Roberts Family Reunion. Littlewood June 17-20, 2015

The search for the little lost Littlewood River camping meadow begins.....

This year's Roberts Reunion was managed by Leigh.  She was mean and aggressive but got the job done.  She did delight a little in sending us bad directions so we would go all over the place so we couldn't find the camp at first.  (Go 5 minutes past the reservoir and don't turn on the first road but the second)(oh Leigh Leigh Leigh but I won't harass you as I am now a grownup)  It is a little hard to put together a big gathering like this so its a minor detail.

The Littlewood River is in central Idaho, north of a town called Carey and west of the Craters of the Moon national monument.  Arco is just a little past Craters of the moon on the east side and Twin Falls, Idaho is further south of Carey.  We came from Victor, Idaho which is 4 hours to the east of Littlewood and not far from Jackson Hole Wyoming.  Sun Valley, Idaho is a little bit north and a little bit west of there.  Our families live in Utah, Nevada and Idaho and everyone of my siblings and their families made it this year.

I will tell the story through the photos rather than rant for hours right here.  I'm listening to some 80's rock and roll music while I write this so I hope it doesn't offend anybody.  It just might make what I write seem a little weird is all.

This is the first night there and looking south over Dad's and Jon's campers. I was trying out some night photography with a tripod and long shutter speeds.   I don't have a lot of experience with it but find it interesting.   I believe the light is on Jon's camper.  There were a lot of nice stars.  The only problem with my camera is it creates a lot of noise.  Notice there are stars in the ground which is the retarded "noise" created by my camera.  Otherwise the stars look nice doncha think?

 Here is Teresa holding Maple.  Nobody in the camp liked her so we had to keep her on a leash.  She's as mean as a wolf so I understand their fears.  She's about 4-5 months old and is a Shiba Inu which is a small cousin to the Akita.  She weighs 13 pounds.  It is a Japanese breed that was bred for hunting small game.   It is the oldest breed in the world and genetically closest out of any dog to a wolf, however she acts more like a coyote.  She makes yappy sounds like a coyote and pounces on mice like a coyote.  In the snow she looks like a dolphin leaping in and out as she hunts.  This is not a very well known breed in the US and it took quite a bit of effort and dollars to aquire her.

Got a good shot of the W.  This is the constellation Cassiopeia.  Same in the next photo.

Can anybody see the Big Dipper, Little Dipper and the North Star?

The next series of photos are just me trying to get better at capturing the stars with less noise.  You can see some constellations in each photo.  The person who can name all of them will get a crisp $2 bill.

The next few photos are me welcoming the new day.  We got up bright and early to the lovely sounds of Dad and Morgan's family clanging pots and pans.  Since I couldn't sleep through all the racket I got up and took these nice photos.  We later ate a pretty good breakfast so despite the early commotion I can give them 2 thumbs up.  We had bacon, eggs and pancakes.

This is my white water raft with a fishing frame.  I decided I didn't want to take my big motor boat as it was fixing to provide me with a lot of red faced screaming and yelling.  I first turned it on after de-winterizing and it started right up with its big 350  chevy engine and 4 barrel carburetor's deep chugging  and wonderful sound.  Next thing I knew the blower wasn't working so I fiddled with the wires and turned it off.  Then I tried turning it over again and it gave me the dead battery clicky sound.  Not convinced the battery was dead I  cleaned the posts with a wire brush.  It then turned over but barely.  Well, thats ok the battery is 5 years old.  Then I noticed the positive post looked funny.  On closer inspection the dumb thing was sinking into the battery and the plastic around it was like molten lava.  Like a dummy I go to unscrew the wires from the post to see if the connection was bad and promptly branded my finger with the shape of the butterfly nut.  I let out a scream and flung the nut to Hawaii meanwhile shreaking  and sucking on my finger at the same time.  I was like Homer Simpson with a bee  up his butt for a minute or two.  I didn't really want to buy a new battery and the fact that there was other maintenance to do I decided I didn't want to mess with the boat.  To ease my mind in not having a boat I took my raft even though I knew it would be like rowing a submerged log on the lake.

David's camp on the left.

Macey's turn with the dog.  We kept her on either the leash or in her travel pen.  Fortunately our kids like Maple so it wasn't too much of a chore.

