Peacock Party

I've had too much fun the last few weekends and am SOOOOO behind on my blogging! Plus with almost 1,000 pictures taken the past two weeks, I haven't really had the time to go through all my pictures and attempt to pick out a handful to share. But since I feel like this is my journal of sorts, you'll have to indulge me on my catching up with the last few family activities we've done. First thing on the catching up list is the Peacock Family Reunion. I'm not sure how to blog about a family reunion, knowing most of the people who take a quick peek at my blog could care less about my family reunion, so I'll just let the pictures do the story telling. For anyone who wants to see ALL the pictures, check them out on Facebook.

We have realized after seven years of marriage that it's just as easy to pack the morning we leave on vacation as it is to stay up late and pack the night before. Plus, my family is notoriously late to any family event and we figured packing in the morning would only put us two hours ahead of the rest of my family. We even stopped at Cabella's on the way down to Joe's Valley to kill some more time. We actually thought Pearl would enjoy seeing all the animals but she was scared of them! It must be something about them not moving that freaks her out or that she is just a scardey cat of everything cool! To soothe her fears, Jeff reluctantly bought her a sack of gummy worms and a $15 "Juno" puppy (every dog is named Juno since that's what Aunt Kimmy's dog is called and I swear Pearl thinks Juno is actually her dog at times). It was a ripoff but it kept her happy for the rest of the drive and she has to now sleep with Juno.

We rolled into Orangeville, stopped at the local grocery store where Jeff nearly killed himself by hitting his head on a metal pole, and arrived at my Uncle Paul's ranch in time for the big wienie roast. From this point on, I pretty much did the following all weekend... eat, wish that Pearl would sleep in her own bed, eat some more, eat some of Aunt Beulah's heavenly cream puffs, get sunburned, eat, wish that Pearl would sleep in her own bed or at least with Jeff in his tent, try to figure out which of the 18 water bottles on the counter was actually mine, wish that we could out bid our coal miner relatives during the family auction, followed by more eating.

The craziness ensued Saturday when about 100+ relatives descended onto the ranch for a steak BBQ, elastic gun shooting for the kids, and the family auction. Now, I wouldn't want to work in a coal mine but geez do they have money to spend! Jeff and I really, really, really wanted a 1930's mail desk that my Uncle Paul refinished but there was no way we could compete with Uncle Delroy's deep mining pockets. That was even after we tried the "All my money!" technique that seemed to work in the kids only auctionn. So instead we came home with these adorable Peacock towels (and an extra $20 thanks to my Grandpa who said he would rather give all his money to his grandkids than buy any more raffle tickets for a quilt).
We kept Pearl entertained by stuffing her in the bouncy house and trying to get her to go on a horse ride with me. Apparently getting bucked off a pony TWICE the day before at our city's 24th of July holiday celebration was still fresh in her mind when I put her on the saddle with me. Oh well, I had fun and even my mom got to go on a horse ride! Have I mentioned that my mom got a horse for her 12th birthday and I didn't??? Not that I'm bitter or anything.After more eating, we headed up to Joe's Valley reservoir to try out Nick's boat. Thank heavens at least one of us married into $$$. It was a bit cold but that didn't stop us from having a great time. Pearl had a blast driving Uncle Nick's boat and when we went to Bear Lake she asked where his boat was. She is still talking about driving the boat two weeks later! I really fear the day she gets her driver's license with how much fun she had going "fast."More wienie roasts after exploring the reservoir followed by a full day of water skiing on Sunday. Yes, we not only skipped church but we really broke the Sabbath with this one! But hey, we were seriously the only boat out there and it was just perfect for some skiing! It's been years since Jeff and I went water skiing and honestly, I was a bit nervous that something disastrous would go wrong, like me blowing out a knee, because the last time I decided to water ski on Sunday I ended up in physical therapy again for several months! We must still have some spring left in our old bodies though because I got up on my first try and Jeff was, as usual, a sloam skiing stud... until he biffed it big time because he couldn't see the wake without his glasses on. Even my dad "could still get up for an old man" as Jeff put it so nicely! Everyone gave it a try, my mom included, and had a great time. Pearl wasn't too sure what to think about this new activity and would scream "Daddy!" anytime she couldn't see Jeff in the water. I figured it was not only a good chance to use some muscles that haven't been used in probably six years, but to also work on getting rid of my pasty white skin. Let's just say I should have put the sunscreen on BEFORE it was my turn to water ski.
Leaving always makes me remember how beautiful "coal country" is... that is until we hit Highway 6. Note to self, NEVER drive a suburban on Highway 6 again!