Jesperson Family Reunion

No, I am not a Jesperson. I proudly proclaim to be a Sadleir (here come the tears). I'm so proud of the family I come from. Specifically, my Grandma Sadleir who passed away last November.
My Grandma was the epitomy of kindness, love, patience & righteousness. Anyone who knew her loved her deeply. She was never afraid to talk to anyone, even the scrubbiest-looking person. She would go out of her way to befriend or uplift a person. She was FULL of service & compassion! Every single memory I have of my Granadma is tender and sweet & we shared such a deep bond & love for eachother. She always called me her "Sunshine girl". When I moved to Utah & got married, I missed seeing her & visiting her home in San Diego but I made it a priority to keep in touch over the phone. I made it known to Tyler that my Grandma was essentially important to me & that I loved her as much as I loved him! He figured out right away that she was a very special lady & my Grandma adored Tyler. She always told me that Tyler reminded her of Grandpa. When we had Preston he gravitated to Grandma right away. She would bounce him on her lap & sing the "Dee do dee do" song that she often sang to us as children. He was always so content with her. I'm so glad Preston got to experience the sweet times with her even though he probably won't remember it when he's older. But I remind him & we sing Grandma's song to him all the time... Grandma had A lot of songs! She would play the piano & sing (she taught herself to play the piano by ear & she could play almost the entire church hymn book. She enjoyed playing the organ in the San Diego temple on wednesdays too). But our favorite was when Grandma would play her ukelele & sing her childhood songs to her grandchildren. She was so adorable. I will forever cherish the sweet memories of my Grandma. Beyond the family ties that bind us, she & I are kindred spirits & I miss her very much. My Grandpa Sadleir was an amazing person as well. He was very quiet but very gentle & kind. He loved his family very much. Grandpa Sadleir died 9 years ago & it was a hard adjustment not seeing Grandma & Grandpa together but it's comforting to know that they've been reunited.

Every other year, there is a Jesperson Family Reunion. My Grandma was a Jesperson before she met Grandpa & she had 5 sisters & 2 brothers. The Jesperson cousins make up about 250 distant relatives! But distant isn't really a good word to use b/c we are close to our 1st, 2nd, & even 3rd cousins. This has been a tradition that I hope will carry on. This year we all gathered together in Walsberg (up provo canyon) at the Ashton's place. Here are some pictures of the activities as best as I could capture them! They had a huge slip n' slide! Preston went down with my brother-in-law Bryce & by the look on Preston's face, i knew he wasn't going to go down again.


My cute niece Britley

Bryce Brennan & Britley

Nephew Brennan, the funniest kid ever!

Preston was quite content holding the hose... As long as he didn't have to go down again.

My sister Lisa & our niece Alex & nephew Jace

Cutest Cousins ever: Evan, Tanner & Preston

My nieces Karly & Britley waiting for the candy cannon. After a loud BANG! A Cannon shot candy in the air!

Caroline loved her freedom of wandering everywhere & even in the buff at one time.


Preston didn't want to leave. With all the activities going on, I hardly saw him! He was running from the water slide to the play set, to the life size chess board, to the zip line. There was also fishing & swimming.

Grandma Jodi (my mom)& Caroline.

Carrying on the musical traditions, my aunt Gwen arranged a family sing along & we sang the old songs of the Jesperson past. Caroline was dancing on the table top to the music. She was having a BLAST!


Then Aunt Gwen opened up the microphone, of course my mom got up! Caroline followed right after Grandma & was eating every bit of it up!

Every single person had to wear a name tag with the Jesperson family member on it as well. As I put on Preston's & Caroline's name tags that read "Wilma", I got teary eyed & realized in that moment that this was their 1st Jesperson family reunion, that it was the 1st reunion without Grandma Sadleir (although I felt she was there), & that we are so lucky to come from such a valient, honorable heritage.

We are so PROUD to say that we belong to Charles Edward & Wilma Sadleir.