Iowa's welcome...

Coming from an area in a record drought, imagine my surprise waking up in the middle of the night to the biggest thunder and lightning storm that I had seen and heard in a long time.  Then to further my surprise imagine coming down in the morning to find out that the basement had flooded and had over 12 inches of water in it.  Yikes!

It was quite fun getting to watch my dad and Uncle Richard work together to get the pump set up to pump the water out of the basement.

Once they turned the power to the house back on, I hurried to get in the shower and get ready so that we could get to the family reunion.  Well, the first thing I noticed is that the water pressure in the shower was REALLY low.  I figured maybe it was normal because the house is older and that is just how it was.  Well, as soon as I got the soap in my hair I heard the water start to sputter and then all of a sudden the water turned brown and then stopped.  Uh oh...

Called for Dad who was already on the way out to check the well so all I could do was wait.  With dripping wet hair.  With shampoo in it.  Haha!  After about 5 to 10 minutes my grandmother came back and told me to give up on the shower as it didn't look like they were going to get the water back on, at least right then.  "Hmmm, hey grandma do you have any water bottles?"  Yep, rinsed the soap out with bottled water that felt like it came straight from the fridge.  It was invigorating!

Turns out the pump to the well had become water logged.  So glad it was working again by the time it came to giving the kids baths after the reunion, they were filthy.

The reunion was fun.  It was at a park, which was nice because the kids could run around and play.  There were lots and lots of people I didn't know and lots and lots of people I hadn't seen in a really long time.  It was so nice to see and visit with all my dad's brothers and sisters (except Aunt Betty, who wasn't able to make it.)

Mom, Dad, Aunt Chantel, Uncle Richard, Grandma, Uncle Dean, Aunt Karen, Aunt Mary, and Uncle Kenneth.

  
Nice to see our cousins too!  I had fun getting to know them and their families again.  Talked to my cousin's wife about healthy eating for quite a while.  Very interesting!

My Grandma, her children, and their children, and their children...  Haha!

Cousins!  I wish I could find a picture of us all standing together when we were little.  It would be funny to see how old we are all getting.

Jennifer, Jeremy, Paul, Melanie, Tammy, Austin, and me.