Davies Family Reunion

I know I am way behind, but I guess vacations will do that to ya. It's hard to come home from them and get your house running again. And just when I feel like it's coming along, something else comes up on my calendar. Anyway, here's how this years reunion went.

We had a tough time getting the reunion this year. ALL kidding aside, it just isn't the Davies family reunion if someone in the Nielsen family has a vehicle trouble. My brother has had trouble with his truck in previous years. And last year, my parents blew a tire on their truck. It took them hours to get the tire off then drive into the next town to get it fixed. Yep, you can say we have had plenty of trouble getting there. I think it almost makes me appreciate the reunion that much more. Like, we almost wouldn't have been able to make it. I never want to miss a Davies family reunion.

Well, this year, it's was our turn to have it rough. My Dad passed down his Father's motorhome to us last year. We finally got it running last August and have taken it to Utah Lake and to Burraston ponds down in Mona. Derek has also taken it up Spanish Fork canyon. So, we thought, why not take it to Duchesne for the reunion? We got that thing completely loaded and stocked for the weekend. Off we went. Our only stop was going to be at Sam's Club for some bottled waters and a few other things, plus getting some gas. We decided on getting the gas first before shopping. Derek filled the tank, got back in, and dang it, the stupid thing won't start back up. Derek had helped a lady on the next pump when the machine wouldn't read her card. She saw that we were now having trouble, so she offered her jumper cables. We jumped it, but Derek wanted to go have it checked out at Auto Zone before we left. Turned out we needed a new alternator. Not too expensive, but it did take a few hours to replace. We were off again, and ended up only being about an hour later than my parents.

The reunion was so much fun. I think I got pretty crazy into the theme this year, even though we weren't the ones in charge. I found Tiki torches at the dollar store and thought it would be a fun addition to the campsite. We even went and bought citronella oil to burn in them and also keep away the bugs. I also bought some patriotic leis for the entire family. Plus, some fun Hawaiian decorations. All were from the dollar store. So really I didn't spend too much money. The most money was spent on the oil which was $8 alone. But, it was so worth it. The girls loved seeing the torches all lit up. It was kind of pain at first, we learned that you needed to cut the wick short. Derek burned his hand pretty good. He probably should have at least bandaged it, but that's my husband. Mr. Accident-prone. The first night we roasted hot dogs and these yummy pineapple - bacon chicken sausages. They were really good, and not spicy at all. We also roasted marshmallows and made smores. We handed out some glow sticks to a few of the kids.

The next day after breakfast, my Mom and I went to the family meeting. I sort of adopted myself onto the committee. I love going and getting to know some of the family better. We talk about budgets and the family fund and setting a date for the next years reunion. This year's meeting was really interesting. We talked quite a bit about family history. We are related to Jacob Hamblin. Hamblin was a well known missionary to the Native Americans across the southern corner of Utah. His home still stands today in Santa Clara. To learn more about his home, click here. If you visit the home, make sure you look in the storage chamber for his saddle. There is a note attached to it. The note says that the saddle was handed down through the generations and finally donated to the building by William Lyman Daives. That's my Grandpa! Click here to see the saddle. You can click here to read the entire story from this site. The site talks about an adopted Indian son who helped the other sons manage herds of cattle and sheep. During our family meeting, my Uncle Lavar stated that there is no burial headstone for the adopted son. We think the relationship between the Native Americans may have prevented this. For whatever reason, he currently doesn't have one. We are considering as a family having a headstone made and placed to serve as a memorial for him. Uncle Lavar has spoken with the cemetery director and they will allow us to place it on one of the unidentified graves. There is no way of finding out exactly which one was his.

We also spoke about a monument of Jacob Hamblin that use to be in Kanab, Utah. It was taken down a few years ago and replaced with a statue of the first bishop in Kanab. We really would like the monument/ statue of Jacob Hamblin replaced. It sounds like the LDS church has stepped in and may provide the means for it to happen. If they don't, the family would like to find ways to help out in the effort. We found out about the situation from a descendant of the Hamblin line who contacted my cousin. They had been trying to find other organized family committees.

The rest of the reunion went really well. The girls had lots of fun. I was asked to be in a little skit where I was the hunter in Little Red Riding Hood. Every time they said the word hunter, I beat my chest and yelled like Tarzan. It was pretty funny. The girls sure got a kick of seeing me up there. My family comes up with the funniest things.

My sister has some pictures she said she would email me. *Hint Hint Krista* I forgot my camera, sadly. I have been forgetting it a lot this summer. Guess there are too many other things on my mind. On the way home, we had a little more trouble with the motorhome. The family all waited while Derek got it fixed again. Something about the alternator again. Thankfully Auto zone gave is another one for free. Hopefully next year, no one will have car mechanical trouble. That would be nice.