2012 Family Reunion Part 2

Well, this was ready a while ago but dumb blogger wouldn't upload my videos.  So I got online and found a solution: upload them to you tube.  I finally got around to doing that so here's my post... even though you should never post on Fridays.  Too bad.

Amy got her last one in before me, but I'm going to break this into 3 so its OK cuz I'll end up with more posts.  Of course its a contest, didn't you know?  Everything is a contest.

After Jareds activity (which Amy did a good job blogging about), Emily brought out a long roll of plastic, soaker hoses, and baby soap for a homemade slip and slide.

Whoda thunk?

 The little kids were all over it.

 Some were more braver than others.

Emily tried to help

 Go baby go!

The boys actually rearranged the position of the slide after a little bit...

there was a very small depression that went down the middle of the yard.

The older ones got into the action

That's Jenny!

But apparently I didn't get any of the older boys or Bailey :(

Zane went the farthest until Wyatt and Jared got in on the action... but I don't have any pictures of that,  just the little boys.

I was pressed into service as the water and soap sprayer, the position Nathan has in the photo's above.  It probably wasn't a necessary task since Nathan left the post to hold down the grass under the trampoline, but it made me feel important. 

Then Emily brought out the water balloons and balloon launcher and I made myself into one of the water balloon fillers.  Boy were those kids all over that!  Two yrs ago when I pulled out the water balloons for the shot put those kids swarmed my bucket and I had a hard time keeping it organized.  They LOVE water balloons... just can't get enough.  Joel was so excited I thought he would jump out of his skin everytime he got his hands on one. Note to self, ALWAY have water balloons at a Family Reunion.

There were a bunch of other fun activities but apparently I only found my phone during Bethanie's.  It consisted of homemade picture targets popping up behind the couches and 15 bean bags shots.  There's a pirate! 

Don't hit the bomb!  You'll blow up!

Oops.. at least she missed :)

Choose between the nurse and the bad guy.

Oh.. I guess I didn't get any pictutres more good guys.  There were snails, a graduate, penquin, and a grandma... but she had a taser so most people nailed her.  It was pretty funny, especially when the kids went behind the couch and those guys were popping up and down like mad!

OK.. I'll end this with the lovely videos I did of the first night of Talent show.  Of course, I didn't film the other nights talents... Its hit or miss with me.  (Sorry Angela!  I know you wanted to see them... the Parkies might have filmed a few so ask them)

First, the Idaho Helms:


Now the Parkinsons... in defense of my dismal videoing skills (maybe try for FACES Melanie? :), I didn't know what they were doing and was so in the wrong position.


My family is awesome.  I'll leave all the picture I took at the temple and with our red shirts for the next post.

Family Reunion Part 1

I already know there will be other parts so I figured I just start out parting the posts.

Apparently I don't take many pictures even when I am not in charge of the family reunion.  Ya for you!  I just hope everyone else shares their pictures and actually took out their camera once in a while.   I know Emily and Mom got some good ones cuz I took some with their cameras. 

Emily did an awesome job for her year.  She was well prepared and everyone got to participate in alot of different activities that the families had prepared, most loosely based on the theme "Mission Possible".  Emily also had prepared for devotionals, FHE, temple trip and a talent show which led to more spiritual time/discussion with the family (so cool). We spent quite a bit of time at the house which gave the kids time to play and just spend time together (and stay up until 2am talking... naughty teenagers).  BTW, if I took ur fingerprints and you want them, I'll mail them to you.   I don't know why I kept them... probably for something nefarious.  One of the activities I had prepared was to try and lift some prints off of surfaces and identify them but I never got around to setting it up.  Maybe next time we get together, now that I have the flour, cocoa, brushes, and packing tape all ready.  Just call me prepared.

Also, kudos to Emily for a reunion with no fainting this year.  There was some hypoglycemic and not enough sleep grumbling but I'd say that just goes with the nature of the activity.

I made bags again this year.  Don't worry, it was at Emily's request.  This picture is what I sent to Mom and Emily for them to decide which color was better.  Ya, like that happened.  All I got was "Whatever is easiest" X 2.  I was going to do half and half but then I got carried away with the blue (old cut out jeans) so there ended up being alot more blue but it all worked out in the end.  Most people were actually confused when I asked them if they wanted blue or red.  I guess those triangles just aren't that noticeable.  I had wanted to try out different types of backpacks rather than these sports bags but ran out of time (read... too lazy to start early enough).  I did make a mockup of one of the types I was thinking about but it took a while to sew, let alone finish.  So I just went back, read the tutorial from last time (choosing to ignore my original suggestion to JUST BUY THEM!) and went from there.  What can I say, I needed a project to while away the hours before the reunion.

