[speaker001:] okay have you been able to enjoy some family reunions in the past that you'd like to discuss or
[speaker002:] um yes I have a very large family I have seven brothers and sisters
[speaker001:] wow that's a that's great
[speaker002:] and being next to the youngest we all have almost all are married and all have children so it's quite a feat to get everyone together but
[speaker001:] um-hum I imagine it would be with seven seven brothers and sisters
[speaker002:] um what we did one year was for my father's seventy fifth birthday
[speaker001:] we oh how nice
[speaker002:] we went out to dinner of course and we had cake and champagne and then we went back to his house and we reenacted some of the things we remembered him doing when he was when we were little
[speaker001:] oh okay
[speaker002:] you know like we always had to take off his shoes and socks so you know one of us did that and
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and he used to tease us about he would he was gonna clean his shotgun when out on the front porch when we were gonna go out on dates or
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] he was gonna threaten to kill the um Easter Bunny or Santa Claus you know
[speaker001:] oh dear oh dear
[speaker002:] and so one of us dressed up and and got the old shotgun and you know course it was empty nobody uses it but brought that upstairs and
[speaker001:] I hope so not
[speaker002:] and so it was really funny he really enjoyed it and and all the rest of us did too because we spent a couple hours talking about it afterwards and adding more things we'd forgotten so
[speaker001:] uh-huh I'll bet he really enjoyed that
[speaker002:] was really yeah he did
[speaker001:] well that's fantastic that's fantastic did
[speaker002:] and how about you
[speaker001:] well we uh we're all scattered around the country I have a brother in Chicago one in Cleveland I have two in Germany and my sister we're from a large family also my sister's pretty close to my parents and uh my wife and I luckily came from the same hometown
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] and her her family is scattered all over also so what we try an to do when we have family reunions we schedule at the same time every year
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and we all kind of migrate back to where Mom and Dad are from which is in uh northern Utah and
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] so we kind of make sure that we schedule it the same time and we all head back about that same time and things that we do to make it memorable are that we go to a a resort either go water skiing horseback riding we make it a a week long affair and uh have a real nice vacation another reunion we do is uh at Christmas time this is something that a tradition that my grandparents started and we all get together around Christmas time the first Saturday the Saturday right before Christmas unless it's either Christmas Eve or a day or two before and that's uh the week prior to that and uh the amazing thing is we've had the same Santa Claus and his wife have come for the last twenty six years
[speaker002:] oh boy
[speaker001:] and so you know growing up as a kid that was always Santa Claus and he was the same Santa Claus year after year after year and it really made a very very pleasant and memorable and we all exchanged gifts as as family and and we got to a point where we're all growing growing up and we decided to have white elephant so excuse me I think one of the the main thing is just being able to get together and coordinate everyone's schedule
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] that uh I find somewhat frustrating and and hectic but as long as we've uh announced it ahead of time and sent out flyers and and let everyone know when we're going to get together and what we'll be doing it's it's always been very very fun and I've always enjoyed it and uh we're very family oriented people and uh that uh makes it more special or more interesting especially when you have family from you know scattered all over the world when you can get together and discuss how their lives are and the different parts of the country too
[speaker002:] uh-huh oh I think that's wonderful my family is all over the United States as well and we are not as fortunate as to be able to get together even once a year
[speaker001:] so  uh-huh
[speaker002:] I I moved here about eleven months ago and this is the closest I've been to most of my family for years I hadn't seen my sister in Austin for five years
[speaker001:] wow
[speaker002:] so I know it's really awful because we were mostly there are six girls and two boys in my family and so naturally we got then all got moved off somewhere
[speaker001:] wow yes yes well we're
[speaker002:] I think it's wonderful you get together once a year
[speaker001:] it's it's not always easy but it's uh it's very memorable memorable boy I bet that's hard because I imagine that as a large family you were very close and and uh had a lot of fun as family
[speaker002:] yes we really did we grew up on a farm and so you had to play with each other because there was no one else around so we played and fought and everything
[speaker001:] so oh yes so you got to