family.

My family is HUGE...and I love it. We've got a Schofield and Temple family reunion of sorts coming up this summer, so all these people have been occupying my thoughts quite a bit. Here's the scoop. I come from a family of 8 (8 kids, that is). We are quite a diverse group...interests, ages, personalities. But, they are my favorite people in the world. I grew up with 5 cousins. Crazy, huh? My mom is an only child and my dad had one sister. I know, you're thinking that's tiny for Mormon families. That's because they weren't. My parents converted to the church just before I was born. I loved my WVA cousins. We would see eachother every summer and play, play, play. OK...so that's MY side.

Dave's is a bit different. He comes from a family of 13 (with NO twins...at least my mom got #7 & 8 at the same time) :) His dad came from 8, his mom from 4, so they had no shortage of cousins. Now that all of these siblings (his and mine) are having families of their own...it is sheer madness, but happy madness.

Let's see...cousins on my side = 13 so far, Dave's side = 34. WHOA! Those are some serious numbers! My kids actually have a hard time keeping track of everyone. Then, you add in to that all of our cousins kids (2nd cousins to mine, I guess) and the numbers get even bigger.

I guess what I am getting at is...I love my humongous family. I love them. To watch my kids play with their cousins makes me so happy. They are all good, good people. When I am with them, I sometimes zone out and think to myself...this is so cool. We are related. Forever. My favorite people in the world...and we get to be related.

*The first picture is Dave and Alex with the boys back in Delaware 2 summers ago (whoa...wake up Davey). 2 of my nephews are in the picture, my brother and his 4 boys (4 more nephews), and my brother in law. See if you can figure out who is who. :) The second picture is from the other day. Lizzy and Emily with 2 of Dave's cousins kids. SO many kids!