Clarine Family Reunion

The main reason for our trip to Minnie was to get together with Dave's brothers and their families. 5 out of the 6 boys were there, and each of the 6 were represented. Here they are - the bros, their aunt, and 2 cousins.
Front row l-r: Steve, Elaine, Colleen, Dan
Back row l-r: Joel, Dave, Tim, Pete

Not to be outdone, the younger generation of cousins decided to have a picture taken also. What a good-looking group of younguns! (We're even missing some of the younger ones in this picture.)
Front row: Joe (Pete), Josh (Dan), Brie (Dave), Amanda (Pete)
Back row: Dallas (Steve), Eric (Pete), Justin (Steve), JR (Steve), Krysta (Dave), Britlyn (Paul), Missy (Dave), Tonya (Dave), Preston (Paul)
Not pictured: Emma (Pete), Brenna and Sadie (Joel), Megan and Zach (Dan)

We left for Minnesota on July 30 and returned on August 3, so it was a quick trip. We were met at the airport by Dave's brother Joel and he took us to Pete and Beth's. We rode to Breezy Point with them, so we had a wonderful chance to catch up on things with them. Everyone was at the lake at Fritz and Pam Mertens (Jim's old business partner). After saying hello to everyone and visiting for awhile, we headed over to the resort for dinner and an evening of "hand and foot". We had 3 cabins that the 39 of us gathered at.
There were plenty of activities for all while together. The guys went golfing Saturday afternoon, we played at the beach - in the water, on the water tramp, swimming, playing in the sand, jetskiing, or visiting. Lizzy even "caught" a fish that had a special way of swimming - upside down! We had a talent show Friday night with most of the kids participating (our friends from Pine River - Doug, Diane, and Hannah Zaske came to share dinner and the show with us), a dinner Saturday night which included aunt Elaine and cousins Tim and his wife Lori and Colleen and her husband Michael along with some members of our old ward in Brainerd (Cliff and Helen Carlson, Darlene Howard, LaMar and Marilyn French, Lynne Howard), and Fritz and Pam Mertens. We also had a birthday party afterwards and celebrated both Lizzy's 4th and Kelbee's 6th birthdays.
This was my first opportunity to use my JetBlue perks. Dave and I flew stand-by to Minneapolis and back. We were able to get on the flight to Mpls that we wanted, but we weren't so lucky on the return. We weren't able to get on the 1st flight we'd planned to take, but after a prayer we were able to get on the second one and arrived back in Salt Lake around 7:30 Sunday evening.
The weather treated us wonderfully - the temperatures were perfect, the mosquitoes stayed away for the most part, and it didn't rain until after we had packed everything up, said a prayer, and went our different directions. We had such a nice time visiting with so many loved ones - family and friends. We are so truly blessed.