My wife Wendy's family does not have regular Family Reunions. Our last one was in 2009. With our father John Burgoyne's health starting to fail and Dale's new wife we felt it was time to get together again. Our challenge was that John cannot travel which meant the reunion would have to be held here in Utah County.
One suggestion was to meet over the 4th of July weekend but with our scout fundraiser and the number of visitors in the valley it would have been really difficult to have found places to meet. We finally settled on the weekend of July 24th which worked out well because Maren and her family were able to join us.
We started the reunion with a family meal on Thursday evening July 23rd. Maren made arrangements for the meal to be catered by Costa Vida. Everyone but Dale and Susan and Ben made it (they were flying from California). We enjoyed the meal in our family room and then just sitting around and visiting.
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| Waiting for breakfast, L-R: Jilian, Maren, Heidi, Spencer, Susie, Lisa, Elsie, Natalie, Neal, Leslie, and David. |
Friday morning several of the youth (Alison, Stephen, Ben, Peter, and Natalie) ran in the Temple to Temple run in Provo. When the race was completed we met at our home for a Creme Brule French toast breakfast.
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| Doug and Josh filling up on Creme Brule Frensh Toast |
We served French Toast, fruit, yogurt and granola. Everyone enjoyed the meal and we had a lot of stuff left over. The Burgoynes don't eat as much as a youth conference or we just buy too much food.
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| Maren and Tess sampling the fruit and granola bar |
After breakfast it was time to go to the first big activity organized by Lisa. We all went to Seven Peaks water park where we had a cabana reserved for the day.
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| Waiting for our Cabana assignment: Cole, Doug, Josh, Spencer, Maren, Tess, Heidi, David, and Kevin |
The park was crowded but not as busy as it was last year when we took the grandkids. It was nice to have a shady spot to rest. Usually I would take some great shots with my water proof camera but for some reason the battery compartment did not seal properly and water got into the camera. I had to get a new camera when the old one would not dry out.
Friday evening we were back together for the Driveway of Fire extravaganza. Our huge stash of fireworks were supplemented by our neighbors, the Andrus' equally large stash. It was a great show. So fun in fact that I did not take any photos (that and my camera was broken)
Saturday morning we met up South Fork of Provo Canyon at Big Springs park for the family picnic. Peter and David had gone up early and gotten us a great spot. We had lots of shade and two tables to share.
Neil and Leslie had coordinated the meal and we had more than enough to eat. After the meal we played some family games including Bingo and two truths and a lie. Then it was time for family photos.
We concluded the reunion with an evening of games, eating, and visiting at the home Heidi and Doug had rented on the south side of town. We ate too much, got too much sun, but had a wonderful time being together as a family. Hopefully we won't wait 6 years to do this again.
