Live Imperfectly with Great Delight: Welch Super Hero Reunion

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Welch Super Hero Reunion

Mark....coming down so fast he burned through his gloves

We had our Welch family - Super Hero -reunion this past weekend ....with out Wanee…we actually skyped and face timed her in to a few of the activities. Anyway.. It was great to get together. We all had a BBQ at the Butters pool with swimming on Friday night. 48 of us…most under 12 years. The kids took turns doing their best super hero jumps, flips and dives. Those that wanted to slept over night at Terry and Cyrrena’s in tents. We showed an outdoor movie of "The Incredibles." The weather was perfect.

Hunter, Andrew Bentley and Nash...as the base of the cliff

Will..... Stephanie Shurtz Cox's baby boy

Rob is in the orange shirt looking down off the edge of the cliff as Laila rappells

On Saturday we all had breakfast, then Uncle Garth Welch came and shared about Grandpa Tom…and what it was like as brothers growing up in Harper Ward-- a small town north of Brigham City. He talked about their jobs on the pea-viner; the one room church house that had curtains to pull to divide into classrooms; outdoor bathrooms; wood stoves that kept the kitchen hot all year long; playing sports with all ages and not enough boys in their very small ward; what school was like, having a blind mother and eating Lumpy Dick. He shared about Tom getting over his speech impediment and going to Samoa on his mission kind of sick. He spent a bit of time in the office fixing things while waiting to get better before he was assigned the far side of the island. All very interesting.

After that we had a hike over to a large cliff that we climbed to the top of and those that wanted to rappelled down. The view was amazing. Tru, Me and Laila, plus 20 others, all tried it. It was fun, dirty and hot…and very steep. I was proud of Laila. She just stepped right up , put on a harness and listened to Uncle Rob as he helped her know how to do it. It took superhero courage and determination to not chicken out. Tru took some cool pictures.

We got off the mountain had some lunch, then sat in a big circle and shared about a Welch family super hero…someone in the family we look up to, who has helped us or shown a good example. It was a sweet time of sharing.

I keep thinking about the old mormon ad... "Family-- isn't it about time?" And I agree. Taking the time to spend time together is a big deal. It's great for cousins, in-laws, siblings and eternal relationships to grow.