JWS Family Reunion: Day One

On the evening of June 30th, Kevin and I repacked our luau bags and headed out to Utah again for the James and Ruth Smith Family Reunion! (Kevin's Mom's parents.) Despite delays at the airport (when they thought our Maori skirts were bombs and insisted on doing x-ray and chemical testing on EVERYTHING in our bags) we arrived just on time to catch some Z's before all the excitement began.

We started out our first day with some mixers that included thumb wars, rock-paper-scissors, and coin tossing to earn fake money from our relatives and eventually win prizes for the most fake cash. Chocolate bars were also awarded to those who were smart enough to click "like" on the family reunion facebook page before the reunion began. (Yesss! For once my internet addiction paid off!)

After we all got to know each other a little better we went over some family history business and then reenacted a story from our family history archives. Although you can't really tell by this picture, the story was actually quite riveting! There were soldiers and Indians, lawyers and judges, and even a naked lady who got scalped! My favorite part was when the Indians (played by some of the younger boys) were told that their characters were supposed to kill a woman and one of the little boys cocked a fake gun and shot her Halo style! Ha Ha! OK... now that you all think I'm evil, moving on!

When story time was over, we were each given a number from when we joined the family. I was number 91 out of 126 (128 now that 2 more babies were born!) We were also given family T-shirts that had every one's numbers on the back and the reunion logo on the front (that my awesome brother-from-another-mother, Stewart designed for us!)

Once we all had our shirts, we ate lunch and then headed outdoors for some water fun!!!

Most of the adults enjoyed the shade and some great conversation while everyone else got water logged... I would have been one of those marvelously dry individuals had it not been for my husband and his giant Super Soaker!

During our water party, a bunch of the semi-adult family members joined together for an impromptu soccer game in which Kevin earned a humongous hematoma on the front of his shin.

He keeps pretending that he doesn't know where he got it, but secretly I suspect that the Oopsie Club pulled him into a back room and used him as a guinea pig for some crazy stunt they were contemplating doing. Obviously they opted out of the stunt after Kevin's third knee appeared!

While the adults showcased the many unique forms of Smith Competitiveness, the children were off in their own world of water fun. There were swimming pools, slip and slides, wacky sprinklers, water guns, water balloons, sling shots, etc. for them to play with and it kept them busy for hours! I don't even think I spoke to Brooklyn once that day because she was having so much fun!

(Look how cute all the little kiddos are waiting in line for the slip and slide!)

Although I was unable to get a picture of it, at one point in the day we managed to gather everyone together for a stellar game of Human Battleship with water balloon torpedoes. All company considered, it was no surprise when it ended up being an epic water fight fought on either side of a giant tarp. Very funny... Very fun!!!

Once the water games were over, we all got cleaned up, ate dinner, and then started game night. We started with a great family history trivia game, and then ended the night with some Minute to Win It games. We got to watch our family do everything from stacking ding dongs on their foreheads...

to trying to keep multiple balloons in the air simultaneously...

to creating apple towers! It was so much fun and everyone really enjoyed themselves. We also got to watch a really cool video that Brian made before we went off to put the little ones to bed. Eventually I will post it on here when I can get my hands on a copy.

Oh yeah! I musn't forget, we also got to go home with happy bellies! Full of wonderful strawberry and whipped cream goodness! Now stay tuned for postings on day two of the JWS Family Reunion!

To be continued...