Christensen Family Reunion 2017 {Day 1}

Day 1~

On Monday, July 24th, the long awaited Family Reunion started. After swinging by Walmart to pick up our food order (see previous post), we headed straight up to Heber Valley Camp. It is such a beautiful place, and the accommodations and facilities were even better than I expected. The pavilion was enormous and had plenty of room for everyone. The commercial kitchen was perfect, and the cabins and restroom facilities were all wonderful. We unloaded everything and soon people started arriving. There were many happy greetings as each new group arrived.

After the majority of people arrived, we had family introductions and updates on all the missionaries out from our family. There are around 10! out right now all over the world. How cool is that! I was excited for my boys to hear about all the missionary experiences they were having. Then we ate lunch, worked on Humanitarian projects, and played some games. While the bigger kids and adults were playing volleyball, we had cookie decorating and crafts going on for the kids. It worked so well to have the two groups doing different things. Hannah made cute little "fire" sugar cookies, and Donna prepared a cute DVD spinner craft along with some bead projects. The kids had a blast. 

Later that afternoon, we headed down to Legacy Lake to go canoeing and paddleboating. The lake is so gorgeous. I love just sitting out in the middle looking at all the amazing scenery. We all paddled around for an hour, enjoying the lake.

After dinner that night, we had Grandpa Christensen's 100th birthday party. Aunt Julie, Uncle Joe, and Aunt Sharon were in charge of it. They did a phenomenal job. They took turns telling stories about Grandpa, and then discussed a special way to honor him that Uncle Virgil came up with. During the week of his birthday (October 3-7), we are going to try to do 100 temple ordinances as a family. Each person is going to keep track of all the ordinances they do that week and what temples they attend. We are then going to compile the information, along with any special experiences we have and share it with the rest of the family. I can think of no better gift to give our Grandpa than the gift of temple service. He would have loved it, as he so deeply loved the temple. They gave each family a special magnet to remind us of the Temple Initiative. Then Mark Lindsey played Grandpa's favorite song, "Love at Home" on the violin. It was beautiful, and I got a bit teary. Finally, they passed out party hats and noise makers and brought out a cow birthday cake. My Grandpa was a dairyman all his life, so it was so perfect. We all sang "Happy Birthday" to Grandpa and then had cake and ice cream. When Melodie and I originally thought of the idea, we thought it would be fun, but when I saw it all come together, I was so touched. It was tender and poignant, and it made me proud to have such wonderful grandparents. It made me proud to be a Christensen.