TWO DOWN ONLY ONE LEFT

** I'll add pictures later tonight**
NOTE: I don't want to use the names of family members that don't blog themselves, so, sorry if the vague brother/sister-in-laws, nieces/nephews gets confusing. Oh and when I say grandpa and grandma I mean Brett's parents.
Well family reunion number two for summer 2008 has flown by. Brett's side of the family got together this past weekend and oh boy was it fun. The weekend flew by, I think because I wasn't wearing a watch and never saw a clock so I lost all track of time.



Thursday

Brett dropped me off at the bus stopped Thursday morning and then picked me up so we could leave for Idaho as quick as possible. Brett just had too many things to get into the car and not enough time so he was late picking me up. One of the guy from work insisting on waiting till Brett arrived. When I told him he didn't have to he said "This isn't a safe neighborhood, that's because it's not a neighborhood at all." The bus stop is in a more industrial area. I thought it was very nice of him to wait. Once Brett arrived we sat in traffic for a while but not as long as the weekend before. We stopped really quick at my house to pick up squirt guns, skit props, and fresh strawberries. We arrived at camp around 11:00. The kids were all asleep but the adults were all still up around the camp fire. Once we arrived we set up our tent. Just about every brother, brother-in-law, and Brett's dad came over to help. It was quite a change from our last camping trip when I'd usually set up the tent by myself while Brett did other chores I didn't want to do. I don't think there was even enough tent pegs for everyone to get one to hammer in. Once the tent was up and our stuff unloaded we sat around the camp fire with Brett's brothers and sisters (his parents went to bed pretty soon after we arrived). I did really good at staying awake! About 1:00 it was off to bed. About this same time the wind picked up.



Friday

As soon as it was light out I was awake. I managed to stay in bed till 6 or 7. I finally had to get up. Brett got up with me and we went for a walk and practiced our skit for that night. Finally everyone started getting up around 9 and breakfast was in full swing about 10:00 (almost my normal lunch time). Brett's parents made a bounteous breakfast of eggs, sausage, and cracked wheat cereal. After clean up Brett decided I should ride his niece's knew dirt bike. The oldest niece had gotten enough Accelerated Reader Points that she earned a dirt bike. I've never driven a dirt bike or anything like it before so I was pretty hesitant but not wanting my new family to think I was a wimp I agreed to try. I watched most everyone else ride it and do really well (which gave me false sense of "this won't be so hard"). Earlier that morning Brett's niece had accidentally jumped the bike a bit by hitting a rut in the road and was still shaken up and didn't want to close to the bike. Her dad kept trying to get her back on the bike but she was scared. Knowing how she felt and also knowing that not getting back on doesn't help I said I'd only try if she showed me. She did and did really well, although, the bike still scared her. So then I tried. Brett gave me a real quick this is how you do it. Which was easy enough. So I started the bike on my own and got it into gear and then went for it. OH BOY! No one informed me a little gas went a LONG WAY! I took off and headed straight for a tree. Screaming the whole time and in a panic the yells behind me of BRAKE CLUTCH fell on deaf ears. I clearly remember thinking oh yeah hand break like a bike. Only problem was every time I pulled in the hand break (the finding the foot break was way beyond my limited brain capacity at the instant) I revved the gas up. The very large tree loomed closer and closer. Still screaming I managed to dodged the tree and I think I managed to pull the clutch and brake in at the same time and stop the bike. Since I had only gone probably 30-50 feet Brett and my brother-in-law (the one who owned the bike) were by me in a flash. My legs were total jello, my breath slightly ragged and my eyes beginning to water (I refuse to say crying because I knew I was okay, I knew I was going to be okay and I knew I had no reason to cry but still could not stop the water from leaking from my eyes). Brett just held me and felt so bad. I was mad my niece who was still scared of the bike had seen and my "expert" near miss of the tree had shaken her up even more. I pretty well scared everyone around. One sister-in-law said she was thinking where the nearest hospital was. I however knew I would probably only sustain a mild head injury if I had hit the tree and probably some discomfort, maybe a break, in whichever leg the bike would have fallen over on (Brett and I could have used the health insurance we shell out so much money for, see upside to everything). I was more worried about damage to the two month old dirt bike that wasn't mine. I was thinking maybe Brett won't start school next semester and his saved up tuition money will go to a new dirt bike. But everyone was okay and so the immediate question was "Margaret you ready to get back on." Inside my answer was "HAHAHA NO!!!!" Not future ride would have topped the excitement of my first ride and my legs were still J-E-L-L-O! But I said "Let someone else take a turn first and then I'll try again." I still didn't want people to think I was a wimp and I was hoping my getting back on would serve as a good example to my niece. This time instead of Brett telling me what to do (Brett could ride a motor bike but had never really taught someone how) my brother-in-law with a lot more experience stood by me and had me give a little gas, let out on the clutch a bite, go a few feet and brake with my foot. After this I managed to go down the road a bit (with Brett running beside me). I didn't even try turning it around so I had Brett do that for me and rode it back to camp. I didn't get on the bike again all weekend but jokes were made about my first ride and the tree was dubbed as being mine.

