[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] well have you ever had uh had a family reunion oh
[speaker001:] yes and uh let me tell you this is really neat thing to do too that they did I didn't do it some of the other people the older people organized it and what they did was they had uh a book made up
[speaker002:] uh-huh oh
[speaker001:] and it was like when our ancestors first came over
[speaker002:] no kidding
[speaker001:] and then what they did was they asked every family to write something about their family
[speaker002:] huh
[speaker001:] and like how many kids you had and who you had married and you know it went through like and it showed who my uh well who my husband's parents were you know and who he married and then how many children we had and then like his brothers and sisters and it went through the whole family and stuff
[speaker002:] uh-huh oh that's so neat
[speaker001:] and it was so good
[speaker002:] oh great
[speaker001:] yeah but it it really did you know and plus plus it got a lot more people interested in it because you got to participate sort of
[speaker002:] um-hum yeah so so did everybody send in their information then they made a book up about it and then you could get it at the reunion
[speaker001:] right um-hum right and everybody got a book that came to the reunion and it told like uh you know where the first Connally's came over and um
[speaker002:] oh nice um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] it told what happened when they got there and how many kids they had and it just kept coming on up through the generations so it was really that was really neat and
[speaker002:] wow that is neat so do you have a big family
[speaker001:] well he does he does I don't but uh he has enough relatives to make up for me not having any
[speaker002:] oh he does yeah that's kind of how my husband and I are I have a kind of a big family and he just has himself and his brother and his parents and that's it so he had to kind of get used to us when we first started going together
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah that's what that's what happened when I when I first uh met my husband I said this can't be you know nobody can have this many relatives because a lot of them lived in like a group you know down one highway
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] and there was a lake and they all lived down there by it
[speaker002:] oh how nice
[speaker001:] and so we were going down the highway you know and he kept saying this is where my uncle and this is where my aunt lives and my uncle you know and we and I kept thinking
[speaker002:] oh my gosh
[speaker001:] this guy is putting me on nobody has this many relatives you know so but they really were all there and another thing that's real good about um
[speaker002:] yeah how funny
[speaker001:] family reunion is having everybody just cook whatever is their specialty and bring it at because nobody it seemed like liked the same thing
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum um-hum oh
[speaker001:] but you had a choice and then you got to taste a lot of new dishes and stuff too and got get a lot of good recipes where if you set a certain thing and say okay we're going all going to have fried fish or we're all going to have fried chicken
[speaker002:] yeah yeah yeah yeah
[speaker001:] everybody might not like that
[speaker002:] not be able to do it so did people come like from out of town to the reunion or they did did you put them up in other peoples houses or did you have hotel rooms or how'd you do it
[speaker001:] oh yeah yeah they came from all over um they just stayed with different ones of them they just came down and like say okay this aunt and uncle Kip uh all their kids and their grand kids and everything and then they had it it it gotten so big that they had it at the church
[speaker002:] they did um-hum um-hum oh really
[speaker001:] and they had a church service ahead of it you know and then they had uh
[speaker002:] how nice
[speaker001:] then they ate out on the ground
[speaker002:] and they just brought food with them
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] did they just have like over a weekend is that how they did it uh-huh well I'm real curious because my family I didn't sound I don't think my family is as big as your husband's I don't think we'd need a whole church but um
[speaker001:] yeah um-hum
[speaker002:] the problem is we are all really scattered around there isn't any one place where most of us live so if we ever had a reunion we'd kind of all have to stay in a hotel I mean you know there'd be one person who lived there that would have a house but they couldn't put everybody up so it I think it would get kind of expensive
[speaker001:] but you know what you can do at a lot of these lakes and things if you could find a centrally located like uh say it's about the same distance for all of y'all to come they have these places where you can rent them
[speaker002:] um uh-huh
[speaker001:] and it you know like on a lake and it's like uh it's a big place I mean you know it got and it got little rooms that separate off of it and stuff and it's not very expensive that a way
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh oh you mean so oh I see so everybody could stay together yeah a house or something
[speaker001:] right it's like a they have like a a convention type thing and then it has little rooms off of it where you know you'd go and sleep at night time but then it has like a kitchenette and things like that but you
[speaker002:] uh-huh oh see that would be great because then you could spend so much more time together than if you all were in your own hotels or something and then every time you wanted to go eat
[speaker001:] right and another
[speaker002:] with somebody you'd probably have to go to out eat or something it would run into a lot of money so
[speaker001:] yeah but they had that was you know that
[speaker002:] that sounds like fun
[speaker001:] what you can do is you can uh write different places the Chamber of Commerce and tell them what you're interested in and ask them what they have you know at area lakes and all
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum um-hum yeah
[speaker001:] if they have something like that because now every time we plan anything just about we write to the Chamber of Commerce of where we're going because you can find out so much easier that a way than try to locate it you know
[speaker002:] um-hum you get a yeah
