So we went to Idaho for a Hilton Family Reunion. Part of the family reunion was a temple session on Friday afternoon at the Rexburg Temple. I must say, the Hiltons have really expanded my vision of what a family reunion can be. Growing up, for me, a family reunion was an afternoon in the park with kids playing on the playground and adults talking over potluck food. Or an afternoon in Mona, Utah, at my dad’s cousin’s home with a waterslide in the backyard and potluck. The Hiltons (my mother-in-law’s family) love to make it a multi-day affair. It many times includes a temple session. We have had the reunion at many places other than a park: Temple Square, American Heritage school (shhh, they usually don’t rent it out), BYU’s Wilkinson Center, and many LDS chapels. We’ve had the reunion in Oakland, Boise, Provo, Virgin, (in case you didn’t know, that’s in Utah), Lehi, American Fork, and the Homestead resort in Midway, Utah. They like to tell ancestor stories, talk about what family history research needs to be done, have business meetings, catered food, and talent shows. They also provide babysitting for the younger ones.

On Friday my husband and I celebrated 21 years of marriage. It happened to be on the first day of the Hilton Reunion. What a great way to celebrate by doing a temple session with so many of his cousins and his mom and one aunt. The Rexburg temple is beautiful, as all temples are!

I got to visit with Jean, who is married to one of my dh’s 45 first cousins, right after our temple session. We have a special connection because she is a homeschooler as well who has participated with a commonwealth school in northern California. She said that at in their homeschooling/TJED circle, some families started a charter school based on TJED ideas. This year the chartered school is requiring that the seniors take three AP classes. What?! Whatever happened to freedom? I believe in academic excellence, but not forcing it. We know whose plan forcing excellence is. Jean said her daughter won’t be going, because she wants to have “important dates with herself.” I asked Jean about that. She said it’s from John Taylor Gatto’s writings, she thinks maybe Dumbing Us Down. The idea is that if we are so programmed with activities others are asking us to do, we don’t have time to connect with ourselves and our creativity.

I found a new appreciation for Idaho’s beauty. I loved all the small towns and farmlands. We stayed in a small town that had only five roads, and camped in my dh’s cousin’s backyard.

Dh’s cousin had this charming bike just beckoning me to take a ride. What torture to walk by it so much and not ride. So now I want a bike like this!

We met at this lovely chapel on Saturday morning to put on the obligatory reunion T-shirts and then take family pictures of the huge family and then the individual families. That’s one thing about the Hiltons, at every reunion they have to have matching T-shirts. I decided long ago that T-shirts are not that flattering on me, or really, on any woman, so I gave them all away long ago and I told my husband not to get me one. But it was fun seeing all the cousins in their matching shirts. My daughter was a rebel for the day with me and wore the BYU-Idaho shirt she got the day before.

I always like looking at the memorabilia table. Dh’s grandfather, Eugene Hilton, had a PhD in education. He liked to write history textbooks, so the table featured one of his books. Here is a picture and here’s a link to an online version.

I haven’t read it yet so I can’t vouch for its contents. I know Opa Gene was a fan of FDR so that makes me wonder about this book, if it has Progressive leanings.

My younger kids liked the food the best! They don’t get to eat hoagies and chips at home!

My favorite part was visiting with dh’s cousins individually and watching the talent show. My kids did a darling skit with their second cousins about how Uncle George and Aunt Yvonne met and courted.

I also loved seeing how the younger children have changed over the years. Dh’s cousin’s wife Julie and her daughter Holly look like twins now that the daughter is just as tall as her mom. Jean told me that my daughter looks just like me. People tell me that a lot but I don’t see it. My dh and I attended Julie’s wedding to cousin Wes in the Salt Lake Temple 18 years ago so it’s very precious to see how their family has grown to five healthy children.

I think my absolute favorite thing though was seeing this quote in a display case at the chapel. I agree with Elder Perry, and that the right involves the family way. Somehow I want to combine it with the words displayed in cousin Karen’s home above her stove where we camped for the night (I forgot to get a picture):

May this house be blessed with food, fun, love and laughter, now and forever after!