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I like to think of myself as the 'crazy mom of four'. I'm 31 years old and I love my life, my kids, my husband and my God. "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jim Eliot

Saturday, June 13, 2009

2009 Cross Family Reunion

We decided, even though we'd spent 40 hours on the road at the begining of the month, to drive to Indiana for a family reunion (my dad's side). The weather, while a little warmer than I would like, was actually pleasant.

The women who wanted to could participate in a skillet toss. I was pressured (by Kris) into participating in this. He didn't really pressure me...I wasn't wholeheartedly against it. I did not win the skillet toss, of course, because I am a weakling, but I actually threw the 10-inch IRON skillet farther than I thought I could! They also had a skillet toss for the younger girls too, which Abbey and Katherine both participated in. Of course, neither of them won either. I don't think any of us should pursue any kind of career in skillet tossing. I think if you click on the picture it will enlarge it so you can see it better. (I just checked and for some reason the first pictures won't enlarge but the ones with egg all over me will) I was trying to make them smaller so they would upload faster.


After the skillet toss, they decided to do the ever-so-popular egg toss. I wasn't going to, but was easily persuaded. Kris and I were partners. We made it pretty far; not to the end, but we made it to where there were half as many people left. This is where it got a little tricky. Kris and I did great throwing and catching. Until that last throw, from Kris. It was a great throw, and I actually caught the egg. However, I must have been too 'rough' (or Kris threw it too hard) because the egg exploded. And not only did it just break in my hand, it broke in my hand AND splattered itself all down my right arm/chest, got some on my capris, and a little bit of the egg white found it's way to my face. I really DID have egg on my face-it's not always just a 'saying'. It wasn't pleasant. So I'm holding the egg shell in one hand, the other arm is dripping with egg yolk and I'm kind of frozen in place for a few seconds. They had gone on with the remaining competitors. As the egg was coming back towards the direction where I was standing, the person beside me caught their egg, but it burst, throwing egg yolk on my foot. I was a mess. We got a couple of pictures (of course!).






Every year they have an auction-usually the things you are bidding on are...well...not always the MOST desirable items. Kris and I had won $5 by tying for 'farthest travelled' and Katherine got $5 because she apparently won the egg toss (I didn't know this until now-I just knew she had money). Abbey and Katherine also both got a dollar for participating in the skillet toss. So we told them they could use that money for the auction. I can't remember how I got my other dollar, but I had an extra so I gave it to Kaleb to use at the auction. It was cute watching the kids 'learn' how an auction happened. They were all (except for Livvy) sitting there watching, and from time to time they would bid. Most things went for well over the $5-13 we had that we could use (if we combined it all), so Katherine and Abbey couldn't get anything they wanted. Kaleb was able to get a set of homemade bunny rabbits (for my $5) and he gave one to Livvy, which was really sweet of him. What's funny about the bunnies is my uncle (who was the auctioneer) asked Abbey if she wanted to bid on the bunnies. She said "No. I hate bunnies!" I didn't know she hated bunnies, but it was funny to hear her say that in this group of 20 or so people. When I told her later I didn't know she hated bunnies, she told me that she doesn't hate all bunnies-just those. They were too big and she didn't like their clothes. She informed me she likes little bunnies.

The auction ended and Abbey walks over, head down, looking sad. I asked her what was wrong. She told me that she didn't get the picture she wanted. I asked her what she had wanted, and she pointed to this oval-framed picture of flowers. My other uncle had bid on and won a bowl my mom wanted and when it ended, he gave her the bowl. So my mom had actually won the painting, which she then turned around and gave back to my uncle, to repay the favor. Abbey said "I wanted that picture and when he said one dollar I held my dollar up, but I didn't get it." It was cute. So I told her that maybe if she asked, my uncle would sell her the painting for $1. We tracked him down and she asked him if she could give him a dollar for the painting. He whispered something in her ear, and she turned to me smiling and said "He said I could keep my dollar AND have the painting!" She was excited. Just now, as I was typing this, (after saying nothing for a while because they are watching a movie) Abbey said, "It was really nice of your uncle to give me that picture." It really made her day. Here is a picture of Abbey with her newly acquired painting. The first one is because she was really self-conscious about being 'seen' with the painting, because she was afraid someone would think she was stealing it. She said she didn't want people to be jealous, which didn't make any sense to me, so I knew it wasn't what she meant. After further discussion, I realized she was trying to say that she was nervous about someone thinking maybe she wasn't supposed to have it. So cute!

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