Family Reunion 2016
My mom’s side of the family started to plan a reunion about a year ago. At that time we were still living in the Philippines and weren’t certain that we would be back in the states. But, we were able to relocate home and attend this family reunion. The last time that Matt and I attended a family reunion for this side of the family, I had just found out that I was pregnant with Kalani. Now 13 years later we were all able to reunite and the extended family were able to meet Blake for the first time. The reunion was in Utah and this was the first time that our children had been to this state and I think that they all had a great time.
Day 1
With the weather being so lovely and no humidity I convinced my siblings and their kids to go for a walk a few hours after we landed. The kids all loved running around on the grass and just enjoying each other’s company.
My brother lives only a couple of blocks away from the Provo Temple so I took the opportunity to show our kids that temple and any others that we came across. It had been 16 years since I was last at this temple, before serving a mission in El Salvador for our church.
Since we arrived on the 4th of July, it was great to see the kids play with their cousins and use sparklers to celebrate.
Day 2
When I knew that we would be in Utah, I started the ball rolling to have a reunion for our church ward family from the Philippines. Not as many people came who said they were going to be there, but it was still fun to meet up with people who we shared time with in the Philippines.
My friend forgot about our Philippines church reunion, but we were able to meet up with her and her boys at a dinosaur museum.
As soon as we got home from the dinosaur museum we went out to dinner with my sister-in-law and her boyfriend.
We ate ice cream the Provo City Center Temple grounds and enjoy the scenery and company. A few days later we took the kids to this temple also.
Day 3
My sister is going to school to get her license to cut hair. I trusted her to cut my hair a couple of inches before we left for the family reunion.
We stayed at Camelot Resort on the Strawberry River up the Provo Canyon. The kids really enjoyed the view and were excited to see our cousin from Texas already at the resort.
One of the first things we did after unpacking was to go on a short hike with any cousins that wanted to join us.
Day 4
A much bigger group went on a longer hike that ended at an area that over looked our resort.
The kids enjoyed tubing down the river even if the water was really cold and only about 15 inches deep.
Day 5
After breakfast was a morning of crafts that my sister planned. Painting rocks that we found on our hike, Fruit Loop necklaces, Kool-Aid lip gloss, etc.
We had nearly 30 cousins participating in a Kid-Friendly Olympics that my aunt and I planned.
Mason participating in the pool noodle javelin throw.
Kalani racing against her cousin in the pool noodle hurdles.
The finale of our Kid Olympics was to have these two cousins run around with candy glued to their shirt…they were a human pinata and it only lasted about two minutes before the candy was all taken.
After lunch my aunt and I set up slip-n-slide kickball for anyone who wanted to participate.
It was so much fun to play with kids of all ages.
After family photos and dinner we had a family talent show. My sister and I performed a song we learned from a church girls camp.
Day 6
After we packed up and left the resort and grabbed some lunch, we made our way to Salt Lake City to see the temple, walk around Temple Square and meet up with a friend of ours from the Philippines.
We befriended Leslie in the Philippines and encouraged her to serve a mission. She returns home the end of this month, so we count it very fortunate that we got a VIP tour of Temple Square with her and her companions. Here we are inside the Tabernacle.
More photos of our family reunion adventures in Utah here.
This is so inspiring! I want to have something like this with our family too. I think its way overdue. Thanks Tia and Matt!