Family Reunion Day 2!

Day 2 of the family reunion started with craft time for the girls at Grandma’s house. We made magnets and picture/memo holders that looked like giant clothes pins. They were cute and could be done quickly so they were perfect. The girl time was so fun but was way too short!

Headed for girl time in our new Earl t-shirts:











Earl girls rock!


Then we headed to the state park for pizza, family pictures, volleyball and races. More fun was had by all.





But the best reunion activity was saved for last! Jared and Angie had planned out an Amazing Race for all of the adults. There were 8 teams of 4 or 5. Families were divided up and it was a blast. We started out at my house and were given our first clue. The clues were pictures and they looked professional (Jared had made them.) I can’t believe how nervous I was. I learned a few things…the Amazing Race is harder than it looks, I over analyze clues and I would be no good at food challenges (that I already knew!) My team was Cali, Aaron Roach and Aaron Wise. They were great teammates and I thought we would be tough to beat, but somehow together we sucked. (No offense guys!) We had a great time, though, and I would take that team again anytime. (Please can we have one more chance?)

This is what the clues looked like:










Our race took us to the water tower by Hearthstone (eating challenge there including pickled pigs feet), the Japanese Garden (find the gnome), the soccer field at the Grape Drive chapel (make a variety of soccer goals), Home Depot (match the paint swatches) and McCosh park (women paint each other’s faces while men put on coconut bikini top and grass skirt and run around town looking for the turtle). Unfortunately I have no pictures of the men running through down town Moses Lake wearing their bikini top. What a hoot! We had the best time! I think we will be telling Amazing Race tales for a long, long time! By the way, the winning team was: Grandma, Pat, Kelsey, Jon (Kacey’s husband), and Angelique (Justin’s wife). There was some controversy over the results (as you could have probably guessed when you pit Earl against Earl) but I am happy to report that there no hard feelings and happiness was abounding. Angie and Jared – you rock!!


Last minute questions before we started.




Our clue giver at Japanese Gardens aka Emily West!





Our Spanish speaking team at the food challenge aka Brittany Milligan and Casey Anderson!




Aaron trying to choke it down with cheering from Cali. He did better than any of the rest of our team could do but we still incurred a 20 min. penalty. Bummer!




Spam, baby food green beans, anchoves, pickled pigs feet complete with fat and bone and hot peppers.




Tip: This is not the amount of people you want to be greeted by when you finish the race. Yeah, my team was not in last place but we were close. Darn that eating challenge!




I got lots of Scarlet time!





We had a lot of time to visit with Kristy's fiance Trevor and we loved everything about him. He is a gem and he seems perfect for her. The newly engaged Kristy and Trevor...




Here is the lip synch that announced the proposal. For the lip synch we were all assigned Motown songs in honor of Tami. Our song was I Heard it Through the Grapevine and we had a series of things that were heard through the grapevine… #1 – I was leaving David for Donny Osmond, #2 – Scarlet was leaving Kacey for Angelina Jolie and #3 – Brad was Dear John’d by someone he truly cared about… our boat! Then Kylie, Courtney and Kendall fought over Edward. The the end sort of speak for itself. Enjoy…

Earl Family Reunion Day 1

We are enjoying a wonderful family reunion under the direction of Tami's kids. They have done a wonerful job of organizing. Today included swimming, pool basketball, eating, croquet, visiting, horse feeding, family t-shirts, an awesome lip synch and more. We have all of our kids home including Jon who wasn't supposed to be able to come because of work but surprised us all (including Kacey) and somehow worked it out so he could come. Kacey flew into Tri-cities and Jon flew from CA to Seattle and drove over with Trevor and Kristy. It is pure heaven to be surrounded by so much family! Here are a few glimpses...

The best surprise of the day? Kristy and Trevor announced they are engaged!

We were all assigned a song for Lip Synch. They were all Motown songs in honor of Tami! We got "I Heard it Through the Grapevine." At the end of our very entertaining (if I might say) lip synch we got in one long line and Trevor was at one end and Kristy was at the other and he whispered something and we all passed it down the line and then Trevor came down the line and got on one knee with a ring pop and Kristy held up a sign that said I Said Yes!

It was a great day!!

Four weddings and a funeral...

... or more like three receptions and a reunion!

As you know from our last post, we attended David's 30th reunion last weekend. But in addition to that, last Saturday night we had three wedding receptions to attend and David's class reunion! The receptions started at 5:00, 6:00 and 6:30 and David's reunion dinner started at 6:00. No problem!

First we hit Luis Sandoval and Amanda Bennett's reception at 5:15. Amanda grew up in our ward and Luis is adopted into the Earl family. We love and admire them both and we are so happy for them!

