting, and already has a job lined up with Ernst and Young in Houston. So we are moving to Texas in September! He is the 3rd out of 4 kids, and grew up in Orem. Both his older brothers are married, and his sister, Emily, is a nursing major at BYU and is one of the most beautiful and sweet girls I have ever met. His parents are angels-- so welcoming and kind. And his mom can cook!! He served a mission in Donetsk, Ukraine, Russian-speaking.

Brent is perfect for me. He is sensitive and smart and likes tofu and doesn't watch much TV. (The last two aren't essentials on my list, but are representative of the quirky things that fit.) We both oil paint and enjoy the outdoors and the performing arts and the occasional sporting event. We have similar goals and ways of thinking about things. He is so open, and honest, and sincere. And he is so cute! I always knew that at any moment I could meet someone worth marrying. But now that it's happened, I still feel surprised!

Brent is a catch, and I'm sure you'll all agree after meeting him. I feel SO blessed! "

So my summer is going to be filled with fun wedding-planning. I am going wedding dress shopping with Sarah this next week. Woohoo! I will take LOTS of pictures and post them later.

turkey weekend

So Thanksgiving weekend has been quite a blast. My family came up from Simi to join in the festivities of the Ogles clan in Springville. It was so great to have so much family here!

MoGene, Darcy and Sadie

Thursday was filled with cooking, eating, karaoke, performances, basketball, etc.

After our Thanksgiving meal (lunch), our family gathered in the family room (all 50 or so of us) and enjoyed each family performing something:

Amy Lambert enjoying the performances (along with the rest of the people in the background)

ie - Sarah, Marie and I with our frantically put-together, barely practiced performance of "Sisters" (from A White Christmas)
ie - Chuck Norris jokes
ie - A quick game of charades

Then, as cheezy as it sounds, our family played our own game-show called, "We're Related!" It was fun to see how many of the younger kids knew so much about our family history!

Then the karaoke machine came out. You know its not Ogles karaoke if Safety Dance isn't put on at least once!

Marie getting ready to eat!

After everyone's fill of pie (we had 12 pies...), my cousin Liz came home with 4 tickets to the Jazz game!! So Liz, Melissa, Jackie and I headed off to Salt Lake to enjoy our 100 Club tickets! The Jazz were playing the Chicago Bulls. I don't think I can ever go to another NBA game unless I can go like this: free, VIP parking; free tickets; free food at a restaurant on the 6th floor overlooking the stadium--crab, lobster, shrimp, etc; free snacks at halftime--popcorn, nachos, soda. There is really no other way to go. Thanks to Liz's Uncle Gary (and NuSkin), we thoroughly enjoyed our free Jazz evening--enough so to be able to spend a few dollars on things like t-shirts and hoodies!

Liz and Melissa are Boozer fans. (Jackie and I are Kirilenko fans--go Russian dude!)

Then, last night ( with 9 cousins, 3 siblings, and my dad), we went to the BYU Men's Basketball game against Weber State. Go Cougs! I'm having major luck with my sports games this weekend. The Jazz slaughtered the Bulls. And although the Cougars lost it for a while, we came back and won against Weber. Let's hope my luck remains today as BYU comes up against our greatest rivalry, Utah. I predict the following ending:


O Rise and Shout, the Cougars are out
Along the trail to fame and glory.
Rise and shout, our cheers will ring out,
As you unfold your vict'ry story.
On you go to vanquish the foe
For Alma Mater's sons and daughters.
As we join in song, in praise of you, our faith is strong.
We'll raise our colors high in the blue,
And cheer the Cougars of BYU.

GO COUGS!

california will always be home

It's been a while, but I decided it was about time to update you dedicated few on my amazing trip to California at the end of the summer. I brought some great friends home with me for a week and a half-- Dan and Melissa Johnson, and my dear cousin Amy Lambert. We had a blast!

We went to the beach, Zuma and Santa Monica, ate watermelon everyday, and visited LA like a regular tourist--Getty Museum, Huntington Library, Hollywood sign, Fashion District, etc.
























This picture of Bry is like the perfect summer beach picture--drinking a caprisun, with the lifeguard station and people and umbrellas and Malibu in the background.

One of the main reasons of my trip was to make it to Mike Oakford and Austen Anderson's homecoming on time. We left late Saturday night and stopped in Mesquite to sleep before waking up at the crack of dawn to drive the rest of the way to Simi. Amy and I walked into Sacrament meeting more or less exactly when Mike stood up to speak. Whew! We are amazing. And regardless of the fact that we only had 5 hours of sleep, we enjoyed our time on Sunday celebrating my dad's birthday in LA with the grandparentals and then celebrating the happy return of Mike and Austen.

Don't you love the hat? Not something I would usually wear. And it's actually Bry's. haha.

I didn't realize how much I missed my puppy until he freaked out when I walked in the house. He's getting so old! It makes my heart hurt to see how bad Bandit's arthritis is getting.

One night I went out with my Young Women leaders.
And when I came back, this is what I found:
Melissa and Dan enthusiastically competing
in the Wii version of Dancing with the Stars.
It was quite entertaining. I'm glad they

were able to make themselves at home.

Another reason I came home was for David and

Ariel's wedding, which I do believe was
absolutely gorgeous. Congrats you two!
And I do have to admit that I am very proud of
this picture. I have definite photography skills.

Dad and Mom dancing at the wedding. Aww....

