Huffaker Family Reunion Day 1 - August 8, 2014

Friday - August 8, 2014

We all met at the Fielding Garr Ranch on Antelope Island.  There were a lot of buffalo.  It was fun to see them all.  A bunch of them decided to cross the road right in front of us.

 There weren't any signs that let us know we were at the Fielding Garr Ranch, so that was a little frustrating when we first got there.  We decided to get out, look around, and see if we ran into anybody.  Luckily Missy, Teresa, and Tyler were there, so we knew we were in the right place.  We found out that they were going to have a ghost hunt there when it got dark.  I thought that sounded like a lot of fun, but I knew we probably wouldn't be able to do it.  We said "Hi!" to everybody then walked around and saw what the ranch had to offer.  There was a big field with lots of old farming equipment.  The kids posed by an old truck and some other stuff, then we found an area where the kids could learn and practice roping.  They loved that.

 Tyler posing while he filled a bucket with some yucky water.

 The kids were having fun trying to learn how to rope, so they didn't want to walk around with me anymore.  So, I wandered through the house and buildings with out them.  Walking in, reminded me of the old house up the North Fork.  It smelled exactly like Grandma and Grandpa Holcomb's house.  I really wish we would have been able to go to Montana this year.  The smell made me really home sick for Montana.  Anyway... beside making me wish I was in Montana, it was a lot of fun.  It was interesting to walk through and see everything.

 When I finished, the kids were still playing with the ropes and toy horses.

 Brinley wanted me to take a picture of her on the horse, but she was wearing skinny jeans and wasn't able to lift her leg high enough to get on.  She's a funny girl.

 Alissa felt like she had the roping thing mastered, but every time she had me watch her do it, she would miss.  She kept telling me that she can do it and has been doing it this whole time, but every time I watch, she messes up.  She was getting so frustrated.  It was funny.

 I finally got the kids to walk around and do more exploring with me.

 For some reason, they were really creeped out by this room and especially by this picture hanging about the fireplace.  They thought it was so creepy.

 After everybody got here, we all gathered together to enjoy some dinner.  It was fun to visit with everybody.  Brinley was especially excited to see her cousin, Aurora.

 We stayed until it got dark.  We gathered up all of our stuff and stood visiting with family in the parking lot.  The kids were busy trying to arrange different people for them to ride with.  We ended up having Brinley, Parker, and Aurora ride with Missy and Tyler.  And Alissa and Anastasia rode with us.  Before we left, I realized I had to go to the bathroom.  I was a little worried because I didn't see a light for the bathroom.  As I walked over there, Melissa came to.  She also had to use the rest room.  The kids told us that there was a sensor and the light would come on when we got close.  When we got up to the door, the light flickered on.  It was really creepy.  I didn't like it.  Also, there were a couple large creepy crawly spiders that we knew of.  One was in the stall with me.  I watched it as I hurried to go potty and get the heck out of there.  I had just finished buttoning up my pants, when the lights turned off.  It was pitch dark!  Melissa was in another stall and we both just started screaming hysterically.  I was so freaked out and panicky, that I couldn't get the stall door to open.  I just get so shaky when I'm scared, it's hard to get my hands to work right.  I finally managed to get out.  Once I got out, my movement outside of the stall, triggered the motion sensor lights to turn back on.  Alissa and Anastasia came running in just after I got the lights back on.  they were laughing, of course.  They had used the restrooms before us, but they had been smart enough to have one person wait, while the other one went.  How were we supposed to know that the motion sensor couldn't detect motion from with in the stalls.  And why wouldn't they detect motions from with in the stalls?  That's just mean!  I'm glad I wasn't the only one in there.  It was really funny once we got out.  We had a good laugh about it. 

We headed to the VanBibber's house to have a camp out in their back yard.  Melissa, Anastasia, and Aurora set up camp in the VanBibber's backyard also.  It was fun and just something different.  We had some s'mores, Missy and Becca told everybody some funny stories, then we all went to bed.  It wasn't the best nights sleep, but it was fun.

