Reynolds Reunion 2013 (Brian Head)

Editor's note: There are some seriously weird formatting issues in this post that need fixing, but I am only selectively tech savvy and don't know how to do it. 

Brandon's parents are set on getting the entire family together for a reunion every year, and their efforts always pay off. Never easy to schedule (let alone execute), the annual reunion is a great way to reestablish relationships and catch up with everyone in the family. Since half of the family was already in Utah this year with Marc doing the spring opera at BYU, they decided to do it at Brian Head. Usually known for it's skiing, it's also a beautiful place to stay in the summer, but without the crowds. This was the view from the balcony outside our bedroom door:

Day 1 we all went on a "family friendly" hike together:

Getting instructions. Not sure how many of us were listening . . . 

We took the lift to the top and hiked down. I guess that's why it was labeled "family friendly"--no uphill for the kids to whine about! Grandma, Elizabeth, Jack, and Grandpa:

Camille and Brent can never take a normal picture:

View from the top:

Nicole and Kate:

Many of the following pics were taken by Trent's wife, Laura, as we traded my camera for her baby a good chunk of the hike. (Hence, this nice picture of Trent.) 

Will and Tyler:

Kate:

Todd, Claire, and Shauna:

Camille had Liv, and I had Eden. I like giving moms with babies a little break every once in awhile:

My one true hiking shirt. I'm wearing it in just about every single post of us hiking, which is to say, A LOT. Maybe it's time for a new one?

Will and Tyler:

Jack, Tyler and Will. The irresistible pull of the water when a boy has a rock in hand:

He just has to make a face and look as dorky as possible:

A portent of things to come (in like 5-10 years)?

Trentonian:

Lunch break:

Rachael, Paige, and Ty:

Cutie Claire. I think she looks like a chicken nugget:

Second half to go:

Little Ty and Rachael are great buddies. At this point in the hike she said to him, "When I first saw you, I almost had a crush on you!"

After the halfway mark, there were geodes planted along the trail to find. Paige found some beauties:

Uncle Damon trying his hand at a lasso:

Made it on the first try:

Uncle Todd . . .

 . . . was not so lucky. I'm sure it's much harder than it looks:

Panning for gold:

The AGATE mine:

Sifting for dinosaur fossils (and some other treasure that Rachael lost):

Aunt Angie was kind enough to help Rachael find the coveted Magic Egg:

She got to turn it in for a prize at the end of the hike:

Going over their finds:

No family reunion is complete without a daily ice cream treat:

Day 2 we all went to church together and then endured about 57 photo shoots:

Marc (Chloe), Trent (Eden), and Laura (Liv): 

Directing traffic:

Not easy with this group:

Cute cousins Paige and Elizabeth:

We pulled it together for a few relatively good shots. Not sure if we got one with everyone looking at the camera looking happy with their eyes open, but with a group this size (and age), you get what you get:

The individual families of the 6 boys in age order . . . Us:

Damon, Angie, Paige, and Ty:

Todd, Shauna, Nicole, Tyler, Jack, and Claire:

Love this blooper:

Trent, Laura, Liv, and Eden:

Marc, Emily, Willis, Harry, Lilly, and Chloe:

Brent and his long time girl Camille (who is crazy brave to come to our family reunions even though she isn't officially part of our family . . . yet). They both turned 20 this summer:

Dad, Brent, and Mom:

The people behind all this lovely insanity:

Take five:

After photo shoot #1 we all met for dinner back at the house where our family and Todd and Shauna's family were staying. We had our annual family meeting where everyone goes around the room and updates everyone else on what is going on in their life as well as any other thoughts or feelings they feel inclined to share. It's always a highlight with lots of warm fuzzy feelings being shared--tears and laughter and all that good stuff. Then we blessed Trent and Laura's baby, Eden, as well as Marc and Emily's baby, Chloe, since all the family was together including Laura's parents who drove like 4 or 5 hours from northern Utah to be there for the occasion. I took a few pictures afterward at Laura's request, and I think we got a few good ones in there:   

Such a cute family!

