AFR 2013

 ~ Anderson Family Reunion 2013 ~

Elk Horn Ranger Station - Thousand Lake Mountain

 

 

The AFR, a time of year that we all look forward too!  This first weekend of August has been always been designated as the one time we get to go camping all summer long.  Jeremy and I seem to look forward to this as much as the kids do.  This year we stayed five days and four nights, that always seem to go by way to fast.

 

 

Our first day on the mountain was a lot more work than play.  Our day consisted of working so hard to get everything ready that we didn't leave Gunnison until 8:30 that night.  We debated staying or going, but the kids insisted leaving because that couldn't wait to sleep in the trailer.  We got on the mountain at about 10:30 pm in time to grab and quick bite to eat before hitting the sack.  It was a nice cool night and everyone slept pretty good.  Of course, we had to play several rounds of musical beds before the little girls decided to settle down. 

 

On day two, we got up around 7:30 and jumped in the truck to make a trip home.  One hang up about the family reunion is that we have to make two trips to get on the mountain, one for the camping trailer and one for horses, therefore making it so we have to make two trips home.  So we figured the sooner we made it to Gunnison, the quicker we could turn around and make it back up to the mountain.  We didn't end up getting back on the mountain until about 3:00 that afternoon.  We made it up in time to get the horses unloaded, let the kids run around and play with cousins all before the storm set in.  Anderson Family camp wouldn't be camp without a rain storm.  Today's storm brought hail, rain, thunder and lots of lightning.  We sat in the trailer until the storm passed over.

 

Trey and Zeb, these two are pretty good cousins and especially at camp, they have so much fun together.  In this picture, they were taking turns being each others gun rest while the other shot at a target posted on a tree.  Looks more dangerous that it really was!



After the storm passed, it gave us a while to visit with all those other cousins / campers.  We ate dinner with Rod and JoAnn and then headed up to the camp fire for fun entertainment.  Jeremy, of course, was the highlight of the night.  He had everyone in tears laughing so hard at this quick witted comments. 

 

* * * * * * *

 

Friday morning everyone was up and ready to eat a delicious breakfast.  After breakfast, all the cowboys start getting ready for their big ride of the day.  They pack lunches and snacks so they can be gone for several hours. 

After the cowboys all leave, the rest of us just get to hang out.  We did all get together this year for a hike.  The little kids like to go hiking, they think it is fun to pack a water bottle and a treat.  This years hike we went up past all the lava rock and followed a fence line quite a ways up the mountain.  JoAnn found some wild mushrooms that the kids thought  was pretty cool.   

Adrie, Allyson, Emily, Presley, Cheyanne, Bryler, McKenna, Lottie, and Zeb

 

 

After the hike, everyone found their own fun.  The kids took turns on the homemade swing that someone made.  JoAnn took the girls on a little four wheeler ride, and then in the mud they played.

 

 

And of course when you have rain, you also have mud and lots of it.  All of the kids had so much fun playing around and in the mud the entire weekend.

Allyson and Ava

Presley and Lottie

 

Trevor and Jaxen

 

Did I mention we had mud and lots of it?  Well, Ally seemed to find the deepest and wettest mud holes no matter where she went!  I think she will need a new pair of boots after this weekend!

 



Darcy and JoAnn

Bryler and Lottie

Friday night was our night to help fix dinner.  Rod and JoAnn had brought up some turkey that was marinated to barbecue.  We also did dutch oven potatoes, scones, and green salad.  Lottie got in the scone dough and Dillon made her this nice mustache!  After dinner, everyone got cleaned up and headed up to the camp fire again. 

 

 Tonight was another entertaining evening.  Rick and Kallie ended up showing up before dark, so Rick brought out his guitar to sing to us around the campfire.  Jeremy had fun being a Mexican commentator and back up singer.  He called he and Rick "Ricky T and the Dip *hits".  Needless to say, no body wanted it to end.  I told them that next year I will make a CD of their music so we have something to sell at the auction.

 

* * * * * * *

 

Well before we knew it, it was Saturday. We ate another delicious breakfast and then the cowboys started getting ready to go on their all day ride.  We were so excited when Eric, Jenna, Maddie, Tripp, and Krew showed up to play for a day.   The big hit with all the kids was their new dog Rambo.  Too cute to resist, obviously loved by all the little ones!

 

 

 

Allyson and Maddie were so excited to see each other. They are true BFF's!

 Ally was determined to go on today's horse ride.  Jeremy saddled up Sundance so she could go with the rest of the crew.   

 

 

 

Saturday mornings riders consisted of Kallie, Jeremy, Dillon, Rick, Allyson, and Grandpa Rod.

In the meantime, it was just Lottie and I that got to hang out together with all the other cousins for the rest of the afternoon.  Trey was off busy building the hut, shooting pellet guns, and roping, while McKenna, was hanging out in whomever's camping trailer with Samantha, Belle, and Taela.  I would see each of them occasionally as they would usually want something to eat or drink!

Lottie and Kaylor

Lottie and Tripp

Lottie, Maddie, Tripp

 

Lottie

 



Lottie and Rambo

 



McKenna was fortunate enough to go on a four wheeler ride with Grandma JoAnn and others.  JoAnn ended up hitting a rock that made her blow a tire so McKenna had to come back with Kallie.  She had a lot of fun being gone for the day.  She was excited to come back to camp for her chance to hold Eric and Jenna's dog.  In her wishful thinking, she someday wants one just like it!

