Kenneth and Kay Hinton Family Reunion 2015

We had our annual family reunion the week of June 29th-July 4th here at our home.  It was a joyous, sweet week together under our roof.  We love our family and are so grateful they will all take this time to be together.

Mackrorys (who drove from Wisconsin) and Camerons (who drove from Logan) arrived late Saturday night.  Princes(from Las Vegas) came on Sunday morning.  It was so fun to have them all in our church meetings.  I lead the music in sacrament meeting and it was so fun to look down and see several of my grandchildren leading right along with me.  We inundated the Primary and Ken taught a beautiful Sunday School lesson with great comments by lots of family members.

After church, Princes made a delicious meal for us.  We then had our opening meeting, conducted by Jared.  Mackrorys were in charge this year and the theme was "Our Favorite Things."

They started it by showing the scene from "The Sound of Music where Maria sings "My Favorite Things."

My Favorite Things

Later in the week one of the activities was going to be singing at a local assisted living center, so each evening we practiced our three group numbers.  Our closing number- ABC ya later was taught to us by Gabby and Michelle.  It was so cute!

Gabby and Michelle teaching us ABC ya Later with actions

Sunday was Lily Kay's 4th birthday, so in the evening, we celebrated with a butterfly party.

Lily in her new Cinderella dress, decorated with butterflies, of course.

We wrapped all the children in cocoons, then they all burst out as beautiful butterflies.

Addie in her cocoon.  Is that the cutest picture in the world, or what?

Here comes the butterflies.  

We had butterfly cupcakes (made by Blake.)

And the kids all made their own butterfly.

Lily in her new nightgown.

Happy birthday, sweet Lily Kay!!!

Each evening, Grandpa led us in scripture reading.  Over the week, we covered the life of Christ.  Ken showed us a short video from the bible videos, starting with His birth and ending, on Saturday, with His Resurrection.  We would watch the video, then read the verses, then the kids could ask questions.  I was astounded at the questions they asked and the discussions we had.  

These sweet kids came in and got lotion and started rubbing my feet.  They did it a couple of times during the reunion.  

Monday
Monday started with a bang with family pictures.  My dear brother-in-law Roger and sister, Pam came over to take them.  We had discussed other locations, but decided right in our own yard would be the best.  Roger did such a great job and truly has a photographer's eye.  Pam was great at eliciting smiles- no small feat in a group that large!
Here are some of our favorite shots:

Brian took the family group shots  on his camera after:

Pam and Roger even brought suckers for all of the kids who were so good during the photo shoot.  We love you Pam and Roger!  Thank you So So much!!!  

In the afternoon we set up a giant slip and slide we borrowed from our neighbor.  The hill behind our house provides the perfect place to slip and slide!

We also set up our kids' pool.

After a delicious barbecue dinner made by Mackrory's (their favorite summertime dinner), we had Family Home Evening.

Each family acted out their family scripture story silently, and then we all guessed what the story was.

Adam and Eve

The Good Samaritan

Daniel in the lion's den

Queen Esther goes before the king

Then Jared showed us a great church movie about being grateful.

And we had scripture study again

We then had the Hinton favorite homemade vanilla ice cream.

Kenny (much to his mother's chagrin) got his first taste of ice cream.

Tuesday

We had a breakfast picnic on Tuesday morning up on the Red Hill:  Watermelon, Canteloupe, boiled eggs, wheat muffins and juice boxes.  Then we hiked around the area.

That afternoon, we went out to Sand Hollow Aquatic Center and had a blast!

The kids literally queued up to go down the slide with Grandpa.  He went over and over and over again.  

As you can see, Grandpa really sacrificed so their faces didn't get wet.  He would go completely under at the bottom of the slide, holding them up high.  He is one great grandpa!

Jared, Addie, and Jakie in the lazy river.

This is my favorite shot of the day.  This is where they waited for their turn to go down with Grandpa.

That night was the annual talent show.

Brielle played the piano.

