Sunday afternoon, I got the beginnings of Poison Ivy on my cheek, chin and left hand. I battled this poison ivy all week... using oils, Ivarrest, and finally the prescription medicine given to me for a rash/inflammation/flakiness similar to psoriasis. by the end of the week it was finally showing signs of healing up. The problem is that my poison ivy doesn't just come and go... it spreads. All through the week, even as the original places started to heal, new bumps would pop up either nearby or in random other areas on hands, neck, face, etc. I've decided my poison ivy goes systemic.
Monday morning was a crazy time trying to get away. We packed. We pulled all the food out and organized it. We worried that it might not all fit in the car, but Tom is a master packer and we had room. We did last minute shopping on the way up to get cold stuff from Aldis.
Jonathan and Kristy decided to have Emily's baptism on Monday afternoon. Deborah decided it would be better to have it earlier (2:30) instead of later (4:30) so dinner would not be too late. That meant we had to get there a little earlier than planned. We wanted to be able to put the cold food into the frig and freezer before going to the baptism. We barely made it... but we got the keys to the Reunion Hall and one of the rooms at about 1:45.
We unpacked and put away food stuff. Miranda called... she and Rebecca were running late and wouldn't be there until about 3. Jonathan and Deborah's families came to the Cottage Resort and changed clothes and Deborah set up for dinner with her crock pot. Then we headed over to the chapel and met Andy, Miranda, Rebecca and Adam and their families there.We had a total of 41 family members there (only Dan and Joshua White were absent).
While it was a bit exciting and chaotic with cousins reuniting, it was also a sweet baptism. We returned to the Cottage Resort about 4 pm and checked in. Everyone carried bags in and then went to the Reunion Hall for dinner. There was plenty of space there, but the din was deafening! People were so excited to be there and running around... well... mostly the kid were running around. Once we moved the piano to a smaller room, it quieted a bit.
We had tasty Cafe Rio Chicken. Tom and Kera made Birthday/Anniversary cakes to celebrate Callie and Rebecca's birthdays and Jonathan and Kristy's anniversary. I think we all crashed pretty early that night.
Tuesday we had family pictures in the morning. We'd scouted out some places with good backgrounds the night before... but in the morning the sun was in a different position and we kept having to move into a smaller and smaller area to keep in the shade.
Then most people went off to White Water waterpark for the day. Marian and I worked on a jigsaw puzzle for a while, then napped, then helped prep for dinner. Rebecca made a chicken and rice casserole. She had the same problem as Steven-- when you make a huge batch, it's hard for the inside rice to cook at the same time the edge rice is done. But all was very tasty!
We had game night at Rebecca's cabin. We found there were too many of us to play the same game, so we split into two groups.
Wednesday was a "free day." Some people went to the outlet malls. I went with a group going thrift shopping. Tom hung out with kids doing games and playing in the pool. We brought a big roll of white paper. It was quite a hit. Callie, Delaney and Sarah... and maybe others, made aprons out of the paper. They found a cart on wheels and made up a menu and offered lunch service. I'm not sure they made sandwiches, but they brought around napkins, drink refills and other useful things.
Then they drew ice cream cones and other fancy deserts on the paper and offered those to anyone who wanted. The nice thing about them was they were low cal. Kera brought Lincoln Logs and Mr. Potatohead. The Lincoln logs were a great success.
Tom left in the afternoon to take the three oldest girls to girl's camp, 2+ hours away. Wednesday evening is bishop's night and he took ice cream and root beer for the girls to enjoy. It was HOT, but the girls were having a great adventure and enjoying the activities in spite of the heat. We have some awesome young women and leaders. A good time was had by all, but they didn't return until 1130 at night.
We enjoyed a potato bar for dinner with a tasty salad. After little kids were down, the bigger ones babysit and watched TV while the adults gathered at Miranda's cabin for root beer floats and fun conversation.
Thursday we went to Silver Dollar City. It was impossible to keep the group together. Still, batches of cousins went off to have fun.Some hit the roller coasters, some the water rides. We went on the water rides first. Then, I actually went on Thunderation Roller coaster as a way to dry off. The little kids went to the kiddie ride area. Most of us gathered for the 11:30 magic show. Then we gathered at 3:15 to go to Golden Corral for an early dinner. We wanted to be out of the heat of the afternoon. Some folks returned to Silver Dollar City for the last few hours. Some of us bailed and headed back to the cabins and the pool. Later we gathered in the Reunion Hall for general snacking, puzzle working and game playing.
Friday was another free day. While families were responsible for their own breakfast, Kera brought great cinnamon rolls the first day. Miranda made french toast another, Deborah made pancakes one day and Andy made quick caramel/nut rolls on Saturday.