Oh ya, and thanks to Melissa, I got better at putting those triangles on at the end.  I was complaining on our bike ride about how squirly/frayey and thus hard to sew down when she suggested using "wonder under" or some similar product on them.  Duh!  I had bought a whole bunch of that stuff for my quiet book and didn't even think about using it.  I even unpicked all those I had done before... mostly because I had bought the wrong size of rope and couldn't finish 'em on the Sunday before like I had planned and so had time on my hands that evening.  I had to finish the rest of them up in Provo with the help of Emily and roommates.  Thanks!

So, the next pictures are of an activity I did on Wednesday.... or Tuesday afternoon.  Don't recall.  It was in the morning so it must have been Wednesday.  We had lots of fun on the other days and I enjoyed my weekend with Emily (one of my favorite activities of all time is stuffing the grab bags.  I tried not to buy too many things for it cuz I knew Emily would go overboard on it.  She's so awesome), but any pictures taken then were with Emily's or Mother's camera.

Here they are, trying to guess who's baby picture was who's.  It turned out alot better (ie, harder) than I thought it would, especially since a lot of the pictures were of the kids as they were older, like 1 yr old. 

I had added two extra baby pictures (thanks for the suggestion Emily!) of Fay and Kimball (Um... hope you don't mind Mandy!  They were the only baby pictures I had on my computer of family) which Mom and Emily figured out pretty quickly but stumped the rest (well.. Bethy figured it out after I gave her some hints).  Also, the one of Thorpe was rather easy to spot :)

I hadn't quite decided how to reveal the correct answers so when everyone was clamoring to know we went through them all together.  It was a good thing cuz I had mixed up Melina and Lauralynn, Nathan's youngest girls.  In my defense, Nathan didn't tell me who was who.  Bethanie and Neita won first prize. 

Funny story; That evening.. or maybe the next day Melina asked me to check her list and after I told her how many she got right, she said "that's better than the last time!".  I think she filled out an answer sheet a few more times during the reunion.

Jared did a geocaching type activity and while he prepared outside, we went downstairs for some minute-to-win-it games.   (trying to move the cookie from your forehead to your mouth without any hands)

Emily had a whole bunch ready but this was the only time we did them. 

That's one thing I've learned about Family Reunions... you end up with alot more activities than time.  But I think that's a good thing. 

We just enjoy talking and being together so much it doesn't matter if there are structured activities! 

Also, if you want to do the activity you planned, you just have go and do it.

Go boys go!

 Look at the faces of the people behind them.

 I think its funny how they are trying to help. (Dad's shirt is awesome :)

 Sorry Jared and Amy you had to miss this.

And Aaron finally got it.  I was actually surprised ad how many people got it into their mouths.

I was just glad I was the designated timer and made myself into the photo journalist.

I didn't get any pictures of Jared running around from group to group helping us figure out the right way to look at a compass (fail) but I know Amy got pictures of the group so I hope she'll blog about it.  It was a really fun activity... although Alec and I about died running back and forth.  We blamed it on the elevation... and no inhaler.

OK.  I started this a couple of days ago and I've decided I've just got to post this already.  So apparently there WILL be a part 2.  Ya for you!

Fun at the Riverwoods

I was trying to get this out before the end of the month what with all the posts to happen of the Family Reunion in June... SO EXCITED.  I have one more May one left that I'll post next week.  Better late than never I suppose, eh?

Back to the weekend I spent in Utah.  Friday night we went to The Riverwoods in Provo which is always a fun evening, especially after eating at Mu-Ha-Ha Pizza, or whatever the real name of my favorite pizza place is. We like to listen to whoever is playing in the square (hoping that violinist comes back) and wander around the stores.  We try out all the smells at Body Works (to the joy of the staff), looked at church paraphernalia at that LDS store (while the staff entertained the children with a scavenger hunt and lollipops), and try out all the fun games/activities at Blickenstaffs. Yes, a fun time is had by all... excepts perhaps the staff. 

