The Forney Reunion Version 20.10

This year's Forney Family Reunion was not without incident. It was not perfect in every way and yet, somehow it made it in the books as one of my favorites. Right up there with the year in Lincoln city with the big bathtub, the year in Kellogg with the mansion and Silverwood, and some of my other favorites, like one of the older years with the "gathering place" in the middle of the properties.

The 2010 Forney Family Reuion was held in Kennewick, Washington at the home of Ross Forney and Katie Flynn.

Ross and Katie had decided to remodel their top floor 2 weeks before hand, which is another story altogether... Anyway. The sink was still setting and the tile grout was still drying and the stove had not yet been installed when everyone arrived and everyone helped out where they could to make sure the kitchen could be used. My dear brother Ross just about had a heart attack every day and should NEVER do any kind of remodeling again! :)

We all had a lovely time. We lounged by the pool, slept in, some played in the river on the wave runners. The kids jumped in the pool over and over and over and over and over all day long for 3 or 4 days and never got tired of it! We spent evenings listening to music and hanging out on the deck. Laughing at stories and reminiscing. We sat around and looked at pictures and watched funny youtube videos. We talked to my cousin Erik about heading off to Vietnam for a year of studying and cousin Carrie about starting her freshman year of college. We talked about the years past when Grant didn't talk and celebrated that we got to hear from him a bit this year. :) We enjoyed watching grandma change her mind about liking and not liking the dogs depending on their behavior. Anna came again this year and brought her bunny and guinea pig just in case there weren't enough people and animals already. :) The kids LOVED having them on the deck to play with when they weren't in the pool.

Only one minor "incident" of someone drinking too much and it wasn't any of us, so it all worked out just fine. There was little or no stress, tons of food, some beer pong by the pool, and tons of laughing....

It was amazing to me that we didn't need anything at all. Grandma and pa have spoiled us so much in the past. We have had 12,000 sq. ft. mansions in the woods of Kellogg, Idaho. We have had HUGE vacation homes on the coast, a lodge with a pool outside of Wenatchee, condos in Leavenworth, and year after year of not worrying about lodging costs. This year, they lost a lot of their fun money in the stock market and so we held the reunion at Ross and Katie's house. It was amazing! We didn't need a fancy mansion. People didn't argue over the sleeping arrangements. No one complained about the noise level at night and no one instigated any drama....well...none of US anyway. The only complaints I heard from anyone at all were that Sarah Forney wasn't able to make it and that Paul wasn't around very much. Everyone had a lovely time and enjoyed each other's company! Thank you, Ross and Katie, for one of the best years yet.

Now...here are a few inside jokes and quotes from the Forney Reunion 20.10:

Grant: "mom, please stop straddling me..."

Grandma: (who is CONVINCED that phart is a German word that means gathering although Google disagrees) "The Forney Fart should be spelled p-h-a-r-t!"

Grandma: during the youtube video of someone getting really excited about a double rainbow "he's having a climax"--wow grandma. :)

Someone (Sophia?) referencing our long-running hat joke with Erik: "put your hat on if your knees are sore"

Grandma: "Did someone just lick my leg?" -laughter-"oh...it was the dog." Carrie: "case closed."

Ann: "Their names are Blazer and Dash" Grandma: "that's a dog's name".

Ann: "I hit my kids ALL THE TIME!"

Erik to me via Facebook: "Ok: You told everyone the funny bird story and we all laughed. Then Ross told the special girl story and we all laughed. Then you told Ross the funny bird story and we all laughed. Then grandma said something about how we all started laughing when you told the bird story, seemingly forgetting about the special girl story. Except I got confused and then someone spilled coffee and I really can't explain."

Erik wears a hat because his arms get sore from running his hands through his hair. :)

Grandma: "look at my toes!".

Grandpa (taken from Erik's facebook): " I come into the family reunion and everyone has their computers on their laps looking at their facesheets and tweetering and checking their spacebooks." Grandpa...you rock! :)