Extended Family

I always think it’s strange, and quite frankly sad, when people say that they are not close with their cousins or extended family. I also think it’s the strangest concept that some people have a small extended family. Growing up I knew a girl who literally had no cousins, no aunts, and no uncles because her parents had both been only children growing up. I couldn’t believe it!
Lucky for me, that is not the case with my family. My mother comes from a family of eight, and my father from a family of three. Combined, they have made some pretty awesome posterity. I remember growing up I was super jealous that my family was the only ones, besides my dad’s sister Jill and her family, who were not living out West. I was always upset that we couldn’t be at all of the family outings and the reunions. My parents were kind enough and diligent enough to try and get us out West at least once a year, usually at summer time, to have some special bonding time with all of our amazing relatives.
Fact. I have the best relatives in the world. No one else’s compare. I am sorry to all of you who think you do, but newsflash, you don’t. I truly have the best family. There is not a single relative that I dislike. How many of you can say that? I doubt many at all. Most people have that disturbing uncle or obnoxious aunt who they don’t want invited to the wedding. But I have been blessed with a family I can’t get enough of!
A highlight of my childhood were definitely the family reunions. Smith family reunions, or my mom’s side of the family, for the most part had their reunions out West. We used to do them in Wyoming, but after my Grandma sold the ranch when my Grandpa passed away, she moved to Utah as did almost all the rest of her children and their families. So our reunions shifted to Utah when we were older. There were so many fun things entailed at every reunion! Volleyball, baseball games, bonfires, skit night, singing songs around the campfire, roasting and making s’mores, having BBQ cookouts, fireworks, four wheeling, horseback riding, and even sleeping in tents in the mountains at times. These gatherings were seriously magical. They are some of my most treasured memories. One year, we even hosted the Smiths out in Michigan. I remember all day waiting and looking out the windows of our home anticipating the arrival of those who had caravanned from out West to Michigan. When they got there everyone started honking and I remember this huge thrill and excitement overcoming me as I ran as fast as I could out to the driveway to greet everyone. I didn’t want that trip to end. We went to Niagra Falls, and we also went to Palmyra, New York to see the yearly pageant that the church puts on. It was an experience that will never be forgotten! I remember feeling the Spirit so strongly with all of my relatives when we watched the scene with Jesus and His Second Coming. I can’t wait to experience that in real life with my family. Afterwards, there were the typical “anti-Mormons” outside the gates of where we watched the pageant. But I wasn’t scared, because I remember being surrounded by my Uncles. And let me tell you something about my Uncles, especially my mom’s brothers; they are huge! You would not want to mess with them. So I stayed right by Uncle Ben’s side the entire time. And I felt safe and knew I was safe. Something you should know about me, I absolutely love feeling safe; in everything with life. Sometimes it’s a blessing, other times a curse, but more about that later.
While my relatives were in Michigan that July of 2001, we gave the neighborhood lake a run for its money. We loved splashing around down there, laying out, and of course getting great use of our raft! Our neighbors were even kind enough to let us borrow theirs so that we could have more to use with the big group of us. One neighbor even allowed us to use his paddle boat for our company. It truly was a blast!
The Paxman side was a blast as well! We were blessed and usually my dad’s sisters Jill and Ann wanted to come see us with their wonderful families. Aunt Jill and her family came all the time. They came for holidays, and summer vacations. We could never get enough of them! I loved having them come because they were so easy going and we had so much fun even doing nothing but sitting around our home. One of our favorite things to do with the Johnsons and Davis’s when they came was to watch movies; usually comedies. And funny shows, especially Psych. One of our favorite movie series was “The Pink Panther,” the original one with Peter Stiller. He was absolutely a riot! And my Uncle Richard has one of those laughs that is infectious and makes you laugh all the much harder and more. Concerts were another favorite outing with the Davis and Johnson families. There was this place called “The Ark” that my parents discovered in downtown Ann Arbor and there were always various artists performing throughout the week; some big stars, some smaller. But we enjoyed attending concerts with them there. Philip and I always loved when our parents let us tag along. We were joint at the hip when he came to visit! We always fed off each other and our humors complimented each other perfectly. Usually, when you saw us together, we either had tears streaming down our face caused by laughing too hard, or couldn’t breathe from laughing too much. Sometimes it was even a combination of the two. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as much in a week than when the Johnsons came to visit.
All of us always looked forward to Easter because we knew that meant the Johnsons were coming. We would have so much fun! And we always had these huge Easter egg hunts; a combination of real eggs and plastic eggs stuffed with some good candy. Philip and I always offered to help with the Easter Egg hunts; mostly because we wanted to eat the candy and know where the eggs were if they weren’t all found. I know, I know, we were little sneaky kids. Speaking of sneaky, Philip and I were pros at sneaking cookies out of my mom’s freezer, along with ice cream. I remember we would be on edge and jumpy because we either had a bowl of ice cream we were scarfing down, or double fisting my mom’s homemade molasses cookies. I always assured Philip that he wouldn’t get in trouble if we got caught; because we wouldn’t.
There was really nothing better, and is nothing better than being surrounded by family. I can’t tell you how much I love mine! Thank goodness they are mine for all time and eternity.