Reeve Family Reunion

We flew into Vegas Saturday night and took a shuttle to St. George for the Reeve Family Reunion.  On Sunday morning as we were visiting, Pam noticed a plane nose down in their field.  Their horse was sniffing around so Reed went out to get him and found out that a 4 year old, his dad and grandpa were flying over Zion’s National Park and saw one canyon too many.  They ran out of gas (1 mile from the airport in Hurricane) and tried to land in Reed’s back yard.  They barely clipped the fence with their landing gear and that spun them 90 degrees where they then nose dived.  The sheriff, EMT’s and police were there within 10 minutes.  Nobody was hurt.

After church, a few of us went to Cedar City to visit Grandma Poulson.  Janice (her daughter) was there so it was good to see her too. RJ took some great pictures (not only at Grandma’s but throughout the week).  It always terrifies me to age after visiting with Grandma Poulson.

Thomas- Sage’s 4th child.  We heard some very interesting stories about Thomas!  Once of which included a survivor week in White Rocks where he ended up getting bored and walked 25 miles home!  One truck stopped to pick him up thinking he was running away from the polygamist colony in Colorado City!

Below is a picture of Amanda and her boyfriend Thomas.

Sage has these swinging beds hanging from a tree on the side of her house.  The kids had all kinds of fun on those.

Monday, the reunion officially started with a few work projects:  (1) repair the fence that was broken in half by the crashing plane (2) create a roof for the hay (again- same project as two years ago) (3) build a swing set (4) help Amanda stitch aprons for Sister Day.

Hunter took care of Grandpa’s horse for a cub scout requirement.  He made sure it had food and water.

Sage, RJ and I jimmy rigged the fence back together (untangling the barb wire and resetting some posts).

Grandma’s work projects seemed to mainly consist of cooking food, cleaning up after meals and preparing for the next meal.  She also prepared a few activities to entertain the children while the adults worked on their projects.

Grandpa refurbished this carriage and gave everyone rides.  Reagan loved it!

Kimber was in an accident a couple weeks before the reunion.  De Anna did not see her when they were up a mountain cutting and collecting wood and she got run over.  She broke her pelvic bone on two sides and has pins in.  She has to be in a wheel chair for a few more weeks.  We are all grateful that she is going to recover fully.  She’s such a helpful, cheery little girl.  Everyone was helpful with getting her around and she was so patient while she watched kids playing things that she could not.

Tuesday was Sister Day and Amanda was in charge.  We were told to bring a recipe for a bake sale.  She threw in a few curveballs though.  We paired up with a younger girl and each team got to give another team a mystery item to add to their dish!  I gave Shannon and Lydia applesauce and they gave me bacon bits!  I was making triple chunk brownies so I just sprinkled some on one of the corner pieces since I didn’t want to sale bacon brownies.  At one point Amanda claimed a power outage and no one could use electricity for 30 minutes.  Shannon was super creative with melting her butter with a blow torch.  A few minutes later, everyone could only use one hand.

Amanda made the aprons out of men’s shirts with the help of Lori.  They were very cute. 

The men were called in from their work projects to judge the goods.  That was another curve ball!  Had I known that Reeve men were judging the baked goods, I never would have made anything chocolate since none of them are sweet on it.

In the end, we didn’t try to sale anything and instead put together goodie plates for different people in the area. 

That night, all of the grown ups went out to dinner at the Olive Garden and enjoyed a delicious meal with great company.

When I heard that one of the work projects was building a swing set, I was happy because I figured it would be some big thing from Costco.  I liked the idea of having order (instructions, materials and proper tools).  I also knew that we could put it together in a day or two.  I am learning that I love to start and finish things.  The thought did cross my mind that we would have to build the structure from scratch.  I say we but I mean the men (De Anna got right in there too).  Bert brought a truck load of crates that had to be taken apart and de-nailed.  Everyone was sweating like pigs just to get a 4 in by 3 foot slat.  Half of them cracked because the wood was crappy.  I joked that the kids would have to wear gloves and steel toed boots on this play ground!

In the end, the guys did a good job getting the frame built enough to attach 3 swings.  Unfortunatley the slide was too short and the project came to a hault.

On Wednesday our project was to make a milk carton igloo with the kids to build team work skills.  RJ had to take Reed to Salt Lake for a follow-up eye appointment.  Over the past few months, Pam saved up over 400 empty gallon jugs with the help of the school and church.  Hunter and McKenna enjoyed using the hot glue guns.  It made them feel grown up.  I was impressed that Hunter stuck with it for about 3 hours.  The kids were always so excited to come and see it growing one foot at a time.  It was fun to make it for them.  Unfortunately, Robert slept in it and kicked a base piece so it was dead within 48 hours.

Shannon and Peter helped me put together a 500 piece Noah’s Ark puzzle.

Reed had asked a few people to give presentations on various things.  I think they all did a great job and accomplished what was intended.  Kevin had us take a personality test.  RJ and I were practically opposite in everything!  I guess opposites really do attract!  I’m glad that we have learned where and when to compromise.

RJ held a group discussion on prayer.  We shared what we use prayer for and were candid about our lack of faith, sincerity, or focus at times.

Robert talked about Preach My Gospel and how we can and should all be using it.  It’s not just for missionaries.

Pam wanted the kids to make geniology charts while the men continued on work project #1 on Thursday.  It was very apparent that many of RJ’s siblings names were taken from their ancestors.  I think it is neat to have a meaningful name.  Sage shared some stories with the kids as they glued pictures onto their charts.

That night we had a movie night outside on the grass.  We set up blankets and chairs.  Grandma bought all kinds of snacks and treats.  The majority of people voted on watching “17 Miracles.”  I know it is one of my kids’ favorites.

Friday was the beginning of the extended Reeve Reunion.  I didn’t take my temple recommend so I was not able to join everyone at the temple Friday morning.  Late that afternoon we headed out to White Rocks and listened to two presentations about the Starr family and Robert and Fern Reeve.  The kids enjoyed playing in the red dirt, climbing the rocks, and riding on the gators.  RJ took Hunter and several other kids to shoot targets as well.

We drove home that night.  Pam, Reed, RJ, Hunter and Rueger got up early and went back to White Rocks for breakfast, a work project and another presentation.  The girls and I tried to catch up on some much needed sleep.  Reagan and I played games and build puzzles together while we waited for McKenna to wake up.  We called Lori to see if she wanted to meet us at the splash pad.  We ended up squeezing in her car and driving over which was a huge blessing as I thought of the alternative- hauling the girls in a bike trailer a few miles in the dry desert heat.  The kids had a great time and I enjoyed visiting with Lori.  In fact, I think my favorite part of the reunion was the conversations I got to have with several members of the family.  To me, that’s what a reunion is about- bringing people together and letting them reconnect.

We enjoyed a large and yummy family dinner Saturday before departing Sunday morning.  Unfortunately, McKenna woke up early Sunday with an upset stomach and a trip to the bathroom.  I brought a gallon size zip lock baggie in the car on the way to St. George to catch our shuttle.  She quietly pulled it out, utilized it and zipped it up.  We didn’t have any problems on the plane but the next morning, Hunter woke up with an upset stomach.  He on the other hand was waking up the house with his moaning and groaning.  The poor guy did have it rough for about 5 days!  He spent the week napping everywhere (including naked on the bathroom floor).

When I use to travel, I dreaded coming home but the older I get, the more I realize that home is not such a bad place to be.  It’s good to be back!