Baldwin Bash 2010

Because of these two peopleour Baldwin Family has always been close. We used to get together for some sort of party nearly every month. But as the family gets bigger and bigger, it has become so much more difficult to get everyone together as often. We are finally down to just having one big family reunion every year, right around Memorial Day. This year my mom and Uncle Tim (who lives in Arizona) were in charge and they pulled off quite the shin-dig! The theme that my mom came up with was "Building Our Family." We started by making this brick wall:

Each person in the family was represented by their own brick, color coded according to who, of my mom's siblings, they belonged to. Each brick was numbered 1-255 as to when the person joined the family, either by birth or by marriage. I was number #46, Spence was #148, our kids joined in there somewhere, and our twins will be #251 and 252! Of the 255 bricks, over 160 were in attendance.

As our relatives arrived at the reunion, Callie & I sat behind the sign in table where Callie wrote every single person's name tag and I helped her figure out what their number was.

We had a quick flag ceremony, involving all the cub-scout-aged boys and Cam got to carry the flag because he was in uniform. There was an opening song and prayer then on to lunch.


For lunch we served a "Build Your Own Burger". Spencer, Ryan, Jeff, and my dad were in charge of grilling all the hamburgers. I believe they ended up grilling 180 and 8 sliced onions (which I sliced.)

When most people were finished eating we had a small program. No'el led the Primary kids sang "My Eternal Family" from last year's program. Some of the words are "I am a builder working each day to build my family..." so it definitely fit the theme well.

My mom and Uncle Tim each said a few words and then No'el, Callie, and I sang "Loving Families." The final lyrics to that song say, "Families sharing love as each day we find that peace through our task of building loving families."

(I can't say I love the pictures of myself at the reunion but I also know this is the last time I will look this way and I think it's important to remember.)
After the program, we sat around and visited with our cousins, served ice cream cones and goodies for desert, and my mom arranged for a "Candy Cannon" for the kids. The Bergevin's (from Moreland) set off their candy cannon 3 times and all the children had bags full of candy before it was over. There were also foot races, a volleyball net, etc. Best part is that the sun was shining so we all got a little tan.



Many posed in front of the brick wall to have photos taken with cousins, immediate and extended families. Thanks to Ruth for having her camera ready and being willing to stand and take pictures all day. Also, thanks to my family and the many cousins that took care of my 3 boys throughout the day. On the way home I asked Spencer if he'd had time to help the boys get lunch. He said no. I knew that I hadn't had time to help them either. So I asked the boys who helped them get their food and no one had an answer. But somehow they got fed, cleaned up their plates, participated in foot races, gathered lots of candy from the candy cannon, etc without either of their parents. That's truly what family is all about, right?




It was an awesome reunion and we're so glad that my mom is one of seven siblings since it will now be six more years before we're "in charge" again!!!