family reunion

so our 2nd full day up in west virginia started off with some quality time for pepper dog. she has had the rare opportunity to stay in the room with us at night, and even though she still sleeps in her kennel, she does enjoy getting up on the bed with us and snuggling.

(blurry, i know, but i like it.)
we got ready and headed out for the reunion in the late morning. we didn't want to arrive too early, so we stopped down at the local general store--appropriately named "bayer necessities." i was singing the jungle book song before we made it out of the car!
and me with the bear. i had to ask the woman inside if they were really named "bayer," and they are. what a clever name! i picked up some apple butter and have all intentions of enjoying it with some biscuits later on this week...

then it was on to the reunion. i'll be honest, i'd been dreaming about this potluck lunch since we crossed the west virginia border...the food was delicious, and i got to spend some time browsing the books about the geneaology for justin's maternal grandfather's family (got that?) i wrote down a lot of the necessary information and also learned who i could contact for more details if i need them.

then it was time for all of the pictures--they take a photo of each family group that's there every year and have them all in scrapbooks.
and then--the games! i'll admit, after the first reunion i attended, i was a little wary of the games for the grown-ups. the first year was a "newlywed" type game where men and women took turns answering questions about their better halves, and then the rest of the group came back and had to see if their real answers matched what their partners said. some of the questions were a little...colorful, and it was quite an introduction to the family. this year, however, we played it safe with relay races!

and heather and i managed to get roped into a pudding eating contest where we both lost and regretted the consumption of snack pack chocolate pudding on top of our already-full stomachs.
after all the pudding was cleaned up and many many white elephant gifts were chosen, it was time to head home. we had pizza for dinner and then spent time out at the bonfire, enjoying the chilly west virginia air. it was the perfect end to my brief weekend up there. this morning, heather and i piled into the civic and made the trip in eight and a half hours--almost unheard of in the summer when we usually get bogged down on 95 with vacation traffic. justin, his mom and pepper will be coming home tomorrow, and i've spent the evening tonight getting caught up on some TV, blog-reading and dish-washing. i'm still not thrilled with spending the night by myself, but since it's only one night, i think i can handle it :) i've just gotten out of the habit from when i lived on my own, and back then, it was just a little one-bedroom apartment. i feel like this house is massive when it's just me and the cats. (they are quite thrilled, by the way, to have me all alone. no husband, no dog--it takes them way back.)

alright, time to head towards bed. later, y'all!