Andersen Family Reunion 2011: White Mountains

The Wilford Andersen family had another successful family reunion July 2-8, 2011. The first day was spent unloading furniture from the storage unit from the fire evacuation in June. It was a long day of dusting and putting the cabin back together, but we were all so grateful the cabin was untouched by the fire that it seemed more like play than hard work. On Sunday, we drove into Springerville for Church. Grace ended up wearing a green nightgown with a monkey on it because she threw up on the windy road down the mountain. We broke the Sabbath by running into the nearest store to get her something to wear, and it was the closest thing to a dress we could find! After Church, we drove around Greer where the fire had hit near the homes and lodges there. It is quite devastating what happened, and it looks as if we may never see a full recovery in our lifetime. However, it is a pure miracle that so few homes and other structures were damaged. It could have been so much worse.The 4th of July was a dream, because we got to have all the party without all the work. The kids piled into Grandpa's truck and headed to the lodge where Hidden Meadows put on a morning of fun festivities.Aunt Amber made matching 4th of July headbands for all the girls, and Grace loved looking like her big cousins all day long.

First, we painted all the horses and then paraded them around the lodge.

Kade got in on the petting but not the painting. Maybe next year.

Then the parade riders threw lots of candy which turned out to be the highlight of Grace's day. We still need to work on how well she shares with Kade. The poor guy gets the shaft sometimes.

After the parade, we had sack races, hula hoop contests, watermelon eating contests and a pie- eating contest. Then, we kicked our shoes off and played in the nearby stream to get all the stickiness off. That night we all played "minute-to-win-it" and roasted s'mores.

Grace went on her first horse ride ever, and proved to be a natural. She was so cute in her helmet and cowgirl boots. She kept looking back and waving to me as she trotted around the arena.

Grace played with "Buster" and her other cousins all week long. She was in heaven running around the cabin with them, getting dirty, riding bikes, and throwing rocks in the pond. We watched her vocabulary and personality grow in the few days we were all together.

All the adults got to take a turn on the horses as well. Didn't we look awesome in our boots?

I had the laziest horse on the ranch. I kicked him with all of my might only to have him take two or three steps and then stop. Come to find out, he is actually the fastest horse on the Ranch, but it takes a decent rider to get him to do what he should...

Our talent show was a riot this year. Mom and Dad sang a fun duet together, and each of the other families did some sort of skit or talent. Neil and Spencer represented our family with a rendition of "Double Dream Hands."  It was so funny--Neil never dances like this for anything!

Some of the other fun things we did was play bowling ball croquet (we learned not to play with John, because he cheats;), Frisbee golf in the rain, mountain biking down a jagged trail, and jogging in the mornings. We love our 'mountain home' and we were sad to have such a fun week come to an end.