As usual Macey doesn't like her picture taken.  After the picture was taken I said "No thanks I use toilet paper"

The breakfast in construction as we speak

Remember the submerged log theory?  Well here it is in action as my dad has to tow me across the lake.

Hey I got an idea!  Lets pause for a selfie!  This rivals anything Katy can do.

YeeHaw Cowboy!!!  Now we are really moving.  Don't let go of the rope Toby!  Aw Snap!  Who let go of the rope??!! 

Captain Morgan!  Some people might not realize I'm talking about the real life boy Morgan up front there and may try to drink him.  Dad aka "Lewie the Great" is the guy waiving the white stetson.  He is the mastermind behind the towing episode and saving my po wittle arms from rowing to death.  Then its Elwin, Henry and Toby.  We are headed to the dam, the straight line up there.  We are going to ditch Toby, Henry and Elwin there.  (Don't tell them that)

Aw what the heck, let's take another selfie.  My dad is going to let me go pretty soon and I will be flailing the water against the wind.  

After flailing for awhile I decide to head for this cove and beach the raft.  Quinn gets out with a worm and immediately catches a fish.  Unfortunately I had to help him get the worm on.  And then he didn't realize that he had a fish right off the bat.  The way it happened is I saw a fish jump clear out of the water shaking his tail like he was hooked.  Quinn was just standing there holding his pole. I yelled at Quinn, "hey nice one!"  He says "huh?".   "Don't you have a fish?"  "No"  The fish jumps again clearly with a line coming out of its mouth.  "REEL! YOU HAVE A FISH!!"  "Oh"  He reels.  "Oh yeah I do have a fish".  Then he stops reeling.  "I think it got away"  "REEL YOU HAVE A FISH".  "Oh yeah its still there".  "Get that dang thing in!!"  Ok.  Then he finally pulls it in.  The hook was completely in the fish's stomach.  This fish was about 11 inches long and was a rainbow.

At least he caught it.  Then he proceeded to catch a nice 14 incher and then a few minutes later caught another 12 incher. The 14 incher later won him the prize for the biggest fish contest. 

Dad driving away.  The raft aka "WaterLog" and Quinn on the beach.

Not sure what they are but they kinda looked like a yellow primrose.

That is a long way to back a trailer.  We are getting ready to haul dad's boat out.  Look at the beautiful sky.

We came out of the lake a little after lunch time.  Got to camp and ate lunch, rested a little.  I waded a little in the river with my fly rod and didn't catch anything.  Time goes by and then Dad says "a couple of the brother's want to go to Mormon Hill do you want to come?"  I said sure and then told Hugh.  We all got in a couple vehicles and went up.  On the way there we ran into David who was coming down in his truck from a hike in the which he had encountered a black bear who had been to the parlor and changed its hair to blond.  From the pictures I couldn't tell if it had gotten tattoos or not but since it was a progressive bear I figured it must be so.  Who knows how it is with kid bears these days.  It took us awhile to get up to Mormon Hill but it was worth the effort and the time talking about old times.

Now we have been back to camp after fishing, rested awhile and then decided to go up to Mormon Hill.  We are standing around reminiscing about getting bucked off horses, shooting the wrong elk, getting lost, getting our butts kicked while backpacking back there etc.  Mormon Hill was our drop off point several years ago for many hunts, pack trips and fishing trips.  I shot my first elk up here.  There's lots of times I had to ride and lead horses up to the summit so the horse trailer wouldn't get stuck.  We went back to the headwaters with the scouts backpacking and saw a dead bear once.  Me and my dad horsepacked into the headwaters of Littlewood River another time and caught a lot of fish.  There are many stories of this place of the which I will write down sometime.  Hopefully other people that have been here will be jogged to do that as well.

Kayden and Logan in the foreground.  Kylie in the purple.  Then it goes James the Bames, Jon (Bong), Mitsi (Sorry I don't have a nickname for you) Morgy, Huey Poop, and Divard.  

Dad snapping a candid shot

We gave the cameras (aka smartphones) to Mitsi to take an "All Males of the Roberts' Family Photo"  Either I'm too fat or she aimed off a little.  No matter, either side is my good side.  (I'm the adventurous looking fellow on the left.)

