Thursday, August 6, 2009

I can't believe summer break is near over. School begins next Wednesday. YIKES!
Our summer started out with us painting the inside of our home. Our realestate agent said it would sell much faster if we lightened the walls. I really didn't think they were that dark, but, oh well. Anyway, two months later, we still aren't done painting (2 rooms to go). The house probably would have sold just as fast if we left it alone. Its still not on the market. I'm tired of this project and we will probably have this same project once we find a home in Yuma.
We ended our summer vacation by attending the Naegle Reunion at the Naegle Ranch (my mom's side of the family) up near Vernon, AZ. It was sooo muuuch fun! It started out with Rob coming up from Yuma Wednesday evening with a brand new HHR (I think its a small SUV, I don't know how to describe it). This is a huge advancement for the Dana Clan, for you see, we have never, ever bought a brand new vehicle. We took advantage of the 'trade in your clunker' to get a more fuel efficient vehicle. Rob will use it to drive back and forth from Yuma. We broke it in real good, especially on the dusty, dirty mountain rode. We left Thursday morning for Vernon, which is between ShowLow and Springerville. We stopped and visited with my mom and dad before we headed on up to the pines. There were only a few families on the ranch today. The rest will come up tomorrow. We had the tents set up in no time at all and we kicked back for the rest of the evening. The stars were beautiful - zillions of them. Friday we woke up to the bugling of elk down in the meadow. Jacob lost count but estimated that there were about 75 head of elk. This was the only morning we saw them. One of the activities for Friday was to go to the Snowflake Temple. The youth would do baptisms while their parents did a session. As we were pulling away from our campsite, we saw a bear. The bear was pawing at an old stump looking for bugs and whatever for its breakfast. It was a cute thing, but I'm glad we were in the car. It soon saw us and strolled away - didn't seem to be too scared of us. And of course, my battery was dead on my camera, so no picture. I'm hoping I can charge the battery at the temple. We had quite a few show up for the temple excursion. This was the first year for this activity and we hope to continue it for all upcoming reunions. And I was able to charge my camera battery at the temple. The Snowflake Temple is beautiful. We had lunch in Taylor and then headed back to the ranch for a nap. During down times, Rob and one of the boys would go on a motorcycle ride. That evening we enjoyed a dessert pot luck. YUM! We have good cooks in this family - cobblers, cookies, cakes, oh my! Saturday greeted us with a breakfast prepared by the Guy Nicoll Family. They served us pancakes, scrambled eggs, chorizo, biscuits, gravy, and fruit. What a meal! After dishes were done and the ramada cleaned up we headed to the old homestead to have the family picture taken. A softball game in the afternoon kept the youth busy and the younger ones were occupied with crafts under the ramada. The John Nicoll family brought up a couple of horses from the lower ranch and offered rides to the youngsters. For dinner Johnny Naegle and his family provided a Navajo Taco Dinner. The sopapillas were so good topped with beans, chili, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. And then you could go back and get another one topped with honey or powdered sugar. After dinner we had our traditional raffle. Family members donated crafted items. This is one of the highlights of the reunion. There were lap quilts with the family brands, baby quilts, baby booties, all kinds of good stuff. The money will help our Naegle missionaries. Later that evening we had Family Home Evening by Val Whipple's family and played a game called Ha-Su-Lo. It was crazy. Wendy Terry passed out those glow-in-the-dark bracelets and necklaces and Matt Garner had a frizbee that lit up, so, the teenagers went to an open field and played ultimate frizbee. It was pitch black and all you could see was the frizbee spinning through the air and the necklaces and bracelets seemed to be floating. What a blast. When that was done, Jared, Ammon, and Jake played Uno with their cousins, the Terry's. We had a good nights sleep until about 4:00am when a screech owl decided it was much too quiet in the camp. Or maybe he was looking for breakfast. Watch out Dixie, you might be his dessert. Sunday morning we went to sacrament meeting down in Vernon and then came back up the mountain for our own Sunday school. Family history stories were shared on Charlotte Naegle Jones and Ethel Verena Naegle Nicoll (my grandmother) ending with bearing of testimonies. After lunch, we broke camp and Robert, Jared, and Ammon headed back down to the valley while Jacob and I spent the night with my parents. It was a good visit with my mom and dad. Jake and I arrived back in Mesa about noon on Monday. This turned out to be an exceptionally good reunion. It would have been a great reunion only if we could have had Jacque and Curt join us. We really missed them. Hopefully they can make the next one in two years.
Dog gone it, I still have 2 rooms to paint.

1 comment:

  1. Okay I am so sorry. We have commented twice and it just disappears. But we love the new look of your blog and especially reading what you have been up to. We so wish we could have been there for the reunion! We loved it last year and do hope we'll get to come in 2. Your home looks great. I wish we coul be there to help you paint. It is quite the job to take on. We are excited for you and your new car. Curt says,"The second coming must be right around the corner for dad to have bought a new car." We are glad you are enjoying it. Hope you are all ready to get back into school. Keep us up to date. We miss you, love you, and think about you a lot. Hopefully the holidays will come soon enough!

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About Me

My most favorite place to be is in the pines with my family. My second is Nauvoo, IL