We tried on the glasses...

And the kids rode around on the little bikes.

Some were better than others :)

Outside the "Called to Surf" store we of course surfed.

All except Angela... poor thing.

.

Unfortunately this time nobody was surfing on the indoor surfing machine so we didn't have the fun of watching people biff it and almost loose their shorts.  I guess that just means we'll all have to get together and go do it again some time :)

Natalie's Birthday, Emily style.. and Her Menagerie

I had some training up in Utah this last week so I thought as long as the company was paying for me to travel I might as well take Friday off and spend the whole weekend with my family. Bethanie and Angela had planned on coming down so we all celebrated Natalie's birthday together and played with Emily's new menagerie. I was going to break this up into a couple of posts (Natalie's birthday, Emily's Menagerie, and fun at the Riverwoods) but seeing's how I'm slacking in the blogging department, I thought I better just get it out there.  So be prepared for lots of pictures and some video.

Natalie wanted a hotdog cookout so that's what we did.  Emily's backyard is awesome for it.  Emily's roommate Mamariene joined us.

Angela borrowed a t-shirt from Emily to get all smoky.

Hannah sitting in Angela's chair

This is the picture I sent Mom to make her jealous of the fun we were having.

I thought it was funny that we had the party by the chicken coop. We all wanted to be under the shade.

The chickens loved it though... apparently they are big fans of squash mac and cheese.

I had Angela take a picture of me by the coop as well.

All the kids were eating an awful lot of watermelon... and then giving the "rinds" to the chickens/ducks. There was usually quite a bit of meat left on those rinds :)

Natalie's birthday cake! She wanted an ice cream cake and Bethanie let me buy it as my present to her.

The wind kept blowing out the candles but we sang... (remember the video I took sideways a couple years ago of the train which I then couldn't turn when I got back? This time I was determined to do it right so I carefully held my phone upwards all the time.  Well, this phone takes video SIDEWAYS!   Sigh.  I guess now I know.  Just tilt your head a little to the side and if it really bothers you, I'll show it to you on my phone)

Yummy cake!

Even Bethanie had some, though she's been watching her girlish figure. Doesn't she look great?

The ducks (who were jealous of all the attention the chickens were getting so Emily let them out after we were done eating... they are big beggars) also got a part of the cake, but they were more impressed with the watermelon than the flowers.  I got pretty good over the weekend at smashing the too big snails so they could eat them.

Natalie got a beautiful new purple dress, shoes, and some bracelets to go with it.

I didn't get a picture of the smore cooking afterword but I think we all had a way fun time... and I will probably post some pictures of the fun we had at the Riverwoods later cuz I've run out of time posting this.

Thanks so much Emily!  Isn't this such a cute picture of her and Sparkle?

PS. I'm kinda sad I won't be going up there this weekend to put flowers on our ancestors graves (last year it was SO much fun) but since I was just up there... Emily might get too much of a good thing :).  Besides, I'll be seeing everyone in a few weeks for the Family Reunion. So excited!

Woman of Smarts

Last week the Laurels in my ward called to see if they could drop something by in 20 minutes.  They had a delivery or 2 before me but wanted to make sure I would be home.

Figuring it was cookies, I said yes. I'm always down for cookies.

Having just got home from work, I quickly ate dinner and then rushed around picking up the front room and bringing in the rugs from off the porch after shaking them... they may or may not have been out there since the weekend.  My goal to always have my house clean when I leave in case something happens (the 2yr anniversary of my bicycle accident was Monday) isn't working so well.  Perhaps I need to change my middle name to Lazy or Housework Unmotivated.

Anyways, they stopped by and gave me this.

A nicely decorated plate with individually wrapped yummy chocolate, some lotion, and finger nail polish.  The presentation was awesome.

And what does it say?  Woman of Knowledge, Melanie Smart Helm.

Apparently I exemplify the young woman value of knowledge because, as they said, "your middle name is Smart".

How right they are.

When I told this story at work, Marcia (my drafter) said "Boy, have you got them fooled!"

I think the more proper saying would be "Boy, have you got them trained!"

PS.  The young woman didn't realize my window was open and as they were leaving I heard "awkward" and "next time".  I hadn't thought the meeting on my doorstep was awkward but its well known that knowledge and social skills don't necessarily go together :)