Panaca Family Reunion 2012

We were finally able to make it this years Panaca reunion!!  We were so excited.  Luckily the kids first week of school was the week after the reunion so we were happy it was going to work.  Grandma Forman put together this years reunion with the theme, “Patriots and Pioneers”.  What a great theme!  We loved learning all about our ancestors past and present who were Patriots and Pioneers.  Panaca is about a 6 hour drive from our house so the drive wasn’t too bad.  The kids are good travelers and love going on road trips.  There aren’t many places to stay in Panaca so we actually stayed in a little town near it called Caliente. We drove down Wednesday and got to Caliente in the late afternoon.  We checked into our hotel and then headed off for some dinner.  We knew a good restaurant there recommended by my parents who stayed in Caliente for over a month while they were hunting.  The food was delish.  Afterwards we had some milkshakes and brought them to a park and let the kids play around for awhile.  The kids were so excited to be on vacation somewhere new. 

The next day we headed off to Panaca park for a picnic and games.  The kids had fun playing together and the adults enjoyed some visiting.    

Cousins (Stef, Tami, Gina & Angela)

 

We had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa!  The kids were so excited to see them everyday.

 

Grandma Forman and Aunt Lisa.   

Let the games begin!

     

Grandma Joyce Forman, Ashby and Stef.

 

Ryder was eating up all the attention he was getting from Grandma and Theresa!  So cute.

After the park we headed over to the Panaca Cemetery for a Devotional by Grandma’s brother Neldon.  He did such a great job.  It was so neat hearing stories about our ancestors.  It is amazing how much you can see the Lord’s hand in all of their lives especially through the tragedies and hard times.  Mom and Ryan took one for the team and entertained Brooks and Ryder in the car so we could listen.  It was really special for the kids to be able to visit Grandpa Forman’s gravesite for the first time.   

   

After the Devotional we headed to dinner with Mom and Dad.  The kids were tired and cranky but dinner was yummy and we enjoyed Mom and Dad’s company.  After dinner we headed back to Panaca for a “panaca memories” and missionary video.  The panaca memories video was awesome.  I loved hearing my Aunt Lisa sing some of my favorite songs on her guitar.   We didn’t get to stay for the missionary video and decided to take the kids home.  It was after 10 o’clock and the kids (and Ryan and I) were exhausted!  They also put together a missionary book bound and typed with color pictures.  It has each missionary picture and when and where they served.  What a great keepsake.

The kids slept great every night which we were very grateful for!  We didn’t know how they would do because we never sleep in the same bed or room with our kids (EVER)!  The next morning we headed off to Panaca for a hay-ride and tour of the town.  The kids were so excited to go.  Look at how many people are on this thing!  You can’t even see the hay there are so many people, but it was on there!  We are sitting somewhere in the middle.  We saw a lot of cool landmarks including the house Grandma grew up in.  By the end we were so hot and sweaty we jumped off a little early and got some cold drinks.  Mom was so sweet to watch Ryder for us at the church.  Good thing because he would have died in that heat holy cow! 

Grandma’s house she grew up in. 

 

Afterwards the Stevens girls put together a lunch at the church.  It was Cafe Rio style burritos with a yummy patriotic dessert.  Everything was soo good!  Next we enjoyed a power point presentation of “Our Family Patriots”.  It was awesome!  The music and pictures were so cool and it explained so clearly the history of the family and also what was going on at the time in our country.  We loved it.  They also had several family members perform patriotic numbers.  Ashby loved singing, “Its a grand ole flag” with all the kids.

Aunt Lori, Aunt Lisa and Aunt Kippy after their singing and dancing routine to boogie woogie dancing shoes.

After the lunch there was a family auction to help pay for the reunion.  There were some really cool items.  We had our eye on this homemade USA cheerleading outfit made by Aunt Debi.  Ashby was so excited when we won it.  It was hilarious watching Ashby during the auction, she was really into it!  She had brought her own money to spend so she bought a bunch of stuff.  By the end she was a pro at the bidding and so pleased at all the things she had won. 

After the lunch we had some free time before the Dutch oven cookout dinner in the hills so we decided to take the kids swimming in the Springs.  Now that was an adventure!  The water in the Springs was warm and the bottom was filled with a TON of moss, mud, and rocks.  I think the kids were expecting something else, a little more along the lines of a swimming pool.  Dalton got in for about 2 minutes then decided he was done.  He said, “This pool is ridiculous!  I’m getting out!”.  Ha ha.  I stayed in with Ashby though and had a great time catching a ton of little minnow fish with a jar and net she won from the family auction.  It was so much fun. 

