Reunion: Second Day Afternoon

When we got back from the larger Henke reunion, we had some fun with water.

  Terral and I had a little fun with our waterproof camera.He caught me a little off guard the first time. I was better prepared the second. ;)

 Ethan really enjoyed the little fountains at the end of the slip-n-slide.

 Then we all got together and played some good old water balloon volleyball. I do enjoy that game. :)

 And of course, it all turned into a waterfight when we were done playing. This is the tail end of it. (Sorry about the fingers on the lense. That's what happens when someone's not familiar with your camera.)

 Later in the afternoon the kids, with plenty of help from their moms, did a craft I had planned. I would definitely do some things differently if I did it over again, but the kids seemed pleased with the end result, so I'm happy with that.

 Here are some close-ups of their food face plates.

And here are a few pictures of the Lisonbee kids' plates a few days later.

We were so glad everyone was able to come! We love spending time with family. And I'm glad that it will be another seven years before it's my turn to plan again. ;)

Reunion: Day Two Morning

We started Saturday morning bright and early. Sarah had convinced several of us to do the Hinckley Pioneer Classic. Since I wasn't really planning on doing it, I had to borrow some clothes from mom. This was the first official race most of us, including Terral and me, had ever done. It was fun to do it all together. It was only two miles, but it was a challenge for me since I hadn't hardly run at all since before Ethan was born. Also, I was wearing my new unshoes, which was fun but a very different experience from sneakers. Rachel and Dave were behind me at the beginning (I finished last in our family) and they said afterward that my head looked like it was just kind of gliding along. I thought that was a really great compliment. :)

I planned our reunion to be the same weekend as the larger Henke Reunion, so after the race we all gathered to be on my Grandma's float. She turned 90 on the 25th, so my Aunt MaryAnna planned for us to celebrate it at the Pioneer Day Parade. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures, but the banner said, 

Florence Cook Henke

Paved the Way for her Legacy

10 Children, 62 Grandchildren and 166 Great Grandchildren

Yup, my grandma has over 200 descendants.


After the parade, everyone went over to a pavilion that was reserved so we could eat, visit, and celebrate Grandmas' birthday some more.

Some of the kids started a game.

 And it soon grew in size. :)

 Here is my grandmother with her living siblings.

 And most of her children. My dad's the handsome one second from the left.

 Ethan fell asleep in my arms. He didn't seem to mind the awkward position.

 Here's my dad with his Uncle Rulon. Dad was born on his birthday, so his middle name is Rulon. I didn't know that until we were searching our families' Books of Remembrance for Ethan's middle name.

 And here's Ethan with his Great Grandma Henke.

Reunion: Day One

Well, I already told you one of the things that we did on the first day of our reunion, but it actually wasn't the first activity.  Every two (or three, or four) months my family has a Family Home Evening all together.  That was the first group activity Friday night.

It was Rachel's turn for the lesson, and she did a wonderful job.

 Later that night we gathered by the fire pit and had some fun on the trampoline.

 And watched some fireworks.

 And had more fun on the trampoline.  

 

You might be thinking to yourself that this is a pretty goofy looking picture, and you'd be right.  But what you don't know is that this is the most mild of the set. When Matt and I get together, we have a special kind of crazy.

Birthday Critters

It was our turn to be in charge of my family's reunion this year, which ended up being way more stressful than I thought it would be.  There were of course several reasons for this, but one was that because of family and business matters I ended up cramming a big project into less than two weeks.  I was up into the wee hours of the morning every night.  But this was something I had had in mind for a long time, and it was really important to me, so I pushed on. In the end I was really glad I did.

I told the kids that we were going to celebrate all their birthdays. (We kind of tend to mostly celebrate the June birthdays because there are a lot of them.) My "speech" didn't come out very pretty—I blame it on sleep deprivation—but I got the point across and we began the fun.

