Family Reunion in Tropic

Tropic: a city about 4 hours away in the middle of nowhere.

Population: 300 (actually I don't know, but it was small.)

Reason for going: Ben's Mom's Mom's family reunion. This is where Ben's grandma grew up.

Where we stayed: In these cute little cabins. Each family had their own little cabin.

Events: Games with Merrill family. They are the champions of games. Cards and mafia were mostly played. It was so fun. Lots of eating. Fruit, candy, chips, and oreos of course.

The boys played 500 with a football that crossed the barbed wire fence many times. The fence caught Brayden once while he was running. Ben had to unhook him.

There were many babies and children. Troy loved it. They just kind of wandered around, playing. Troy ate the leftover cheetos and oreos people had dropped. At least it wasn't bugs...

At night we had a campfire and practiced a skit to be done in front of the other families the following day. Uncle Dave and Shane are wonderful yodelers.

The actual reunion program was full of ancestor trivia, singing, game playing, food and skits. Sounds a lot like the Andersen reunion actually. Ancestor trivia even. We found out that Ben has ancestors that were in the Martin handcart company. If only we had known before trek! We visited the grave sites of Mom's grandparents. Ben remembers his great grandma and how she mashed his carrots to make them taste better.

For dinner they had professional dutch oven cookers come. They had ribs, cheesy potatoes, marinated chicken, rolls and salad. It was amazing. Plus I got to know Aunt Carol (Ben's Mom's Aunt) and some of the other family members and I am so impressed. They were so loving, friendly, and good examples. It was great company.

Mom bought us some fudge that she discovered at the local candy shop. Homemade fudge by the lady in the store. I got peanut butter chocolate flavor. Mmmmm.

On Sunday we went to church at the local ward. They had a mini-chapel and the most amazing talks. I felt motivated to do so much more each day because of what it can do for my family and me.

After church we drove through Bryce Canyon for a short time. We got out to look at the breathtaking scenery, but it was raining, so we didn't stay very long. On the way back home it stopped raining and so Ben, Troy, and I got out to observe the beauty of this...

Not the best pic, but look at the background!

An attempt at taking a picture of us three by ourselves. This was the best that came out.

Troy is laughing because he is on Ben's shoulders. He likes to bend his whole body down and see Ben's face. He does it on both sides.

It was beautiful and we really admired what God has created for us to enjoy.