Moose Family Reunion 2018 – part 1

We had our second annual Moose Family Reunion over memorial day weekend.  Last year it was at the end of the summer, but since only Christine has an idea of what her life looks like post July (senior year of high school!!) we decided to get together right now.

Us Jacksons drove out Friday morning.  Brian arrived the day before after his three weeks in Australia touring with the BYU Wind Symphony playing oboe and english horn.  He joined us for a walk to the park and played with Emily and Nathan for a bit.  The kids also had lots of fun playing with the baby dolls and children’s kitchen from my grandma Blomquist’s home.  After the kids were tucked in we watched a Miss Marple and I was completely taken in by the mystery. Derick arrived around 1:30am on Saturday morning to join us for two days of festivities since he is in the middle of a semester at BYU-I.

First on the agenda was family pictures.  We kept it super low key and took pictures in the backyard but it was great to get ALL of us together.  The amount of bugs out was absurd and we hurried inside as quickly as possible.

Photographer Emily:

Next on the agenda was a family nerf gun war.  After I moved out the era of nerf gun wars began so Derick gave me a little practice and I held my own.  Emily got really into it but it was tricky for her to load the gun.  She was Christine’s buddy and Christine helped her for awhile but eventually she got the hang of it.  Nathan was a bit timid with all the commotion but he hung out with Andrew and they defended their territory nicely.  A highlight of the event would have to be the moose hunt.

Grandma and Laura watching all the action.

After lunch Brian showed us the fine art of a tim tam slam, straight from Australia.  They were super rich and delicious.  He brought a few different flavors and, no surprise, mint was my favorite.

We had some quiet time and a few of us napped.  My mom taught Emily some ballet (my mom danced in college and continued until I started kindergarten) and then we pulled out one of my old recital costumes I wore around age 5.  It fit Emily perfectly and she embraced the role of ballerina full of grace and poise.  I have memories of dancing and that specific recital and I didn’t have that same natural joy (due to nerves I’m sure) that she exhibits, which is so fun to see on her.

My dad did a Moose history moment and share all sorts of letters and artifacts from his family.  There were letters written from my Grandma Moose a few days before and the day after her marriage; a wallet from my great-grandpa moose; a letter from my great uncle written from Europe shortly after World War II ended – he died shortly after returning home to America due to complications from injuries; newspaper clippings from my great grandparents 75th wedding anniversary.  We are slowly learning more about my dad’s side of the family and it is such a wonderful treasure.

The original plan was to play water games in the backyard all afternoon but it was so hot that we waited until almost evening and set up a sprinkler in the shade out front.   The kids were super hesitant to jump in until Derick and I showed them how it is done.  They loved having Derick and Andrew swing them through the water and run and jump through with them.

One of the perks of having an amazing musician in the family is hearing the flawless practice sessions.  Seriously people came from all over Australia to hear this guy (and the rest of the symphony) and do workshops with them, and we get to make dinner and play outside while being serenaded.

Everyone was pretty tired once the kids were in bed but we pulled out an old favorite – National Treasure – and watched the first part until we were all ready to crash.