So our trip to Utah was fun. This time we were headed up near Ogden for a family reunion at Allen Ranch. It was cool. The ranch was big enough to hold all 76 of us who showed up. That is right 76. This was a reunion for my dad’s side of the family, he is 2nd of 10. Reunions are always a big deal, it is super fun, crazy and MESSY.

Here is a picture of one side of the ranch, you can see the 3 “ponds” one of which most people felt good going in, and the big one that several people slid into on the giant slip ‘n slide. There were more camping areas up behind where I am taking this picture… we were everywhere.
We got to the reunion late Tuesday night… a day and a half into the action. We hung out a little before going to bed and then the next morning joined in the fun. OGO took Sophie out for a ride on the pond… powered by her Uncle Andy.

Sophie took over her 2nd cousins bouncer as a throw back to her baby days… I don’t know why she loved it, but she did. She wanted to play in it all the time.

Andy and Jeff spent many hours throwing things: horseshoes and ring toss washers mainly, and Sophie wanted to play also, which involved a lot of creative throwing to not hit her and still win the game.



Sophie played in her “pool” got super messy and had to change into a new outfit… I believe she got through 3 outfits the first day… water, dirt and poop… yucky!

Then the big boys started playing… my dad and his brothers are crazy together… or at least all their wives think they are. They pulled out the water balloon launcher and tried to hit this target:

Not Alan, the cooler in front of him… for the record I think that one person made it in the bucket (later, many people joined Alan in the field in order to catch the balloons or hit them with baseball bats making it more difficult to hit the target). Here are some pictures of the water balloon-ers and the line of people waiting to try their luck at hitting the target.



To make things more interesting for all of us in the crowd… we scored the balloon tosses with a very reliable and fair system… thumbs up or down:

Some people felt that water balloons needed a different target, so these three cousins decided Andy needed to get wet and spent the whole day targeting him… somehow they were always soaked and Andy was always dry!

After lunch the next activity started. My Aunt Annette made PVC marshmallow blow guns for everyone and a giant fight ensued. It looked like it had snowed. Unfortunately, between the water balloons and marshmallows all our shoes were covered in sugary messes… it was fun anyways!




My Dad, cousin Gillian, cousin Darris, Aunt Annette (the reason for the craziness!)
My Dad took Sophie down the water slide 2 times, and that was all she would do. He had to work hard to not end up in the pond with her, that is why his legs are covered in grass.


The reunion was full of lots of fun conversations, Family Feud, TONS of kids running around and an awesome card game Wizard. It is always great to see everyone, their kids and visit, without having to be anywhere else. Thanks Jeff, for letting us go.
One last picture, of Sophie and her Great-Grandma Phillips.

Filed under: My crazy life on August 7th, 2008 | No Comments »