Our every 2 years McDaniel family reunion in Virden, New Mexico came around this summer. It's a tiny town right on the Arizona/New Mexico border, right by Thatcher, AZ. Kase LOVES that area. We went together when we were dating 2 years ago. The men at church wear cowboy boots and have handlebar mustaches....enough said.
Kase met me there. I was so worried about Kase, since he didn't role in until 10 pm or later. It was dark, we are in the middle of nowhere, he was later than he was supposed to be (and Kase is never late), and didn't have a phone. I had to say so many prayers to keep myself calm. When he finally rolled in, he told us about how he got lost and was kinda creeped out. He came to a little town called Pie Town. He said it was like an the movies, with Pie signs everywhere, "Get pie here," "Fresh pies made daily," on all the buildings. The town was dead, and it was getting dark. He finally found a car and stopped and asked for directions, but the lady didn't answer the door. She just yelled, "What do you want?" And the neighbor came over to see what was going on. They did give him some pie as he left, but he said it was super creepy at first. They said there had been a recent death in the town so everyone was being careful. Then he was driving along winding roads, it was raining a little, elk everywhere, and some scary guy leaning over into the road trying to hitchhike. I was SOO glad he didn't stop for the guy, especially considering his track record with picking up hitchhikers.... The way he tells the story, it was creepy. I haven't been that happy to see him in a long time. I was so worried.But we had a great time at the reunion. Saturday we played games outside, had a talent show, wrote letters to cousin missionaries, ATE, and just had a good time. Sunday we went to church and then it was over. Pictures, of course. Thank you Aunt Char!
We left where the cousins and 2 uncles were shooting guns (we have some new family members and Kase thought they weren"t being safe but I guess they fixed the problem right after we left...should've stayed) and walked back to camp. We got some good scenery and took some pictures. Kase + Farm Animals = Love. Kase just reminded me we watched a stink bug push a little manure pellet all the way across the road. Fascinating. He'd walk on top of it, turn around, and push it with it's hind legs while his front legs were on the ground. The manure mound was bigger than him. Ridiculousness. A stink bug can take on bigger tasks than I can. Put Your Shoulder to the Manure, I guess.
This year it was mandatory for each family to participate in the talent show. So the 4 of us sang a song we all sang in Variations, The Lord Bless You and Keep You. We had all 4 parts there. Luckily no audio is available :)
Hutchins Family doing a song with balloons and the little ones lip synching. Hope was adorable.
Such CUTIES!
They knew better than to ask me to help with this one...
Pops & Mumphy
McDaniel Family - Aunt Char & Andrew
Hutchins Family - Jeneale, Karma, Raelleene, Hope, Lance, Jack, Xanae, Ronna, Nathaniel, Sadie, Adaline, Uncle Norm, Aunt Rhonda, Trinity (missing Curbris)
Robalin Family - Aunt Lisa, Blaire, Ally, Caylee (missing Uncle Brad)
The McDaniels - where it all began
This is an every other year reunion, but Pops wants to change it to every year with the off-year being more optional. At the time, I was excited to be able to attend them all. Oh how things change. I loved Pops' stories of when he was younger and how him and Mumphy began. They are so good at family history as well as Aunt Char, and are trying to encourage us to do it now while we still have people living to ask questions to. Maybe if I could keep up with my own family history first?
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| McDaniel's doing some type of dance or something...? |
Us McDaniel's are REALLY good at eating:
Games inside (the Hutchins planned some AWESOME games):
Aww, sweet little Annie's face after she broke it, ha.
Attractive
As a little intro, we all took family pictures. We obviously have the reunion t-shirts. Each family is holding a different letter to spell out McDaniel, and the number on the back of each person's t-shirt represents what number they were in coming into the family. We are clever, we know. Ok...it was Aunt BB. I'm going to name everyone (this may take awhile) from top to bottom, L to R.
Romney Family (not sure what happened to the D...)
McDaniel Family - Aunt Char & Andrew
McDaniel Family - Trey, Morgan, Evan, Trent, Aunt Shauna, Tyson, Uncle Ronnie, Marissa
Bowers Family (some of these members are new, so I'll have to plug in a few names later :( ) - ?, ?, ?, Jeremy, Josh, Megan, Justin, Jacob, Jordan, "Uncle" Mark, Aunt Cyndi, Jackson. I think we are missing one of Mark's sons...not sure.
The McDaniels - where it all began
This is an every other year reunion, but Pops wants to change it to every year with the off-year being more optional. At the time, I was excited to be able to attend them all. Oh how things change. I loved Pops' stories of when he was younger and how him and Mumphy began. They are so good at family history as well as Aunt Char, and are trying to encourage us to do it now while we still have people living to ask questions to. Maybe if I could keep up with my own family history first?