Marie and Amy most likely conniving together to do something ridiculous. =D They are gorgeous girlies. I love them both.
On the way home, we ran into quite a beautiful sight. I should have pulled over and gotten out of the car to take a better picture. But isn't the double full rainbow gorgeous? I have never seen one before! It was a great welcome back into Utah.

stadium of fire

For the 4th of July, I went to the Stadium of Fire. It's pretty much a big deal in Utah. Still not sure why. The traffic is such a pain.

But there's always a concert with famous performers. In the past, The Osmonds, Bob Hope, the Beach Boys, Natalie Cole, Gladys Knight, Toby Keith, Lee Ann Womack, and Brooks & Dunn (just to name a few) have all performed at the BYU Football Stadium for this event.

This year, LaVell Edwards Stadium was graced by the presence of SHeDAISY and (drum roll please for the full effect).... the Jonas Brothers. (Hah. I hope that fell flat). SHeDAISY was horrible in concert. I was embarrassed for them. The Jonas Brothers were actually good in concert. I wasn't expecting it, so it was a nice surprise. And I realized that I know way more Jonas Brother's songs than I probably should. =D



I went with my cousins! We really had a lot of fun. I love Amy's face in this picture. PS - We have quite a story about arriving at the stadium. Not only did the mean gate people make us eat our food before entering; Not only did they make us empty our water bottles; Not only did they give us this free sample of some gross new super juice; BUT--on the way in, my cousin Lydia was stopped by this modeling agency because they thought she was drop-dead gorgeous. It was really funny. She was flattered but totally not interested after we found out that the modeling agency wasn't modest-oriented like the woman implied.

The Fireworks were awesome too.


And I'm good at taking pictures of them, if I do say so myself.





We quite enjoyed ourselves.... despite the perfect description of this year's concert with the Jonas Brother's: "A mere mention of the Jonas Brothers sent fans into a frenzy. The possibility that they might walk by sent girls into high-pitched delirium. When the three actually walked onstage at the Stadium of Fire, the noise level of the thousands of girls in the audience went eardrum-busting and shrill" (© Copyright 2009, Daily Herald, Provo, UT).

What they forgot to mention is that this eardrum-busting and shrill noise did not stop for 2 hours. I know that I suffered from temporary threshold-shift that took about another 2-3 hours for my hearing to come back to normal. The 6-yr old girl sitting next to me was exquisitely talented at the high-pitched squeal.

Me and the Jonas Brothers. haha

Lydia and Amy having a blast.

MAIL TIME!

Ok. I am completely owning up. I willingly and shamelessly stole this method of blogging from Jessica Schroath who stole it from the girl with the Pocket Edward blog (hilarious, by the way. Go here, if you're interested). But here goes: KaRynn's Mailbag. (By the way, I TOTALLY feel like singing the song from Blues Clues--YOU know the one).

Dear Melissa (the cousin, not the best friend),

I love you dearly! Thank you so much for a wonderful weekend in Logan. I needed it so much. You made me realize how much I don't do in my spare time. I could be meeting new people (Hi new friends!--aka Adam and Karen in particularly), trying new foods (desert sushi), freezing outside (go Stampedes!), or constantly moving out of my comfort zone (thank you, Britney Spears). ;D I had so much fun with you and enjoyed how I spent my time in Logan. Maybe you swayed me even more to become an Aggie!




<---Karen is my new friend on the right.





<---The Stampedes are kickin' the other team's trash. PS (They are just a semi-pro team....)









<---Try singing Oops, I Did it Again after 10 years. You WILL forget the words. I suck at Karaoke. Dear Disneyland, How I miss thee. It has been too long! I am hoping and wishing and praying and crossing my fingers that my dear Uncle Kent comes through for me with the usual free park-hopping passes!!! If not, thou art too expensive for me to afford and I will have to give up all my dreams of having the best time with my dear little sis and all of her 15 (oops, I mean 16 year old) friends at the happiest place on earth. I want to play James Bond in the tunnels of Indiana Jones. I want to eat a fat, greasy turkey leg while watching the fireworks, and I want to run around the park so much that only Splash Mountain will curb the unpleasantness of the heat. Please don't disappoint! Dear Lano, I have not seen you in forever. We need to rectify this situation. And please make Austin come. And Ralph. And everyone. Westwood reunion? Yes, please. PS - Remember when you lived in the house just north of the Veteran's Cemetary (sorry about the gruesome directions, but I can't remember your address) and your computer had this state-of-the-art-totally-awesome-screensaver? Like you put sentences in and it randomly put weird words and phrases together on the screen? I remember being totally entertained for hours by your screensaver. (Ok.. maybe not hours, but we sat in front of that computer reading those hilariously funny, incoherent, ungrammatical sentences for longer than should be considered normal). Not gonna lie. The memory came to me randomly. And I laughed out loud. Miss you! Dear Prosper, Thank you for not firing me. This recession sucks. So in a weird, roundabout way, I am grateful for the 8.6% paycut. Because although it sucks, I still have a job, which is more than I can say for most other people. So thank you for being economically aware and caring about the people who work here. You're awesome. PS - Thanks for the vacay. I need it after Monday's meeting! PPS - Just to clarify, I am not being sarcastic. One more (I know... but I just couldn't help it). Dear Jared, You're awesome. Not many people can claim that their cousin is a National Champion. Let alone that you were on the front page of the Sports section. Although you may have been underneath the article about Kobe Bryant, your article was longer, your picture was bigger and the heading was larger and bolder. YOU.ARE.AWESOME. PS - I don't care how many times I tell you. You do NOT look like you're 15. You look 20. Stop it!