Those Barlows Know How to Party

Every year we Knudsens have made a summer trek back to Utah and each year we try to plan our time home around the Barlow Family Reunion. What a treat this summer to just know we were close enough to come no matter what! As all the families started to arrive it hit me once again that I am currently the only sibling in my family living close enough to make it home for the party! Strange twist of fate. All Furniss siblings are on alert that next reunion we MUST all be there - no excuses. Especially when we get to play the family version of Survivor. Parker has been looking forward to the pie eating contest section of the game since the last installment 2 years ago. He rocked this!

Survivor also consisted of many other games like a family puzzle to put together, shooting hoops, eating powdered donuts and then whistling. What a riot!

This was a little more my Grandma's speed. A wild game of RummiCube (sp?), which I believe she dominated the entire day!

After surviving Survivor and one night sleeping in the cabins, we got ready to paint fish. Well, at least pictures of fish. My mom had a great project for kids young and old (I really believe that the adults had at least as much fun doing this as the kids). By the way, the proliferation of green shirts here is not because we chose green as an entire Barlow Family, but because my Uncle Gordon and Aunt Anna's family was assigned green and they dominated through sheer force of numbers. (Again, Furniss siblings, next time!)


My mom showing her mad skills as a fish artist. She looks so serious here one may think a Mona Lisa will emerge from the florescent colors.

Whitney working on her fish.

Parker and Spencer on theirs. I failed to get a shot of the finished product. Picture if you can around 40 canvases covered in bright paints with various fish, sea creatures, butterflies, and flowers. They were gorgeous and so individual. Great job Mama.

It seems every time I turned around for a few hours my Dad would have this little doll in his arms. I snapped a shot to show that he was experiencing grandbaby-withdrawl. If he couldn't get his hands on his little Hayden, then some other unsuspecting child would just have to do.


Uncle Gordon spent about 3 hours that day giving rides to the littlest of the grandkids. Notice all the bright green shirts and blondie kiddos. Almost everyone of Gordon's grandchildren look just like this. Adorable.

Does life get better when you're 10? With the help of some overgrown 10-year-old boys (a.k.a Jeff and Ryan) almost everyone became the target of this contraption. If you look closely you can see the glee across Parker's face as he squares off to shoot more cousins.

Also, Uncle Gordon (are you sensing the "fun" uncle tag here?) set up a zip line for the kids to come down. Lucky for Gordon he also got the great job of pushing almost every one up, then making sure they did not crash and burn at the bottom. It worked most of the time.

I had to snap this shot just for the record. Many people who have seen Parker and also know my Uncle David think that they resemble each other a great deal. Not sure if this picture shows it as well but they really do share many similarities. What fun to feel those connections with our families!

Finally, a shot of the tremendous woman who made this all possible. Grandma Barlow. Here she sits with our step-grandpa, Grandpa Ace, whom we all love dearly. They are now both in their nineties and just beginning to feel those years catching them. As those years begin to fall harder and harder I thank heaven that we have them still, loving, leading, and guiding. As this family gathers, laughs, plays, eats, and laughs some more, I am again reminded of the gift of a loving family. Not a perfect family, but a loving one. In all the wandering, all the travels, all the new friends, new houses, new lives, these deep, strong roots of family have always provided a strong sense of who I am and where I fit in this huge world.

Thanks Grandma. We all love you.