cousins

We just got back from a couple of reunions in Utah and Idaho. Someone mentioned to me that they've never heard of anyone going to Idaho except for family reunions. I think that might be true. That's about the only reason we have ever had for going too.
Anyway, we had quite a reunion of cousins.  Our kids' cousins (Hale side) live all over the country - Wisconsin, Florida, Utah, South Carolina, Washington, Illinois, Washington DC, New Mexico, Idaho and Arizona.  17 cousins, 10 states. They are following the pattern of their parents. Five boys in Dave's family. Five different states. Go figure.
My side of the family have stayed a little closer - Arizona mostly except for one sister that escaped to Hawaii, one to Oklahoma, and one niece that somehow transplanted herself in Ohio.
I've given my kids a rule to live by. As they move away and start their own life, I would prefer they just stay in Arizona. If not Arizona, then a state that touches Arizona. I'm not sure I can enforce that rule, but it's my rule nevertheless.
I had so much fun watching all the cousins get to know each other again.  They are all adults now so the dynamics of our reunion were a bit different.  There are a few teensy people in the mix now, I'm assuming in the coming years, there will be a great population of little people.

My sister married a Hawaiian. I love their kids. We got to see them a couple years ago. Obviously, there is very little physical resemblance to each other:

Dave's brother married a Korean. I love their kids too. Obviously, there is very little physical resemblance to their kids either:

Obviously this is an old picture of Stephanie and Rachel. (Stephanie, I hope you share some of your recent wedding photos with us!)

However, there are some family genes that are pretty strong and some of the cousins could be brothers:

Unrelated to our reunion, but I was downloading photos from a another road trip Dave and Brady took this week, and I do believe there is another look-alike:

Another fun aspect of our reunion, is that many of my nephews have recently married and I had so much fun getting to know their wives. Speaking of looking alike, one of the girls that married into the family looks a lot like Roxanne to me (size, height etc) I kept confusing them in the group. Seriously, glance at this picture real quick and you can see Roxanne and Brady, right?

There are some other new cousins that were not confused at all.  Seriously, I LOVE these girls!

We went to another reunion in Utah, and all the cousins (ALL of them, look at the age range) played together. One of the games they played was "Lifeguards and Sharks", funniest game ever.

I guess what I love about cousins is that there are no age barriers. Cousins are built in friends of all ages.

Even the cousins' kids loved our kids. Nathan wanted Roxanne to play with him all weekend.

 We were missing a few family members. It's just a sad fact of life that as families grow and spread out, it is almost impossible for everyone to get together at the same time. It was still a great trip to spend a time in this beautiful yard and with some amazing people.