Christensen Family Reunion

The Christensen Family Reunion was held the last week of June at the farm in Idaho. Everyone was so nice and worked around our schedule so that we could attend as part of our longer reunion roadtrip that included three back to back to back reunions. For that we were extremely grateful. 

Many people helped plan the reunion, but Kym took the lead in assigning jobs and making sure everything happened. Kym and Mom decided on the theme "Build the Ark" to center the activities around. The theme comes from a song by Marianne P. Wilcock. The idea is all about getting spiritually (and physically) prepared for trials by keeping the commandments, praying, following the prophet, etc. It was such a perfect theme for this crazy day we are living in. Mom went the extra mile and bought everyone shirts with the theme on them. Every night of the reunion Mom also planned a special little devotional that had to do with becoming spiritually prepared. She put a lot of time into making it impactful for the children, and it was a huge success!

The first devotional, we sang our song, and then learned an acronym for the word ARK: A- Act on revelation, R- Remember your covenants, K- Keep the Commandments. Mom told the story from a General Conference talk by Joy D. Jones called Essential Conversations about an army commander who made his soldiers lay perfectly still for hours as part of a training exercise. They were all bitter about it, but one day during a march, the enemy started to attack. The soldiers were forced to lay still to save their lives. They realized that preparation was the key and were thankful that their commander trained them. Mom had the kids all lay down flat on the floor while she told the story. Then we talked about how our families can help us prepare and build our ark. Each family did a little art project to illustrate the idea of being together, safe within our ark. We wrote down some of the things we could do to help build our ark like read scriptures, pray, study come follow me, show love, go to church, etc. Then each family presented to the group.

The second devotional was about how our extended family can help strengthen, support, and prepare us for spiritual trials. Mom made a beautiful book about growing up on the farm that had special stories from each of my siblings so that the grandkids could get to know their aunts, uncles, and cousins better. Mom has made several of these types of books, and they are all treasures.

The third devotional was about the blessings that come from acting on revelation, remembering our covenants, and keeping the commandments. She talked about how the rainbow was a promise from Heavenly Father, and we can all receive blessings and promises if we do what's right. All of the kids then made rainbow crafts out of marshmallows and fruit loops. 

Aside from the awesome devotionals, we did so many other fun activities. We started the reunion with family pictures down at Swan Falls on the Snake River. It was almost 100 degrees, and we were all melting, but thankfully we got some great pictures. When the photographer first sent them, there weren't any pictures with everyone (especially the kids) looking at the camera, so I did some photoshop magic and swapped a bunch of heads and eventually got a fantastic photo. I'm so excited to hang this up in my house. Our little family picture also turned out very nice. 

That night we played some OG (original) Christensen family games that I haven't played since I was little. We introduced them to the next generation of kids. We played the paper bag games, Bees, and Ring on a String. We also spent one day at Uncle Mike's pool swimming and eating homemade french fries that were to die for. Another day we spent the morning at Lake Lowell swimming, chatting, eating lunch, and playing frisbee golf. Mixed into those days were lots of board games, a craft project, a financial discussion, and D&D for the teenagers.

The highlight of the reunion for me was the huge carnival! It has become such a fun event over the last few years. Every family plans and runs carnival games for the kids. This year we had some great ones: Mom and Dad- balloon darts, Jonathon and Sarah- Minute to Win It Games, Joe and Kym- Face Painting, Mat and Kat- Yard Pong, Hannah and Jake- balloon animals, swords, guns, and hats. Ben and Ally- siphon tube setting. The kids got tickets for playing and got to choose prizes.

 

Then we had a massive carnival lunch with all of the traditional fun foods like corn dogs, curly fries, turkey legs, Claire's famous scones, and so much more. This year mom even found a sno cone maker that we used heavily throughout the long, hot day. Later, we played croquet, the adults had a corn hole tournament (Dan and Clair won... again!), and we played volleyball until it was so dark we couldn't see any more. It was a wonderful day! Such happy memories!

 

 

The next day we had leave to go to the Hill Reunion in McCall. Everyone else got to hang out for a few more days, which was sad, but it had to be done. Hyrum snuck in a last minute horse ride at Aunt Jill's while the rest of us were packing to leave. It was his first time riding a horse, so he was pretty excited. Mom and Dad were nice enough to let us take their camp trailer and pick-up to the reunion. This was a HUGE help because it meant that we didn't have to pack sleeping bags and all the other camping gear. We were already tight on space, so it saved us. It also saved the Hills because they didn't have nearly enough space for all the reunion stuff without the truck and camper. Jonathon hadn't really pulled a trailer before, so he was tentative at first, but he quickly got used to it. We left Friday morning at about 11 am for our second of three reunions.