Reunited... And it Feels So Good!

So, I had two choices for this blog post title. I ran them both by El and Ka... This one got the bigger laugh :). So... enjoy the song here.

As most know, our Thanksgiving was a huge event here in Washington. We had a family reunion for my mom's side of the family. First time we've had one since I was all of 7. So... over 20 years. And this was so wonderful! So much fun! And yes, we were reunited! In so many ways :).... I will give it to you from the top.

On Sunday, November 23, my Aunt Hila, my cousin Mrs. S, and her two daughters Little M and Baby L flew in. It was my first experience driving to the airport. I took my mom's car because it is a bit roomier. Plus, she has the pass that automatic deducts from an account when I drive over the bridge, whereas in my car, I'd have had to pay a $4 toll. It's also cheaper with the pass... So, I took my mom's car :). I made it to the airport, though I was about 30 minutes late. I was excited about figuring out the airport. We loaded everyone up and headed back to the house. I dropped them off and headed to church. After that, we headed home and all hung out a bit. Both Mrs. S and my aunt were exhausted from a day full of flying with two babies under age 2. Christina had come over to get Desiree, since we'd watched her that day since Nick was working over-time and Christina had to work.

On Monday, I took Christina to her doctors' appointment and then we both went back to the house to help make empanadas and hang out with family. That morning, we all woke up to our cars iced over. And I was up at 6 in the morning. Phew! It's been a long time since I've been up that early. I remember why I don't like it ;). We had a fun time, though this was definitely the beginning of the chaos! My mom, Aunt Hila, and my grandparents went shopping, so the rest of us girls prepared dinner and half of the empanadas. I ended up spending the night at Christina's since I was babysitting Desiree the next day at 7:30, and quite frankly, I didn't want to wake up that early and drive in the cold :).

Tuesday was the day Ka (of Elka fame) flew in. I watched Desiree until around 3 and then headed home to get my mom's car again. I was glad I had already driven the airport route once, since to get Ka, I would be going at night. And, in true Washington State fashion, it was drizzling. But, I made it :). With plenty of time to spare! Although I couldn't find the cell phone lot, so I gave up and went to a gas station so I could use the facilities. Then I parked under a street light in the parking lot and read until Ka called me to pick her up. It was great! Felt like we weren't being reunited after almost a year ;). Needless to say, we had a great ride back. She practically crammed aplets and cotlets down my throat :). Then we had to go out to eat, since she was hungry. So, we went to Shari's, where Ka actually made quite an offer to an employee there. She told him she'd do anything he wanted. Hahahaha... Okay, so not entirely true. I told her we could get this shot in front of the pies of the two of us. And she said (as the guy happened to be coming out toward us to collect the bill), "I'll do anything for you." And since she was facing him when she said it, he made a joke about the offer. So, as you see... the days of Nilla and Elka began with a bang ;). We then went to the house where we stayed up talking to our moms and laughed sooooo hard. And saw that our futures will involve holding things away from our faces and raising our eyebrows so as to see them better... Hahahaha.... Around midnight, we finally got to get ready for bed. Ka and I slept on the pull out couch bed. After we spent time laughing our rears off, of course :).


Wednesday started early. Very early. Another morning that started at 6. But, there was so much to do. Aunt Hila, Mrs. S., Little M, and Grandpa went to run a couple of errands, and while they were gone, Baby L woke up crying. So, Ka decided to see if we could give her bananas. It was a first for her. And she had the cutest facial expressions. Most of the day was spent baking pies. Oh my gosh... we baked so many pies. I think we baked a total of 8 pies and two loaves of pumkin bread. Plus lasagna, garlic bread, and salad to boot. And somewhere in the middle of it all, Mrs S, Ka, and I went to see Twilight, which I really enjoyed. My mom, meanwhile, was out getting the cookbook printed. *Oh, we didn't go to Forks for many reasons. And it was probably good we didn't. We'd have never gotten everything done otherwise. In fact, we were working on assembling the cookbooks. Aunt Sue and Uncle Ernie got there also. It was a full house. And it was another late night, and with Ka and I sleeping on the sleeper sofa, we had to wait until everyone else was done. But, we gathered our comments for while we lay in bed later to discuss and laugh. Let us never forget the night Ka was awakened 3 times by the dog. And other gems worth remembering forever :).

