Holyoak Reunion!!

Over Labor Day weekend Carson and I got to head to Moab for the Holyoak family reunion. As usual it was a weekend full of good times. We started off the weekend by going to see this beauty. After a bit of struggling with the company to make it just the way Dad wanted it, it was finally set last week. I must say I spent many hours sitting with Dad trying to get this right. You see Dad wanted the little needle and thread thing saying "She brought us joy," over Mom's name. Not a big deal right?? WRONG!!! Dad told them what he wanted and even drew a little picture so they would get the idea, assuming that they could make it look even better. The samples that we were sent truly looked like a 4 year old drew them, I was appalled that they would think anyone would want that on their headstone. So I took the image and loaded it into Paint (not the most user friendly program on the planet might I add) and erased their lines, printed it out, drew what Dad wanted, and scanned it back to the company.  Well this worked great, but then Dad assumed I could fix anything on it, so he went to work having us redraw the cabin, which was also appalling, seriously, these people don't even know the basic rules for drawing a 3-dimensional image. As you can see we never did get it quite fixed, I am not a graphic designer, and I did not have a fancy or even easy to use program to work with, but let me tell you it is WAY closer to what the cabin actually looks like than what they drew from the picture Dad gave them. And all in all I think it looks pretty nice, and I think Mom would be happy with it, and at least now whenever I go see it I can be happy that I helped design it (although shouldn't Dad and I have gotten a share of the chunk of change Dad paid for it).

 We took Mom some of her own roses, which Dad has kept alive. I had nothing to do with it because I have killed every flower I have ever tried to tend. 

 Then we headed to the reunion where we had lots of good food, and lots of fun. Kynlee really liked this big ball, although she rolled over the top of it and onto the ground many times. 

  Now let me tell you, the Redneck games were not planned as scheduled activities for the reunion, but at a Holyoak reunion, they really don't have to be scheduled to happen. I am not sure you can see really well, but the picture below shows a little rocket with a parachute stuck in a tree, followed by a chain, and a shovel (yes a shovel). How did all these items get there?? Well I will explain. I am ashamed to say it all started when my own husband Carson saw the rocket stuck up VERY high in a cottonwood tree. He jokingly told my nephew Parker that he would give him $10 if he could get the rocket down from the tree. So Parker got a baseball and started trowing it up at the rocket. When all the big boys heard what Parker was doing, they all accepted this challenge. Now the big boys have more resources than Parker and they quickly started pulling them out. First the chain started flying, and not long after it was stuck in the tree as well. Next Nathan got a shovel, and even with a hurt knee he managed to throw it with stunning accuracy high in the air... where it stuck on the first throw. IMPRESSIVE! Then the help of another shovel, a rope, and a water bottle was enlisted. After about an hour or two of perseverance, those boys got first the shovel, then the chain, and eventually the rocket out of that tree. Well done boys!! Carson incidentally never made even one throw towards the cause. The rocket actually belonged to the park maintenance guy, and after it had been retrieved he launched it high into the sky for us. Luckily it did not get stuck again, or we might have been there all night.   

The boys and their toys! Amazingly no one was hurt in this challenge... except a shovel or two that didn't fair so well

 The next day after church we headed up to the cabins for dinner, and the best homemade ice cream in the world, provided by Aunt Cheryl. 

The boys had fun trying out this scooter.

 These tries usually resulted in this.

 I am glad we can come together and have such a good time with each other because even though we drive each other crazy sometimes, family really is the most important thing in the world (even better than homemade ice cream).