"Wray's the Bar"

The moment you've all been waiting for...the recap of the Wray Family Reunion.

Most of the family arrived Saturday morning and Opening Ceremonies were held in the afternoon. My family was in charge of planning the reunion this year and we chose the theme of "Wray's the Bar." Get it? Like Raise the bar? But we're the Wray family? Clever. So the whole reunion was based around missionary work...mostly because my parents are currently serving in the Arizona Tempe Mission Presidency here and because I have 2 cousins leaving this summer on missions :)

For the Opening Ceremonies my parents introduced the theme to everyone and distributed the t-shirts for the year. Each individual was also paired with a "companion" that we would study with throughout the week. I was paired with Jef Holm...oops. I mean Ammon Story. They look alike. Each family was assigned a different location for their mission.

Hansen Family: Wellington New Zealand Mission

Grover Wray Family (minus the women who were busy having babies and what not): Dublin Ireland Mission

Richard Wray Family: Kenya Nairobi Mission

Grandma Wray: Wellington New Zealand Mission

John Wray Family: Lima Peru Mission

Shurtz Family: Paris France Mission

Johnson Family: Anchorage Alaska Mission

Story Family: Tokyo Japan Mission

Then we played some very themed games. It's all about the theme, if you haven't noticed.

First we played "Open Your Mouth."

Every companionship had to throw marshmallows to each other and catch them in their mouths.

Then we played "To the Rescue." It was basically a relay where you had to put a life preserver around you and run to one side of the grass and then your team had to reel in the rope so the next person could go.

Then we played "Missionary Tag."

That night the activity was an "Around the World" rotation. Each family had a representative hosting their mission with some kind of activity to represent their country. We were put into groups of 4 or 5 that we traveled around with to the different stations.

Uncle Grover and Matt hosted the Ireland station where they taught (showed a Youtube video) an Irish step dance :)

Aunt Jan hosted the Japan station. She taught us how to do some origami as well as how to eat rice with chopsticks. She also gave us each a really cool Japanese drink that came in a bottle with a marble stuck inside.

Then off to France where Aunt Lisa and Uncle Mike helped us build an Eiffel Tower out of straws and tape!

Next was Alaska where we did some "blowgun fishing." We also played a game where you had to roll dice and if you rolled doubles you had to quickly dress yourself in winter gear and then try to unwrap a candy bar before the next person rolled doubles.

Theeennnn to Peru where John and Kristen showed us some pictures, gave us a sunburn (just a sticker) and let us play soccer.

Off to Kenya where Richard taught us some games that had to do with the "Circle of Life." Basically they were animal games where we ran around and chased one another and pretended to be lions and monkeys and snakes.

Last but not least was New Zealand where Aaron taught us the Haka.

We finished off the night with a great devotional from the Shurtz family. Each family was asked to try and do some type of missionary work prior to coming to the reunion so we heard lots of cool stories throughout the week of different ways family members shared the gospel where they lived.

Sunday morning we headed out to church in Walsburg. We double the congregation when we go! We just stayed for sacrament meeting and then went back to the cabin where Uncle Grover taught us a lesson. We went out by the sheep and he gave a great message related to "Feed my Sheep."

Aaron, Jeff, and Matt were our shepherds :)

Next we had a "District Meeting." Okay not really. It was just the annual parent meeting where they talk about secret things...probably how much they love their children and stuff.

Then "Zone Conference." haha yes. Super themed. Prior to the reunion every family was asked to make their own "I'm a Mormon" video. We all gathered in the theater to watch them all. Some were funny and some were serious but they were all great. It made for a fun night.

We had devotional that night from the Story family and one from the John Wray family the next morning.

Monday was our "P-Day." The Shurtz Family planned an awesome activity for us. The family was split up into 2 large groups: Team Stacie and Team Grover. They told us that we were going to be participating in Iron Chef. We were all then split up into 3 teams within our teams which determined whether we would help with the appetizer, the main dish, or the dessert. I was put on the main dish team for Team Grover. Rock on. The secret ingredient? CREAM CHEESE. Dun dun dunnnn.

We had one hour to complete our 3-part meal. We were judged on several different aspects of our performance including the taste of our food, the presentation, the cleanliness of our kitchen, the organization of our teams, and how well we worked together as a team. Team Grover had it in the bag. After the hour was up we presented our meals to the 3 judges: Steve, Grandma, and Clyde.

The results were as follows...

Team Grover wins the main course and dessert. BOOM.

Team Stacie wins the appetizer. Team Stacie also won something about teamwork or whatever but does that really matter? It's about the food.

That night was the talent show. The talent show that some of these kids have been prepping for for MONTHS. John was the host and started out the evening with a vamped up version of Called to Serve where he had Jeff and Daniel come in dressed as missionaries with me as the investigator.

Some of the other acts included....

The vocal stylings of Emma Wray.

The exquisite drawings of Brayden Johnson.

Tyler Shurtz tickling the ivories.

Bop to the Top by Addie and Allison.

A dance party in true Johnson fashion.

Abby...holding a guitar. She looked cute doing it.

Sam singing a primary song. So cute.

The Stalker song performed by these 3 crazy kids.

Singing We Are All Enlisted which soon turned into a giant family mosh pit.

Unique and very realistic animal sounds performed by the Hansen Fam.

Matt jamming out on the guitar.

Steve reading poetry to Jan.

The soon to be missionaries dancing to My Little Buttercup.

The twins singing :)

Ammon doing Kronk impressions.

Aaron singing "Sway."

Cameron and Dallin reinacting them dancing to "Walk Like A Man" just like they did as little boys. They played the original video of them doing it on the big screen next to them.

I may or may not have been forced to put on a orange and white striped shirt and sing a song from Finding Nemo the Musical. I repeat...may or may not have.

Devotional that night was by the Grover Wray family. Two of his daughters, my cousins Whitney and Angie, each had baby girls while we were at the reunion!

Tuesday. The final day. We started off the morning with the annual Fun Run. Fun and run should probably never be put in the same sentence, but this is fun :) We were split into 2 teams again and started out of a scavenger hunt which led us around the property figuring out clues and doing tasks.

Phew. This is like a marathon! AND THEN the kids rode horses.

AND THEN we all dressed in American gear and went to a rest home where we sang some Yankee Doodle and some I'm Proud to be an American.

And then the boys went golfing.

Here we go. Closing Ceremonies. We parents handed out glow sticks and we turned off all the lights and talked about sharing our light with others. Grandma also shared a few words.

WHAT A WEEK. That's a rap. I love the Wray Reunion so much! Can't wait for next year!