The Family That Plays Together . . .

Dawn Ann's sister Tina, and her two younger sons, Nathan and Calvin came to vist us last weekend. These are the closest cousins (some 300 miles away) to our children. It was great to visit and catch up on one another's families.

We set up our big family tent in the back yard, for our two children, Bryan and Amy to sleep out with their two cousins. They had a great time playing in the tent.

Saturday morning, Tina braided Amy's hair. It was a long and arduous process, which takes several hours to complete. However Tina and Dawn Ann were able to visit together while the braiding took place. Besides, Tina has 4 boys -- and no girls to fuss over. And Amy was perfectly happy to be fussed over too!

Saturday, Tina made her famous taco soup for dinner. I supplemented the meal by getting some fresh-picked Utah Corn (from Brock's produce stand). The soup was great! The corn was so sweet and fresh that it nearly tasted like candy! The kernels practically popped off the cob into your mouth. It was so juicy, that you had to be careful to not squirt the person sitting next to you when you bit into the corn. Tina liked the corn so much that she said that eating the corn alone was worth making the trip up to Salt Lake. I remember Calvin tentatively taking a bite of the corn to see if it was any good. After his first bite he was convinced. Suddenly he started eating the corn like "a lawn mower" as he described it.

Saturday evening, we all got out our recorders, and Tina got out her flute. That's me and Amy pictured (with her new braids) on the left with our soprano recorders. Tina is on the right with her flute. And that's Calvin with the yellow shirt in the foreground. Dawn Ann (who took this photo) was also playing her alto recorder. (Bryan loves to play the recorder too -- but he was too busy having fun playing "Attack Uno" and playing in the tent with his two cousins at the time. )

At first, we each played songs in-turn individually. After a while, we started playing songs together as a group. Our own little recorder and flute choir. Our family has played together on numerous occasions, but for Tina, playing together with a group was a new experience. She really enjoyed playing together with others.

Tina began by playing the recorder, but has since moved on to teach herself the flute. Good for her!

It really was fun to play music together. We must have gone on for 2-3 hours. The thought came to me that this is what folks did a hundred years ago, -- playing music together, or reading together -- before everyone started camping out in front of the TV, video games or (ahem . . .) the computer! It was a lot more enjoyable and rewarding than watching TV, and it helped build relationships and closeness with one another as we played together. It was really a great evening!

Sunday morning, Tina and her boys came to church with us, before having to make the return trip to Santa Clara. We're sure glad they came to visit. We had a lot of fun with them. We'll visit them sometime this Fall, and you can bet we'll be bringing our recorders with us!