Playing, Floating, Swinging, Shooting

Josh and I hosted the Perkins Family Reunion in Salmon this year. It was the first time we've had it in Salmon, and we were so excited to have my family come! For months, we've been planning what we wanted to do during the reunion, and I came up with a list of activities we could do in 2-day's time. As the reunion got closer, however, there were some changes made to the grand plan due to my siblings' schedules: my brother Mick and his family decided not to come, and none of my sisters could come until Saturday, July 11th. Since there would no longer be a lot of kids at the reunion, and it was basically going to be just one day instead of two, I changed the itinerary to include more adult activities and to pack as much fun into one day as possible! 

On Friday, July 10, my parents arrived as well as my sister-in-law BreAnne (she is my brother Cody's wife--he couldn't come due to his work schedule) and their son Brendan. My parents slept in Kanyon's room (he has a double bed), and everyone else who came slept in trailers outside. BreAnne and Brendan slept in our trailer, and we borrowed two more trailers from friends in our ward for my sisters and their spouses to sleep in. We wanted everyone to be near our place, with comfortable, cheap, and private accommodations, and having the trailers parked near our home filled those desires. 

Saturday July 11 was the big day of the reunion. My sisters Tabbi, Tawna, and Trina (and their spouses Bryce & Dan) arrived in the afternoon. The boys played with their cousin Brendan all morning as we waited for the rest of the family to come.

Playing trains together--one of Brendan's favorite activities while he was here!

Drawing pictures with sidewalk chalk

Playing with trucks in the dirt pile

My mom actually took a break from
working & cleaning to come sit outside with
Josh & I in the hammocks. Such a rarity for her!

Mom, BreAnne, and I were in charge of the lunch preparations. We made the fixings for taco salad/burritos. It was a filling lunch! We sat around the table talking and laughing for quite a while, and Tabbi had my parents playing Truth-or-Dare, which was very entertaining. For dessert, BreAnne and I both made homemade ice cream. I made vanilla, and she made an animal cookie-flavored one. There was some stress with dessert as we ran out of ice, but the ice cream still turned out delicious, so all was well!

After lunch, it was time to float the river. I've been wanting to do this with my siblings since I first floated the river in 2001, and was so happy to finally have the chance to! But there had been some storm clouds blowing through that day, and we weren't sure if it was actually going to work out for us to go. Thankfully, right after lunch, they seemed to momentarily dissipate, so we decided it was time to go right then. Everyone picked an innertube, we piled into the truck, and headed down the highway to get in at the 11-mile boat access.

Back row: Bryce, Josh, Ammon, and Ammon's friend Tim
Front row: Tabbi, Tawna, and me

Getting in--the water's so cold at first it momentarily takes your breath away

My dad drove along the highway and stopped at pull-outs to watch us and take pictures. I'm so glad he did, because Tawna's initial tube was far too small, so he drove to our home to grab another one that was just like the tube I was using to trade with hers after we'd gone a little ways. Unfortunately, the replacement tube was a little big for her, and she struggled with being able to reach her hands and feet in the water to paddle and guide herself after that!

Bryce

Tabbi

Josh

Tim and Ammon

Tawna in the replacement tube

I love floating the river!

Our group

Since Tawna was directionally-challenged in the tube,
I swam beside her as much as possible. We held onto each other's tube
as I paddled in the directions we needed to go!

We got out at Shoup Bridge after 6 miles (2+ hours) of floating. It was starting to get cold by then, as another group of large clouds was moving in. Dan and Trina had come with my dad to watch us for a while from the road, and to pick us up at the end. 

Getting out at Shoup Bridge boat ramp

After everyone switched out of their wet clothes into some warm, dry ones, it was time to get ready for dinner. We had Hawaiian Haystacks, and Tawna, Trina, and Tabbi were in charge of the preparations and clean-up, although thankfully my mom did a lot of the prep work while we were on the river. It was warm enough to eat outside, so we took the food out and enjoyed eating in the yard.

When dinner was done, we played for a bit in the yard. Between the playground equipment, giant stride swing, and the rope swing over the ditch, we had plenty of entertainment!!

Trina & Brendan on the teeter-totter.

Bryce, Dan, and Kanyon on the giant stride

Kanyon, Josh, Dad, and Bryce swinging across the ditch.
Everyone came out with wet legs, mostly due to the landings!!

Dan's the only one I actually caught splashing on film, though!

Evidence of the failed attempts to swing across the ditch
without getting wet!

Next on the agenda was clay pigeon shooting. We drove down the road about a 1/4 mile to the gravel pit for this activity. We'd borrowed two clay pigeon shooters from friends, and Dad and Dan brought extra guns, so there was plenty for everyone! We spent over an hour shooting, and it turned out to be a LOT of fun!!!

Getting started!

The Tolman boys shooting. It was the first time Jonah and Micah tried it!

The ladies trying it. I was happily surprised to see my mom do it!
Tawna and I opted not to, though, since neither of us likes guns.

The guys in their realm. This was the first time that Bryce tried it, too!

At the end, all of the guys were shooting at the flying targets, and it was so fun
to see the discs get blown to shreds!

Kanyon and Brendan, both with super-sensitive hearing, did so well watching the shooting! It was nice that we had a lot of protective gear for everyone's ears, thanks to my dad.

When the box of pigeons was all used up, we cleaned up all the bullet remnants, and headed back home. We were all getting hungry again by that time, so it was time to get out the fixings for Banana Boats to cook over the outdoor fire pit. Not a lot of my family had made Banana Boats before that, so I was glad to offer them a new experience! We loaded up chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips into the bananas with a slit down the middle. Then we covered them in tinfoil for Josh to cook them over the fire for about 10 minutes. When they were ready, we unwrapped them, and loaded on the spray whipped-cream before eating them!

Making the banana boats

Josh getting the fire ready

Tawna & Bryce are excitedly swinging while waiting for dessert!

My mom gave the boys lap-blankets that night, and this was the perfect
opportunity to use them; waiting for dessert to be done cooking over the fire!

We ate the delicious dessert, and then sat around outside past dark, watching the fire burn, until we got too cold and finally headed inside. We contemplated going to the hot springs or playing board games, but everyone was just so exhausted from the fun-packed day that they were content to just sit on the couch and watch T.V. So we watched the Running of the Bulls until around midnight instead!

Notice Kanyon giving Tabbi a backrub?! She offered money if he would, and he
happily took her up on that offer!

The next day was Sunday, and my parents and Trina & Dan came with us to 9am church meeting. Kanyon was the Reverent Child at the beginning of Sacrament Meeting, Trina sang a song with me during the Sacrament Meeting program, and Kanyon gave a talk in primary. As soon as his talk was done, we left church early to come home. I made lunch of sloppy joes, and Tabbi made a delicious and fresh dip for chips, while everyone was packing and cleaning up. Mom & Dad and Trina & Dan left just as lunch was done--I didn't know they were leaving so early, or I would've gotten a group picture of all of us before then. BreAnne, Tawna & Bryce, and Tabbi all left shortly after lunch. And then Josh and I took a nap!

We had such a wonderful time with my family, and were so glad they came and that the weather worked out for us to do activities outside! It was a happy weekend for all of us, and we enjoyed the quality time together!