Forman Family Reunion

Thursday, July 23-Saturday July,25

Jared and I are not much of party people, nor do we really enjoy large groups of people and chaos. We, however, want our children to have extended family bonds, experience, and we want them to know what amazing heritage they have. I suppose that is why we decided to go to the reunion in Panaca. We knew it would be tough (and it was!). But we didn't realize how much we would really enjoy the reunion. Words cannot accurately describe how wonderful it was. My parents have instilled in me, while I was very young, a very strong desire to know of heritage and to value extended family. My family trips as a kid were always to either visit extended family, camping with family, or (my siblings love this one) church historical sites. We never went to Hawaii, or to the beach, and I didn't know the difference. I actually loved the historical sites and family reunions the best. It gives you a sense of your purpose to know what family members have sacrificed and done. What examples these people were!

This reunion was very special for us because both the Cox and Forman family are descendants of Thomas Sirls Terry. Linda's family is descendants of Thomas' first wife, Mary Ann. And Dean's family is descendants of Thomas' second wife, Eliza Jane. We spent time at the graveyard where Grandpa Forman is buried, along with Grandma Forman's parents and other family members. Thursday we had a special devotional and history of Grandpa Lyle Forman so that we could honor his life and learn more about him.

On Friday we went to the Terry Ranch, where Linda gave a history of the Terry family. Linda's Grandfather, Karl Terry (who they called Grandad) lived in a cabin on the Terry Ranch in his older years. Jared would go out just about every summer and visit there. He was close to, and loved Grandad. Although he hadn't been there in at least 5 years he remembered how to get there. The Ranch is about an hour from Panaca, down a dirt road that is not marked. As we drove the kids slept (thankfully!) and Jared just talked about memories and about Grandad. It was precious for me. Jared is not a chatterbox so I enjoyed that he was talkative, and I got to visit a place that was always special to him. To tour the Ranch completely you need a four wheeler, but we did get to walk around and see a few different things. It was amazing to hear the stories and see it for myself. It was wonderful and I would love to go back with Grandma Cox and hear more detail about the family and the place. Grandma Forman's brother, Neldon, and his family put together a wonderful dutch oven cookout with games and horse rides. It was so sweet of them. Not to mention it was probably the best meal of the trip. We just sat around and visited, let the kids explore, and spent time together. With every night on the trip Bryce slept progressively worse and worse. He was in the same room with Jared, Hope, Christian, Rachel, Savannah and myself. It was tight, and not a place that we could just let him cry himself back to sleep. We had to keep getting up with him, rocking him back to sleep, putting him in our bed. I don't what the problem was, but he just wouldn't sleep. He kept whining and rolling around. After several nights of this, Jared could see that I was progressively getting more upset and tired. Buddy boy wouldn't go to Daddy, and just wanted Mommy, which was so frustrating. I kept threatening that we were going home in the middle of the night! This, our last night, Jared took one look at me, rocking Bryce at midnight and being so close to tears and a meltdown that he just grabbed Bryce and went to the car. He didn't sleep at all from midnight on and kept Bryce either sleeping in his car seat or held him so that I could sleep. It was one of the greatest acts of kindness and sacrifice that he has shown me. I really needed that.

Saturday morning we visited the amazing cathedral gorge and enjoyed the Panaca Pioneer Day celebration. There was a breakfast, races, a playground, snow cones, and pig races. It was very fun. The Formans did well in the races, despite our athletic Dan being gone this year. Grandma Forman was cute to watch. She had a smile that never left her face that day. She was in her birthplace with many of her dear posterity and was enjoying every second. Unfortunately just as the Forman talent show and reunion activities were to begin we decided that it was time to head home. Our kids (and poor Jared) needed naps and we had a long drive ahead of us. We traded off driving and kid duty all the way home. We were thrilled to see our house again by nightfall and although I thought the kids would struggle waking up in their own rooms alone, they just slept the whole night through. We were all so glad to be in our own beds!

All in all, the kids were good (Hope was awesome!) and we would love to go back there one day.