Familly Reunion

Wow! We had a great time at our Family Reunion! It was good to be with our kids and grand kids. We enjoyed just sitting around talking and much, much more. We just enjoyed being together. It was good to have Missy here from Pennsylvania, but we missed Briant! Here are some of the highlights as I remember them:

We all gathered at Kyle & Kat's place. Of course, everyone backed in as they arrived - a Baldwin family thing. Let me insert right here and now that Kyle & Kat were great host and hostess for the weekend of fun! They had plenty of room and if we forgot something, were very willing to offer more. I know I brought chicken and Kyle added more from their freezer so we would have enough.

The babies were a big hit: Kate at 4 months was really fun to play with. She had cute smiles for everyone and loves to cuddle. She is a fun baby and we had fun passing her around. Chayce at 2 weeks was also fun. We all had a turn at holding him, I especially noticed that Sydney loved to hold and cuddle him. And you can ask Missy if you should bounce a baby just after he has been fed. HaHa! Watching Mahon with Kate is always a real treat - you can see the love and tenderness in his eyes as he holds her, plays with her, shows her off. He is a great dad! And Livy is so good - she sits in her high chair while her mom prepares food and cleans up. She is a happy girl.

The kids had a great time on the trampoline and on the new swingset Kyle built. They were always on the go and tired at the end of the day. And the pipe was a big hit (see Missy's blog) - even the big kids enjoyed that one. It was fun to watch the cousins play with each other. And a ride on the 4-wheeler is a must!

Ashley enjoyed telling jokes and I tried to remember a few good ones. "If a rooster lays an egg on the top of a roof, which side will it roll down?" Answer: roosters don't lay eggs. "If a plane crashed on the border of the United States and Canada, where would you bury the survivors?" Answer: you don't bury survivors. And of course, Vic's favorite: "If 33 and 1/3 cents is a third of a dollar what is a third of a dollar and a half?" Answer: 50 cents.

We enjoyed games: Gene brought his bow and enjoyed shooting that. I know that everyone needs a hobby and it is good that Gene loves archery. He has also taught his kids how to shoot and takes Sydney and Cole to competitions. Hobbies are a fun stress reliever. I enjoy jigsaw puzzles (see Kat's blog) so we had contests with 24-piece puzzles. I think we will do that again.

We ate good! I enjoyed cooking with Chris and Kyle. We cooked on the stoves in dutch ovens and on grills. For breakfast we had pancakes, sausage, eggs, and hash browns. For dinner we had dutch oven potatoes and catalina chicken - yummy! I enjoy visiting as you are cooking - the best talks happen while you are working together.

One of the biggest highlights of the reunion was that our 40th anniversary fell on the Saturday of the reunion. I asked Kat to make a banana nut cake (which was what our original cake was). It was so yummy. The kids surprised us with a mirror etched with the Logan temple and the date of our marriage. Thanks to all of you for making our day special!

Then on Sunday Chayce was blessed. We all gathered for a picnic afterwards! It was good to see Chantelle's family again.

Yes, it was a busy weekend; but a very happy weekend! Thanks to all who made it special!