McAllister Family Reunion 2006

07/26/06 – After a fairly easy flight from Phoenix with a stop in Reno, we arrived in Portland, Oregon for our McAllister Family Reunion which has been in the works for over a year now. I must admit that when I gradually found out that only half of the family was going to be there, I threw several tantrums and even threatened not to go myself. But then I remembered that I was an adult and Elliot reminded me that we already purchased our tickets. So we strapped on our happy faces and headed to Portland.

We rented a van with Lindsay and checked into our hotel (Phoenix Inn) where Bill and Marci and the kids showed up minutes later. We rested for a while and headed to Unka and Auntie’s (Uncle Steve and Aunt Liz) for dinner where my parents and my brother Jeffrey and his family had arrived and were making a yummy dinner that we got to see a few times. Several uncles and aunts and cousins were also present at the dinner, including Grandmother McAllister, and it was a great night to get to know each other again.



Karl, this one may have been a home run!

Elliot and some of the kids started tossing a ball around, which turned into a wiffle ball game of homeruns! My cousin Rachelle’s kids (Brayden and Zachary) were missing their mommy who was in Arizona taking care of Aunt Sandra, but as soon as I started talking to them about baseball they piped right up and told me how awesome they were and that they could hit homeruns. John finally got them to go play so that they could show me that they were TOTALLY serious! It was totally cute!

Brayden, home run hitter

John (aka Maeser) was totally being heckled by my nephew Cordell!

We played some volleyball and the kids jumped on the trampoline and played in the neighbor’s swings and then we sat on the side of the house for our little FHE. My mom had a family history presentation on Diantha Farr Clayton who was the sister of Lorin Farr who was a body guard to the prophet Joseph Smith. I sort of felt guilty because it was almost like I was watching a soap opera while hearing these stories of Diantha. She had a rough life and my mom made sure she squeezed the history of all its juicy details.

Jayden, trying to play with the big boys

Stella on a huge slide with bark on the ground . . . not so nice on the bare feet

Then we got to take another jaunt back in time to the Dr. Galackawitz movie that my cousins made 13 years ago. I think they started out making these movies when my Uncle David bought a new Lexus and they all dressed up like security guards and video taped themselves running alongside it like they were guarding something important (not that UD isn’t important). Anyway, they continued their video-making by creating Dr. Galackawitz (Uncle David, aka UD) and they had to safely transfer him from his home to his office and then on a quest to find a potion similar to the fountain of youth. My cousins are so funny and it was fun to see the awkward fight scenes with my aunts and the even more awkward scenes in which I was present.

The night was seriously lacking in desserts, which upset more than a few of us, and then we headed back to the hotel to sleep. Elliot and I had to prepare breakfast the next morning, so we were trying to arrange our schedules to make sure we had enough time to prepare it before everyone showed up the next morning.