[speaker001:] calling different places can really really run you up a bill but uh if you can find a centrally located place where everybody would have to come about the same distance I mean you can't get it exact you know usually
[speaker002:] yeah oh yeah
[speaker001:] but uh and then everybody goes that place and me it's not bad at all
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] but they have lot of times they'll have like uh little cabins and three or four or five families can stay in those cabins because they have you know just the single bunk beds and stuff
[speaker002:] um-hum uh-huh
[speaker001:] and they can all stay in those cabins and then you know you can have cookouts and stuff like that that doesn't cost you as much
[speaker002:] that'd be great that'd be really nice
[speaker001:] yeah but that's uh you know that's the best way I found because whenever you have something where you go and now we had one
[speaker002:] yeah that soun d good
[speaker001:] this was before I lost a lot more of my family but it wasn't any of my immediate family anyway because I didn't have any of them left but um they had uh uh
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] thing where you could everybody could come and meet and go out to eat
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] but I didn't think that was as good because it was like you know you couldn't really talk and stuff like you could when you was at the lake or somewhere you know where you were out this was like ev erybody came into town and went to this restaurant
[speaker002:] yeah yeah yeah yeah right and you have to sit at a table and just yeah
[speaker001:] yeah and it just I didn't like that one as well
[speaker002:] well um did you was it hard to decide what who to invite and who not to invite I mean did you have to draw a line or did the people that had that reunion have to draw a line like they just whoever wanted to come
[speaker001:] no what they did was well see what they did was okay they uh wrote they wrote to all the initial people you know the the oldest ones
[speaker002:] uh-huh right
[speaker001:] okay then those in turn got a hold of these other ones and they had like I think there was four or five different people that would call
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] you know some of them if they didn't have their addresses and all on and you know they told them that what we had to do was when we sent back in our information we had to tell them how many people were going to be coming
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] you know and then when they when they talked to us or when they sent us the letter it uh you know to get the information and all it asked you know will you be willing to bring and you had to check off what all you would be willing to bring
[speaker002:] right right uh-huh oh I see
[speaker001:] and so really there wasn't any problem with that's the reason it ended up in a church because I mean there was just so many of them
[speaker002:] there yeah yeah
[speaker001:] but it turned out so much better like that because everybody knew they knew ahead of time how many people to expect
[speaker002:] yeah right
[speaker001:] now if there was a sickness or something like that I mean you know you're not going to lose that many
[speaker002:] sure sure no that would just be a few but how about like because of divorce and stuff like that like my parents are divorced and they're both remarried and you know there I mean there's I don't know
[speaker001:] right okay well well see then okay if you wanted them both to come then you would put you would have put that down on the list and you would have sent you would have been the one that sent their invitation to them and ask for their information
[speaker002:] yeah yeah yeah so then I I'm kind of like in control over who comes of just from my family
[speaker001:] to send back to those other people right because once it went to the the oldest people and then they knew who they wanted to invite then they sent their little things to us okay it was up to me
[speaker002:] yeah yeah um-hum
[speaker001:] who I was going to you know whether I wanted my kids and you know my any of my family to come
[speaker002:] right right I see I see that's a pretty good idea to do it that way
[speaker001:] so and then you know it never did like if I didn't want somebody to come then I just wouldn't send them one of the questionnaires
[speaker002:] um-hum right right right well that's a real good idea huh
[speaker001:] so there really wasn't a problem that a way well but I tell you what that's the neatest book we've got course we've got well you know we've still got it and they charged us I think it was like
[speaker002:] I bet
[speaker001:] it was like five or six dollars I can't remember exactly you know that we paid for the book to be printed and it's not uh it's not a hard back book it's just a
[speaker002:] um-hum yeah yeah um-hum
[speaker001:] oh like a you know folder type thing but it has the entire you know it has everybody that you could ever imagine and some you couldn't
[speaker002:] uh-huh how neat yeah I know that's really neat that's really neat
[speaker001:] and it'll be something my kids will have you know just like
[speaker002:] I was just thinking of that what you could tell your kids
[speaker001:] yeah because if you stop and think I don't know if you're like me but I know very little about before my grandparents I mean very very little about it
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum I just the thing is I know a lot of stories but I can't remember who it was about my grandparents told us when I was growing up and even when I was an adult they still tell all kinds of stories about their parents and their cousins and their friends best friends because they all grew up in New York City but I can't you know so I remember these stories but I have no idea who it was that was in those stories
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] so I I mean I couldn't give an accurate I couldn't tell my kids what you know those people were like I just remember they have some funny stories but I don't know who it was
[speaker001:] maybe what you could do if you couldn't get into a full family reunion and you wanted to go back some but then usually when you find out some information from like your parents
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum yeah
[speaker001:] then you can find out from you know you can find somebody else that can tell you something else about these
[speaker002:] the rest yeah