Idaho Trip - King Reunion

Paul and Marillyn King Reunion
June 7, 2013
Salt Lake City, Utah

On June 5 I headed out of Prescott Valley at 7 a.m. with my 3 little boys all buckled in their seats without Curtis.  We tagged behind Tia Marci all the way to Salt Lake City.  The boys traveled like champs.  I had their little backpacks loaded with toys and activities, snacks and munchies galore, and the DVD player all set up for Nathan to operate.  We rocked out to our favorite tunes, ate Swedish fish, and luckily the boys were able to take several little naps between their meals and movies to help the time pass easily.  It wasn't a complete cake walk, Marco had one fit in the afternoon just before he conked out for a long nap.  Tia Marci was a BIG help when we stopped to stretch our legs, go potty, and top off the gas tanks.  She helped herd the boys and fill up water bottles.  We made a little pit stop in Salt lake City to visit Great-Grandma King while letting out some wiggles and then we hit the road again for Idaho.  Thirteen and a half hours later we arrived.

A few days later we headed back to Salt Lake City for our King Reunion.  I really enjoyed seeing my extended family again.  Most of my cousins are married and have growing families too.  There were lots of little kids and several brand new babies to keep us all busy.  We had a special family history presentation about our King ancestors from England, some inspirational devotionals from our Uncles, cowboy themed activities to keep the kids occupied and a really yummy lunch.

In the afternoon we all went swimming, enjoyed a volleyball tournament and some square dancing.  I did not get a chance to enjoy the dancing because, after locking my keys in the car first thing after arriving at the reunion and having a nice AAA man get them back out for me, I ended up locking my keys in the car a 2nd time after swimming.  Unfortunately Marco was also in the car and buckled in his car seat.  In fact he was the culprit who locked himself in the car.  Marco grabbed the keys from me to play with while I loaded up all the towels and bags of swimming gear.  The minute I closed his door and before I opened the front door he pushed the lock button.  I was stupefied.  I was able to flag down my Mom before she headed back to the chapel and she called AAA again.  Knowing there was a baby inside made them rush the order but I was still a nervous wreck.  Within a few minutes Marco started to sweat.  At first he was happy and I tried to play a game with him to encourage him in pushing more buttons like the Unlock button, but he never did.  He managed the alarm button several times and the lock button again, but never the unlock button.  We covered my van with towels to try and keep the car as cool as possible but it had been sitting in full summer sun for a few hours while we went swimming and was already hot.  When Marco started crying, I started crying.  It was the scariest thing I have ever experienced to date.  My Mom had ice water prepped and ready, Tia Marci was standing at the end of the road ready to flag down the AAA truck and I stood by Marco's window trying to calm him down and keep myself sane.  I'm not sure how much time passed in total, I lost all concept of time, to me it felt like forever.  But the AAA guy, the same guy who opened up my van earlier that morning, had  my van unlocked in seconds once he arrived.  I scooped out Marco, we poured water down his throat and wiped him off with a cold, wet towel.  And I bawled some more.  I would have much preferred the squared dancing.

After Marco and I were sufficiently recovered from our dramatic experience we went back to the chapel and arrived just in time for dinner.  Pizza and root bear floats.  Unfortunately I didn't have much of an appetite.  After dinner and a slide show of old family pictures we held our traditional King Reunion Talent Show.  My family had prepared several numbers for the program some of which were just me and my sisters.  We had WAY too much fun practicing and tweaking them to perfection.  At one point we were all sitting around our parent's kitchen table and laughing so hard we were crying.  I love being with my sisters, and I especially love singing with them!

And our other songs are here and here.