Here are the rest of the pre-reunion day pics (click on this picture and it will take you to more):

And we have to have the candy shot!

Thursday began bright and early. And once again, we filled the kitchen. Plus we had to get everything up to the funeral home. Oh, did I mention that our family reunion was held in a funeral home? Why? Well, because my mom works there and we got use of the kitchen and huge room attached to the kitchen for our big day. So, my mom and Ka went up to the funeral home while Mrs. S and I ran to the store to get last minute ingredients (oh my gosh was it busy!). Then we dropped everything off and I picked up Christina after I got a shower. Christina had baked the ham, and it turned out great. Michele made home-made apple pie (we had a total of 10 pies there, people) and also sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top. Very delicious. And Tarylyn made the green bean casserole, which was also yummy! And of course we also had turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, frozen fruit salad, more sweet potatoes, potato salad, and waldorf salad. And mashed potatoes. And rolls. Oh my gosh there was soooo much food! Oh, but I am getting ahead of myself. So... Before getting Christina, I also went and helped decorate. The lime green color is everywhere for good reason. And don't you love our table decorations? There is an inside joke for why we had milky ways and butterfingers.

Okay, so the reunion was a huge hit! Almost everyone was there. And it was soooo fun! And it's going to be hard to break it all down. But, I must :). At the very beginning, the four girl cousins went off to the side and took a picture together.

We decided to take the whole family group picture first, because Mrs S needed to put Baby L down for the night, since on the East Coast, it was already WAY past bedtime. And the pictures turned out so awesomely!!! Here's the front shot:

And the back shot:

Why a back shot? Well, because the t-shirts were awesome! Like I said, we had this reunion at a funeral home, so we went with a totally morbid theme... How totally great are these!!!??? (You can't read them, so I'll tell you what they say... On the front, over the left breast, they say: "Families are like fudge -- mostly sweet with a few nuts." The backs have a cemetary scene and they say: The Lymans -- Not just a bunch of stiffs! (to go with the funeral home thing...). I told you we are morbid and slightly twisted ;).

Okay, so the turkey got in the oven a bit late, so while we waited for it, we played some games. Aunt Hila came up with great games, such as family BINGO and the toilet paper game. And here's the thing with the Toilet Paper game. You choose as many squares of TP as you want. But then you find out that however many squares you have, you have to tell that many facts about yourself! So, Ben, my older brother, had about 50! And you get the point :). I should mention that one of Brad's facts was that he is #1. And his next fact? That I'm #2. Hahahaha... Gotta love my brother. Brad told me yesterday that one of us who love The Office should have thought to say, as one of our facts: "Fact. The polar bear is the best bear." Or whatever it is that Dwight says that is so funny.

Next we sang the songs of the branches of military in which members of our family served or currently serve. Here are Brad and El (who arrived shortly before all the festivities began), who, along with Mr. N (Mrs. S's husband who wasn't able to be there due to school) were or are Air Force:

Then it was on to Family BINGO, which was a lot of fun too, even though I didn't win ;) (I'm so kidding).


Finally dinner was ready! We had a prayer and got ready to eat! Look at these busy bees in the kitchen! And then look at all our pies (and there are 2 more not pictured!)




And so we ate. Because that's really what we do best :). So here are shots of each of the tables:







After dinner was time for digestion (shoot... we had to make room for all those pies!). So, there was minor cleanup while the kids learned the Chicken Dance, courtesy of my mom and Aunt Hila.


And then it was on to the talent show! Oh my how much fun this was!!! We had Little M do the "Smarty Pants Dance". And when she realized we were all applauding her, she really hammed it up and kept on dancing, much to her mom's surprise! It was adorable. Here's her Smarty Pants Dance (and also her mom's dance :)):

Ka also did a talent. She picked her nose with her tongue. Hahahaa.... I wasn't prepared and therefore didn't get it on video :(. (Okay, so she didn't really pick her nose. But she totally could have!). And then my cousins Jimmie and Arthur got up and "geeked out" to music:

And then Saria did some ballerina moves:

And then my Aunt Mounyen (aka Aunt Nene) sang:

And then my Aunt Hila and El did their skit. And this was hilarious! Aunt Hila forgot her lines immediately. And she didn't do so hot with the second line, either ;). Oh how we laughed!

