A Motley Crew

Janes Kids With Spouses Behind
Couples Left to Right:  Cheri and Dave, Rick and Kathy, Laurie and Danny, Colleen and George

June 17 - 19, 2011 marked the Janes Family Reunion.  I think it was the nicest gathering of our family that we have had in many years.  All that being said, I'm exhausted!

Janes Family Reunion 2011

I have to put two group pictures in here because we couldn't get a picture with everyone looking at the camera at the same time.

Janes Family Reunion 2011

This reunion was planned for a full year--and then at the last minute, we had to move to Plan B.  The original plan was to go camping.  Then it kept snowing long into the spring.  A couple of weeks prior to the reunion, we realized there was still three feet of snow at the camp site.  My sister, Colleen, managed to get us last minute reservations at St. Mary's Art Center in Virginia City, Nevada.  (Yes, folks, I finally learned how to add a link inside my blog--baby steps in technology for me--just baby steps!)  The building was originally St. Mary Louise Hospital when Virginia City was in its boom.  It is a beautiful building, and a perfect place for a family reunion!  There is just one little itty bitty problem, however.  It is four stories--with stairs only.  If you take a look at the first picture of all the "senior citizens," and then take a look at the other pictures with all the "little folk" to chase, you can see that some of us are in a world of hurt after the fact.

SOME of the kids
Left to Right:  Kaitlyn, Ella, Haley, Darci, Joey

For the record, Ella is 8 months old, not walking, but learned to climb stairs this weekend.

St. Mary's Art Center, Virginia City, Nevada

This wonderful historic building is now used for several purposes.  It is used as a retreat for artists, where they can come to be inspired and to paint.

View from Front Porch of St. Mary's Art Center

As you can see above, there's plenty of view to inspire artists.

The building is also used for historic public tours.  The third purpose gives it a little extra color.  It is used by ghost hunters to have paranormal experiences.  Wait--don't turn me off now--it gets better.

A few months ago, a few family members went on a ghost tour at the art center.  My family has mixed feelings about the wisdom of dabbling with the paranormal.  Those of us who did not participate in the event, did so for a variety of reasons.  Personally, I did not participate because at the time my calling in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was Relief Society President (the women's organization), and I felt that I should not put myself in the position of possibly being tempted by Satan.  While I have not discussed this with my niece's husband, my guess is that the reason his family did not participate is because he is a Bishop.  There were other family members who did not participate.

This weekend, we decided would strictly be just a family reunion, and that we would not be looking for any paranormal experiences, or discussing these things--especially around the children and adults who are uncomfortable about such things.  We did, however, have an interesting experience.

Saturday morning we were eating breakfast in shifts as people woke up.  My nephew, Josh, came in for his portion of pancakes.  Someone asked him how he slept.  Josh has this wonderful "curmudgeonly" personality on the surface, but he has a heart of gold.  In his best "curmudgeon" voice, he said he hadn't slept at all.  He kept hearing this "cart" going up and down the hallway.  Later, my brother, Rick, (not having spoken with Josh) said he had heard it too.  My sister, Colleen, interviewed them separately, and they both described the experience to be identical.  One of them estimated this went on about two hours, and the other said about an hour and 45 minutes.  This happened somewhere between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m.  Neither one of them knew what Colleen had privately told me the day before:  People often hear gurneys going up and down the long hallway on the main floor, and describe it as metal wheels on hardwood floors.  The main hall is now carpeted, but that's what they hear.  In the days when the building was a hospital, that long hallway was quite busy, as it took patients from admitting to their rooms.

Coincidentally--or maybe not--my sister Cheri was awake during this same period of time hearing what she described as water dripping, but she could never find any dripping water or leaking pipes.

So what does it all mean?  I don't know, and I don't really care.  It was a fun experience in an old building at a wonderfully fun family reunion.  If you look for evil, you will find surely find evil; but if you look for the good in life, you will find choice experiences.  This weekend was a truly choice experience.

Cheri, George, and Kaitlyn
in "the" hallway

Many thanks to my sister, Colleen; daughter-in-law, Rachel, and cousin, Jim, for taking wonderful pictures this weekend.  I didn't take a single picture with my brand new camera.  I was simply having too much fun to bother.  My hat also goes off to Colleen and Cheri for long hours putting this thing together.  Jodi and Hannah, Josh, and Wayne get my thanks for cooking (as well as everyone for the pot luck).  Mark, thanks for shadowing Rick so that he didn't fall down the stairs or get hurt!  Katie Vick, thanks for organizing all the little kids and making it such a fun time for them!  Thanks to all who participated and made this a really fun family time.  I look forward to next year--on a hopefully more flat surface--and my ankles, legs, back, and butt cheeks will thank you next year.