Reunion Weekend

Last weekend Nik and I had the opportunity to go to Cedar Mountain for my family reunion. My great uncle owns a ranch down there and every four years we have the Brooksby Family Reunion. I was really excited to go this year because I have not made it to a reunion since I was about 12. And this time I had Nik to keep me entertained if I didnt want to socialize.

We left around 10:30am friday morning and listened to Harry Potter 5 to pass the time. It was a fun drive and didnt seem as long with the book and Nik to talk to. I have never driven to the ranch, so it was a little adventure figuring where to go after we left the freeway. No worries though, we got there. My family was there earlier in the week, so we met them there, and more extended family arrived as the day progressed. There wasnt much planned by way of activities, but there was plenty of visiting. I hadn't seen most of that family group since the last reunion, and some I had never met before.

That night Uncle Pres (the one that owns the ranch, my grandma's brother) led the family in campfire songs, including the traditional "Sweet Violets" that is a favorite of the Brooksby clan. Nik even entertained us all with his renditions of mormon versions of popular songs like, the "Gilligan's Island theme" and different versions of "I hope they call me on a mission", and "Five Little Fingers". He was a big hit. My parents rented a sweet-awesome cabin on Duck Creek and we were lucky enough to stay with them instead of camping with the cows. The cabin was great and we were able to shower and everything. It even had a big screen tv and satelite.

Saturday dawned bright and early (early meaning 5am when the sun burned through the curtainless high windows) and we had to dress and eat quickly so we could make it back to the ranch in time to hike with the group to the Family Tree. The family tree is cool cause it started with my grandma's two oldest brothers in 1937 while they were hearding the cattle. They carved their names on the tree and then the other siblings were bought up to do the same. The hike was great. The land is so pretty. I even got to help recarve my grandma's name in the tree so it wouldnt grow out.

After lunch the men decided they needed to shoot off the small cannon that was present on the ranch. It launched bowling balls. I have to say, it was pretty darn cool. The bowling balls were shot about half a mile. Awesome. The only down side was that Billie, my moms dog, has a very hard time with loud noises like that. The first two shots saw Billie taking off to the barn and circling back to mom. After the third shot she didnt have time to come back before they shot the fourth one. She didnt come back after that one. We all spent the remainder of the day combing the hills for her. By 10pm we still hadn't seen here. My mom was devistated. My family went back to the cabin about 10:30 and nik and stuck around to say good bye to some people. About as were were getting ready to leave I was sitting in the car and watching a little beagle play out side a campsite, thinking how sad it would be to leave the reunion without Billie. After a while I realized that I was no longer watching the beagle, I was watching Billie! I jumpend out of the car and it took Nik and I a few minutes to get her into my car, but we eventually got here there. Unfortunatly, minutes after finding Billie we realized both our sets of keys were still in the CamelBack we had been using on the hike. And it was my dads. And my dad was as the cabin. Great...After walking around for a while I discovered I had four bars of cell service if I stood at the hood of my car, on the drivers side and faced south. But not if i moved. I was eventually able to get my dad on the phone at the cabin and mom came back down with our keys and took Billie back with her.

Sunday we slept in and packed while we ate breakfast and Dad opened fathers day presents. We were out of the cabin by 11am and on the road after stopping for gas and ice. The ride home was similar to the the ride down, Harry Potter and Nik. We stopped for lunch at our favorite restaraunt (when we are out of town), One Man Band.

I had a great time, and from when he says, Nik and a good time too. I am glad that we were able to go. I love seeing my extended family and I know I wont get to see some of them too many more times. I have to take advantage of it. I know that this one has been longer than normal, but I hope most of you found it at least a little interesting. I regret that we forgot the camera, so there are no pictures.