The Reunion - part 1

I'm still here! My blog keeps trying not to work, so while I've got it going I want to give a suuuuper condensed version of The Farnsworth Family Reunion 2013 (aka FFR).

We had a Thursday through Saturday reunion palooza at the Farm at the beginning of August! I know most people probably hear that we're having a reunion in Jerome and think, "How fun...not." Well let me just admit here and now - Jerome is my sanctuary! Ever since I was little that's been one of the few places that I would go and never want to leave!! Growing up, my cousins were my best friends (besides my siblings) and the majority of them all live over there, so it was always such a treat to go spend time with them.

Even though we're all growing up and have so much going on, we get together and it seems like everything else just takes a back seat for a while and we get to be goofy together all over again.

Dad and I drove down to the Farm on Wednesday night because we had a ton of stuff to haul over as well as helping Grandma get a few things ready for the official start of the FFR the next morning.

We got there a little later than we wanted to but that didn't stop us from brewing up a huge batch of Sloppy Joes for Thursday's lunch, or sorting prizes for the games at 10:30 at night, or Dad from roaming the Farm past midnight as he set up markers for each event. It was awesome!

So without further ado, here is 

Day 1)

Breakfast at Grandma's!

(Aunt Cheryl and Mumzie) 

                 Grandma has become the donut-making master so that was our kickstart -  homemade donuts for breakfast, oh yeah!

Heather was trying to frost them as fast as she could and just look at those hungry little faces! :)

After breakfast Grandma's garage was transformed into the ultimate arts and crafts room. Everyone got a reunion t-shirt so lots of the kids decorated theirs with paints. There was also "crayon art", a paint wheel spin art thingy (in order to keep this brief I'll just leave it at that), and some of the 'kids' got their faces painted as well. 

Baby Brian looked so suave with the mustache my cousin painted for him.

Ben couldn't resist the excitement of face painting, either, so his lovely wife gave him a fantastic weather-themed face that included all kinds of mother nature's elements.

That's the spin art thing. Basically you pin a piece of paper down onto a board, plug in the motor, and as your paper spins you drop bits of paint onto the paper and see what marvelous picture you end up with. It was a hit and I think that little motor donated its life to a very worthy cause as it spun for the better part of two days.

Dad had the idea to give everyone the pieces they needed to build themselves a PVC pipe marshmallow gun. He had a designated area on one of the lawns that was supposed to be the battle arena, but I think we all know that that was some high hoping when he thought all those little cousins would really only keep the shooting there.

We were stepping on marshmallows just about everywhere!

Ben knew we weren't supposed to shoot mallows in the garage so he resorted to a different amo - broken off pieces of rice krispie treats. In case you're wondering, they pack a wallop when fired out of a marshmallow shooter. I thought I might be sporting a welt on my arm after Ben launched one at me, but it only stung for a while! :D

This picture was the look of shock that Grandma had when she found out that Ben was wasting rice krispies as amo.

Throughout the Farm there were also various games set up such as:

bocce ball,

ladder golf,

and croquet.

Look at Hardy's form as he shot-put the bocce ball! 

In the midst of all the events, there was also some animal doctoring to be done. Aunt Lisa is raising a couple of milk cows, one of which was supposed to calf any day, so Lisa rounded up a couple of her kids to help with some doctoring that needed done. Never a dull moment!

Heather made a TON of her deathly "cake balls" again! They made their first appearance a couple years ago and David nearly ate himself sick with them. Well, they made a comeback, a very tasty one I might add, and there were enough for all 50+ of us to snack on for the whole rest of the week....and then some.

Also on the first day we had different kinds of races for anyone who wanted to participate. There were potato sack races and 3-legged races and it was a hoot to stand down at the finish line and watch everyone make their way down. I didn't mean to be a party-pooper by staying out of so much, but I love watching more than racing and I was having a blast taking pictures anyway!

Ben and Kim coming across the finish line!!

Uncle Matt and Aunt Val having a round of ladder golf.

For dinner we tried something that Grandma had heard about and wanted to make. I think it's called "milk can dinner" or something like that, but we used a 32 gallon pot instead. Basically you layer corn on the cob, cabbage, onions, new potatoes, and brats into the pot, pour in enough water to get it all boiling and then let it cook until it's all tender and delish! I thought it turned out super tasty!

When I was little, Grandpa Farns made an awesome little train that he drove all of us grandkids around in every summer. We even got to be in a parade with it once! He built the train cover and put it over a riding lawn mower then attached a row of tiny red wagons to pull, complete with the caboose at the end. Grandpa loved that little train and I think he loved that all of us did, too. Well, it's been out of commission for the last few years and there are even some of the youger cousins who have never even ridden it!

So Grandma did all she could to get help making the train run again, and to me it was almost so important that it did so it could be in memory of Grandpa, who would have been driving it all week for sure!

It did go at last and the kids loved it!! 

Here's one of my favorite parts of summer on the Farm!

A quiet (very rare) moment at the pool all by myself!

Besides all the unauthorized marshmallow fights that happened through out the reunion, there was actually one that happened in the right place with those who wanted to take part. It was hilarious to see Dad and Ben running around laughing like little kids as they shot anyone they could hit - including a few attempts to peg Grandma. The trick everyone soon learned was that sucking on the marshmallows for a few seconds before expelling them from your gun, allows them to stick to your victim better.

Uncle Jared did have to throw out this advice though, "If your marshmallow comes out like meringue, you're probably sucking on it too long!"

One of the last things of the day was a group treasure hunt. Dad and I made up a set of clues that would take everyone all over the Farm in search of the buried treasure. What I loved about it was that not just the little kids got involved! Ben (who is my age) was so excited that Dad appointed him the official clue reader. Aunts, uncles, cousins, and Grandma all traveled around together as we went from clue to clue.

You could feel the excitement in the air! :)

Finally they were led to the back of Jared and Angi's garden (it's so great to have multiple relatives live so close together, and it really adds to the space we can cover for all the activities).

The treasure chest was un-buried and everyone went running to an open place so they could all get a good glimpse of what was inside.

Dillon was the bearer of the treasure chest!

Just what those hyper, crazy kids needed - more candy and noise makers!! :)

What a fun day!

The first day ended with an outdoor movie in Jared and Angi's yard. It was discovered a few years ago that we could hang a gigantic tarp from a couple of trees and then set up a projector for the ultimate movie night; it's become a bit of a tradition each summer.

It's hard to tell in the picture but there are mounds of people all wrapped up in blankets or sleeping bags, some with piles of candy most likely, and of course a massive bowl of popcorn to go around. The movie on the first night was "The Avengers". It got pretty windy that night and there was even lightning in the distance behind the corn fields on occasion - which really only added to the epic-ness of the movie considering that one of the main heroes is Thor.....

And that was how we ended day 1 of the FFR!

The reunion actaully had some other significances other than a great excuse for all of Dad's siblings to get together with their families (which we pretty much do all the time anyways!).

For some of the family this will be one of the last big things they will be here for for a little while.

Ben and Kim are leaving at the end of this month to teach english in China for a semester;

Hardy just got his mission call to Uruguay and will be leaving the week before Thanksgiving;

And!!

 Aunt Lisa is in the process of filling out her mission papers!

I'm so excited for her, she's always been one of my heroes ever since I was a little girl and I've loved spending time with her family as we've all grown up together. In fact, Lisa is the one who set up my mom and dad after Dad got home from his mission, so I'd say we owe a lot to her. ;)

Anyway, stay tuned because this is only part 1 and there is still much to tell about, which I will do as soon as I can.

But here's a little teaser to keep you interested.....