Breaking New Ground: College move-in & Family Reunion

weekend before last was a very busy one. Saturday afternoon my sister moved into her college dorm and began orientation. Families are invited for the first part of the day and then the students have a crazy packed schedule for the next three days before classes begin. I can't believe my baby sister is off to college!

She's attending Northwest Christian University which is where I graduated from in 2004, worked at from '05 to this past June, met my husband in 2005, he graduated from there as well in 2007. Also, my dad works there and gets a tuition benefit for my sister (wish he was working there when I was a student!). So I was a bit nostalgic about my dorm days and Ben & I knew more people on campus than my sister. In fact, I knew a lot of the incoming students as well since I had previously worked in Admissions. I was so excited for my sister and I had a feeling she was ready to get rid of us and start meeting new people.

We helped her set up her room, brought her some gifts for her computer set up (Ben oriented her to her new mac laptop), and had lunch in the quad with everyone else. There were a lot more activities that afternoon but baby boy needed to get home to eat and daddy and I needed a nap before heading to his parent's house.
My sister, brother, and Ben in Amanda's new dorm room

Malakai & I

MeMa gave Malakai his own nametag :)

MeMa (my mom) in Manda's dorm

Also on Saturday was a family reunion on Ben's dad's side. His aunts, uncles, cousins and 2nd cousins came down to Oregon from Washington and Alaska. We only see these family members once a year, in fact his uncle from Alaska hasn't made it down in the last couple years so this was my first time meeting him! I still haven't met all of my husband's family and we've been together for 4 years! Maybe this only seems strange to me because almost all my family lives in the same state and most are in the same county.

The first day everyone got together at a nearby lake lot that had been in the family since Ben was a baby. His grandma sold it a few summers ago but was able to borrow it from the new owners for the day. Unfortunately there isn't any shelter from the heat and I didn't want to be out in it all day with little Malakai so we didn't go. We met everyone for dinner at the in-laws house when they got back and were showered with gifts. I was totally not expecting it, but none of them had made it to my shower since they live so far away.

We went home that night and came back from brunch the next morning. It was so much fun to see the little ones that are both almost 2 years old and imagine Malakai at that age. We had brunch and everyone just visited for the whole day. It was fun but exhausting.

Some photos that Grandpa got of Malakai when he finally decided to wake up (after half the family had left!)