Ok now we are lined up a little better.  James is so casual don't you think?  I do look a little better with both of my good sides in the photo.  Mitsi had accidentally turned on my video so we got a nice video of James telling Mitsi that she was doing the camera wrong.  Now on the serious side, this is a good momento of all the days gone by and memories of good times.  I think it has been 20 years since I stood on this hill.

Gosh these phones are all different.  Its ok Mitsi despite what your husband says.

Took the opportunity to snap a side profile shot while Mitsi was wrangling the next camera.   Good thing dad's hat doesn't cover up Jon.

Ok so lets pause from the photos for a bit.  After coming back from Mormon Hill it was almost time for dinner.  We had a nice dinner that night of spaghetti and meatballs, french garlic bread and corn not on the cob.  Leigh and Jeremy seemed to be the folks running the mess hall that night.  I would say it was successful.  We didn't do much more that night.  I took Teresa down to the lake after dark to show her where we had been and to use one bathroom that I had discovered was quite clean and that nobody was using.  It became my own private outhouse for the week.  I marked the toilet paper in such a way that I knew nobody else had used it.  Haha.

Friday morning rolls around and the wind is blowing.  We get our breakfast done by the twins and Troy and LouAnne and their families.  Once again it was good.  We had eggs, bacon, sausage and pancakes.  We decide to go fishing on the lake again but the wind is blowing so bad I decided not to take my raft.  I casually asked Dad if I could thumb a ride to the other side of the lake to one of the banks like where Quinn caught his fish.  LouAnne and Troy and their family were going to come as well.  While giving LouAnne and Troy time to get ready I unlimbered my trusty .22 pellet sniper gun and let a couple cans and paper cups feel light inside their bellies.  I filled a couple cans full of water and had the pleasure of seeing them split royally when hit.  Aw, the simple pleasures in life.  I can sit on my deck on a comfy lawn chair in the evening and pop the poop out of mice as they run across the ditch with that gun.

Back to the story, LouAnne finally wins the wrestling match and away we go.  We are all in Dad's truck.  LouAnne, Shaelynn, Josiah, Troy, Me and Dad.  We get to the lake and there are white caps on the water so we thought maybe lets find a good place to fish from the bank for awhile rather than get swamped by waves.  We drove to the south side of the reservoir only to find a large chasm in the road that would make it difficult for the boat to get up.  While dad was unhooking the boat with Hugh (in the meantime Hugh and his family had shown up in their suburban) me and Troy and LouAnne walked up the road to the dam.  It looked like it would be good fishing if we went around across the top of the dam but they didn't want to take the vehicles over.  We could have fished where we turned around but a ginormous flock of "The Mr. Rogers Reunion" folks were throwing rocks in the water.  (The Mr. Rogers Reunion were folks that had tried to horn in on our spot)  (Morgan and Dad gave them the boot and dejectedly they had moved their camp to the lake)  (Another side story is a couple kids from their bunch crashed off the road when going too fast and dad gave them a ride to their camp, which is how we found out it was the Roger's reunion at the lake)  (they were all over the place by the way and if they would have camped with us there would only be inches of space to walk around) (I would have had no problem with that space but the folks with the bigger heads would have got stuck)

Since the lake didn't work we decided to drive down below it to where the lower river met the road.  There the water was wide almost like a large pond.  We tried to find a place down to it to fish but one spot was already taken by a local dude.  While dad was pumping the local dude for info, Hugh drove up a little further and found another place we could drive to and fish.  While driving back to tell us and while I was on the back of their suburban jumping and bouncing it like a gorilla, an old fella on a 4-wheeler drove by.  We found dad coming back from his "pump the local guy talk" and I stopped scaring Hugh's kids by letting them know there really was not a gorilla on the back of their car and that it was probably LouAnne with a bug in her britches.  She probably got frightened by a tick and leaped on their car.  Keaton and Garrett were really relieved because they were not afraid of LouAnne especially if her convulsions were caused by a creepy crawly.  Anyway because of LouAnne's distractions the old fella on the 4-wheeler went down and promptly took our spot.  We didn't know it until we drove all the way down there with the boat.  Then Hugh started giggling because of the weird coincidence and we tried to turn around.  Hugh thought he saw a turn-around road and went down it but it really was a turn-aback road because he promptly came back.  

