A "Wilde" Family Reunion

So, this was a reunion for my dear grandmother and her siblings, and of course, their families. My dad's mom's maiden name is "Wilde." I know, we had a Wilde reunion.
But, it really wasn't too wild....

Well, we threw ourselves in the car and headed off to my Great-Aunt Melanie's house for a rodeo.
I have a history if being carsick when I was younger. I haven't for years, but we didn't want to take our chances. I took a motion sickness pill and poured some water in my mouth so I could swallow it. I put the pill in my mouth, thrust it to the back of my throat and gagged. That pill was the worst, most vial thing I have EVER tasted. The pill was coated in this TERRIBLE powder that dissolved quickly and spread throughout my mouth. Before gagging again, I spit it out quickly onto the ground. "I can't. No." **drinks water; spits** "AhHhHhhH! That was awful!" **drinks** "No, no, no." Mom tried to get me to take another. "We will NOT have you throwing up in this car!" I tried two more; failed. I gagged and spit disgustingly until I was ready to cry. Finally I chewed up some crackers, stuck the pill in the chewed-up mush, and swallowed the crushed crackers. It was nasty, but it got the job done.

It was a looooong car ride there and Janell was getting restless.

Finally we arrived at the ranch and started to play games and such. This place was full of real cowboys. Even the kids were decked in cowboy boots and chaps.

Mom was enjoying the scenery, I think. I took this picture secretly.

The wind was CRAZY! The plastic tablecloths were flapping around even though they were taped to the tables. My hair became such a mess that I put it up into a ponytail. Also due to the wind, dirt was flying everywhere, including my eyes.

And this was the next day, after they were getting better. Ouch.

We decided to roam around and participate in some activities. My mom, my brother, my aunt, and I all played horseshoes. Let me tell you, it's harder than it looks. Much harder. At one point Mom said, "Maybe Tessa would be better at this if she weren't so lady-like..."

After failing at horseshoes we tried out archery. The guy running the activity was really attractive and I was drooling over him but then I remembered we were related... weird. (Later Mom said that it is, in fact, legal to marry your second cousin. But still, too awkward.) He gave us a demonstration on how to hold the bow.

Check out his muscles.

Then Janell wanted to shoot me.

As you probably guessed, I failed at archery. My arm still hurts 52 hours later.

We left the archery station right after my attractive second-cousin left to watch goat wrestling. We did so, too. It was pretty entertaining.

That goat wrestler was good-looking, too.

We tried to get Dad to wrestle the goat, but he chickened out.

After a lunch and a lot of visiting with family, we headed off toward Heber Valley Camp. Our stake goes to Camp Shalome for girls camp which is waaaaay terrible in comparison to Heber. When we arrived I had a total spazz attack due to the amazingness of the camp.

"It's... so... beautiful...!" *tear*

I also found an interesting sign.

"TOILET PAPER "ONLY" IN TOILETS"

I guess a couple other things are permitted in their, too...

I messed around and took a lot more pictures.

We set up our bunks [pshh, at Shalome we sleep on the FLOOR!] and Janell was having a good time relaxing on her air mattress.

My station looked like this:

We cooked for the family [about 100-150 people] and it was finally time for dinner.

We saw lots of "potguts" scurring around under the tables, eating little peices of food and harrassing teenage girls who would jump up on their chairs and scream.

This T-shirt was awesome.

"OLD GUYS RULE"

tee hee.

Janell was not cooperating.

Finally I told her to give me a normal face.

Janell, "Why?"

Tessa, "Just give me the face you give the people who took your yearbook pictures."

Janell, "All I did was fake-smile and stare them down."

I guess that's "normal" enough.

I took some stalker pictures of attractive second cousins, but in one the old guy sitting next to my second cousin was yawning.

I swear it was an accident, Great-Uncle So-and-So.

But it's still hilarious.

Being July 3rd, it was my dear brother Braden's eleventh birthday. They got him a big cake and everything. On my slice I got a balloon. It had about two inches of frosting.

I didn't eat it all, don't worry.

After cleaning frantically for hours, we could finally go home. Everyone was inside making final preparations for our departure while I went out to the van. I have to take my pill, I thought, but I'm not sure if I can after that first experience... I took the pills, water, and crackers and went over behind the building. I chewed up a cracker and held out the mush on my tongue. Then I pressed the pill into the nastiness, covered it up, and swallowed. I was really grossed out that I had just touched my spit and drank some water to get the idea out of my head. Just as I finished drinking, and just to show my luck, an attractive second cousin walked right past me to get to the ice machine.

I was so embarrassed. If he just saw that, I might just have to jump off the mountain. At least in two years he won't remember me. Though, all he did was smile charmingly and say "Hey." I stared back and mumbled "Hi..." fathoming the fact that he might not have seen.

There he is.

I was telling Janell of my embarrassing moment when she commented, "At least you didn't tell him he smelled like corn chips. I did that once." I think I died from laughter.

Happy 4th of July!