Family Reunion

Just got back this afternoon from the 3rd Annual Hamm Family Reunion.

To be honest, this was the Hess family's 2nd Annual Hamm Family Reunion because we were on our way to Idaho for Zan's uncle's funeral for the 1st.

The last two years have been spent in Seaside. We stay at the same hotel where our family stays when we attend COSA (Zan's administrator's conference we attend every June). It has great accommodations for large families.



Let me take a moment and introduce you to my family. Here's how it breaks down...
My dad is Ray Hamm. He is married to Norma Rust Hamm. As you know from former postings, my mom passed away in 1999. I think she'd be very happy that these reunions are happening.

My only sister is Toni Burdett. She and her husband Tom live in Indiana, near Indianapolis. They were in charge of the reunion this year and did a great job organizing everything.

My sister has three daughters (this was their first reunion with us):
*Kris Snow who lives with her husband Mike and their two kids Caitlin and Tommy in Centerville, Utah.
*Julie Burdett who lives in Bountiful, Utah and works for Church publications. Okay, so fun stuff, Julie is pictured in the July Ensign on page 67 (she's the cute, blonde in the 1st photo of the two smaller photos on the page).
*Jenny Carr lives near Sacramento, California. Her family consists of Dave (who was recently deployed to Afghanistan with the U.S. Air Force) and two daughters Eliza and Hannah. Jenny is the "Jenny" in the "Blogs I Read" section.

My oldest brother is Steve. He is married to Sandi, and they have two kids--twins--Jordan and Brittany. Steve and Sandi live in Tualatin. Steve is currently getting his masters at George Fox University and Jordan attends BYU Idaho and Brittany is nearly done with BYU Provo. She's currently doing her final studies to become an elementary school teacher. Sandi's busily working on wedding preparations and Brittany's in the thick of school, so they were unable to attend, but it was great spending time with Steve and Jordan.

Gordy (or Gordon) is my next brother. He and his family live in Hurricane, Utah. A couple weeks ago, we were talking, and he told me how a missionary had just returned to their ward from the Oregon Portland Mission and had spoken that day. It ended up being Elder Ipson, who had served in our ward and had eaten in our home a number of times. Small world!

Gordy's family consists of his wife Pam and their eight kids--Ray (who lives in Spokane, Washington), Ashley (who just graduated from high school and will be attending Dixie State College in southern Utah), Ally, Jeff, Sally, Scott, Trish and Blake (but he goes by Roscoe--his middle name--after my grandfather).

David is the brother just older than me. He lives in Scappoose with his wife Rachel and their three boys--Ashton, Isaac and Jacob.

Matthew is my younger brother. He and his wife Janelle live in the Seattle area. Their kids are Cade, Arquette, and Adelle.

There, you now have the low-down on the Hamm clan. All in all, there were 40 of us there this weekend.

To wrap up the reunion, we met in a park and had sack lunches. We talked about next year's plans. At first, they went from one person to the next to see who would run the next one. I sat quietly in the corner and let everyone else do the talking. I thought if I was quiet I wouldn't get appointed. Well, next thing I know, there's my name flying around. So, guess who's running next year. Sigh. So, I'm starting the planning now. If you have any really good advice on how to run a reunion smoothly, I can use all the help I can get.