If You're Curious About What We Did...

I'm not going to assume that anyone out there is interested in what a bunch of Meekers did for our family reunion. But I would like to tell the story. A. so my kids will know about their first family reunion. B. so I can send this post to Mike so he can add the written text to the DVD of the footage of all the family fun. So, let's get tarted shall we?

We made the LONG drive to Utah on Monday and Tuesday. The girls were awesome in the van. They watched endless episodes of WonderPets, Dragaontales and Thomas the Train. They napped when they should nap and laughed when they should laugh and were quiet when they should be quiet. They had zero potty incidents and zero minutes of getting on our nerves. By the time of our arrival Tuesday at the cabin we were in great shape.

That night, we unpacked and the boys rode 4 wheelers while the kids got reacquainted with each other. For some, this was the first time we saw each other. We had never met our niece Chloe, Ken and Faith's little girl. It was super fun to watch the kids play, read them stories and make up games. After the kids went to bed (after lots of jumping on the bed) we sat around and visited with Chuck, Amber, Rick and Heather until Bill and Marilyn arrived with Ken and Faith at about 1 am. Ron and Steve didn't come up until the next morning.

In the morning the boys all went shooting. Chuck bought a couple cases of bottled water and they used those as targets. Mike said it was cool because they erupted when hit and the sun made the exploding water look like an actual explosion. Sort of. I figure boys are easy to please when a gun is in their hand and they are exploding something. While they were gone, we did an art project with the kids. We made crowns with stickers and coloring all over. Then, Amber and I took Cayden, Nora, Katie, Jessica and Emma for a walk. The kids collected fist fulls of wild flowers for their Grandma. There were yellow and white wild flowers and beautiful columbine in the classic blue/purple. The kids trudged up a big hill up to their waists in wild flowers with no fear. Nora was the only one that was a unsure about going into the tall grass. I have to admit I was worried about snakes, ticks, spiders etc. but the kids were having such a blast picking flowers I just let them go. We all ate lunch and then the girls and I took a much needed nap. Ambers sisters Becca and Rachel came up and took our family pictures. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner then had our family talent show. This part of the night was so much fun! Jessica sang the Animal Fair song. Katie was supposed to sing the Patience Song but decided at the last minute to do her own talent of spinning around in a circle, standing on one foot, spazzing out then yelling TA DAAAA. Our family talent was a WonderPets skit. I held up the stuffed animals and explained to everyone what the WonderPets were and the basics of the plot. Then Mike, Jessica and Katie came out in their WonderPet capes and did a skit called "The WonderPets Save The Chick Fil-A Moo Cows". It was super cute and the girls had a blast. Chuck, Amber, Cayden and Emma did a super cute skit where Emma was a princess and got kidnapped by a monster (chuck) and Cayden the Prince had to come kill the monster and save Emma. It was so cute and Cayden loved getting to stab his Dad with a dagger. Bill played the jewharp for the kids and they thought the music it made was funny. Steve did two magic tricks and the kids thought the fact that his quarter went into his skin and up his arm was really cool. Sariah sang "Keep The Commandments" with the help of Ken. She is two and it was so cute. She knows lots of sign language so she signed some of it too. Marilyn told the story of Tommy Harper and the cabbage patch. Jessica got sad for Tommy because he was so careful to count his 12 cabbages then they got eaten. She was NOT happy about that. Ron did the funniest talent of all. He did the Night Before Christmas - Around the World. Each sentence of the traditional Night Before Christmas was done with a different accent. From a Bronx New York accent, to Irish, German, Vietnamese, Middle Eastern, Russian, Australian, Surfer etc. It was hilarious!!! We all laughed so hard. Then, the kids sang the Birdie song and a SUPER LOUD version of I Am A Child Of God. It was really loud. And funny. But mostly cute. That night we hung out and talked about finance and investments and just joking around ton. Mike, Chuck and Ron made Bill laugh so hard at one point that he literally curled into a little ball on the couch and couldn't breathe. It was just one of those fun nights, hanging out in jammies, laughing and talking and eating chocolate chip cookies.

The next morning, everyone but Heather and me went to a park and had a Meeker Olympics. They played games, three legged race, relay races etc. They all ate a picnic lunch then returned to the cabin. The kids went down for naps and the adults had the family meeting. We decided not to have an official family government or pay dues or do a newsletter. Ha ha. It was funny how different we organized things than the way Mike grew up. We decided to have the next family reunion in the summer of 2010 in upstate New York. After naptime the boys took the kids on a nature walk. They had to collect specific things and put them in their bags. Katie ended up with rocks and dirt. Jessica ended up with exactly what she was supposed to collect. Go figure. That night, I (with the help of all the girls) served a Hawaiian dinner to everyone. We had leis, decorations, island music and for the meal had roast pig, rice, sweet potatoes, oriental salad and fresh fruit with dip. We had lilikoi (passion fruit) chiffon pie for dessert. It was a fun night. We played a game Steve taught us which was basically charades & password all combined. It was so funny. Amber, Faith and I stayed up late into the night talking and getting to know each other better. Ron told us funny story about his friend who is a Navy SEAL and we all just sat around telling stories and laughing.

The next morning, Ken, Faith, Ron, Steve, Marilyn and Bill had to leave early so Rick, Heather, Chuck, Amber, Mike and I cleaned up and packed up the cabin and headed down the mountain to the Huntsman Family Reunion. The Huntsman family is Marilyn's (mike's mom) side of the family. We had a family picture taken, had a family meeting that ended up being super fun and funny, had a big BBQ (it was 4th of July) and another talent show. (I guess we think we are pretty talented) Then, we went back to our hotel in Salt Lake City and got up the next day and went to the park with Mike's cousins and their kids and went out to Mexican food for lunch. Then, we hugged and kissed everyone goodbye and hit the road for home. We made it the whole way home even though Jessica begged to stay in a hotel so she could sleep with her Katie Kate.

The highlights for me were watching all the kids play with each other. They got along perfectly with no fights or disagreements. I loved spending time with Heather and Amber who have become two of my very best friends. I loved seeing Mike's cousins, the Werners, who I love as much as my own family. Mike has the best cousins. We missed our VERY favorite person on that side of the family though...Uncle Lucky. Mike's Uncle Lucky is seriously one of my favorite people in the whole wide world. He was P.O.W in Vietnam and had to go back to Florida for a P.O.W thing and couldn't make the reunion. I missed seeing him and Mike's Aunt Judy and cousins Travis and Marie. We always laugh a lot when we see those guys.

Finally, I just want to say how much I appreciate and love Amber and Chuck. Amber planned, researched, shopped and put together this entire thing. She is a totally organized person and a great planner. She did so much work and put together a great event for SUPER cheap. It cost way less than a hotel and eating out and was way more fun. The cabin/house was ginormous and slept all of us comfortably. It had a great stone floor and big stone fireplace. A HUGE living room and was nestled in a grove of Aspen trees and wildflowers. It was cool at night and really pretty during the day. Amber prepared and planned the reunion with love and a desire for everyone to have a good time and grow closer as a family. Amber has the best intentions of anyone I know. I had fun hanging out with her and laughing and enjoying watching our kids together. My kids think her son Cayden is an actual rock star. Anything he does, they laugh hysterically at. He is their own personal super hero.

All in all we had a great time and actually came home relaxed and refreshed. If you can feel that way after a week on the road with 2 three year olds, you know the trip had to be good!!!