end-of-summer trip (days 3 & 4)

The whole reason I made the end-of-summer trip to Utah was because I was in charge of my high school 15-year class reunion. I scheduled it 6 months ago to be during fair week because I knew that some people came to Tremonton for the fair, and I thought the added attraction of the fair happening at the same time as the class reunion might also draw more out-of-town people to attend.

At the 10-year reunion, I was nominated to be one of the chairman for the next reunion. I knew that I could do it, because I have a "likes to be in charge" kind of personality. There were 2 other people nominated to co-chair it with me: one of which never wanted to do it and didn't, and the other person lives in Colorado and was too far away to help but did sign on the bank account with me. So I basically did the entire thing by myself. I started working on it 5 years ago, trying to gain more classmates' contact information. There was about 350 people in our graduating class, but the previous chairmen only had contact info for 70. Once a year, I emailed the classmates a survey question, this helped me to get opinions from them as well as making sure I kept up-to-date with their email addresses. Then I opened a facebook group and began searching and adding more classmates to the group. I opened a blog page for our high school class, and added more classmates to that list who blog. I used the BRHS alumni website to find more classmates, too. I worked on this off and on for the past 5 years, but began making a real valiant effort in January to add more people to the facebook group. By the time the reunion came, I had found contact information for all but 70 people in our class. My goal was to make contacting classmates easier for future chairmen, and I consider my efforts a success.

In one of the survey questions that I emailed out, I asked when the classmates wanted to have the reunion--at the previous reunion, the chairmen had decided not to do one again until the 20-year one, but I didn't want to be responsible for everything for 10 whole years. About 50% responded that they'd like to have a 15 year reunion, and I wanted to do one too, so I changed the plans. Another survey question that I sent regarded the type of get-together that they would like to have. There were mixed answers: some wanted to have a family gathering, and some just wanted an adult dinner. I decided to try and do both. At our 5 year reunion, we had a potluck gathering at an outdoor pavilion at Crystal Hot Springs. At our 10 year reunion, we had a very nice dinner at the Maddox Restaurant in Brigham City. I wanted to do something different than what had already been done.

The high school that we attended has been recently refurbished and remodeled and the structure has several additions. They worked on it for years, and it was finally completed last year. I haven't stepped foot in the high school since 2000 when my sister graduated, and I thought it would be fun to go on a group tour of the new school. I contacted the vice principal, and he reserved the tour as well as the commons area for us to have dinner in afterwards. I called the Pie Dump, the restaurant across the street from the high school that we always used to go to for morning rolls & donut runs, and they said they would cater the dinner for us. So Friday night, August 24th, was the adults-only dinner and tour.

The following day, Saturday, I planned for a family potluck day at a local park. I wanted to have it later in the afternoon so that anybody local who was involved in the fair might be able to attend. I reserved the North Park in Tremonton, rented a large inflatable bounce house/slide combo to add something new and fun to the park, and called Kent's (a grocery store) to order the main dish of BBQ pulled pork sandwiches & buns.

After completely pricing everything out for all the rentals and reservations and food and paper products, I set the cost of attending and emailed everyone with the details for the 2-day reunion. As the reunion got closer, more and more people RSVP'd, and I was so excited because it was the largest gathering we'd had to date. For Friday night, I had reservations from 100 people to attend. For Saturday afternoon, I had reservations for 90 to attend.

So, when I was in Utah, I tried to get as much family activities done on Wednesday night and Thursday because I knew that I'd be busy with the reunion stuff on Friday and Saturday. On Friday morning, I had a list of everything that still needed to be done or picked up, and I spent the whole morning working on it. Then early in the afternoon, I went to the high school and set up the tables and chairs in the common area, and put tableclothes on each table. Then I drove over to Logan to pick up the inflatable rental for the next day, drove back to Tremonton, changed my clothes at my parents' house, and went to the high school to stand at the front desk and take people's money. I arrived at the high school just as the first classmate was arriving. It was a crazy day!

The tour was to begin at 6:00, and people were still showing up steadily until 6:15. I welcomed everyone and then introduced Coach Park as our tour guide. Thankfully my friend Stephanie had seen the school before, so she offered to stay at the front desk so that I could talk to the caterers and go on the tour myself. Coach Park took us on an hour-long tour of the school. It was fascinating to see how much the school had changed. It was unrecognizable inside in certain parts, and we all felt a little disoriented! When we walked into the adjacent building that houses the new indoor field, I immediately thought "these guys are spoiled"!! We can't even get the people in Salmon to build a new K-8 school to replace our 80-year-old, falling apart schools!