Dejected we all came back to camp where the wind was no better.  Wind is the worst natural disaster for me.  I can tolerate, snow, freezing temperatures, hot temperatures and earthquakes.  But I cannot stand wind.  It was blowing hard and I tried to find places where I could hole up out of it but to no avail.  Finally it became dinner time which took our minds off the wind.  I believe this dinner was done by the whole bunch of us as everybody seemed to be contributing something.  There was cheesy bacon potatoes in dutch ovens and desserts cooking in dutch ovens.  There was also barbecued pork ribs in a dutch oven.  I was assigned to do a peach cobbler in a dutch oven but because of my rebellious nature I decided to do a cherry chocolate torte instead.  I just like the rich deep taste of the cherry jelly part mixed in with the gooey chocolate cake.  When I started cooking it I decided to set up my dutch oven behind my tent where there was an old fire pit and there was a little less wind.  I think because of my altitude in Victor, I have to use more coals than what most people do with dutch oven cooking.  I started out cooking my normal way and lo and behold my dutch oven got too hot.  Probably the wind blowing didn't help either.  Usually I wait forever and ever for the oven to get hot.  I had to kick off a bunch of coals and then it normalized.  The cake had started to crisp up on top a little sooner than I liked but actually when it was done I think the texture was better.  The one bad thing we did was not eat it for quite awhile after we had played our camping games which allowed it to get a little soggy.  It was still delicious.  Rachael made a gooey chocolate thing in her dutch oven which was good.  Troy made a blueberry cobbler which was good.  Hugh made a kinda pumpkiny spicy type cobbler which was good.  Chad made a chocolate cherry torte which was incredible.

Now back to the pictures and we continue our story.

A giant checker board that Macey and Katy made like a quilt

Good thing there was a volleyball net

The beachy area on the river where the kids played and swam.  Quinn dared Jaden to dunk there heads and to see how long they could stay under.  This was a highlight for all the kids.

Just like a herd of cattle migrating into the shade

Switching gears to the donut story.

Why are these young men standing around sheepishly with a paper plate???

Its a ginormous donut eating contest!  Each family picks a glorious specimen from each of the males in their family to represent them.

From left to right we have Quinn, Thomas, Nicolas, Brockton or Bryson (I'm not good with names), Henry, Jeremy, Hugh, Troy, Morgan.  Take a good look folks because they will never be the same again.

They all got their donuts and now are listening to the destructions.  I believe it was James who provided the donuts.  At least they got to pick the kind of donut they liked.  

Here you can see that they are almost the size of a plate.  Oh if  only Homer Simpson could have been here.  He would have eaten all those donuts before Leigh could say go.

The rule is :Hands behind your backs!  The photos do not lie, some of you should be docked some seconds.  While everybody else has started Quinn and Thomas are discussing their donuts.

Quinn and Thomas didn't get too far with eating their big donuts, but hey! they got a donut!!

Morgan tries the chipmunk approach.  Trying to stuff it all in his cheeks.

Morgan looks like he wants to put his donut back while Henry thinks to himself "I could do this all day"

Thomas rolls his eyes in delight while Nicolas remembers he must bless his food before he eats it and pauses

Troy says to his donut "GET IN MY BELLY!  The donut says to Hugh "Hey you look tired, why don't you take a nap on my nice soft pillowy donut hole."

Hugh wakes up and realizes he's in a race.  The nap gave him energy.  Actually I think his strategy was to wear as much donut on his face so he wouldn't have to eat as much.

Wait a minute, did he fall asleep again?  I think Jeremy is trying out the wear it on my face so I don't have to eat as much strategy as well.  Either that or he fell asleep too.

And now we check on Morgan again.  Has he tossed the donut down or up?  I think he's still undecided.

Jeremy says to himself "Henry is distracted.   I wonder what would happen if I hawked a loogie onto Henry's donut?"  

Henry looks down at his donut.  "Hey I think there is something slimy on it"
Meanwhile Brockton is trying the gooseneck approach.

Henry now thinks to himself "Hey that gives me an idea!  What if I hawked a loogie on Jeremy's Donut?"  Then he sees the dangly thing in Jeremy's nose.  "Oh never mind, he is taking care of that himself."

Quinn and Thomas now finally decide to get in the contest rather than talk about how good their donut is or how big their donut is.