Then we hit Liberty Baker's reception about 6:00. She looked beautiful and her husband seems like a gem. It was in Garth and Katrina's yard which looked fabulous!

Then we made it to Christine Law's about 6:30. She married Nike Bare from Tri-cities. They make a cute couple. Courtney was her maid of honor and Karissa was one of her bridesmaids. It was in their yard and it was beautiful (the bride and the yard!)

Courtney and Karissa Sanchez


Courtney and Grandma Earl

We got to the reunion about 6:50 just in time to be served dinner. What great timing! What happy occasions!!

Class of 1979 Turns 30.

Moses Lake High School 30th Reunion
Golf Tournament

This is most of the group. (Chris Erickson was still sleeping one off.)

Mike Martin, Dave Holle, Dan Staat, Mario Padilla, Paul Torres
Don Lane, Ronald Kehl, Kenny Penrose, Dean Reents, Steve Duvall and David Earl.

I told everyone to show up 30 minutes early because I knew that Satuday morning at 7am would come real early to the ones who didn't go to bed Friday night.

Ron Kehl, Steve Duvall, Don Lane, Mike Martin -Early in the morning.

Jay Smith, Dean Reents, Mario Padilla

Danny Staat and David Earl battled in out on the back nine. Final Score Danny 38, David 39.

Everyone on the 1st Tee watching Kenny Penrose start us off.

The Champions: Kenny Penrose, Mike Martin and Don Lane with everyone else's money.

Thanks everyone for the weekend. The golf outing was by far my favorite part of the weekend. Seeing all the girls from the Class of 79 was OK, but hanging out with the guy was alot more fun.

Maybe next time Mike Melin, Steve Hancock, Rick Lybbert, Mick Larson, Doug Stockman, Chris Parker, Harold Dilling, Stephen Brown, Ted Beeman, Ernie Vela, Roger Wright and a sober Chris Erickson could make it. By the way, Danny Staat, I demand a rematch!

Just a video of everyone preparing for the class picture - Enjoy.

Until next time - David Earl

Forgot to mention Mo Tab!

I forgot to mention that we want to a taping of "Music and the Spoken Word" on Sunday morning. This is the program that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir presents each week. I forgot that I took this picture with my Iphone. (You are allowed to take pictures, I just didn't have my camera with me.) Unfortunately it didn't occur to me to take a picture until the big choir was on their pre-taping bathroom break. The choir you see seated was a guest choir, The Youth Choir of Great Britain.

Going to see this taping is the easiest... during the summer months they hold it in the conference center which is a building worth seeing all on its own. The doors open at 8:30 and you have to be seated by 9:15. They tape from 9:30-10:00. No children under 8 are allowed, though. There is no need to get in line because the conference center holds 20,000 and there are maybe 2,000 people at the taping? I am a terrible estimator of numbers, but the bottom line is everyone should go at some point if you can... it's free and you can walk in at 9:10 and get a great comfortable seat in a beautiful air conditioned building while the Mormon Tabernacle Choir serenades you! You don't even have to dress up. We were dressed up in our Sunday duds but there were lots of tourists there in shorts and jeans who had just walked in off the street. All are welcome. Be sure to do it if you are in Salt Lake.

And BYU boys... might make for a memorable (and free) date! Pack a picnic (or make her do it)(but extra points if you do it), attend the broadcast in the morning, attend sacrament meeting at the Joseph Smith building and then picnic maybe somewhere on the capital grounds where you can overlook the city and temple square. Now, this is not first date material, you don't want to scare her away with talk of the temple on the first date! This is further into the relationship when she has doubts about your emotional maturity and your commitment to the gospel. This may be just the thing to redeem yourself from that all night video game playing escapade that she just found out about! (Not that any BYU boys - including my own son - read my blog but what the hec!)

Olympus High Class of '79

The Reunion -

David and I flew in to Utah on Thursday afternoon. We went to dinner with an old friend of his, Kathy Zirker Hawkins. She graciously offered to let us stay at their condo at The Kimball which is located right across from Temple Square. It is an awesome location. Our family stayed at that same place for Kacey and Jon's wedding and being there again brought back happy memories.

We took Kathy to dinner at The Red Iguana. David's favorite new thing is to search for places to eat on a website called chowhound.com. It is a site where food aficionados share their favorite places. Apparently, my husband is now a "foodie." He has always loved food but how he has a support group and people to egg him on. Heaven help us!

On Friday David golfed while I stayed in and did some dance work I had to do on the computer. I know... ridiculous, huh? I have spent hours and hours working on the fall schedule and I still have issues with it. Anybody want my job? Lots of hours for little pay? Please...

