~LANDRY/FAULK FAMILY REUNION 2010~
After months and months of planning, our families from all across the United States came together in Lafayette and Kaplan,Louisiana to reunite after about 20 years of not seeing each other! It was jam packed with laughter, and a few tears over the ones who have passed away and couldn't be with us. Over all, it was a wonderful trip and well worth the 22 hours on the road. :) Fill free to skip over this post as most of you won't have the time or desire to read it. I'm writing details for my own personal records.


Our first night there, we met my mom and Mike at Landry's Seafood in Lafayette,LA. It was soooo good and a great way to kick-off our Cajun weekend. :)

We spent the day at a local park in Lafayette on Saturday - all our cousins who had flown in from California/Indiana and driven in from Texas/Louisiana came and spent the afternoon with us. It was a gorgeous day and perfect for visiting!





Saturday evening, we all met up at a local Seafood restaraunt in Lafayette. All the families gathered together first for some pics and then we all caravaned together...about 30 of us ate together that night.





Easter Morning we attended the Holy Rosary Catholic Church. This is the church that my great-grandparents, grandparents, and my mom (including the rest of our aunts, uncles and cousins) all attended over the past 60 years. After the service, I was saying goodbye to the priests who were standing at the door and when I shared with him that we were here for a family reunion, he asked for which family. When I told him it was the "Landry/Faulk" families, he smiled real big and said that HE was a "Faulk" as well. He even remembered my great-grandparents, Adorei and Regina Faulk. Wow...small world. :)



My Papa. Probably the most special man in my life, (aside from Chad and my dad of course). My Papa is one of the kindest, most loyal and generous men you'll ever know. When he and my Mimi were living in Kaplan, Papa chose to move in to sell their home and move in with his mother-in-law so that he and my Mimi could care for her. They paid her mortgage, hired a live in nurse and gave her the most wonderful life she could have before she passed away...which was many years later. After Maumi died, Papa chose to move to Little Rock to be closer to my family...and what a tremendous blessing that proved to be. I have so many wonderful memories of him taking us on walks, sliding down the hill on boxes that he made, and walking on stilts that were created by him. He was the most active grandfather I've ever seen! He took us to the movies, took us on bike rides and would do homework with us...he was and is incredibly patient. My heart swells when I think of him. He's 80 years old, and still traveled to Lafayette...amazing!

Kristie, Aunt Debbie, Papa, my mom, myself and the kiddo's standing in from of Maumi's (my great-grandmother's) house in Kaplan, LA. So many fun times were had on that front porch!

My sweet Lauren. Lauren will forever hold a soft place in my heart...she was "my baby". I am a good 12 years older than Lauren and I will never forget the day she was born. Each time we had the opportunity to see her was such a special day for me...I just loved taking care of my sweet little cousin! She's now about to graduate from highschool this year and is such a beautiful, intelligent young lady - I'm very proud of her! It's so neat to see her playing with MY kids the same way I played with her 16 years ago...she's an incredible older cousin to my children. :)

Out of all my cousins, Brandi and Kristie are the two I loved the most...we were the three musketeers! I looked up to these girls and thought they hung the moon! I was so excited to see them both! It was C-R-A-Z-Y to see Brandi with her husband and two boys and then I realized it must've been even weirder for her to see me with THREE kids seeing as how I was always the "youngun".

Partners in Crime!!! Lawd have mercy!!! These cousins had waaaaay too much fun growing up. I can't tell you how many hilarious stories I've heard over the years of all the things they did. All of the people in this picture (excluding a few who weren't able to travel in for the reunion) grew up together and were very very close...and what's really neat is despite living in different parts of the US, they've still managed to stay in close contact. It was so fun to see all of them laughing and visiting on Sunday. :)

The next generation of cousins...we have soooo many sweet memories of swimming in Aunt Flo's hot tub, having Easter Egg Hunts in Maumi's front yard and eating crawfish in Mimi and Papa's carport. Such sweet innocent, carefree years! It was so neat to see all these girls - they were just as sweet and fun as they were 20 years ago!

Our last night there - the Doyle's, Harmon's and Eason's walked across the parking lot and ate at Outback Steakhouse. We were so tired but still managed to have a wonderful visit and were all a bit sad to say goodnight b/c we knew that we'd be heading back home the next morning.