On the 10-11th of this month, Annie and I got to attend the Jack (my grandpa) family reunion. Leslie and Katie couldn’t go with us because Les was already back in school and Katie had a job that week babysitting for some friends of ours. I took Thursday and Friday off from work and so Annie and I gathered up our camping gear and packed up Thursday morning and left town just after noon. We drove up to Heber, just above Provo, (about 300 miles from here) that afternoon and got to the campground just above the town of Heber, the Wasatch Mountain State Park, and got our tent all pitched and set up well before dark. Then we went down to the camp trailer section of the park and helped my folks get set up - our campsite was very nice. My brother and his wife just made it that evening after dinner time – they had car problems and were worried that they’d break down on the way. So first thing that next morning I helped my brother drop off his car at one of the local garages and then we went on to the reunion that was being held at the ranch belonging to the in-laws of one of my cousins. When we first arrived, ready to eat breakfast, we found that the electricity to the pavilion had just tripped off while they were trying to use two electric griddles to cook pancakes and bacon. So I traced the power lines from the pavilion back to their source (in the barn) and found where they converged on a breaker panel – the breaker had opened but hadn’t tripped properly, but I was able to wiggle them one by one until I could tell which was loose and then reset it. I told my uncle that they could only use one electric skillet at a time. One of my cousins said: “You can bring electricity to third world countries but you can’t bring electricity to this pavilion?” Oh well – the circuit breaker had a limit of only 20 amps – what could I do?
After breakfast one of my uncles gave a nice talk about the missionaries and temple workers in the family. All told, in my Grandpa’s family there have been 51 missionaries, including all of his sons, all of his grandsons (except one), and now most, if not all, of his great-grandsons. My immediate family was in charge of lunch, after which the kids all did some arts and crafts (Annie made necklaces, a bead lizard, and a string picture) and the adults sat around telling stories. One of my cousins made the mistake of asking me to tell her some little known facts about Bolivia and Bangladesh, so I spent the next couple of hours talking about those two countries. I also passed out CD’s of the family history information that I gathered from our summer trip to Nauvoo and Kirtland. That afternoon we also went and fetched my brother's car from the shop – it was nothing major – it just needed a major tune-up. Then one of my uncle’s family served dinner – do you get the feeling that we sat around and ate too much food? Well, we did – and it was yummy. And yet, I just don’t understand why I can’t lose weight. After dinner we enjoyed a personal concert by my cousin Chad’s band, the Matt Lewis Band. OK – obviously it’s Matt Lewis’ band, not Chad’s, because it’s named after Matt and Matt does the singing and song writing. But my cousin Chad plays the bass guitar in the band. At one point in the show the electricity tripped off again, but I got it reset while Matt sang a song without the benefit of amplification. Anyway, the band was great – I’d say that the music was a very agreeable fusion of rock, country, and folk. You can check them out at: http://www.myspace.com/themattlewisband. Their song “Stars” is my new favorite song (you can listen to it, and three others, for free on their website.) My cousin Chad told me that they don’t make enough money playing in the band to live on, so they all have to have day jobs too, but they do make enough money that they can’t afford to quit playing. The concert was very enjoyable and I bought copies of their two CDs (they’re recording a third CD but it wasn’t out yet.) After the concert we had to be antisocial and dash back to the campground because they closed the gates at 10PM – while we just made it in time, most of my cousins were a tad late and had to park their cars outside the campground and walk to their campsites in the dark.
On Saturday morning Annie and I got up early, struck our camp, and then went down to the pavilion and helped one of my uncle and aunts set up breakfast – none of their kids could come, so they were all alone. Turns out that we set up in the wrong pavilion and after we had everything all ready to go we had to take it all apart and carry it over to the other pavilion. Oh well. After breakfast my Dad convened a family business meeting while the kids worked on soap carving (Annie made a sculpture of a face.) We voted that my brother and I were in charge of making the family website, and then one of my cousins who wasn’t even there and I were put in charge of the next reunion to be held in two years. Then my Mom and other cousin took a few minutes and talked about our family health history. By the time that meeting ended it was past time to head home, so Annie and I reluctantly ducked out. Everyone else was staying until Sunday afternoon, but Annie had meetings on Sunday morning, so we were righteous and headed home. Both coming and going we amused ourselves by listening to the new Harry Potter CDs – even with over 600 miles on the road we only got about halfway through the story.
After breakfast one of my uncles gave a nice talk about the missionaries and temple workers in the family. All told, in my Grandpa’s family there have been 51 missionaries, including all of his sons, all of his grandsons (except one), and now most, if not all, of his great-grandsons. My immediate family was in charge of lunch, after which the kids all did some arts and crafts (Annie made necklaces, a bead lizard, and a string picture) and the adults sat around telling stories. One of my cousins made the mistake of asking me to tell her some little known facts about Bolivia and Bangladesh, so I spent the next couple of hours talking about those two countries. I also passed out CD’s of the family history information that I gathered from our summer trip to Nauvoo and Kirtland. That afternoon we also went and fetched my brother's car from the shop – it was nothing major – it just needed a major tune-up. Then one of my uncle’s family served dinner – do you get the feeling that we sat around and ate too much food? Well, we did – and it was yummy. And yet, I just don’t understand why I can’t lose weight. After dinner we enjoyed a personal concert by my cousin Chad’s band, the Matt Lewis Band. OK – obviously it’s Matt Lewis’ band, not Chad’s, because it’s named after Matt and Matt does the singing and song writing. But my cousin Chad plays the bass guitar in the band. At one point in the show the electricity tripped off again, but I got it reset while Matt sang a song without the benefit of amplification. Anyway, the band was great – I’d say that the music was a very agreeable fusion of rock, country, and folk. You can check them out at: http://www.myspace.com/themattlewisband. Their song “Stars” is my new favorite song (you can listen to it, and three others, for free on their website.) My cousin Chad told me that they don’t make enough money playing in the band to live on, so they all have to have day jobs too, but they do make enough money that they can’t afford to quit playing. The concert was very enjoyable and I bought copies of their two CDs (they’re recording a third CD but it wasn’t out yet.) After the concert we had to be antisocial and dash back to the campground because they closed the gates at 10PM – while we just made it in time, most of my cousins were a tad late and had to park their cars outside the campground and walk to their campsites in the dark.
On Saturday morning Annie and I got up early, struck our camp, and then went down to the pavilion and helped one of my uncle and aunts set up breakfast – none of their kids could come, so they were all alone. Turns out that we set up in the wrong pavilion and after we had everything all ready to go we had to take it all apart and carry it over to the other pavilion. Oh well. After breakfast my Dad convened a family business meeting while the kids worked on soap carving (Annie made a sculpture of a face.) We voted that my brother and I were in charge of making the family website, and then one of my cousins who wasn’t even there and I were put in charge of the next reunion to be held in two years. Then my Mom and other cousin took a few minutes and talked about our family health history. By the time that meeting ended it was past time to head home, so Annie and I reluctantly ducked out. Everyone else was staying until Sunday afternoon, but Annie had meetings on Sunday morning, so we were righteous and headed home. Both coming and going we amused ourselves by listening to the new Harry Potter CDs – even with over 600 miles on the road we only got about halfway through the story.