The rest of Friday morning I spent at a pond reading while Brett fished. He caught a few fish that were all very tiny.

After lunch was a pie eating contest for all the kids that grandpa and grandma had set up. Most of the kids weren't all that keen to participate. All the adults however couldn't wait for there turn. The kids did well and were pretty cute to watch. Then three of the brothers tried. The second best was watching some of the women try. They were vicious. They didn't just try to eat their fastest they tried to sabotage others by tickling and pushing, much more amusing to watch then the men. Finally it was grandpa and grandma's turn the were pretty fun to watch too, almost as vicious as the girls were.

The rest of the afternoon Brett and I took a nap, read and then went down to the creek for a water fight with Sean and Caroline and a few of the nieces and nephews. Dinner that night was delicious. Some one the best dutch-oven potatoes and pork chops I've ever had. That night at dinner we sat and talked with all the adults about things we did when we were kids that kids don't do these days and books we had read.

After dinner was the skit show. This was their first annual skit night. Brett's brother sent out an email earlier in the week announcing his intentions of starting the tradition. I spent all week thinking his wife had actually come up with the idea and made him send out the email but no. Brett's big tough doesn't seem like the skit type had come up with it. I didn't want to participate so much since we only had two people but I bucked up and we came up with one. The whole thing was a lot of fun. Brett and I sang a repeat-style camp song, Sipping Cider. I think everyone really enjoyed the skits and it will be an annual thing.

After skits all the kids were still pretty wound up. So, as the adults sat around the fire and put babies to sleep, grandpa played a "relaxing quiet" game with the kids and took them for a walk. It was pretty fun to watch. In high school the one guy that I seriously dated had a really scary father and I though if we ever get married I'd be wouldn't want to leave my kids with him. Brett's dad acts all tough and scary but only to make the kids laugh. I'm really thankful I have such a wonderful mother and father-in-law.

Once all the kids were asleep the adults sat around the camp fire again just talking about all sorts of things. Brett was kind of mad at me for it but we went to bed earlier than everyone else.



Saturday

I managed to sleep in a bit later Saturday morning but Brett and I were still up before everyone else. Saturday morning Sean, Caroline, Brett and I had breakfast. This was what I was most nervous for the meal we were in charge of. Brett always raves about the good food at up camping and talking about which sister or sister-in-law cooks what best. Well I didn't want to be the new sister-in-law that actually can't cook worth beans so I was pretty nervous. We made built your own omelets. This is where you put eggs and omelet things in a Ziploc bag, mush it all up and then cook it in the bag in a pot of boiling water. I'd seen this done before but never done it myself and was nervous it wouldn't work but it turned out great. We also brought taco shells salsa and sour cream so it could be made into breakfast burritos. I also made a fruit salad (which we had again for lunch at the reunion, dinner with my parents and breakfast the next morning), my mom's recipe for banana bread, and cinnamon raisin bread. I was mad at myself for forgetting to use whole wheat flour in the banana bread and the cinnamon raisin bread didn't turn out as good as the first time I made it but both were still good. Sean made really good cinnamon rolls using a oven consisting of briquettes and a cardboard box covered in foil. He had learned it in this outdoor cooking class. It worked really well.

After breakfast a lot of people went fishing. Brett and I helped clean up and then just relaxed. I got to hold the newest nephew who is just six months old he is such a cute little boy. Luckily when he spit up he spit up on his grandma and not me (she's used to it from having her own kids, I think it would have grossed me out). Just before lunch Brett took me for a four wheeler rider. We got back just in time for lunch. After lunch one family packed up and left (sad). Then a water fight broke out. The only people safe were the ones holding babies. Sean and Caroline bought us water guns for our wedding. I think they purposely bought us guns that could in no way rival their own guns and since they were smaller they were usually taken over and used by the kids.
Following the water fight and "obstacle" course was set up for the big kids (i.e. adults). It consisted of one spouse driving a four wheeler blinded the other giving directions from behind and then a filled cup of water sitting between the spouses. The goal was to finish the small course in the shortest time and spill the least water. Since Brett is the youngest we went first. We didn't do so hot on time, although it's hard to tell since the timer didn't start us just as we started and the course route changed after we went. We missed having the most water just by about a mouth full... It was a lot of fun. The grandparents even tried the course. They didn't do quite as well as their kids. One of the obstacles was driving through a rut filled with mud. They accidentally got one tire out of the rut and the other in it so they were pretty tippy. Then they nearly drove into a tree... the same tree I had nearly driven into. Needless to say they didn't win for time or water but were the most amusing to watch. Sadly grandma had hidden the camera before they went so it was not video taped.
After the obstacle course was completed it was time to clean up and pack up. I was so surprised when I got in the car and it was 5:00 PM. It felt like 1 or 2 to me. We spent that night and Sunday morning at my parents house and then came back to Utah. It was a very very fun weekend.