  

After swimming we headed out in the hills for the Dutch Oven cookout.  There was a ton of people there but they managed to feed everyone without a problem; nothing short of a miracle.  The food was sooooo good!  I wish I would have taken a picture of my plate, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. :)

  After dinner Ryan was keeping an eye on Brooks when he got hit by another little boy with a long stick about an inch from his eye.  It immediately started bleeding and welted up in a huge bump.  Needless to say we headed back to our hotel to get some ice on it and try to get the swelling down.  We were so grateful it didn’t hit him directly in the eye.  It could have been really bad.  The days after it looked worse and worse and ended up turning into a nasty a black eye.  Poor Ryan!  What a crazy day.  Ashby was able to stay with my parents though  and had a great time.  She even got to ride a horse!  I wish I would have been able to get some pictures of it.

 

The next morning I decided to get up early and run the 5K race they had going on for Panaca’s Pioneer days with Gina and Angela.  It worked out great that we were staying in the same hotel and all drive up together to get to the race by 6am.  I was so excited this was going to be my first 5K race EVER!   It was pretty awesome because they start the race off with a blast of dynamite.  Man did that get my adrenaline going!  I heard the boom and I was off to the races.  Being a self proclaimed “non-runner” (I don’t like running and really only do it to stay in shape. I’d much rather be chasing a soccer or basketball around) :), I was excited to see what my 32 year old body could do.  When I run during the week I am never motivated go very fast or push myself at all so this was a great opportunity to do just that.

I ended up getting 3rd overall for the women with a time of 24:03.  Wahoo!  I was so excited! I had no idea coming to the finish line what my time would be.  I was hoping for a 27 minute time, so I was pumped to see the stopwatch read 24:03!  It was a really fun race I do have to say. I am glad I did it.   It was so awesome to have a  lot of family members to run the race with too. (pictured below are all the runners from the family;  from left to right: Tami, Angela, Stef, Gina, Shannon, Aunt Lisa, Daniel, Uncle Dean).  Super star Angela raced into 2nd place overall for the women, and Daniel got 3rd place for the men.  Way to represent family! 

Aunt Lisa was especially impressive running the race with no training leading up to the race.  Now that is determination!

After the race we hurried and drove back to Caliente in time to shower and get the kids ready for the Pioneer Days at the church.  They start out the day with a delicious hot breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, and juice.  It was amazing!  I was shocked to see how many people came.   I guess there are a lot of different family reunions going on during Pioneer Days in Panaca.  Who knew?!  We probably waited over 45 minutes in line to get our food.  Crazy!! 

After breakfast they clear all the tables from the lawn and set-up for the games and races.  Each age group gets to race and they give quarters to the winners.  Everyone lines up on the sides to see the action.  It is all pretty humorous.  Here is Brooks running . . . Go Brooks Go!! 

 

Dalton running great right before he fell flat on his face. . . . poor Dalton he was so upset.

Ashby and Travis running the 3 legged race.  How cute are these two?! 

Next was the adults turn to race.  Me and Gina were a team in the 3 legged race.  My legs were dead!!  I was so tired from the 5K.  Its sad when you realize your body can’t do the same things it used to.  I was soooo sore the next few days too.  What a joke! :)   

Tug of war

Don’t let this cute face fool you!  Brooks is one mischievous, active little boy.  He wore us out ALL day EVERY day keeping an eye on him.  Good times. :) Mom packed a yummy picnic lunch we ate on the lawn after the games were over.  The sport umbrella was a lifesaver too.  It was so hot out!  The kids sure had a fun time in it.

Next was the family talent show.  Ashby and Dalton sang “What’s More American” complete with actions they made up by themselves.  They were so excited to perform on the stage in front of everyone.  They did a great job. I was so proud of them.  I was really impressed with all the talent we have in our family.  Wow!  We had people singing, playing the piano and other instruments, dancing, memorizing poems, juggling and riding unicycles, gymnastics, you name it!  It was impressive and fun to watch.

  

Finally we ended with a good old fashioned parade!  The kids LOVED the parade.  It was their absolute favorite thing of the whole reunion.  Ashby was so excited she got to march in the parade and twirl ribbons with the other girls behind our family reunion’s float.  The boys loved waving and having candy thrown to them by all the floats.    At one point in the parade there were some really, really loud trucks and we both looked over at Brooks expecting him to be crying because it was so loud and he had the biggest smile on his face!  He LOVED those loud trucks!  We were just cracking up.  That kid is such a nut!! 

  Here was the great set-up we had for the parade.  The play-pen was a lifesaver for both the little boys to keep them “contained”.  :)

Our family reunion’s prize winning float. :)  

After the parade we headed over to see Cathedral Gorge State Park near Panaca with some of my cousins.  It was so cool!  The gorge is made from eroded soft bentonite clay to form these really cool looking columns and spires.  The kids had fun playing around with each other.  Afterwards we headed back to Caliente for dinner.  We had fun visiting with my cousins and their kids. 

The next morning we woke up early and headed home.  The kids started school that Monday so we wanted to be back early for Ryan to give the kids their back to school father’s blessings.  It was a lot of hard work and stressful at times but we had a great time and made some wonderful memories!  Thank you Grandma Forman for planning such an awesome reunion.