Annual Grant Reunion

My Mom's side of the family gathers every July at the Reid Ranch. We've been going there ever since I was a little kid. The activities remain pretty much the same with a few upgrades. It's a Thursday through Saturday reunion. Cody had to work Thursday and Friday, so I drove up with my parents. Cody drove up Friday night after work. He actually got off early and surprised me by getting their in time for dinner.

We had a bonfire the first night with smores. My boys took it upon themselves to find sticks to roast marshmallows. Tucker found some good ones, and Cole came back with this log. It looks like an old fence post. My Mom indulged him and helped him put a marshmallow on it. My Grandpa worked for a company called Bristol Meyers for years before retirement and he still pulls out hats, water bottles and other random "junk" to hand out at reunions and family gatherings. Cole loved this hat because it has a moose on it. He wore it the entire trip.

 I put the kids to bed before I did. We had a room with 2 bunk beds and a queen. We've grown out of the pack n play phase of life, so the boys were happy to be on the bunk beds. Cole indeed fell asleep with his hat on.

 And I initially put Blake in bed with me because I was worried he'd fall off the bunk. This is how I found him when I came in to go to bed. I tried for about 30 minutes to sleep with him and then finally put him on the bunk bed. None of my kids sleep straight and I wasn't about to go all night getting hit by arms and legs.

 My cousins work at the ranch. This is my youngest cousin, Kyle. Parker and Tucker talked one of my parents into buying them snow cones and then they searched out for cousin Kyle.

 There are horses and ponies at the ranch. You can't ride the horses until you are 12, so pony rides were what we did. Yes, Cole is wearing a helmet and life jacket. You can never be too cautious. I think the ranch has had some legal issues in the past so everyone, including adults, has to suit up to ride.

 Tucker caught a frog and was convinced that we were taking it home with us. Unfortunately, Cole took the lid off our "cage" and it hopped away. Darn.

 There is also a small archery range. All my kids really enjoyed that this year. You have to wait until everyone is done shooting before you can retrieve the arrows.

 Robin Hood.

 I failed over and over at this. I was much better when I was younger.

The ranch has each group that comes up get their picture taken to put on the wall in the cafeteria. This is our family portrait. 80 of our 91 family members. My grandparents have 7 children, 26 grandchildren and so far 33 great grandchildren. I still have 10 cousins waiting to get married someday. With all of my cousins having babies, the Grant family seems to grow by 2-3 each year.

 A little self portrait and a photo bomber.

 Blake, Cole, my parents and cousin Hayden.

 Random brotherly love with 2nd cousin Zach watching on.

 Zach and Cole waiting in line for a meal.

 Blake's first miniature golf lesson.

1st cousins. Melanie, Loren and Me.

2nd cousins. Ethan, Ashley and Aubrey

 Growing up, the 5 of us cousins were named the Party of Five. I think we were are all born within 2 years of each other.

 Jeff is the only one not married and Cody had left to fix our flat tire when the photo was taken.

 My cousin Melanie and I. We've been close our whole lives. She is a year and 2 days older than me. We visited each other growing up, were pen pals, attended Ricks, each have baby Aubrey's and were cheerleaders. We used to dress the same and have my Mom do our hair alike. We just happened to both have tank tops in this plum color that we wore on the same day.

I have been so blessed to have an amazing extended family. They are all so supportive of each other. We've been to baptisms, farewells, homecomings, weddings, funerals, etc. Family is forever!