Welp, the 2017 Eyrealm reunion was a big one for us.
Because our little family was in charge of it.
Yep, in charge of this huge group of 48 for a few days to make them do whatever we wanted.
Now that’s a lot of pressure.
Here they all are cheering their hearts out for us:
Family Reunion Ideas
I love that my brother caught some of the reactions.
Lucy was especially excited about this whole deal.
She was in charge of explaining the calendar of events:
But hey, jobs are a pretty important part of the reunion too.
We all put in our two-cents and Elle put it together with her graphic design know-how….the gray lines in between the blue ones represent taking each of those “five facets” we talked about “to the MAX” because the gray goes beyond all the other design…and fills up the whole shirt.
Before I go any further I better explain this wheelchair my niece had to ride around in:
That poor girl fell out of a tree a few months ago, broke both arms, and they found out a week later that she actually broke her hip as well. Â So she’s had to be in a wheelchair while it heals (and crutches too if that’s easier on the occasion), and her cousins had a good opportunity to serve her by pushing her around this summer. Â She was a pretty good sport about that thing, and the other cousins sure loved taking turns trying to learn tricks in it when she wasn’t using it.
After the opening ceremonies, it was time for our traditional bonfire/song reveal (where we play the first few minutes of everyone’s favorite songs from the year and everyone guesses who chose that song…followed by s’mores)….
…and also a sparkler party.
It’s hard to know how to sum up the rest of the reunion so I’m just going to randomly tell about whatever I have pictures of.
Pennant Flags
We had each family tell us in advance what each member of that family had done that year to push the limits and take life to the MAX.
We put them up on these little pennant flags, and added new flags before each meal following the family’s explanation. Â Loved hearing all the things people have done over the last year to face fears and push and grow.
By the end of the reunion the family room looked like this:
Family Reunion Food Ideas
Food is always a big part of the reunion, and always something I get the most questions about. Â We take cooking seriously up at the lake. Â It’s just what we do. Â Each family takes one meal during the reunion. Â We have some pretty good cooks and it’s so fun to see what awesome creations they come up with.
If the weather is good, we usually eat lunch at this little deck place:
Bo was in Heaven eating up any scraps she could find.
Charity made these lentil tacos that were so delicious.
My brother Eli and his wife alway make Japanese curry (he served his mission in Japan, and makes a mean curry)… it is a favorite for sure.
For dinners we eat at the house. Â We cook as the kitchen fills with the heat of the setting sun, hungry kids underfoot, and lots of helpers to chop and set up.
We haven’t had the reunion over a Sunday before (usually we go from Weds to Sunday afternoon), but this year we went from Thurs night to Tuesday. Â So after church we had an adult dinner.
The logistics of that were a little crazy, but I loved having all these people I love in one spot at {almost} one table.
Family Reunion Job Ideas
Jobs & bead-earning
Each year we do jobs a little differently. Â This year we tried to instigate the deal that each child clears and washes their own place, and then does the same for one or two adults while they talk after all the meal prep.
They were extra motivated this year because we instigated the same kind of beat necklaces we used at girls’ camp this year (back HERE).
We presented my mom with a fanny pack (she used to be the QUEEN of those things back in the day) which was filled with beads. Â When she noticed the kids doing good things, cleaning without being asked, serving, etc., she got to hand them a bead to add to their necklaces.
Painting
I’ve always wanted to sit and paint Bear Lake. Â I mean, it’s one of our very favorite places in all the world, and it is so beautiful. Â We have a whole bunch of artists in the family so we decided to have an art morning and get our creative juices going to capture some of that beauty.
I loved watching everyone hard at work creating such unique masterpieces.
I’m so mad I didn’t get a very good picture of them all together! Â Next year. Â Because we’re going to hang them up in the cabin, they turned out so well!
He is SO good with those kids. Â The idea was to switch off, but these boys were pretty fascinated by those things!
Lake Swim
This year my niece Ana, who is an exceptional swimmer (one of the very fastest in all of Hawaii for reals), decided to enter the “Bear Lake Monster Swim.”
It was a perfect way to “Live Life to the Max” and a big group of us went to cheer her on at the finish line.
It was a 10 kilometer swim across that lake and that girl only stopped once for a little drink.
She swam it in 3 hours and we were SO proud of her!
Here’s my brother paddle boarding along beside her:
(Yes, he did that across the whole lake as her “support person” and I think he deserves an award too…that’s a lot of rowing!)
Here’s Ana as she came in the finish line:
Ok and sorry but we have to get a closer look at that triumphant face:
There we go.
These cousins were SO excited for her.
So proud of this cute duo!
Family Reunion Activity Ideas
Fear Factor for Family Reunions
A little trepidation…
Here’s Dave trying to fend them off before he could explain the rules.
Really, I’m glad no one was sick because there were sure a lot of spoons going into that sundae!
Ended up with some pretty excited kids.
Tennis Tournament
And here are the finals:
…with Eli and Julie taking the winning title one more year.
My dad did the award ceremony right there on the spot:
There we go.
—TO BE CONTINUED—
(part 2 is HERE)
I think the video is hilarious…especially Dave's part haha
So. Much. Fun! Goodness, I'd love to have a family reunion like that!
Love, love, love having this recorded in beautiful photography! Thanks, not only for knocking it out of the park on the reunion but for taking a LOT of time to create this post. And there's so much more fun to come. The video is even funnier the second time around! 🙂
I love the necklace idea for the kids! we have our family reunion coming up, and I would love to know where you found them or even what they are called so I can search for them on Amazon. Thanks!
Hey Brooke, the beads we got are here: http://amzn.to/2uG1eHs
And the necklaces are here: http://amzn.to/2w7r58O
Hope that helps!
Thank you!
Do you have the recipe for the open face sandwiches? They look soo good!