Gabby played the drum backwards (the girl's got skills) and sang.

Nathan played the piano.

Caleb did a mean wheelbarrow.

Each act was followed by a fierce group hug.

Jacob showed his many perler bead creations

Lily recited "Hey, Diddle Diddle."

Jaron recited "Five Little Monkeys" "and snapped those monkeys right out of the tree"

Addie enlisted the help of her family and performed the Gummy Bear song.  My, was it cute!

Hannah can turn in a circle.

Reading the scriptures

The cousins loved having a sleepover in the family room each night.

After the kids went to bed, we had a modified chopped competition

The first night it was Blake and Shonna against Kristen and Jared.  Brielle and Nathan (and Ken) were the judges.

I hate to mention it, but the first night of competition, the smoke alarm went off.  The other night (when we and Princes competed) there was no smoke alarm!  Just sayin'

Kristen and Jared's entry

Shonna and Blake's entry

Wednesday, July 1

Happy birthday, Gabriella!  We celebrated with Olaf waffles for breakfast.

We were supposed to play at a park next, but it was so hot, we went to the church and played instead.  We had a snowball fight.

And played "I had a little Doggie"

In the afternoon, we hired the Esplin girls in our ward to babysit and we all went to the temple.  Shonna, Kristen, and I had all been working on family history and we had quite a stack of family sealings to do.  It was such a sweet experience as Ken's brother, Don, has recently been made a sealer in the St. George temple.  He performed the sealings for several of our ancestors.  Afterward, Ken, Shonna, Kristen, and I went down to the baptistry to perform baptisms and confirmations for several other ancestors. What a sweet time we had in the temple.

It was the first time Shonna and Michelle had left their babies with a babysitter.  Both had left them with adult friends, but never a hired babysitter.  Both were nervous about it, but it turned out great.

This was the quiet scene the first group(those who didn't stay to do the baptisms) came home to: All the kids were either asleep or quietly watching a movie.  

That evening, we celebrated Gabby's birthday.  We played UNO.

And colored pictures.

And, of course had birthday cake.

And opened presents.

Heavy, heavy hang over thy poor head. Happy birthday, Gabriella!

These little boys were so cute playing together.

Thursday
On Thursday, we went up to Pine Valley- a much appreciated respite from the heat.

We went on a hike along the creek.  It was so beautiful.

I took a selfie on one of my frequent rest stops

Gabby and Brian were on the hike, too, but at this point they were exploring another trail.  

What is it about kids and sticks?

When we got back to the camp, we played games.

And had a hot dog roast picnic

Smores are the best!

All tuckered out.

That evening, after dinner, we each shared our favorite thing.

Lily's was her singing guitar (she got when she had surgery) and her sparkly purse.

Caleb's was this firetruck.

Jaron's was this car.

Jakie's was these Whoppers and I can't remember the other thing.

Nathan's was his remote control helicopter that we gave him for his birthday last year.

Gabby's were these TY beanies and her Winnie-the-Pooh blanket (we bought it for her right after her parents announced that they were expecting her)

Brielle's was her family.

Hannah's was her toothbrush and her bottle.  Both favorites.

Addie's was her Mom's phone.

Kenny's was his baby oatmeal.  He loves that stuff!

Grandpa's were his binoculars

Mine is my Great Grandma's ruby ring

Shonna's is her pressure cooker.  She uses it all the time.

Brian's favorite thing is Michelle!

Michelle's is her multi-functional watch

Kristen is her wavy breadpans.  She makes all of their bread. (The waves in the bottom of the pan help it to come out easily.) She gave us the recipe that she uses all laminated.

Jared brought a picture of his favorite- his cowboy boots!  I was so surprised.

And we end the day with scripture study.

We have a family tradition started when Ken was on his mission.  We always did it with our family after family prayer, and now we do it with the grandkids:  Everyone puts their hands in the middle, then as we lift our hands we yell, "Yosh!"

It's a family favorite!

