family reunion

The purpose of our trek west was to attend the very first family reunion of my parents and their descendents. Our family has now grown big enough to warrant such a gathering, so all of my siblings traveled from nearly all four corners of the country to the home base in Provo. The official reunion would begin on Monday and would take place up in the mountains at the Heber Valley Camp, but as we all arrived a few days prior, the fun began a little earlier.

Before the Reunion

 

First stop was the ritual trip to the BYU Bookstore. Campus sure has changed a lot since I was a student.

Afterward, my dad took us on a brief tour of Provo, highlighting some of the changes. One stop was to see the progress on the Tabernacle Temple.

At Grandma's house, the boys couldn't get enough of the backyard -- or the grass! They spent many happy hours playing outside.

So, as a matter of fact, did the girls. Oh, it was so good to see my mom and sisters again.

Meanwhile, Uncle Tyler hid pennies around the house so the little boys could look for treasure.

At one point he told them there were pennies hiding in the camera. This was hilarious result.

In the two evenings at the home base, lots of extended family dropped in, including my cousin Audrey and her daughter Annabeth (pictured above sharing Cheerios with Matthew), cousin Heather, her husband, Brian, and kids Rees and Lucy, cousin Devi and her husband Jeremy, cousin Lacey, Uncle Barry, and [Great-, to the younger set] Grandma Nay.  It was a wild time, but so good to see everyone!

Not Pictured

• I got a haircut, so as to take advantage of a decent cut for a killer price by someone who speaks English natively (and can therefore understand what I want).
• We attended church at the YSA ward my dad is currently serving as bishop in (at the Manavu Chapel!). It was awesome. We all sat together on side pews, and my dad, from his vantage point on the stand, noticed his congregation snapping photos of us with their phones. I suppose you can't blame them -- four married couples and seven small children are not a usual feature of a young single adult ward.

At the Family Reunion -- Heber Valley Camp and Beyond!

Day 1

Our campsite was lovely. We had three cozy cabins with built-in bunks, a pavilioned kitchen, and clean restrooms with showers just a short hike away. Really, it was so nice, it was like pretend camping -- which is just about the only kind of camping I enjoy, so this set up was right up my alley!

We began our fun almost immediately upon arrival at the Challenge Course. Well, fun is a relative term, at least as far as the giant rope swing was concerned. I have never been more terrified in my life! Caleb claims he had fun, but all photographic proof says otherwise. Garrett warmed up enough to flap his wings, so long as his arms did not stretch beyond his chest. Blake was the bravest of us all, but even he admitted the thrill was a little too thrilling.

The rest of the ropes courses were a bit more close to the ground, and therefore, in my opinion, more enjoyable. This turned out to be a great way to start our togetherness fun as a family.

In the afternoon, the little ones went on a nature scavenger hunt.

Followed by an impromptu story time with Grandpa.

In the evening we celebrated Tyler's 30th birthday with cupcakes and a Family Home Evening lesson of his choosing. He wanted to discuss his latest passion, family history, and so that's what we did. Each of us was given an ancestor and around the campfire we shared stories from their lives. After the kiddies went to bed, we gathered around the campfire again and reminisced about our childhood, which turned out to be both revealing and hilarious.

Day 2

The bulk of this day was spent in Park City doing some outlet shopping. Matthew appeared to have more fun than was probably healthy for a little boy.

After we got back to camp, we spent the rest of the day enjoying such leisurely activities as a few rounds of Spot It, our new favorite game,

 beading,

 bonding with the cousins,

 shooting marshmallow guns,

 playing in the wood chips,

and roasting marshmallows. Garrett used his very own roasting stick, which he found, I think, on the nature scavenger hunt, and which Uncle Scott whittled down for him to be more accommodating for the marshmallows.

And of course we all enjoyed a bit of deer watching. The wildlife here were not afraid of humans, and were frequently found grazing only a few feet away. A mother doe and her two fawns particularly enjoyed the greenery around our campsite.