 

 

Dillon made it back from the horse ride before the other riders.  He was pretty excited when he found a really nice elk shed.  He brought it back to show Trey.

 

After a while, Jeremy, Ally, Rick, Kallie, and Rod showed back up to camp.  Jeremy said that Allyson did so good on the horse ride all by herself.  He did say that after a while she got pretty sleepy.  He ended up letting her drink one of his Mountain Dews, which later she told her dad that she was so thankful he had that for her to drink, she admitted she did get pretty sleepy.  Another funny of the horse ride is that they decided to get off their horses to rest for minute.  Jeremy decided to go to a tree to carve their names in a tree.  All of a sudden Ally said, Dad, do I have something on me?  Needless to say, she was standing right on a big huge ant pile and she had ants crawling all over her.  Jeremy made her take all her clothes off in order to get all of them off her, they were everywhere.  Amazing part of it, she didn't even hardly cry!



 

 

These three Taylor girls are pretty darn cute!  Can't resist those silly faces!

 

Darcy taught the kids technique on drawing and used the cabin as his visual.  It was fun to see how well the kids did in drawing their own version of the cabin.  Even Lottie took it pretty serious.

 

 

It seems like when you camp, you always look for your own kind of fun.  Close to our trailer was a large raven that separated us from the other campers.  Well, before too long, Allyson and Lottie were riding their bikes down this hill side.  Lottie did it first, with no fear at all, then after a while, Ally got up the guts to take her turn on her bike.  Once she realized it wasn't too scary, it was up and down the hill she went.  Ally was able to push her bike back up to the top, but Lottie had to carry her bike to the top.  The cute little thing did it time after time, never asking for help!

 

 

 

 

 

Meet the AFR Team Ropers! 

Please note that no one is safe at camp, especially when this crew are swinging their ropes!

 

 Chap, Carson, Trey, Dillon, Parker, Zeb, Riley

 

 

Not even Chap was safe from being roped.  It seems like they all gained up on him to get him all tied up!

 

 

On the other side of the camp, there was a game of horse shoes going on.  Rick and Garrett versus Kallie and Jenna, good game but the guys still won.  In the meantime, Eric was on the sidelines entertaining the little ones with their newest member of the family, Rambo.

 

 

 

Jeremy returned back from his all day horse ride and was soon being invaded by several little kids who wanted their turn to ride. 

Gracie and Jeremy

Trevor, Jaxen, Lottie, and Jeremy

Trevor and Jaxen

Aunt Jenna and those adorable boys!

 



Trey and Ryker having a good time playing together.  They played all sorts of things to keep each other busy, whether it was building on the hut, playing the ball toss game or shooting their pellet guns.  Regardless of what they did, they always had a fun time.

 

Saturday night we ate a really nice dinner that the George and Linda Blackburn family provided us.  Afterwards, we held the traditional auction.  It is too bad the rain decided to fall, it made for a wet, cold evening.  After the auction, everyone crowded around the campfire to warm and for some fun entertainment.  Tonight was fun to sit around and listen to all the kids take turns singing and showing off.  Great times and memories!
 

* * * * * * *

 

Sunday morning came before we knew it.  Soon after we ate breakfast, there were quite a few people that began to clean up to head out!  Jeremy decided to load up the horses and make the 1 of 2 trips that he needed to make today.  Before he left, I had him climb on top of his horse trailer to get some pictures of camp! 

 

Ricky T sporting a nice hair style!

 

 

Bryler, Lottie and Allyson found the colored pencils and paper this morning.  They had drawing flowers, peace signs, and rainbows.  Quite the little artists.

What cute sister these two are together!

 

 

Too bad for Olivia, she was at the wrong place at the wrong time.  Before she knew four of those boys had her roped and caught with no way to wiggle loose.  

 

 

Saying Our Goodbyes! 

Thank goodness for great cousins and great memories!

Samantha and McKenna

McKenna and Olivia

Lottie and Zeb

Zeb loved to hold and play with Lottie this year, it was pretty cute to watch him!

Izzy and Allyson

Chap trying to hitch a ride home!

 

 

Here we are amongst the last of the campers!  There are always the same families that stay most of the afternoon on Sunday.  The main reason for waiting is that we are waiting for Rod and Jeremy to show up to make their last load home.  This afternoon is fun for everyone to sit, visit, and mingle memories of the weekend.

 

More mud, need I say more?!?

Lottie took off running when she spotted Jeremy pulling into camp.  She was saying, "My Daddy, My Daddy".  

 

Here is the hut that the boys spent so much time working on.  It was pretty impressive and creative.  They had put a lot of thought into to make it a double decker.  

 

* * * * * * *

 

Barely out of camp, and they were out!  Play hard, rest easy!

 

Good-bye for another year Anderson Family!  I do think that this year was a record breaker for the number of family in attendance.  In the posterity line of Don and Loraine Anderson's family, the current number of family member is 108, out of that 108 there were 91 present at this years reunion.  Another fun number is that there were a total of 26 trailers up here that people stayed in.