Anyway, David golfed again on Saturday with Brad and Jamie and Thomas Lund and a few other Olympus grads at Mountain Dell. Sounds like they had fun. The reunion was that evening at George Washington Park by the golf course. It was very casual which was nice.

Here is a self portrait taken just before the reunion. We never take pictures together so we are trying to do better but I hate pictures. In my mind, I'm so much younger and thinner and cooler. And then those dang mirrors and cameras come along and tell the real story. Argggh.

Let me just say that I don't know if it was just my class or all classes, but people change a lot from the 20 year reunion to the 30 year reunion. There were very few people that I could recognize without looking at their picture name tag. I'm not saying that everyone looked bad - not at all (okay, well a few) - most people just looked different. It was crazy. Even some people who looked really good still looked different, not a plastic surgery kind of different - just different. (Maybe it's really good plastic surgery.)

I only took a few pictures. This is one of my friends who looks the same. I recognized her easily without looking at her nametag. This is Lisa Turpin Redford. She and her husband looked great and it was fun visiting with them. Their daughter is marrying BYU basketball player Jonathan Tavernari in September. It was fun to visit with them.

Me and Lisa:

One of the best surprises of the night was that my best friend, Connie Cline, came! She has lived out of Utah for many years now and she didn't come to the 10th or the 20th. Even though we have corresponded over the years, it just hadn't crossed my mind that she would even be there. I was so excited when she came walking over to me. It took me a second to recognize her and I'm not sure why because she looks so much the same. It just took my by surprise but I was so excited. It has been over 25 years since I've seen her. She lives in South Carolina now and her last name is Sivillo. Connie and I had a great time talking about the old days. She was always a lot of fun and we laughed remembering all the times she was grounded. She always got in trouble for sneaking out at night and taking the car without permission. It made me laugh to remember it all. She was a lot of fun. We spent the summer in California together after our senior year. We lived with my dad and worked at a theater. Then we were roommates at BYU our freshman year. We had a lot of good times together and it was really fun to see her. It made my whole night.

Connie, me and David:

Our good friends Jamie and Amy Lund were also there. Jamie was one of the organizers and he did a great job. Jamie and Amy were high school sweethearts. Amy was a year younger than us. We always enjoy catching up with them and have been able to see them quite often throughout the years.

Jamie and Amy Lund

Another one of my friends, Jill Barnes Young, was one of the organizers. I took a picture with her but it was so awful of both of us that she would hate me if I posted it. I think we were both caught talking mid sentence. Amy, Jill and I somehow ended up in Sophomore health class as Seniors (well, Amy was a Junior) but it was still torture. We reminisced about skipping class and going boating. Suffice it to say, we bonded in health class.

David and I won for the most kids + grandkids which is 9. I still can't believe that is a winning number in Salt Lake City? Surely there is someone in my graduating class with an impressive number like 10 or 12! Maybe there is but they just aren't coming to the reunion. I know there was at least one other classmate there with 7 kids (Lynn Pace) but looks like we beat them to the grandkids. By the way, thanks for that Kacey and Jon - the winning prize of a sleeve of golf balls was totally worth it!

It still freaks me out that we are that old. It's weird for me to talk to Connie about her 28 year old son and my 25 year old daughter. Weren't we in high school like 15 minutes ago? Life is crazy.

There were alot more people that I would have liked to visit with that weren't there, but it was fun visiting with the ones that were. Can I just say I'm glad I'm not in high school anymore. Always worrying about what other people think of you. Even when you told yourself you didn't really care, you really did. It was especially hard for me being the new kid and feeling like I had to prove myself all over again (which I never really did.) It's too bad that when you switch schools you can't just take your social status with you like you do your transcripts. Now, I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking that I was ever popular. I wouldn't go that far! But I was generally one of the smart kids and I was a cheerleader (back when cheerleaders were good.) At least people knew who I was. Transferring into a class of 700 kids and gaining instant anonymity is not very fun. But Olympus was a great school and there were some great kids there. I'm glad that at least I got to be anonymous among such amazing students. Thank goodness for my sister, Lori, who was just a year behind me. I at least had one friend at the school!

Jamie Lund really stands out to me as someone who was kind and wise beyond his years in high school. He always went out of his way to be nice to people when he didn't have to. I saw him do it all the time even when he thought no one was watching. That is truly an admirable trait. There were lots of great kids at Olympus and I enjoyed the time that I spent there. I'm proud to be a Titan. I guess I finally made my mark by being the most prolific graduate. Why that's just about as good as Homecoming Queen, wouldn't you say? Ha Ha. By the way, she (HQ - Ruth Fryer) looked fabulous and very much the same. Congratulations class of '79!