Friday after breakfast we went on a hike near the river. It was a wooded area with a pretty rugged hike. We went down hundreds of steps toward the river. Then we followed a path along the side of the ridge to a waterfall area and some caves and then hiked on a switch-back trail back up. Had we left at 8:30 as announced, it would have been a pretty cool hike. Since we left closer to 9:30 the day had warmed up and it was a pretty hot hike. Still, everyone had a good time and no kids fell off the trail and rolled down the mountain. It reminded me of the trails we took near Mt. St. Helens.
Later, Tom and I took two if the granddaughters to go to Harry and Davids and to Andy's for an ice cream lunch. That afternoon, I went to look at the Marina and Hunter's Friend rooms for the Swarthout Family reunion. We discussed the larger family reunion. The consensus from the kids was that the rooms were fine, the pools would be okay. The Reunion Hall would seat everyone for meals, but with lots of people in it, it became very noisy. There are two rooms off the main hall. One will definitely be available for the 2017 reunion with chairs/sofas and places to visit in a more quiet atmosphere. The second room currently has gym equipment stored in it... and it may or may not be available, although I requested that it be available. We will have a dozen or so of the cabins that are 2-3 bedroom that have gathering areas for 10-14 people. So we may have to plan some areas for quiet conversation and other areas for kids to play in.
Saturday morning the focus changed. We packed up and said said good-byes-- especially to Adam and Savannah who are not close enough to see often. Rebecca and Miranda and family came to spend some time with us. Deborah, Jonathan, and Andy's families went to their houses. Tom apparently pulled a muscle on the hike. His leg bothered him Friday evening... but by Saturday, he could hardly walk. Grandkids helped haul our stuff to the car and he was able to pack it. I drove home.
Saturday was the beginning of Stake Conference for us. Dan Mc and Tom drove got to Mountain Home about 11:30. They needed to leave for Stake Conference by 12:45. We threw laundry in, unpacked, returned the ice chest we'd borrowed and ate lunch. I needed to leave about 2:45 to get there for my presidency meeting at 4pm. Tom actually borrowed a cane to take with him to help him walk.
The counselor in the Stake Presidency is a doctor. He checked Tom's leg and suggested--strongly-- that he take some anti-inflammatory drugs. He also gave Tom a priesthood blessing. That night, Tom did take some ibprophen. And today his leg was much much better and he was walking without a limp.
The Mountain Home Relief Society was responsible for the between priesthood leadership meeting and general evening session dinner. They ordered hoagie sandwiches from Walmart. They were surprisingly good. They had chips and cookies to go with it. The president and I had debated quite a bit about quantity. I didn't see how a 6' sub could serve 25-30... except with 2" slices of sandwich. They actually did cut them in about 2" pieces, even though she asked for 3-4 inches. But 4 would have served about 100. She got 5 as we thought there would be closer to 125 people. So there was quite a bit left over.
I thought they would be shared with the missionaries and I wanted some to feed the speakers after the Sunday session of conference-- those traveling several hours back home. But my secretary put all the sandwiches into my car and I took many of the left over chip bags. In the middle of the night, I decided I needed to make lunches for the missionaries as well as the three speakers who came from afar-- Mission President, and Temple President Counselor and wife. So that morning Katie helped me repackage the sandwiches, put lettuce and tomatoes in packages and mayo and mustard packs into a lunch sack along with chips and cookies and napkins. The speakers got sandwiches made from bread, cheese & ham and Miranda helped by making a mixed fruit salad for them.
Tom asked the older granddaughters to make cookies for him. They put them on plates with saran wrap and he had the girls hand them out to random families at Stake Conference.
The speakers were really great.
* The Presidency Counselor talked of how as a new intern he was thrown into doctoring. Early in his internship there was a code blue and he was the only Doctor there. He came in and everyone looked to him to solve the problem and he felt insufficiently prepared. With study and practise, he now feels prepared to address these life and death situations. He said we have so much greater responsibility. We don't deal in lives, we save souls. We need to be prepared to do so.
*One man spoke of home teaching this man for years and years. He said home teaching is like getting all these parts and assembly instructions. But the instructions don't make sense and you don't know what to do with the parts. You don't know why you are assigned to this inactive family that seems unresponsive. What will help them want to change? He was assigned to this one 70+ year old deacon who was not interested in the church. For years he tried to stay connected. Finally, there were a series of events and the man started coming back to church. He talked about how great Tom was as a bishop. Anyhow, now this man is receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood and going to the temple. Then the brother who was activated spoke about his change of heart. It was very touching. He also spoke of the love and influence of Tom as bishop.
*One speaker talked about standing in Holy Places-- temples, churches, homes. But also said that we create holy places out of moments in time. When we have answers to prayers or stand up for right or testify of truth-- places become holy because of what has happened there. In these holy times and places the Spirit can give us an extra measure of courage and faith.
It has been a joy having family here. I love that Marian, Katie, and Isabelle are here together. (We got to take the older girls home with us.) They are so helpful and it was fun to show them off to our friends at Stake Conference. They have fun playing together... and even got stuck in the HUGE oak tree in the front side yard. It took a ladder to get them down.
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