Ketchup and Mustard Fight - August 4, 2014

Monday - August 4, 2014

The VanBibbers invited us to their house for a fun surprise party for Grandma Moser.  We left early, so we'd have time to play before the party.  Teresa and Tyler are in town and we wanted to have some time to hang out with them.  We don't get to see them very often since they live in Ohio.  Roger wanted to go ice skating.  Brinley doesn't love ice skating, so Brinley and I stayed at the VanBibbers while Roger, Tyler, Parker, and Alissa went ice skating.  After they got back from ice skating, Missy suggested we go to the park to play basketball.  It was raining, so that was fun.  It was hot outside and the rain felt so nice.  We had a lot of fun playing basketball.  I love the fun playground at the park we went to.  I didn't take any pictures of the fun stuff we did for the first half of the day.  I wish I had though.  The park was a lot of fun and the playground is very unique.  I wish I had pictures to post so I could share how cool it looks.  I took one picture after we got back from the park.  Roger and Tyler were being funny.  They were hot and sweating from playing basketball, so Roger told Tyler to ride the exercise bike to make the fan go and cool us all off.  

 I was asked to bring a cake for the party.  I decided to make, what I call, a message cake.  I decorated the edges and left room for everybody to write a message, draw a picture, or decorate however they wanted.

 Here we are just relaxing before the party started.  The party was supposed to start at 6:00 pm, but it seems like most people didn't get here until closer to 7:00 pm.

 They set up sprinklers in the backyard for the kids to play in.

 After everybody got here, we got the food out and we all went in the backyard to enjoy a yummy barbecue.  A storm was heading our way.  The clouds were kind of scary looking.  It made Parker very nervous.  Most people were finished eating by the time the rain started, so that was good.  As the rain started, we all rushed to get the food inside.

 The rain came over us very quickly and started coming down really hard.  There was a little bit of hail mixed in with it.  It was exciting.  The kids were so excited to go outside and play in it.

 The littler kids stayed inside.  They were cold.

 The rain didn't last for too long.  We all sat inside and visited until the rain stopped.

 More people left messages on the cake.

 It is finally time to give Grandma her surprise!  She has always wanted to have a ketchup and mustard fight.  This whole party was a surprise early birthday party for her.  Her birthday isn't until November, but it is too cold in November to have a ketchup and mustard fight.  So, this is the part of the party where we revealed what this party was all about.  Grandma Moser thought that we were just having a nice family barbecue.  Before the party, Cindi told her that we were planning to play a really fun game, so she would need to wear clothes that she wouldn't mind if they got wet and dirty.  So, Cindi announced that it was time to go outside and play the game.  She told Grandma to close her eyes.  While Grandma's eyes were closed, everybody got their ketchup and mustard bottles ready.  When everybody was ready, Cindi handed a ketchup and mustard bottle to Grandma.  She told revealed the surprise that we were having a ketchup and mustard fight and that this was an early surprise birthday party.  Then she let us all know that the fight starts as soon as Grandma sprays somebody.

 Jeanne, Scott, and I were all standing back in the doorway with our cameras out, so we could take pictures of all the fun.  Unfortunately, the first people Grandma Moser saw when she opened her eyes were Jeanne, Scott, and I.  She looked right at us and started squirting us with the ketchup and mustard.  We ran in the house as fast as we could to get away.  I got squirted on my face, neck, and some got on my phone (I was using it as a video camera).  Scott proudly explained that that was why he had been standing behind me.  He thought that someone would spray in our direction.  I wish I would have thought of that.  Anyway, so we ran inside and I hurried over to the window to finish recording and to take pictures of the fun from a safe place.  Shortly after the fight started, Caroline came running in the house.  She had gotten ketchup squirted in her eye and it hurt bad.  She ran to the sink to rinse it out.  I felt bad.  But she got it out, put on some sun glasses, and ran back out to join the fight.

 It looked like everybody was pretty much out of ketchup and mustard so I came outside to take more pictures.  Parker got s little ketchup in his eye and he was not happy.  He agreed to pose for a picture, but he just couldn't bring him self to smile.  He was not happy.  He said that he never wants to do this again.

 Everybody gathered together for a group photo before they started washing themselves off with the hose.

 After everybody was hosed down then went inside to change, we gave Grandma her birthday cake with all the fun messages on it.  We all enjoyed some yummy cake and sang 'Happy Birthday' to Grandma. 

 The girls arranged to go sleep over at Tyler and Melissa's house with their cousins.  They were really excited and happy about that.  The only problem was that we were not prepared for that.  Brinley hadn't brought enough changes of clothes, so all she had to wear was a pair of Alissa's pants and Parker's sweater.  But the girls insisted that they didn't care.  They were just so excited about getting to sleep over.  We decided that we need to start planning on sleepovers after every family get together, because that has happened at the last few we've been to.  We will definitely be ready next time.