Troy thinks to himself "Whoa! What is Hugh doing!  Is he asleep in that donut?"  Morgan still trying to decide whether to upchuck or downchuck that donut

"Let me survey the scene"  "Oh gosh I'm worried they are all ahead"

Trying to distract everybody Morgan does his best Guns and Roses impersonation.

In the meantime Jeremy tries to put it in his nose and mouth at the same time.  Leigh as always picks the most inopportune time to take a picture.  Brockton roars at her like the Hulk.  Hopefully Leigh is rewarded with the classical "train wreck" photograph.  By the way Leigh, nobody is complaining that I am taking their pictures.   

Mmmm this is so good I could do it forever.  

Quinn and Thomas still talking about their donuts more than eating them.

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Watch out!  Troy is about to go all Bruce Lee on you guys.  Got the Mr. Miagi look going on there.  

Hey donut will you go better into my mouth if I sing to you?  

The Mr. Miagi look did the trick!  Troy is almost done!

Troy standing up to wolf the last bite down. Jeremy stays sitting also to wolf the last bite down.  Which one is going to win????!!!! 

Jeremy shuts his eyes trying to swallow that big dry lump of sweet gooeyness.

Troy gets his down and roars like a lion!  But alas Jeremy has got his lump down split seconds before.  And while the lion's roar was impressive it failed to give Troy victory.  Jeremy aka Jeremy the Giant Donut Eater wins the race!

That roar was so good lets see it again.

But I still got this big wad of donut in my mouth

I'm going to try to whistle while I work this donut down

Troy thinks Hugh looks funny.  He says to himself "look at that guys face"

Hugh's got that "oh no did I just poop my pants look".  Actually Hugh, it looks like you pooped your face.

Looking to make a beeline to the potty

Rachael

Relaxing and waiting for the next event

Katy and Meghan

and now Holly

Getting ready for the Tug O War which is the next event.  

The tug O war was the next event.  We basically competed against each family until we found out who was the strongest family.  We didn't do so hot.  I can't remember who won.  We didn't follow the rules very well because if one team started losing then somebody from the sidelines would jump in and help.  Pretty soon there were piles of people all over the rope pulling against each other with no rhyme or reason.

Hi Uncky Morgy is that a donut in your beard?

Don't slip there Troy

Oh did Jennifer have a booboo?

And the bosses convene for a little while

Surprise Katy

Macey and Emily

After we were all good and tired from the tug o war we moved into sack races.  This time we started with the littlest age groups and moved on up.  I can't remember who won anything except Quinn won his division.

Fun shot of Kirsten

Here's Quinn way out in front

Keaton gives Josiah a boost

Quinn's turn to babysit

Hugh's expression makes him look determined.  Wait a minute, why is Morgan rolling around on the ground?

Lets get a close up of that big bad boy in action.

Here he is leading the lackadaisical twins.  Come on James if this was a bow and arrow fire starting contest you would be done and taking a nap by now.

Thought the sun was cool on this mountain the way the yellow lichens all lit up

We finished the sack races and moved into dessert.  We had four nice dutch oven recipes to choose from.  There was also ice cream to go with it.

We finally get to eat the dessert.......Man o Man the kids were excited.   My delicious cherry chocolate torte in the foreground, then its Hugh's, Troys and Rachael's.  See the paragraph way above for the descriptions.

Quinn accepting his prize for the biggest fish.

Good picture of Henry

When our bellies were full from the dessert and the fire was roaring we had our campfire event which was to tell the stories of our immediate ancestors.  I had Thomas Shupe which was my mom's father and my Grandfather.  I had some nice pictures that I showed.

And on with the program

Wait is he videoing me?

I caught Toby dreaming about the next big fish contest

LouAnne's topic was Tessie Roberts, my Grandmother

Jennifer's topic as presented by Shawntell was Mildred Shupe my maternal Grandmother

Here's my bald head in Florida.  Since nobody took my picture while I was presenting my Grandpa Thomas Shupe you will have to look at this change in scenery.  Anyway I was the next presenter and I showed some awesome photos.

Here's my Grandpa and Grandma Shupe and their family. My mom is on the left

My dad, Grandpa Roberts, Grandpa Shupe.  Just thought I would interject a few photos that I showed

Hugh was next with Grandpa Victor Roberts

Jon-Great Grandpa Lyman Barker and Great Grandma Harriet E Ward (Grandma Shupes Parents)

Quinn showing off his fish purse

James- Great Grandpa David Shupe and Great Grandma Sophia Matthews (Grandpa Shupes Parents)  Except for some reason mom is doing it.

