Family Reunioning

Every three years the O'Briens (My Mom's side of the family) have a reunion.  I love them. 

It is so fun to just be with family. I was really excited to go this year so Ryan could meet the rest of my family and get to know everyone better. Here are a couple of things we did. 

Thursday we drove to Manti before the reunion so we could go to the temple. We went to a live session which was a first for both of us and it was really neat. The temple is just gorgeous. Here in the middle of basically nowhere is this grand, beautiful, ornate building. 

After everyone had checked in we went swimming at the Aquatic Center across the street from the temple and had pizza. 

That night the boys played basketball. For 3 hours! I stopped by for a few minutes to see my awesome husband score a few 3-pointers then I came back to the dorms where we were staying. Since my sisters have young kids they couldn't go too far from their rooms so we pulled the mattresses into the hallway and chatted there until early morning. 

Friday was the 4th of July and we started it with a 5K. Chrissy was sweet enough to slow down to my pace so we could chat while we ran it together. 

Towards the end of the 5K it got pretty hot. See Ryan's face: 

After a beautiful flag raising ceremony, which I didn't take pictures of, the kids all went and made patriotic bagels and did other crafts. 

 Ryan and I went with the Waldrons to find the local parade. They threw out so much candy during the parade. That is one of the reasons I love small town parades.  Here's a pic of Sara and me double-buckling just like we used to. So she's almost 8 months pregnant and just looks as awesome as ever!

 We took a huge family picture of everyone at the reunion, but I don't have a copy of it yet. Here's one of our immediate family. The whole time we were so sad Mom & Craig weren't there, but we are of course so grateful for their example and service. 

 Pictures of the grandkids are always the funniest. There's no way to get 14 kids 6 and under to look good in one shot. Christian was hating it and wouldn't let go of Marie so she tried holding him behind the pole. Haha. 

Our family pic from the reunion. 

 That afternoon we had a BBQ hosted by Marvel's. They did our wedding luncheon and I have just grown up loving their food so this was such a treat! The picture does not do it justice.

After the BBQ we headed to a field for Family Olympics. It was super fun. There were competitions for all ages. My favorite was tug-of-war. We had a girls only round and it was pretty awesome. 

After the Olympics we had an awards ceremony. Here we are for the 5k. I know I'm making a weird face, but it's so good of Chrissy that I had to put it up. 

That night we had a Variety Show. About a month before the reunion we figured we should hurry and think of a talent to do during our 5 minute allotted time. This is what we came up with. There are 2 parts, stick around to 1:00 for the second part. 

 After the talent show I walked out to my car to drop something off and saw hundreds, if not thousands, of sheep being herded down the street.

 After the sheep show we had an ice cream social and then ended the evening with fireworks and games. 

Saturday morning Heather taught a Zumba class and it was so much fun. 

 That morning we walked 3 miles to the Manti Temple. It was a really neat experience, especially this close to Pioneer Day. Along the trail there were stories about Mutti (My Grandma) and it was so fun to stop and get to know her better. 

 Here we are after our 3 mile walk. Not sure why I'm rubbing Ryan's belly? 

 Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of the rest of the events. There was a neat fireside about the Hole in the Rock Pioneer Expedition and then there was O'Brien Family Jeopardy. My awesome cousin Barbs puts together a whole jeopardy game about our family. She's awesome. The 500 point question under in-laws was, "How do you spell DeFigueiredo?" My brother David got it wrong and no one else attempted...haha. That night we watched old family videos and played games.  

Sunday we had an incredible testimony meeting and then said goodbye. 

The reunion committee put an emphasis on getting to know Mutti better which I loved. I grew up just around the corner from Mutti and have so many wonderful memories with her. She died in 2001, and I've been so scared lately that my memories are fading away. 

During the reunion each of Mutti's kids that were there gave a Mutti Moment and they reminded/taught us about a few things that made Mutti Mutti. In between that and reading stories about her during the Manti walk  Ryan got to know her too. I'm so grateful for her and for my Grandpa O'Brien. All reunion I kept thinking of them smiling down so happy to see us together strengthening our family bonds. I'm so grateful for my family and for the knowledge that I have that our ties will last forever.