Fun Family Farm Reunion

This year Geoff's mom decided to hold the first family reunion up at the farm in Pioche Nevada. Our little family made the 2.5 drive up to the farm on Friday evening after Geoff got off work. On the drive up there Hooch and Alli slept most of the way. We hit a crazy wind and rain storm about 30 minutes from the farm. We were following the directions on the GPS and it actually sent us past the farm on a dirt road about 2 miles. We called Geoff's mom and they drove out to the road and flagged us down.
A little back ground history about the farm. It is a hay farm and right now it also has potatoes planted there. Von has leased the farm for the next 5 years so I am sure we will get out there again. The farm was previously run by pligs and they had their own families out there and there are a few school houses where the children were taught. When they left they tried to take everything with them. In one of the warehouses there is a room at the top of the stairs. This room was said to be a hiding place for Warren Jeffs. It had a kitchen and a living area with a bathroom. This room was nicer than any of the rooms in the house that we were staying. It is crazy to think that he had been hiding there and no one knew but his close friends and family. 

When we got there we took a tour of the house and were shown our room. It was pretty cool. The house is set up with a large kitchen and living area. Then down two hallways there are rooms on each side of the hallway. Each room has its own bathroom and large closet. It was really nice to have a place to set up the pack and play for Alli to sleep in and for Hooch to have a place to stay. Hooch and Bane got in a fight and so Hooch ended up spending the rest of the night in the bedroom. Not that he really minded. He had walked so much that he was able to just sleep the rest of the day. 

For dinner we had a BBQ and had hamburgers and hot dogs. They were really good and it was nice to sit around with family and eat and chat. After dinner they set up a projector on the back of the house and watched a movie. I had put Alli to bed and just decided since she was going to be awake early in the morning that we would just call it a night. I sure am glad that we went to bed early because Alli did not have a great night and I didn't let her cry it out for fear of waking up Karen and Braxton who were across the hall from us.

In the morning Geoff got up and went with his Uncle Steve, Aunt Kim, Sheldon, and Neldon and went out to look for arrowheads. They were gone for quite a while. Alli and I were up and deciding on what to have for breakfast when everyone else started waking up. I am sad to say that for the first night and part of the first day my camera was having some issues and all of the pictures that I took were blurry. I did in the end learn that it was user error and I figured out what was wrong with my camera and was able to take some fun pictures. 

On Saturday morning we spent some time out in the yard. We set up the volleyball  net and rode around on some trikes. We were trying to see who could get the farthest up a hill on it before it started to roll backwards. It was a lot of fun. I got on one and rode it around for a bit to get used to the trike because it has these wheels on the back that make it spin out of control. I think that they are called 360 bikes. Not sure on that though. I ended up crashing the dang thing with everyone watching. Talk about embarrassing. 

Setting up the volleyball net.

Two cute little campers.

Braxton and a 360 bike.

Alli and Aunt Karen.

Alli loved hanging out in the grass. She loves to be outside.

We really had a good time playing outside. The weather was perfect and the property is amazing. We went for a little trip down the road to the pond. The water was so cold but Alli loved it. I think that there was only one person who loved the pond more than her... Hooch. He was so excited to get in the water. That dog is so funny sometimes. I wish that I would have had my camera to get pictures of him in the water. He jumped right in and swam over to where the kids were sitting on a raft that they had made. I was nervous because we don't really know how well he can swim since he has not been in the water that much. The kids pulled him up onto the raft and then he pushed them all off. They pulled the raft over to the shallow end of the pond so that I could get in the water with Alli and make sure that he didn't drown at the same time. 

Some of the kids came over and were trying to take the raft back from Hooch and he bit into the raft and pulled it back to the shallow end where he could get back on the raft. We were all laughing so hard. He is such a silly dog. When we were getting ready to leave the pond it was a fight to get Hooch back tot he car. He almost pulled Geoff back into the water. As we were getting everyone dried off someone called out what is that? Did someone poop in the pond? Low and behold there was a giant turn floating in the water. We don't know who pooped but who ever you are you know what you did. So funny yet so gross. We all had a good laugh about it. 

When we got back from the pond, Hooch got sprayed off with the hose and Alli and I hopped in to the shower. We all smelled a bit like pond water. After changing into a new set of clothes we headed out to see what everyone was up to. We ended up just hanging around the rest of the evening. Uncle Steve made dinner and it was amazing. I ate so much food that when everyone went out to watch out back to watch a movie I decided to head to bed with Alli. I was quite tired. Apparently Geoff was also, because within 30 minutes or so he was headed to bed also.

The next morning Alli and I got up and headed out to see what was going on. We ran into Von and he told me that everyone had gone out arrowhead hunting again. Nikki and Blake were the only ones that were still here. Low and behold after an hour or so people started appearing out of their bedrooms. Apparently not very many people went out to search for arrowheads. Nikki had put together a bunch of games to play for minute to win it. We ended up playing a bunch of different games and then we played cards for a bit while we waited for the rest of the crew to get back.

When everyone was back we cleaned up our rooms and packed up the car and then had breakfast. After breakfast we helped to clean up some of the house and then played Uno with a bunch of the adults before we got on the road to head home.

Spending time with family can be overwhelming sometimes. But in the end we had a blast and I cant wait until next year so that we can do it again. I am so grateful that Kathie and Nikki put in so much hard work for us to all have a good time. They really succeeded and set the bar high for next year.