And finally, the four sisters sang the song "Sisters" from White Christmas. And this is priceless. Left to right are my Aunt Hila, Aunt Nene, Aunt Susan, and my mom.

Priceless, no? There were two more games my mom had done. We had a guess the baby game. Which was a hit. Everyone wants copies of the layout my mom did of the little baby pictures. It was neat to guess :). And also one where you have to guess the candy name. And finally it was time for pie. And after pie, we took a couple more pictures of all the cousins:

And then we cleaned up. We were out of there by 10 and everything was so fabulous!!! I ended up spending the night with Christina, since she had to get up early (2:30 am) to get to work by 3 for Black Friday. Poor thing. And Nick worked at 8:00, so I slept there so I could babysit.

I ended up driving Nick to work Friday morning, but that was just right down the street and it was a cold day. So Desiree and I went back home and slept. And slept. When Christina got home, I headed home and started working on Panama night food. Oh my... We had another great menu. Arroz con pollo, empanaditas, cheese olivettes, and chinese plums. Hahaha... We were gong to have flan and banana cream pie for dessert. But we had so many leftover pies (we didn't even make a dent in them on Thanksgiving) that we opted not to do that... Also, my Aunt Hila, Mrs. S and the girls left early Friday morning, so they weren't there Friday night. Ben, Michele, Sean, Tony, and Royce also weren't able to make it. We so missed the family members who weren't there. But those of us who were there had a blast! We returned to the funeral home (look, it's a big crowd, and we need room!) and ate and laughed and visited. Good food all around once again :). I didn't get many pictures that night, but others did, and eventually my Aunt Sue is going to compile all our pictures into one CD :). So yay! There is a rather attractive one of me on Elka's camera... right? But here's what I did get. Don't you love the food shot? It really wouldn't be a Nilla post without it :).




Oh yeah!!! Here's what Elka looks like when she eats a Chinese Plum :):

(I'm almost positive my lovely shot will end up on her blog, so I'm doing this as pre-revenge :)).

Saturday, El and Ka, my mom, and I went to the Seattle Temple. It was wonderful. Will have to wait on Elka to send me her pictures. But, I have a picture from the food we ate afterwards :). We all went to Garlic Jim's after we hit the bookstore.


On the ferry ride back, we played Apples to Apples, which was so fun! When we got back to the house (after a much-needed stop for some yummy Coldstone), we played again with Aunt Susan. And we could always tell which card my mom threw in as comparison... For example, the card we were supposed to compare things with was "luscious" and my mom threw in a card that said "dark alleys." I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't find dark alleys particularly luscious :). There was another one that was similar to luscious and she threw in the card for "disco." We laughed soooo hard.

On Sunday, we went to church. Then El, Ka, and I (and my mom, though she didn't find it funny) watched the latest episode of The Office while we did laundry. Oh, and we ate leftovers and also those bacon cheese mini appetizers. Yumm-o. (Let me state that I haven't bothered to weigh myself after this foodie week). And we said prayers before bed. And, well... Elka's laughing at the memory :). *I've been feeling itchy*

On Monday, I had to take El and Ka to the airport. It was sad. We went by my mom's job so Ka could say bye to my mom. We happened to round the corner and there was a huge meeting going on inside the room where we had the reunion, and you can see in. Everyone stopped and looked at us. And then they waved. Hahaha... So, this was our final picture:


I'm so glad I got to drive them. We laughed and enjoyed the company on the way. I miss Elka already!!! And also, I'm a pro at the whole SeaTac airport. So anyone planning to visit me... Piece of cake! I talked to my mom's boss when I went back to trade cars. I'm probably going to do some filing for them for a flat fee. Then I went to spend time with Christina.

Today, I took Christina to her two appointments. She is now on maternity leave. I can't believe Baby Emily will be here in a week and 2 days!! I got to hear her heartbeat at the second appointment. So did Desiree.

So, thus ended the week of family. What a wonderful time. It was soooo much fun. And it feels empty here without them, even though it was certainly chaotic! But, we formed relationships and made memories we'll have forever :). Love you all!!!

*And don't forget... there are more pictures than I have put on here. By clicking, you can view them all :).