David- Great Grandpa Pearson Roberts and Great Grandma Vincey Butler (Grandpa Roberts Parents).  Pearson represented Pearson Roberts and Emma did Vincey

Nice Candid of Bryson I believe

Quinn cozy's up to his mom.  Never his dad

Emma knocking out the story of Vincey Miriam Butler

Emily shows mezmerizing captivation

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James repents and decides to talk

The moon starting to go down

Leigh- Great Grandpa George Watts and Great Grandma Eliza J. Draper (Grandma Roberts parents)

So Pearson what happens when a mosquito gets inside that?

Looking north from the campfire.  My camp was on the other side of davids tent.  I did attempt some fishing in this part of the river the first day but there really wasn't much cover.  The second evening I went downstream in my waders and caught a bunch with a parachute adams and my fly rod.  

Dakota wishing upon a star

Morgan- Mom and dad.  He does it Shakespearean style

The moon is dropping lower

Nice sunset starting to form

Aw the comfort of a campfire

Dad telling a story.  Sorry I had the shutter speed set kind a slow so your mouth was delayed as you were talking.

Almost there

The familiar guitar.  Kaylee is singing as well

Dad teaching a song

Surprise!

And the moon starts to leave

Goodbye world.  See you tomorrow

!

Again trying some evening photos as the moon has dropped.  Its nice and quiet and peaceful as the sounds fade away

Brushing their teeth for the night.  Holly uses the toothbrush like a microphone

The lamp

Is there a bug in my eye?  Good thing there was a handy eye doc to flick that bugger out of there.

Garrett ponders the wonderful plastic baggy and all its uses

We said goodnite to everybody and then Saturday morning as Hugh was crowing we got out of bed and started breakfast at 7am.  I started browning sausage while Hugh started cooking hashbrowns.  I chopped up all the sausage and when the potatoes were done we split the hashbrowns and sausage and combined them into equal parts and then added a pile of eggs.  Once the eggs were cooked through we served what I call a Mountain Man breakfast on tortilla shells with salsa, sour cream and Ketchup.  Jennifer was part of our crew and I kept telling her to help out but she wouldn't.  She figured bringing the condiments was enough.  No just kidding she kept asking what to do but me and Hugh had it covered.  She might have arranged the condiments I don't know.  They were sure arranged nicely anyway.  We were all done with breakfast by 8:20.  We cleaned up, packed up and skedaddled to our homes.  We were about in the middle of everybody leaving and were gone by 10:20.  We had an uneventful drive home except the dog seemed a little dehydrated and constipated.  It took us 4 hours.

All in all I feel it was a successful reunion despite Leigh's attempts to keep us from getting there.  Little wood is a great place with lots of memories and good times.  Looking forward to next year to see where Morgy decides to go.  There's a few videos and other items of interest below this if anybody is interested.

Quinn back home with the fish that won the prize.  A 14 inch rainbow

And now for something more interesting!

Leigh's wonderful directions and itinerary she prepared.

Just thought since papers fade and emails get lost it can be found here permanently

Roberts Reunion 2015

This year we are going to the High Five Campground above Little Wood Reservoir.  You will go to Carey Idaho which is one hour from my house going north.  There is a sign going through Carey pointing to the west that says Little Wood Reservoir.  Turn west here.  It takes about 20 minutes from that turn off to the reservoir.  You will not turn into the reservoir but continue along the road.  In about 5 minutes you will see a turn off to the left.  You will not take the first turn off!  Keep going and you will see a second turn off.  Turn left here.  The road is much nicer!  Follow this road until you come to a bridge that crosses the river.  You will turn left immediately after the bridge.  It is a little tricky around this corner, especially for trailers so just be careful!  Follow the road until you see a large meadow with an outhouse on your right hand side.  The river will be on your left.  My goal is to get this meadow before anyone else so we have room for everyone and our games.  If we can’t get the meadow we will go up the road a little bit farther.  I will try and put out signs for everyone to follow.  We will be up there Wednesday night.  If you plan on being there before that please let me know and you can help me secure the camp spot as well as put signs up.  

