A "Devine" Reunion.

Once Upon A Time there was a lady named Dolores who wanted a better life for herself and her children so she brought them from Ireland to America. In 1994, my mam took her 5 children and emigrated to the United States of America. Although we all loved the home of our birth; Ireland with it's beauty and rich culture, the economy was very bad and there was not many opportunities available for college education. We waited 3 years for a Visa to live legally in the U.S. We landed in Alamo, NV a desert in the middle of nowhere. We made our home there and worked hard to get by. We were helped by many friends along the way. Things were not easy in the beginning and we missed our homeland at times, but we came to America for opportunity and we found it here. It has been 15 years since Dolores brought her 4 daughters and 1 son across the Atlantic ocean in search of a new life in a new land. 6 people came to America in 1994 and today we have grown to 17. This past weekend we had a little "Devine" reunion to celebrate how much we have grown and how our legacy continues in this great land.
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Because of schedules and money being tight, we decided to plan the reunion for just one day . We started the day off with a small hike in Red Rock Canyon. The weather was not too hot yet and the scenery was beautiful. The kids did very well and didn't complain once. We pack a breakfast and ate it at the end of our trail. Next we headed to the Santa Fe Casino to see the movie "UP." It was very funny and everyone really enjoyed it. We got free bowling with our ticket stubs, so we bowled next. It was fun, we had 2 different teams and although some of us got really competitive toward the end, everyone had a great laugh. Then, we went back to my sister Kim's house for a barbeque and swimming. It was so nice to finally relax after our busy day. We ended the night with a kids talent show and we had my mam share stories of our ancestors. It was a wonderful day, I can't wait till the next reunion, hopefully next year we'll spend it at Disneyland :)

Almost all the gang

Baili (holding Niamh), Jacob, Gavin, Ryan, Kami, & Tyrone

Beverley, Kim, Me & Niamh

oUr FaMiLy

Niamh & Lucas

Gavin, enjoying a chocolate muffin for breakfast

Trudi, Niamh & Nana

Malcolm & Tyler

Me, helping Tyrone (he is not very happy)

Gavin, first time bowling

Beverley & Lewis

Gavin & Tyrone singing "The Shimmy Shake."