My Brother's 4th of July Visit

Ammon and Heather came all the way from Oregon for Ammon's 10 year reunion. It was the first time I met my little neice, Emmalyn Cheney. She certainly did not disappoint. We really had lots of fun together. It was nice to get to just hang out and talk and act silly. Jarnli, Elsa and I got to sing "97 Men in this Here Town" by Buffy Sainte Marie together. Our kids were a pack of screaming maniacs (or brainiacs, as Jake might say) and Ardara was like a little nanny for Emmy. Of course, true to the proud tradition of Cheney Family Functions (with special observance of any holiday) we had a melt-down, screaming fight in the middle of all the fun. Ah, the memories of all those fights! And to think, we always managed to blame them on Marty and/or Mom in the past! Well, now we know that we don't need them to make it an official Cheney gathering. We conjured up our own hurts and offenses all on our own. But, we also managed to dispel them and carry on in rather quick order. Notice that all the Cheneys are smiling the biggest. (Dewey, Dane and Heather may have been a little shaken, but they carried it off well, too. Okay...Dane didn't pull off the photo op as well as the rest, but still.)

And obviously, none of us Cheney sisters took it too personally. Notice how we all coincidentally wore black? We are just all that cool simultaneously.

We felt like Heather fit right in as one of us (if a little less overbearing)

It was a lot of fun, and I hope we will do it again soon. Maybe Anika and Paul and their clan can get in on the fun next time. We missed our darling Dink!

And now, life carries on.....