In the evening, after the kids were in bed, the adults, minus Grandma and Grandpa, who stayed on site to keep an eye on the sleeping babes, drove down to Sundance to enjoy the full moon on the Moonrise Lift. It was lovely, even though we were surrounded by twitterpated college students. Riley, though, used that to his advantage when he periodically announced, to the giggly enjoyment of everyone near us on the ski-lift, that Chelsea, his wife of six years, "said yes!"

Day 3

This was our waterfront day. We could go out in either paddle boats or canoes. Matthew was most displeased with this activity, and until he finally fell asleep in the bottom of our canoe, his screams could be heard across the lake.

In an effort to take advantage of our being on this side of the country, Blake's sister, Brittany, drove down from Rexburg, ID, to see us. 

I had been up almost all the night before with a fitful Matthew, so I napped through the games of water balloon volleyball and horseshoes.

 It started to rain a bit in the afternoon, so instead of hiking, we hunkered down inside one of the cabins. But we kept plenty busy, coloring, playing Hearts and another fun new game called Don't Eat Pete, and bonding with the newest member of the family, three-week-old Baby Samuel.

In the evening, around the campfire, we held our Talent Show. Everyone was expected to participate. I showed off my crazy quilt, Blake made a paper airplane (which flew, as planned, directly into the fire afterwards), and the boys demonstrated their sweet dance moves (pictured above).

And then it was time for the Awards Ceremony. I earned the All Nighter Award for my apparently notoriously long one with Matthew; Blake received the Housekeeping Award for all of his unsolicited help in the kitchen at meal times; Garrett earned the Fire Marshal Award for taking seriously his duty to keep his younger cousins away from the campfire; Caleb was given the Sharp Eyes Award for his mad skillz playing Spot It; and Matthew got the Woodchuck Award to commemorate all the time he spent playing in the wood chips.

Day 4

 This was our last day at the camp. While we cleaned and packed up our mess, Grandma did her best to entertain Matthew and Chloe while Henry paced while counting as high as he could (I think I got up somewhere past 200).

On our way down from the mountains, we stopped at Bridal Veil Falls for a short hike to visit the waterfall and feed the fish.

And then we went swimming at the amazingly awesome new Provo Rec Center. (Seriously -- forget being closer to family, I'd move back to Provo just for access to this place!)

 photo credit: Mark Philbrick

 Last thing on the agenda were family photos. It took a lot of effort, but I think we got some good shots.

And then it was time for people to start going their separate ways. We put it off as long as we could, though, enjoying a nice, cool evening in Grandma's backyard.

After the Reunion

 As things wound down post-reunion, we enjoyed relaxing at Grandma's house and playing with the remaining cousins before they trickled away.

We also drove up to Salt Lake to visit Blake's Grandma Matthews, who had just flown into town from Seattle.

Not Pictured

• My mom, sisters, and I enjoyed a few shopping expeditions -- to Joann Fabrics to get supplies for a quilt my Relief Society will be making; to Cherry Lane, a fun little boutique; and to Orson Gygi, the mecca of all kitchen supply stores (second only to my beloved Fishs Eddy).
• Just before we hit the road en route back to Brooklyn, we stopped for lunch at the BYU Creamery. Nothing like good ice cream to gear you up for three days in the car.

Final Thoughts

What a great trip! I'll admit, I was daunted by the prospect. Traveling is not my favorite pasttime, and this, my friends, was Traveling with a capital T. Even though it obviously wasn't, in some ways it felt like our first real family vacation, perhaps because we had to come prepared to be in charge of certain aspects of it. But everything went more smoothly than I anticipated it would, and it was so, so good to see all of my family again. And the memories we created will last forever.


*Special thanks to my siblings, parents, cousin Audrey, and sister-in-law Brittany for contributing some of the photos used in this post. They greatly enhanced the ones taken with my own camera.