Chesterfield

Saturday, July 9 we woke up to herds of sheep coming down the canyon in front of my parent's house.  We were headed the 1 1/2 hours to Chesterfield, ID for a family reunion.  I actually got to drive through a huge herd of sheep.  That was fun.  

We had to stop for gas so my parents went ahead of us.  Christina and my dad were having fun texting back and forth.  At one point she said,  "What does COP mean?"  (We're still learning the texting acronyms.)  I told her my dad was telling us there was a police car up ahead and we had a good laugh.  (Just for the record, I wasn't speeding.)

We were a running a little later than we wanted but we got there with very few people ahead of us.  

And Ethan got to meet Aunt Brenda.  Did I mention how much he likes to point now?  Look at the camera, Brenda.--

 Ethan sure loves his big sister--

 I love watching my brothers with babies.  Melts my heart.  Here is my younger brother, Mike with Brenda's baby, Lilian--

 Mike with his wife, Ging.  They're so cute together.--

 Me and Mike--

 Jaxon, my nephew, had fun playing with Ethan--

 My older brother Deron's family--Jaxon, Virginia, McKenZ, Deron--

 Me and my younger sister, Brenda--

 Then it was time for the auction.  There weren't a ton of people there but I won a cool marshmallow shooter.  Now I need to make a few more and go have some fun with the kids.  Ethan was so excited to try it out--

 And then I saw this.  That's actually a bow and arrow made of PVC pipe with a foam dart on the end of the arrow and belongs to Daniel.  We had to have a little talk about that one and the bow and arrow are put up for now.--

 Little Lilian--

 All of my family that made it to the reunion--

 Then we got to go check out some of the neat buildings.--

 And this is what started it all for our family.  This cabin was built by my great, great grandfather, Denmark Jensen.  Jonathan's sporting a shirt with a picture of it too.  Denmark Jensen was born on the plains of Nebraska as his family was crossing the plains after immigrating from Denmark.  Thus he got the name Denmark.  That name was passed down to my grandfather and I got named after him too.--

 The wedding dress of Parley Jensen (my great grandfather) and his first wife.  His first wife died giving birth to their third child.  Grandpa remarried and had several more children, my grandfather being one of those.

 It was a long day for all of us.  When we were done in Chesterfield, we made a little drive out to Topance (short drive) where my grandfather was born.  I still remember looking at those trees where the house was more than once.  It was a special experience.  Then we headed to Soda Springs with Brenda and Mike and their families to go to Artic Circle again for dinner.  I guess I wore the kids out pretty well.  This is what the back seat looked like.--

After saying goodbye, we went by the cemetery there to see where one of our friend's little baby is.  It was a good teaching experience for the kids.  We had a neat conversation on the way back to my parent's house.