We held the Hatch Family Reunion on July 19-20 and it was an amazing weekend! I'm so glad it all turned out and everyone had a great experience. Last year, a few on the Hatch family unofficially nominated me to do a reunion. So that's what we did! Emma and I worked on it together for one of our Personal Progress value projects. We would've done it anyways, but it was a great way to get it all done. We started out giving everyone a Hatch Pass, which Emma and I put together. It was a little booklet with activities to do along the way. On the front, it said "Family: A little bit crazy, a little bit loud, a lot of love" and had a heart tree and family pictures on it. Inside, there was a family bingo sheet where we went around and tried to get to know our family a little better. Then there was a page to fill out at the Discovery Center, a pioneer fun page, a pedigree chart, and more. Once everyone completed them (or at least did some of them), we gave them a prize at the end. This was great way for us to get to know our family, both living and dead. We started out at a park in Salt Lake where we ate muffins Lucy and I made, played at the park, and looked at the Hatch Passes. Then we went to Sweets Candy Factory for the tour, where Dave's great Grandpa Peter Amos Grieve worked for most of his working life. It was pretty sweet and my favorite part was the cinnamon bear chap stick I got. When we weren't doing the tour, we went to International Peace Gardens. We were supposed to find the countries where our ancestors came from, which was England and Ireland and Scotland. It was beautiful and no one had ever been there before. Then we met up at City Creek for lunch at the Food Court. The kids loved the new playground on site and the adults loved visiting and eating some good food. Then we went over to the Family History Library Discovery Center. That was a neat experience for us all. I even found out I am related pretty closely to some of our Hatch relatives through my side and the in-laws side. We walked through temple square a little bit, then we headed to Bountiful. We watched the Bountiful Handcart Days parade together while eating pizza and doing face painting, went to the Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band Concert, and ended the night with fireworks.
Saturday, we started out on the steps of the Bountiful Tabernacle where Dave's Grandpa Bert used to ride his wagon. We recreated an old photo and took a big picture with us all and played games on the grass. Then we did the Bountiful History Bus Tour, went to the Bountiful museum (the pioneer games and the wash board were a hit!) and then over to the Handcart Days in the park. Most of Dave's Hatch ancestors settled in Bountiful, West Bountiful or Woods Cross and some of the spots on the tour had significance to this family. Finally, we went to the Church pavilion and had a taco bar, played lawn games and basketball, did some more face painting, worked on our Hatch passes and handed out prizes, had potato sack hop races since Bert and Lillian settled in Idaho and all of Mac's kids live there still, and then a human pinata, which was a hit! We ended the night playing Hatch Family Jeopardy, from information and pictures I got from everyone. It was the perfect ending to the night. I loved how though we don't get together much, we all still felt drawn to each other and to those who came before us. Even the second cousins really took to their cousins quick and they enjoyed being together and found so many similarities and interests they shared. I am grateful for the heritage which is ours! Every minute I spent in preparation was so worth it and I feel like my heart has turned to his family as well as my own. Hatches or bust!
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