After the tour was done, I told the classmates I wanted to have a group photo. Unfortunately, the lighting wasn't exactly agreeable, and it looks as if half the class are ghosts!

Then we began to eat the feast that the Pie Dump had prepared for us. I had asked the class in another survey what they wanted to eat, and we had roast beef, turkey, both kinds of gravy, dutch oven potatoes, green salad, green beans w/water chestnuts, rolls, and brownies with vanilla ice cream. The dinner was absolutely delicious!

I enjoyed eating and talking with some of my classmates. I sat by one of my high school besties, Kim:

After a half hour, people began to leave and unfortunately, the time for clean-up came much too quickly. Several people helped put away the tables and chairs, for which I was so grateful. Then a few helped me carry all the food containers and decorations to my car. It felt like it took forever to get all the dishes and items I'd brought out of the building and into my car! When I left at 9:00, there were still some people lingering and chatting, but I had to go. I went to my parents' house, and they helped me empty the food into containers and wash all the pots and pans to return to the Pie Dump. It took about an hour and a half with the 3 of us working together to accomplish the task. I was exhausted that night after such a long day and went to bed early.

The next morning, I got to work on the 2nd day reunion stuff. I counted out all the money from the night before and realized that there were about 20 people who RSVP'd for dinner that didn't show. I returned all the pots and pans and paid the pie dump using cash I had been given, and then wrote a $600 personal check to cover the difference on the meal. I was freaking out that I had to cover such a high amount, but I tried to forget about it because I had so much to do that morning. I went to the park and lined up tables, and then my friend Melissa & her husband Shane came early to help me set up the large inflatable toy. It was SO heavy, and I was extremely grateful for their help! I went to the grocery store to pick up the meat and buns, and when I got there, they gave me the BBQ pulled pork in a bucket. It was cold, and I was confused as to why they didn't have it warmed. Apparently, they don't keep it warm for you unless you request it. In Salmon, they always deliver it warmed up in foil containers, so I never thought to ask, and they never informed me it would be cold. I began to have a panic attack...I didn't know how I would get 20 pounds of meat heated up in 20 minutes at an outdoor park. Thankfully, they let me borrow a meat cooker, and I hurried to the park to start warming it up. Of course, the outlets at the park were high, and the cord couldn't reach it with the cooker on the table, so I called my mom to bring an extension cord with her when she came to drop off the boys. Then I got to work laying out all the rest of the food on the table. It was then that I noticed that none of the buns were pre-sliced, and I didn't have a knife, so I called my friend Darcy to bring a knife. And then I sat down and cried. With the weight I felt from the financial strain, and the stress of not having the food ready in time, and the exhaustion I was experiencing from doing the reunion alone, I couldn't take it any longer. I was so embarrassed that I broke down in front of others (sorry Melissa!), but I didn't know what else to do. After a short cry, I started feeling better, and of course, it all worked out just fine. We began eating about 1:15, when the meat finally started warming up. The kids had a blast on the inflatable toy. The adults enjoyed the relaxed environment. There were even fewer in numbers on Saturday--only about 30 came. I was a little disappointed with the numbers, but truly I had a good time with those that did come, and we hung out for about two hours before beginning the task of cleaning up.

 

(thanks Marsha for the photo!)

I was SO grateful for Shane, Scott, John, and David for helping me pack up the large inflatable toy when they were getting ready to leave. Everyone pitched in cleaning up the food (it was much easier than the night before), and we all said our goodbyes. My mom and dad helped me again washing the dishes, and organizing food into containers, and then my mom cooked my favorite dinner for me, Potatoes Au Gratin & Ham. It was so good! I love it when my mom pampers me, especially after a difficult day!

After dinner, I took the boys with me to go return the inflatable toy back to Logan. After dropping it off, we went to the Gossner's store, and we were going to go to the movie theater, too, but we missed the start of the movie by 15 minutes, so we went to go visit my brother Mick's family instead. The change of plans turned out to be the best thing for us all! The kids played so well together outside at first, and then we had movie night with their family in their living room. Jen made flavored popcorn, and we all laid down on blankets and watched "The Lorax". It was a real treat, and it was a nice respite from the crazy 2 days I'd had. We had such a wonderful time together!

We drove back to Tremonton about 11:00 that night and went straight to bed. The next morning, we slept in and got a late start to our trip back to Salmon. We made it back home on Sunday about 5:00. It had been a very full trip to Utah, and I was glad to see my husband again, as well as be in my own home and sleep in my own bed! I felt like I needed a vacation from my vacation--which was impossible to get, because the next morning was back-to-school orientation! It was definitely an end-of-summer trip...we arrived back home on the last official day of summer before the new school year began!