The Riding Family Reunion was held honoring Alma Joseph Riding, my grandfather and the kids' great grandfather's 100th birthday. Almost everyone was able to come. Aunt Mary was there with her son Scott. Aunt Carole was there with Tracey and their daughters Laura and her husband, and Christina and her son Corbin. Corbin is our kids 2nd cousin. He is almost 7 and he and Jaxton got along vey well. It was fun to see them make friends! Uncle Ken and Marilyn came from California and brought with them their son Jim, and their daughter Kendall and her fiancé. Uncle Mike and Jane came from California too. And my mom, Doreen was there wi all three of her daughters, Melissa, Tara and Becky. Melissa had her family there, Marcos, Amanda, Dillon, Spencer, andBaby Bella. And we were there too with our four,Jaxton, Cooper, Kaylee, and Dawson. This reunion resembled the ones we did every Christmas with Grandma Riding, so for me, she was there in spirit. I thought about her a lot and imagined that she was there. Uncle Ells also was missed and maybe he was watching. Of course, in honor of Grandpa Joe, I imagine that he also was there in spirit.
We held the reunion at South Fork Park inside Provo Canyon. It was a beautiful park. The temperature was forecast to be 102 that day, but up in the canyon it was only about 82, which was perfect! The park had a shallow but wide stream that the kids could play in and they had a blast! There was lots of shade and lots of trees and few people other than our group.
The reunion started off with Aunt Mary sharing some of the highlights of Grandpa Joe's life as he was growing up. She shared about him as a child and some of the things he did as a kid. Then she shared about all the different jobs he had and emphasized what a hard worker he was. The kids got to go up and hold props or wear a hat to symbolize the thing that grandpa Joe did. There were many things that I learned that I did not know about my grandpa and it was fun to learn. Aunt Mary wrote a biography of Grandma and Grandpa Riding for all of us to have, which is a prized book. I am very excited to read it and learn all about my grandparents!
Mom put together a fun craft for the kids. She helped them to make small picture frames out of big Popsicle sticks and the kids painted them. Then they put a picture of Grandpa Joe in the picture frames to remember the reunion in his honor.
About 6 months ago, each family was encouraged to do 100 acts of some kind of service in honor of Grandpa Riding's 100 birthday by the time the reunion came. Our family kept a running list of acts of service, big and small that we did. We did all sorts things. We took meals and treats to families. One time Jaxton invited a lonely boy to come eat lunch with him. One time Nate graver a ride to a lady who was walking down a busy road with a bike and lots of grocery bags. We had a family come over to our house on a stormy night to wait out the tornado warnings. We did all sorts of things and by the time we got to the reunion, we were at 96. It was a great family goal. Mary painted 100 rocks red and numbered them and hid them all over the park. The kids got to go search for all of them and lined them up till all were found!
After Mary's presentation, we ate a big barbecue and visited with everyone. The kids played in the creek and had so much fun. I enjoyed catching up with family members and playing with the kids. It felt like one of our old traditional Riding family gatherings at Christmas from years ago. I'm grateful that we could all get together like old times to reunite!
Following the park festivities, we congregated at Aunt Mary's house and watched a sideshow presentation that my cousin Laura made of old photographs of Grandma and Grandpa Riding, beginning as little children and following their lives all the way up to the present time. She is giving everyone a copy of this and I am so grateful for her hard work and effort to put this together. It will be a special thing to have to remember our ancestry.
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