All together again---for the last time in 2 years

The VanCott gene does not allow for just one final goodbye--to anything. What is referred to as "my lasty" is seen over and over again with diet sodas, donuts, saying goodbye to the Oregon Coast before heading home...the list goes on and on. With my parents leaving for two years, I think we broke some kind of VanCott record for the number "last goodbye" parties we had for them.

Last Saturday we had a big lunch and goodbye after the co-baptism/baby blessing. That wasn't enough, so we all came to their setting apart the next day to say our final goodbye. They went into the MTC the next morning, but we all knew they would be coming home each night to sleep in their own bed, so I'm pretty sure we all stopped in at least once to have one more good bye. That wasn't enough. They were driving off into the sunset for good on Monday, so on Sunday, which was also Mothers Day, we had ANOTHER FINAL GOODBYE GET TOGETHER!! (I think I am beginning to see what Brent means by "your family has a lot of get togethers...)

"My lasty" is not the only neurotic thing we do. The gene also forces us to follow traditions--no matter how absurd they may be. One of these traditions is to sing a little song every time we get together (usually before the prayer on the food). The song is called, "All together again." It goes like this:

We're all together again, we're here, we're here.
We're all together again, we're here, we're here.
Here we are, singing all together again,
singing all together again, we're here, we're here!

Profound, I know. We were going to sing this song, all together, for the LAST TIME IN TWO YEARS (very big VanCott moment) and I wanted to document it for posterity. Tragically, my stupid camera missed the first half of the song, so I made everyone do it one more time, only to run out of memory right in the middle of the song! Do things like this only happen to me? Here is the song--in two parts, but almost complete.


and part two
b

Funny thing--for all his complaining, this get together wasn't enough for Brent. He called me Monday morning and we loaded the kids up and headed to my parents house to catch them before they drove out so we could give them one more hug! Maybe it's not just a VanCott thing.

Miss you Dad & Mom!