Hinton Family Reunion, 2017

We gathered with our family for our annual Hinton Family Reunion on the weekend of June 25th.  We had a lot of extended family there on the weekend because we reported our mission in our ward on June 25th.  Then on Monday we officially began the reunion with our immediate family.  We had rented a cabin up at Brian Head for the week, but we weren't able to go there because of a wildfire near Brian Head that became the largest wildfire in Utah's history- burning 70,000 acres.  The town was evacuated and the roads in were closed.  So, we stayed at our house and held our reunion in St. George.  I have included in this post pictures we took as well as videos of each day that Brian put together.  First are family pictures we took in our backyard.

On Friday night, we went out to Pizza Factory with my side of the family who had come. 

The next day, Saturday, the guys golfed and then some of them hiked, and Pam, Cindy, and Joan helped me prepare food for our big homecoming dinner at our house which was to be held on Sunday and we visited.

One of the many thoughtful gifts Imi gave me before we left was this egg timer for boiled eggs.  I had asked her how she got such perfect boiled eggs.  Imi took note of everything I said and then gave me a thoughtful gift. We boiled eggs and my sisters peeled them for me to make Japanese Egg Salad.

She also gave me the mixes for this molded black sesame pudding that was such a popular dish in Japan.  Everyone at our party LOVED it!

We had hoagies, salads, chips, and brownies, cookies and pudding.  I made Japanese egg salad with Kupie and everyone loved it.

On Saturday evening, we went out to dinner at Magelby's with the Hinton siblings and went to Don and Ada's afterward for dessert.  It was fun to be together.

Our talks went well on Sunday and we were so well supported.  We felt so loved.  All of Ken's siblings were there and all but Patty and Hal were there from my side (their grandson was talking in his ward the same day, giving his mission farewell address) as well as many friends.  We had at least a million people at our house afterward for lunch.  It was crazy.  But we are so grateful for everyone and their support.  After the clean-up, the Hinton reunion began.

  Here are the videos Brian put together of our wonderful week together.  After that there are a few pictures of the reunion that I took.  Please enjoy the Hinton Family Reunion 2017:

Sunday

My siblings (except Patty and Hal) and their spouses

Cindy (sister-in-law) and Whitney (niece)

Grandma and Grandpa with the babies born while we were away- Samuel and Gabe.

Monday
We started with our annual talent show.

Each child gets a group hug after they perform

Jaron stole the show telling jokes.  The kid has good comedic timing and had us all rolling.

Michelle and Gabbi did the "I love my lips" skit from Veggie Tales.  It was hilarious.

We then went to Sand Hollow Aquatic Center and had so much fun

Monday evening, we had a great FHE, introducing the theme of the reunion- the Olympics.  We all made family flags (you can see pictures on the video) and had cupcakes made by Gabbi (part of her talent)
Tuesday
We started the day with lots of fun Olympic games.

These two were not afraid of the heat at all.  They came in with such red faces.  We finally sent them out with a gallon pitcher of water so they would keep drinking but not have to come in every few minutes for drinks.

And, of course we had popsicles

Hinton tradition has always been to yell "Yoshi!" after family prayer.  It was a tradition started on Ken's mission in Japan.  The kids love it.  Again!

All those with the name "Kay" got to be in this picture

And the Louises got in this picture.

Cute Brielle is a Harry Potter expert.  She has read all of the books five times, I think.  She knows all of the trivia and prepared a really fun trivia game for the adults for that evening.  Ken and I were amazed at what she knew and what everyone else knew.

And here is our little adult -only party crasher.  Kenny has a hard time sleeping anywhere but at home, so he got to spend lots of the after- hour evenings with the adults.  You can see how sad he was about it.

Wednesday morning, some of the crew got up early and went fishing at Sand Hollow reservoir.

Caleb catches his first ever in his life fish

Then we had a special lesson/ activity on our Japan mission.  Each child chose a Japanese word from our chart and learned it.

We showed pictures of our branch and told them inspirational stories, including how we only had one Primary child and how he did the Primary sacrament meeting presentation alone (with his teacher and Primary president and accompanist) 

As we promised him we would, we also showed them Mr. Ogura's stamp collection and told them the story about that.

We passed out charms we had received as gifts, then jewelry and special charms made by our friend, Shiho.  We then did the saran wrap ball game.  Everyone got fun candy, toys, and prizes as the ball unwrapped.  I was so proud of the kids as they shared with their cousins and siblings.

Audrey trying to roll doubles so she could have her crack at the ball

Our goal was to share fun from our mission with our grandchildren, but to also inspire them and help them feel the spirit and the joy of serving a mission.

Lily's princess birthday party was that afternoon.  Lily is now 7.  This was princess bingo.

Lily Kay got lots of fun gifts

She requested mud pudding cups for her treat.

Pin the rose on Belle

On Thursday, we went swimming at the Washington rec. center

One of my favorite pictures from the week

On Friday, we went to the temple to touch the temple.  We then spent the morning at the new St. George Family History Center.  It was really fun.  They have lots of fun things for kids to do.

It was such a fun reunion!  We are so grateful for our family and the effort they make to spend time together.  We are so very blessed!!!!