This time Chopped was Princes against Grandpa and Grandma.  We had to make an appetizer and a dessert using (in both dishes) milk, flour, and jalapenos.  Ken and I made chocolate jalapeno mousse with a shortbread cookie and miniature jalapeno quiches topped with mango tomato salsa.  Michelle and Brian made chocolate dipped jalapenos and jalapeno cheese fries.  Yum!

These fries were gone in a snap!

I made the quiches and Ken made the salsa.

Friday
Friday morning we played everyone's favorite game that they like to play as a family.  We started with our old family favorite:  Annie-I-Over.  We used to play this frequently as a family home evening activity.

I love this picture

This was the team I started on, but I changed teams about every round because I was so slow.

Annie-I-Over!

We then had popsicles cuz it was hot out there!

We then played Hide and Seek.

We then went to the church to play Mackrory's favorite family game again: Snowball fight!

Don't throw it at the photographer, Gabby!

Then Nathan flew his helicopter for us.

Grandpa is the baby jungle gym.

In the afternoon, we went to a local assisted living center and put on a little program for them.  Each family provided numbers, and we did three songs as a whole group.

I was impressed with how the kids visited with the residents.

This lady that Ken is visiting with is Carol Farnsworth.  When Ken told her his name, she asked if he was related to Leora Hinton.  She knew Leora (Ken's mom) and her sister, Jennie from working in the temple with them.  She said that Ken's mom and dad were the shift coordinators when she started working at the temple.  We had no idea that Mom and Dad had ever been shift coordinators.  

Brielle played the piano

And Nathan played the piano

The kids all did "Five Little Monkeys"

I cajoled Mackrorys into doing the Gummy Bear song for this, too.  It was a hit!  I wish I had recorded it!

We also cajoled Brian and Michelle into doing their last reunion's hit performance of "Love is an Open Door" from Frozen. It was so cute.  I was with the audience taking pictures, and I could hear all the positive comments around me as they sang.  "Wow, they are good!"  "That man has such a nice voice."  etc.

I forgot to take pictures, but Friday night we played a really fun game that Shonna made.  It was a memory game where we matched ancestors and family members with their favorites and with facts about them.  It was so fun and we all learned so much.  She made copies for all of us so we can play it in our family home evenings.

After the games, Ken made us all peach malts.  Kenny tried his first peach malt.  I think he likes it!  He was named after the right person!  Peach malt is a definite family favorite!

Saturday, July 4th
Our last day was an outside water play day.  We did the water balloon toss and other traditional water balloon games.

Hit the target with water balloons.

Water cup relay

Then everyone's favorite- BUBBLES!

I bought the bubble machine several years ago and it is a highlight of every reunion.  Kids love bubbles.

I think they were trying to blow or suck bubbles?  Who knows?

All tuckered out

And, of course we ended with Hinton family reunion favorite- Otter Pops!

That afternoon, our neighbors- Adam and Dani Hyer,  who had seen us out playing all week, brought over this wonderful play mat for the kids.  That was so kind of them.

We did gratitude journals that afternoon and our favorite do a dot painting.  Those paint sets are some of the best things I've ever bought for grandkids.  They've used and used them, and they are still going strong!  Definite favorites!

In the afternoon, we went back over to the church for a rousing game of kick ball.  This also is a Hinton family tradition.  The score always, always ends in a tie!

Blake made this beautiful cake to celebrate the holiday!

The kids, entirely on their own, made paper flags, and planned a fourth of July show for the adults.  Brielle wrote a song and they marched, waved their flags, and sang the patriotic song.

The words to the song.  Whenever kids get together, they love to put on a show.  It was a great ending to a great reunion!

After kids were in bed that night, we had an All competition.  That is a definite family favorite and a great way to end it ALL!

If you've made it clear to the end of this monster post, then you must really love us.  We love you, too.  Thanks for a great reunion, Mackrorys!   And thanks to all who came and made it special.  Family Reunions= one of my favorite things!!!