I put the gifts in a giant pull pinata wrapped as a present.  Instead of taking turns whacking at the pinata, the kids took turns trying to find the string that would open the secret trap door.  The odds are much more even this way, but the suspense is still there. p.s. I got the idea here.

 

 

And suddenly it was open! Little critters fell out and the mad rush began.  Then the kids realized that there was a name tag attached to each one.  I had asked my sisters to find out what all the kids' favorite animal was so I could crochet a toy for everyone, so I wanted to make sure the animals found their proper homes

 And here I am with all my nieces and nephews.  And Diane. ;)

 It was so fun to see them enjoying their presents!

 And now for a closer look at the presents themselves.

 

 

Do you have a favorite?

Oh. My. Goodness.

It has been so long.  I've written so many posts in my head and even started a few, but of course catching up at this point seems very daunting, and I haven't been able to set aside a large chunk of time to do it.  Life has been pretty crazy.  But you don't want to hear excuses (and by you, I pretty much mean me reading this 5 years down the road), you want to hear what's been going on.

Well, I won't go into detail because I do still plan on catching up *fingers crossed* and also I'm just stealing a few minutes right now while I nurse Ethan back to sleep.  Which means I'm typing one-handed.  Left-handed, in fact.  Impressive, no?  At least, it'll be excusable if I end up with some typos.

Ethan had a six-month check up yesterday, with everything a-okay.  He weighed in at 18 lbs.  He got a bit of a runny nose while we were there, which turned into much more of a runny nose a few hours after we got home.  Fast forward to 11:30-something and Terral and I cannot figure out what is happening with our child.  He just keeps screaming, and nothing seems to help.  At some point the light dawns on Terral, and he asks me, "Where is his duck?"  I immediately feel awful because I didn't realize my son was in pain, and relieved because now we can do something about it. ( The duck is a teether toy.)  Utka (the duck) needed to be put in the freezer, so I grabbed a bag of frozen raspberries as a substitute.  Then I went to go look for the children's pain reliever someone gave us at a baby shower (thank you!) and found the one marked 6+ months.  He sucked it right down, thanks to the sucrose.  I could tell when it started to kick in because he started to quiet down and actually cuddle with me.  He spent the night in with us, and he and I woke frequently.  But in the morning he was his super happy self.  So, that's the big news in Ethan-land lately.  The teeth are in earnest now.  This fight will be fought.

Also, Ethan's independent mode of transportation is rolling.  He has explored every square inch of the living room, except what is blocked by the furniture.  He sits up by himself really well.  I love that.  But crawling is now so much nearer, and our apartment is so not mobile baby ready.  I already have to take care with just the rolling.  He has entered the world of food beyond milk and is very much enjoying it.  I love introducing things to him, but don't love having to think about food for him or taking care of it once it's made the journey through his bowels.

Other goings on: we spent a week in Lake Powell with my family, we went to a double baptism, miracle of miracles we got our garden planted, we celebrated Terral's 29th birthday. .. and did some other stuff I can't think of right now.  But mostly we've been making sandals.  And figuring out legal stuff.  And getting ready for the reunion we are in charge of.  We've been busy.  Which is both good and not-so-good.  Either way, it just IS.  So, hopefully, this post will help satiate those hungering for news of us (ha!) and calm my guilty conscience for a bit.  It may be a while till the next one, but more likely (knock on wood) it is the jump-off point for many more.

Cedar Pond

Cedar City built a little reservoir that they call The Lake at the Hills, but I just can't say that with a straight face.  Well, I guess that's not true, but if I have a straight face you can bet my voice is laced with sarcasm.

Anyway, that's not the point of this post.  The point is that we took Ethan there and had a nice little break from work.  The weather wasn't fabulous since the wind picked up and the water was a bit chilly, but we still enjoyed the sun and playing with our son (pun slightly intended).

Here I am sporting my new swimming suit.
 I bought it with money that my wonderful siblings gave me for graduation.

Ethan with his papa.

He LOVES drinking from my camelback.
It's so funny to see him drink from a bottle that's half his size.

Mr. Sunshine