Wednesday, August 20, 2014

mecham family reunion 2014

 

About every three years my dad's side of the family gets together for a week-long reunion.
It is a week that all of us look forward to for years (three years to be exact).
That side of the family is spread across the country (Washington D.C., Virginia, Phoenix, Michigan, San Francisco, Pennsylvania, Houston and until recently also China, Japan and Guam) so we are pretty much only all together during these reunions.
In the past we have typically rented a big beach house back east in North Carolina or Delaware, and we've often gone to Sun Valley as well, but this year we headed up to the Timber Moose Lodge in Heber, which is apparently considered the largest cabin in North America.
And let me tell you...it was insane!
Like I got lost in the place a few times the first few days.
There is an indoor pool, a basketball court, a game room, tons and tons of deck space, a dance hall upstairs equipped with a bounce house and something like 15 bedrooms and bathrooms.

The week certainly did not disappoint.
It ended up raining a lot but there was plenty to do inside to keep us all busy.
And during the breaks in the rain we could sit outside on the deck or take the kids out to the stellar tire swing which swung over a little cliff overlooking a lake below.
My mom and sisters and I headed down to the outlets in Park City one rainy day to help my mom shop for clothes for the new school year (she got a third grade teaching job last minute!) and it was so much fun.
Our husbands took the kids and it was just so nice to spend some quality time with the girls like the old days.
A big group went golfing at a few different courses throughout the week and a few of us also went down to the Alpine Slide and Alpine Coaster, which were a lot of fun (but we chose the busiest day to go so it was mildly miserable until we finally got through the line and up the mountain).

In the evenings we would all get together for dinner and each family rotated being in charge of the meal.
There was soooooo much good food!
Lucky us that we have a family full of really great cooks.
Prior to dinner my cute aunts put together "Grandma and Grandpa's General Store" and all of the kids were given money to spend buying little prizes or candy.
They ate that stuff up!
After dinner each night there was some sort of presentation or activity.
One night my aunt and uncle talked about their year sabbatical teaching in China.
Another night my parents shared a slideshow from their mission in Guam.
My aunts put together a little tribute to my grandparents during the middle of the week and my grandpa shared some sweet family letters and memories.
There was a slideshow with pictures and videos from past reunions that had everyone laughing their guts out.
One of my favorite nights, and a more recent tradition at these things, was the lip sync and talent show night.
People came waaaay out of their shells for that, which is why I love it so much.

Our family is big on games, especially all of the cousins, but now that many of us have kids we don't get to do quite so much gaming during the day.
However, when bedtime hit the cards came out and we were up way too late dueling it out.
It was part of the day that I almost looked forward to the most because it felt kind of like the good ol' days.

I feel as though it is a rare thing to have a family that gets along so well and that even after being apart for three years just picks up so easily.
The family is beginning to grow at somewhat of an exponential rate these days and everyone keeps wondering "Will this be our last reunion?" but then they keep happening and it makes me so, so happy.
So, here's to three more years and hopefully lots more kids and an even bigger place than Timber Moose next time (if that exists)!

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