Jones Reunion Revisited

In March we finally did something that was long, long overdue.  We had a reunion of the descendants of my mother's parents, Grandma and Grandpa Jones.

My cousin Erin (or first cousin once removed, if you want to get technical) is my friend on Facebook and we have been trying for a long time to try to get this put together, and after a bunch of messaging back and forth and several date changes, we finally made it happen!  We all don't live very far from each other (they are in the high desert, and we in the low desert) so it was very possible - we just had to make it happen.

When I was a kid, we had a get together with my Mom's family every year, usually right after Christmas.  It was a smaller group then.  Mom only has two siblings, a brother, Larry, and a sister, Norda.  Larry has no kids, and Norda had only 3.  On top of that, my mom is much younger than her brother and sister, which meant that by the time we came along, the few cousins we had were adults.  This meant that there were never any kids our age at these reunions, not until my cousin's started having kids, and then they were the same ages of my younger sister and brother, but us three older girls pretty much only had each other (and how much fun  is that?). 

Boy how things have changed!  Kids, kids, everywhere kids!  And the kids of one side of the family had never met the kids on the other side, so it was also a day of making new friends - lots of them!

Of course, my oldest boys were still in the same boat we were in as kid with no one else their age, but they didn't seem to mind.

In fact, Nathan loved it.  Or should I say, they loved him!  Those little girls just took to Nathan.  I asked him to make the lemonade and he was so sweet to let some of the little girls help.  He was so cute with his little cousins, and so gentle and patient  with them and they loved it!  Soon they were lining up to make lemonade with Nathan!  

Outside, other kids were making more fun!  The theme was a Western BBQ, so Dylan got into the spirit by pulling out our old lasso and rustling up some cousins.

Yee Haw!

Playing cowboys in the back yard.

The rest of us had a great time just getting all caught up with each other.  A lot has happened in the over 10 years since we have gotten together, good things and bad, and there was much to share,

and darling children to get to know,

and, as always when we get together with my family, food to prepare!  Good food is a family tradition - a good family tradition.

But this year we did something new.  Any guesses?

Homemade root beer!

Since we were having an old fashioned barbecue, I though root boor would fit the bill, but then got frustrated when I couldn't find mass quantities of bottled root beer.  Then a friend suggested we just make our own.  Awesome idea!  Some water, some sugar, a bottle of root beer extract, and of course, the magic ingredient - dry ice, and we not only had a cold, frosty, refreshing treat, but a show in itself!

Delicious!

What a great day! So glad my sister Mindy and her gang happened to be down that weekend from Oregon, and my brother Rick and family were here from Arizona.  In our family, we only missed (and boy, did we miss!) Natalee and family way over in Texas.

What a wonderful family we have!  What wonderful, good, strong, and faithful people.  I am so proud to be related to all of them.  We all strengthen each other, I think.

And sweet and beautiful children!  I love them all!

My Uncle Gordon, and the men of the Pratt family.  Watch out - they are all cops. (That is their family tradition, not ours.)

Did I mention the food?  Ranch beans and grilled peppers from Dad's garden to smother on the burgers.

And the cole slaw? Also from dad's garden.  Yummy stuff!

But the hit of the meal was, of course, Dad's barbecued ribs!  Wow, wow, wow!  Dennis tears off a few more and my cousin Glen couldn't get enough of them.

Yep, that is how we do it in our family!  We are serious about good food!

After the food, (and unfortunately, before the pictures) the kids all jumped in the spa for some wet and wild fun!

Meanwhile, my cousin Glenn was working on another tradition.  Even way back in the day when we would all get together, Glenn would always make homemade ice cream, and it was always delicious.  But this time, there was quite a twist!  Instead of making traditional ice cream with an ice cream maker, he used a huge cooler, some hand quizzed orange juice, some milk, and some dry ice to make some amazing orange sherbet! It was so delicious!  He actually smashed up the dry ice and stirred it into the juice and milk so that the sherbet actually fizzed in your mouth a bit like soda.  It was so refreshing on a warm day!

Another family tradition is born!

And if you have ice cream, well, you know you have to have yummy homemade cookies to go with it!

Everyone was happy.

And finally, the one tradition I remember from all of those family get together growing up was the piñata.  We always, always, always had a piñata.

Of course, we had to do that again this time too.  Unfortunately, when we where getting the piñata rigged up, it dropped and split open, so we had to so some major repair work to patch it up just so the kids could beat it up again, thus the blue painter tape.

Since it was half dead already, it didn't take the littlest ones very long to break it open.

Inside, my cousin Kevin and brother-in-law Ben, tore it up playing improve blues together on the piano.  They were really good and we really enjoyed their musical experimentation.

I had planned to do some family photos, but in the craziness, it didn't really happen.  I did manage to get a few pictures of my cousin Cameron's beautiful family.

And also my cousin Erin's darling family.

Thank you, Erin, for helping me get this all put together!  Everyone got along so well, and we remembered how much we share.   I know we are all so glad that we have finally gotten together again after all these years, and that we are going to make sure that we do this, (all of it - the root beer, the good food, the homemade ice cream, the piñata, the fun!) again every year, or more than that.  We discussed temple trips, and beach trips, and the ladies are all planning to go to a Time Out for Women next month together!

Three cheers for family and for the traditions that bind us together!  Hip, hip, hurray!