                                                                        Menu:

Wednesday:

Dinner-

Tin Foil Dinners or Hot dogs

Watermelon

S’mores

Thursday:

Breakfast- Dad, David, & Morgan families’ preparation and clean-up

Lunch -on own

Dinner-

Spaghetti

Green Beans and Corn

Garlic Bread

Cookies to Share

Friday:

Breakfast- Jonathan, James, & LouAnne families’ preparation and clean-up

Lunch- On Own

Dinner-

Dutch oven Barbequed Boneless Country Style Pork Ribs

Dutch oven Potatoes

Watermelon

Cobbler & Ice Cream

Saturday:

Breakfast- Chad, Hugh, & Jennifer families’ preparation and clean-up

Lunch- On own

Assignments:

Everyone is in charge of their own paper products for all the meals.

Breakfasts-

Everybody has been assigned to be in charge of one breakfast along with two other families.  This way, you only have to cook and clean up one breakfast for those three days.  The three families who are in charge of breakfast will need to get together and plan how they want to do it and what they would like to cook.  You will need to provide enough food to feed everyone who is there for that meal as well as do the clean-up.  My suggestions would be pancakes, eggs, sausage or bacon, hot chocolate (may I suggest packets of hot chocolate would be easier than a can of hot chocolate?) or juice, and whatever else you think your families will eat.  I’m sure some families even wouldn’t mind cold cereal.  J If you have questions please ask.

Wednesday-

Everyone is in charge of cooking and clean-up for their own families.

*Who would be willing to bring a watermelon to share for this night?

Thursday Dinner-

Jeremy and I will do the cooking and cleaning this night.  We will accept any help anyone would like to offer with preparation and clean up. 

Everybody needs to bring…

1.      ½-1 pound of spaghetti noodles (depending on size of family and what you think your family will eat)

2.      ½-1 pound of hamburger (also depending on size of family)

3.      1 jar of spaghetti sauce (we will mix them all together so different flavors would be pretty good.  Just don’t get the kind with meat in it since we are already adding it.)

4.      Cookies or treats to share with everyone.

Jeremy and I will provide the vegetables, bread, and drink.

Friday Dinner-

Jeremy is in charge of the Dutch ovens.  We will probably need 4-5 ovens to cook potatoes and meat depending on the size of the ovens. If you are cooking a cobbler, plan on using one of your own Dutch ovens. If you have an extra Dutch oven you are willing to let us use to cook meat and potatoes please let me know if you are willing to bring it. If you bring dutch oven liners for your oven it would make it much easier to clean.  In the past everyone has helped with preparation and clean up.  If everyone would plan on pitching in that would be most helpful.

Everybody needs to bring….

1.      (Fresh) Country Style Boneless Pork ribs (What your family will eat!)

·         Jennifer- Would you bring the Barbeque sauce to go on the ribs??

2.      Potatoes, Carrots, Onion, Bacon, Cheese (Enough for your family.  Maybe one carrot and one potato person who will eat it?  Then we can add everything else as needed.)

3.      Watermelon

*Who would be willing to bring a watermelon to share for this night?

Morgan- Would you be willing to provide the drink for everyone this night?

David- Would you make your dutch oven mud?

Hugh-Would you make an apple cobbler?

Chad- Would you make a peach cobbler?

LouAnne- Would you make a Berry cobbler?

James,  Jonathan,  & Dad- Could all three of you bring ice cream to go along with the cobblers and Mud?  You can decide between the three of you how much we will need.

*If anyone would like to trade cobblers you are welcome to.  Just let me know so I can write it down.

Activites:

Secret Families:

 I am going to do something a little different this year.  Some of you may think it’s weird, but get into the spirit of it and just go along with it!  When you get to camp, I will have you pull a siblings name out of a hat.  (Mom and dad will also be one of the individual families in the hat.)The sibling and their family (or mom and dad) are going to be your Secret Family while you are there.  You will need to think of some kind of “secret” service you can do for that family.  Whether it’s secretly leaving a gift or doing a service it doesn’t matter.  The idea is to serve without getting caught.  On Friday night during the program we will talk about the services we noticed that was done for us and then reveal who had who. 

Games:

Jeremy and I have a volleyball net we will set up and will bring a plastic bat and wiffle ball to play baseball.  We also have horseshoes we can play. (If you have a set of horseshoes please bring them).  Another thing we thought of is Frisbee 500 or football 500.  We could do these in the afternoons or evenings depending on how many people are around that would like to play.  We will also have a fishing contest to all those who would like to participate.  We will measure fish on Friday evening and declare the winner.

James and Jon- Would you be willing to put together some night games for the kids?

Shawni- Would you be willing to put together a treasure hunt for kids? 

Friday afternoon:

On Friday afternoon we would like to have a pioneer game contest between the families.  Some of the activities that we will be doing are…

Potato Sack Races

Tug of War

Doughnut eating contest

3- Legged race

Stick pull

Bow and Drill contest

The idea here is the family who wins the most points gets the prize.  Each member of your family will get a point when they win an event.  So each family will need to work together, parents and kids.  If you choose to not do one of the activities that is fine, but it means that is one less point your family could get.  There will be prizes for the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place families and pity prizes for everyone else who participates!  J  The family that plays together stays together!  J

Shawni, Mom, and Dad- Would you be willing to help me with the organization of this event as well as be judges?

Friday Evening Program:

After dinner is all cleaned up we will have our annual program around the campfire.  We will measure the fish and find out who has won the fishing contest and we will also find out who each others secret family is.  We will also announce the winners of the pioneer games. As part of our program, I am asking each family to talk 2-3 minutes about a person or persons that I would like to assign you.  We have been instructed to get to know our ancestors so we are going to start with our most immediate ancestors.  A picture might be nice for the kids to see so that they can connect the stories with the face.  In your little presentation you just need to give some fun facts about your person(s).  Where did they live, where were they born, what did they do, was there anything they did that impressed you, what was their living conditions like, is there a fun story about them you can tell?  Mom and dad can help and give you resources to go to so don’t hesitate to ask questions. I’ve found some things already in my book of remembrance.  Let’s help our kids get to know where they came from.  Here is who I was thinking….

LouAnne- Grandma Tessie Roberts

Jennifer- Grandma Mildred Shupe

Chad- Grandpa Tom Shupe

Hugh- Grandpa Victor Roberts

Jon-Great Grandpa Lyman Barker and Great Grandma Harriet E Ward (Grandma Shupes Parents)

James- Great Grandpa David Shupe and Great Grandma Sophia Matthews (Grandpa Shupes Parents)

David- Great Grandpa Pearson Roberts and Great Grandma Vincey Butler (Grandpa Roberts Parents)

Leigh- Great Grandpa George Watts and Great Grandma Eliza J. Draper (Grandma Roberts parents)

Morgan- Mom and dad J

Mom and dad- Could each of you tell us a story about one of your pioneer ancestors that we have not already mentioned?

At the end of the program dad is going to teach the grandkids a song with his guitar.

I’m sure this all sounds like a lot but if it runs smoothly it won’t take that long.  Please come prepared and if one of you feel you just cannot do something, please let me know and I will take care of it.

What to bring:

·         All your camping gear J

·         Canopy- We would like to put up a couple of canopy’s over the food tables if possible.  If you have one please let me know.

·         2 or 3 burner camp stoves with griddles- Who has one that would be willing to set it up and allow others to use it?  We probably need two or three and we have one.

·         Tables for cooking and preparation and meal times.  There are a couple of picnic tables there but they are pretty beat up.

·         Dutch Ovens and cooking utensils

·         All paper products

·         Water- There is no water in camp but there is at the reservoir if you want to drive over and get it.

·         Swimming stuff- If kids would like to float down the river they could bring swimming stuff and tubes.  The river is far enough away from camp that the little ones should be fine but close enough to swim or fish in.  (Although it is very cold!)

·         Chairs- There are not any places to sit except the ground.

·         Rain Gear and Sunscreen- We have had a lot of rain so who knows what we will get while we are there.

·         Bug repellant

·         Fishing gear- Dad said that the river has a limit of 2, but the reservoir is close and it has a limit of 6.

·         Fishing license- I think you can get licenses in Carey if you are out of state.

·         Any board games or card games you think would be fun.

·         Charcoal briquettes for dutch ovens

·         All needs for your family

·         Anything I have forgotten J

See you all in 3 weeks!!  J