Liv kept trying on Eden's bonnet, so I thought it would be cute to get a picture of her wearing it:

Boy play:

Girl play (and Rachael is not happy at the interruption!):

Our shared pad for the week:

Ty and Will. You would never know they're about 3 years apart in age:

Little Ty:

I said there were multiple photo shoots, right? Getting one of all the grandchildren was Emily's brain child, and it was a darn good one! Even though it was a royal pain, it was totally worth it. Love her idea to use this big log across the road from our place for the setting:

It's a miracle we got a picture this good:

Glad I got some pictures of the "after-shoot" because it was so funny how the brothers started an assembly line to get the littles down by throwing them to each other:

Love the older kids laughing in this picture:

We should have taken these next pictures back on the church grounds when we were all still dressed up, but again, you get what you get at family reunions of this size. First up, the Original Recipe:

Next up, da boys:

Brandon's my favorite in this blooper:

Let's get Dad in there:

And the grandsons:

And then let's do it all again with the girls:

We had to throw in Camille for one (though we should have put her on the other side of mom to make things even . . . I'm OCD about symmetry): 

And then the granddaughters. This was a tough crowd. The two younger girls on either side of Kate had HAD IT by now and were in no mood for more pictures. I wish you could hear the crying and screaming going on in. Kate's face kind of says it all. She's trying so hard not to laugh, but of course, trying to look calm and normal and happy when there was that much crying and screaming going on just made her want to laugh even more. Watch the progression:

She (we) totally lost it by the end:Finally, dinner time:We had three houses between the 30.5 of us (Angie is due in October). This is where Damon and Angie and Trent and Laura's families stayed. Gotta love the Christmas wreaths:

Love this Instagram pic of Brandon and his dad:And this one of Will wearing Brandon's bowtie from his SENIOR PROM! Can you even believe he still has it? Will wears it well, I think:

I took a walk by myself one morning and got a few nice shots on my phone:This one had to be texted to April and Saren; it was just too irresistible. POM (Power of Moms): there for you in your time of need. What do you think? 

One day everyone kind of split up and did their own thing based on kids' ages and family interests. Our family took a drive up to this peak (Brian Head Peak), and also did a nearby hike:First, the hike. It was a beautiful trail with lots of wildflowers and a pretty little lake:

Purple pinecones:

An awesome lookout. Glad I had my wide angle for this spot:

Up to Brian Head peak:You can see parts of three states from up there. Apparently, the ski resorts here have the highest skiing in Utah:

Wish that was me:

Back home for dinner all together at our place. Again, love the Christmas decor they kept up year round. So funny:

That night we had a little impromptu birthday party (with pumpkin pie, of course) for the first and last brothers who were turning 40 and 20 that month:

We did the traditional "hot seat" where everyone went around and said everything they loved/admired/remembered/whatever about the two:Everybody loves to be in the hot seat, even if it's a little embarrassing:That same night we got to hear Brent and Camille sing together (you can hear more from Brent on his website, Venter's Stag Motel) and also updates from Marc and Trent on what they are doing in their respective worlds of music and art. (Marc is an opera director and Trent teaches fine art at Santa Monica college.) Next time I'd love to hear an update from their wives:

We went swimming at the cute little city pool in Parowan a number of times while we were there. Kate SO doesn't appreciate me taking this picture:Group belly flop:One of the last nights almost everyone was together (various families had to leave early for different reasons) we finally did S'mores and a ghost story night:

So fun to see these two reconnect as almost middle schooler pre-teens. They were in the same kindergarten class together!

Ty makes this one:

Back inside for some Headbandz and SCUM. (Man, did we ever have some words over that game! It almost got physical one night between me and Todd . . .) And even though Will is here playing Headbanz with the little kids, he had a long streak as "King" one night playing SCUM with the grown ups:

Brent and Camille spent an unusually long time in the scummiest spots after an usually long reign as King and Queen. It totally solidified my position that your status in the game is based only on luck and the caste system set in place rather than talent or strategy. Love their deliberately phony smiles:

Terrible iphone pics, but I had to include our nightly SCUM games because it was such a highlight:

Dad in his rightful position as King:

And it was in the middle of one of these card games that Brent secretly confiscated my phone and made this picture my screen saver. It's still there:

We went back to some of the lookout points with some of the families one day:

You just can't beat the landscapes of southern Utah:

Love the iphone panorama feature:The end of the reunion was kind of anticlimactic since everyone left at different times and often without everyone else knowing (since we were in three separate houses not so close together), but the time we had together was well spent. It was also nice to be able to make Brandon's 4th of July 40th Birthday dream come true since we had some willing family members available to take our two younger girls. All in all, another wonderful reunion to remember . . .