Not aMOOSEd!

We just returned from a 10 day family vacation. We went to Park City to meet up with family for a not a family reunion then we went onto Yellowstone. We had bouts of grumpiness throughout the trip, but by the last day in yellowstone: Jared ended up staying at the RV, Emma had MRSA on her inner thigh and a stress fracture on her foot, and  no one had any energy to be nice or to do anything. I spent several legs of the tour by myself so that I could see what I came to see and my grumpy family could do whatever they wanted. We had a loud fight in the streets of yellowstone (because we had no car and had to walk) trying to decide what to get for dinner in this very small town with only local restaurants. Emma didn't even leave the RV and Jared left after we walked into town and tried to decide which restaurant to take a gamble on. We were all on the verge of mental collapse.

We had lots of great photos capturing each moment- at least a lot of the back of the heads of my family enjoying themselves because I wasn't allowed to take pictures of anyone. They refused to pose. I was only allowed to take action shots, but when i went for said action shots they turned away from the camera. The shots I did get with faces required lots of coaxing or threats of tears on my part, or I just snuck them. Any on lookers viewing our photo's would think we had the idealistic angelic family vacation. In fact. One friend said that we made family vacations look good.

Here's the thing. We did! Even the bad moments produce good memories. They are opportunities to bond. To have a shared experience. The bad memories are the ones you relive and laugh about for the rest of your lives. It's a unique experience to love each other and dislike each other in the very same moment. That's what a family is. Learning to get along and love each other. There is no perfect family and we are a prime example of that.  Family units allows us to be who we are and always be loved-amung many other things. We're in this together for the good, bad, and the less than aMOOSEd.

Even when your oldest sends you this in a text regarding your grumpy mood: