Rasmussen Reunion 2013

The Jack and Lorie Rasmussen family (my parents) had a family reunion this year. 61 of us. That's right. My parents, their 9 kids, 8 spouses, 42 grandkids. 61. That is a lot of people for a reunion, and not even an extended one at that! It was a stupendous week. My sister Kayli and her family came all the way from Switzerland, Kami and her family came from Texas, Amy and her family came from Arizona, my brother Derek and his family came from Canada, and the rest of us from Morgan, Ogden, Clearfield,  and Logan. It was probably the best reunion ever. Minus the stomach bug that hit us full force. I have never seen so much puking in my life. 

 Yup. That's all of us. Kind of crazy. We were supposed to all be in our reunion shirts initially, but that got bagged when so many people had been thrown up on that not many shirts were left. My mom REALLY wanted a picture of everyone, and I don't blame her, its the first time we've all been together since before I married Sterling. There's always been at least one brother-in-law, or one family, that couldn't make it to a gathering and so we weren't ALL there. But this time we were. And man, was it ever epic. The first night my sister Kami's son Nicolas threw up, the next day about four more, and so on, until the night the family picture was taken (karaoke night) we had FIVE kids throw up simultaneously, and about twenty that were sick. It was rather sad, actually, we were all SO EXCITED to be together and have such a great time, and it was, just a little sick-fun. Haha. We got away rather lucky and only Ruth got sick, and she only threw up a couple of times...and the second and third time it was mostly just the apple juice that we had given her, so no big deal. I think my sisters Kayli and Kami had their six and five children ALL sick, and that was no fun for them. Poor guys.

My brother Wyatt and his wife Lindsay Ann were in charge of the reunion this year and they did a PHENOMENAL job (another reason why it was so, so sad about the sickness)! The theme was HARRY POTTER

and they went all out. Owls were sent to the kids with the list of items they needed to bring at the beginning of the summer, and the excitement just grew from there. It was a perfect theme to incorporate all the age groups of kids that we have. So first off, we were all SORTED!

Everyone watching the sorting. 

Ruthie getting sorted. SLYTHERIN!

I'm getting sorted. Slytherin!

Sterling, myself, Ruthie, and Will were all Slytherins. It was a great time. We had house points and everything. Any adult was able to give or take away points from a house when they saw kids helping/not helping. It was actually a great system for keeping kids helpful the entire time. (sidenote: Slytherins kind of got gypped. We had a lot of TINY tots on our team and only a couple of older kids, and several of those older kids were sick during competitions. True story. But its ok. Gryffindor can win, if only for traditions sake.) 

 Before being sorted into houses we all went through Diagon Alley and were given a sack-full of money. We bought wands and owls and basically prepared for Hogwarts! The kids loved it, Ruthie especially loved her owl, I think her Aunt Amy was a little dismayed that she had to pick up every color, hold it, and put it back before she could make her decision, haha, but Ruth thought it was great! After the sorting we had a grand FEAST. It was seriously amazing. Only my incredible brother Wyatt, aka the Chef, (have I ever mentioned how he fed me through my poor  college years? that man can cook!) could pull off such a feat for so many people (or want to attempt to), with the hard work of his wifey Lindsay Ann, of course. They had candles hanging from the ceiling, speeches at the beginning, and lots of food. It was grand. Ruth ate FIVE ribs all by herself. (also, have I ever mentioned how Ruthie is a carnivore? She'll eat meat over anything else any day.) Really they did such a great job and the kids were in heaven. It could not have been better. 

Seven of the nine of us had kids within about 18 months of each other. Starting with Sebastian being the oldest, and Ruth being the youngest. Thats a LOT of cousins for Ruth to have so much fun with! (Unfortunately right here she was VERY concerned about her shoe being sat on and in future pictures she's hitting, and the scenario continues...sigh.)

The next morning we had RACES. Of all sorts. Most of the kids were still healthy and happy at this point so it was a lot of fun!

Olivia, Danica, (wyatt), Tyson, Myles, Megs, Ana, Katelyn

Ana with Katelyn, Myles with Megs, Danica with Tyson, Olivia with Jethro 

Ana, Katelyn, and mom (go Slytherins!)

See how my mom and dad even joined in the piggy back race?

Egg toss. Lets see, left side: Emeline, Ethne, Anders, Cowen, Garrett, Tyson, Anders, ??? Right side: mom, Elena, Katelyn, Ana, Gideon, Danica, Wyatt, Brynne, Megs, Kali, Miriam, Olivia

Ruthie and Devaney giving hugs after Ruth was beat miserably. But she was cute while she did it!

Dad liked his job of handing out the licorice to all the participants :)

Ana, Danica, Katelyn, Megs, Olivia

I ran in this race. I also tripped over a hole (or my feet? it felt like a hole!) and lost dismally. At least Ruthie and I can stick together.
Megan, Kami, Kayli, Lindsay Ann, myself, Andrea, Amy, mom, Brooke

 We had a grand time playing water balloon volleyball. 

Tim and Andrea (with Harriet and Olivia photobombing)

Olivia and Lynnaea, with Jethro and Brett in the back

Such cute girls. Maloree, Brynne, Hazel, and Kiersten

Sterling and I playing.

And...more to follow!