March 2024

March 2024
Over the years, we've always compared our family life to a wagon train heading west. Just as everyone had to do his part to get to Oregon years ago, so everyone in our family must do his/her part to make our journey through life successful. If somebody climbs in the wagon and lets the others do the work, we just don't make any progress. We all have to pull our weight and work together. Along the trail we find lots of pebbles that make for a smooth ride and some bigger rocks that jar us a little; we hit the occasional pothole that can slow us down. But if we purpose to search diligently, there are countless gold nuggets and precious gemstones along the way as well. This journal is an attempt to preserve some of those precious moments for our children, and our children's children, as together we travel this trail called life.

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psalm 16:11


Monday, July 16, 2012

7-16-12 Steiner Reunion

Ohhh what a great time.

I took way too many pictures.

But there were just too many smiles, too much laughter, too much reminiscing, too many special people = very many precious memories - - - so I just kept snapping – and enjoying - - -

Now to blog it – and remember it again - - -

So do I just post px and be done with it? Or do people actually read the words and care about what’s going on? Will I remember in a few years? Will I care? Well no I probably won’t remember and yes I do care - - - plus there were a *few* cousins missing (and yes you were missed too!) who just might appreciate many px - - -

hmmmm.

****WARNING: LONG POST AHEAD****

- - - so here goes . . . . . hang on, it’s a loooonnnng one. . . . and if you’re not a Steiner you might be a bit bored by the time you’re done - - -

Smile

Too bad!

Well the reuniting started when Dan & Anne got here around 2:30 or so to drop off instruments which don’t do so well in 90 degree humidity.  So of course we had to play a few songs before we took off.

P1220457

P1220459

Anne & I escaped to the reunion a bit earlier and left the rest of the crew making a joyful noise.

The Granary worked out well for the reunion (especially the air conditioning).

P1220460

P1220461

Sarah once again enjoyed time with Hanna!

P1220462

It was hot but not so bad in the shade.

P1220463

After supper, business meeting was inside, Todd and A. Velma presiding.

P1220465

P1220466

P1220467

P1220469

Then a tour of Steiner land.

P1220470

Orange tractors and covered wagon courtesy of Butch; green tractor and other wagons were Todd’s (I think).

P1220471

Sarah, Jewel.

P1220472

Silas, Ben.

P1220473

Gavin, Miles, Aaron.

P1220474

Noah, Josh, Jesse.

P1220475

Logan, Reid, Lily, Isaac, Karen (sporting the shades) holding Kara.

P1220477

Butch has peacocks (although we didn’t see or hear any), so kids found a few feathers.

P1220478

Brianna with Micah.

P1220479

Ready to go!

P1220480

Grandpa Steiner (one of the four there!)

P1220481

Courage, Thad, Joshua, Nolan, Benji, Brooke. Back – Darwin, Sierra.

P1220482

A. Sarah, A. Velma.

P1220483

Brooke, Cassie?Carrie.

P1220486

A. Shirley & U. Dan.

P1220490

Sophia, Olivia.

P1220491

Rearranging tractors and wagons.

P1220493

Ben, Silas, Hunter, Isaac.

P1220495

And we’re finally off!

P1220499

P1220500

P1220501

Story-telling by Uncle Dan. Lois & Steve, front.

P1220502

A. Velma.

P1220503

Ken, Linda, A. Karen, Dale. Thad in back. Looking forward to - - -

P1220505

Creek crossing!

P1220506

P1220508

Notice all the weight on the front -

P1220511

P1220512

P1220513

Made it!

Big Green’s turn.

P1220514

More stories by U. Dan - -

P1220517

P1220518

Mahlon, Thad, Corbin.

P1220519

U. Joe pointing out various Steiner landmarks.

P1220520

Gavin, Logan, Reid.

P1220522

A. Sarah, Karen (sporting the shades), Ryan.

P1220524

Kendra, Samuel.

P1220525

P1220526

P1220527

Lily, A. Karen.

P1220528

Load up!

P1220529

U. Cloyce & A. Carol.

P1220534

Lois, Emma?Lydia (sorry I don’t know which!!), Brianna, A. Marcella holding Lyssa.

P1220535

P1220538

P1220539

P1220540

Silo in back is Todd’s.

Uh-oh.

Old Orange #2 can’t make it up the hill.

P1220543

Grandpa’s turn for some tour-guiding.

P1220545

Big Green to the rescue!

P1220547

Quite an entertaining explanation of Orange’s problem by politician Dale.

P1220549

Linda and Ken.

P1220550

Go Green!

P1220551

Tori, U. Dave, Seth, Abram.

P1220552

This silo is the Zimmerman farm where I spent the first ten years of my life.

P1220554

P1220555

Creek to the right – this scene is near the area where the famous HuSteKaKo production, LIfeSavers, was filmed.

P1220556

Grandpa, Trent.

P1220561

P1220562

Old Orange #2 is back in the running!

P1220563

Lena, fiancé Matt.

P1220565

Isaac’s baseball glove in the timber gave me a chuckle. This boy likes his ballgame!

P1220568

P1220569

P1220570

P1220572

P1220573

Creek again!

P1220576

Quite the excitement there in the back - - -

P1220578

P1220579

P1220580

Made it!

And now for Big Green - - -

P1220581

P1220582

P1220583

No problems there.

P1220584

Wouldja look at that? Old Orange is catching up!

P1220585

Corbin, Mahlon.

P1220587

Homeplace (currently known to us as Todd & Val’s).

P1220589

back – Mara, June, Mindy, A. Sandy, Denise. Front – Timothy, Faith, Troy.

P1220594

Tour Guide Todd.

P1220596

Blessing, Timothy, Hannah, Timothy, Faith, June with Mara and Lyssa, Karen in the back right (guess you knew that, right – the shades, remember?).

P1220597

Anne, Kendra, Dan.

P1220601

My precious little man Josh.

P1220602

And U. Harold finally takes the lead!

P1220605

P1220606

Our tour ended at the Granary.

P1220609

Steiner cousins -

back –> Mike, Dale, Todd, Dave, me, Diane, Glen, Doug, Karen.

middle –> Anne, Joan.

front –> Tricia, Robin, Linda, Denise, Holly, Sarah, Lois, June.

Greatly missed – Dewayne, Mark, Jeff, Hope, Carrie, & Christy.

Yeah, you’re absolutely right. That's a pretty special bunch of folks!

P1220614

Youngsters played.

P1220615

Oldsters visited.

Smile

P1220617

U. Dan, Grandpa, U. Harold, U. Joe.

A. Barbara, A. Velma, and A. Carol.

P1220619

P1220621

P1220623

The tour continued with carloads of us going to Todd’s - the homeplace – house and barnyard both. Oh the memories, oh the laughter, oh the fun!

P1220624

P1220626

OHHH YESSSS - - we all know who the rich cousins were!!!!!!!

P1220627

P1220628

Of course the ballgame then -

P1220629

Affectionately known to Steiners everywhere as Dougball Smile

P1220630

P1220631

P1220632

P1220633

Great playground fun Smile.

(BTW, Maria is one of the two great-grandchildren attending)(Hanna is the other).

P1220634

These littles had so much fun on this covered hayrack. Imagination abounded!

P1220635

P1220638

Marie with Lyssa.

P1220639

Sarah, Providence.

P1220641

Marie with Lyssa, Sarah with Micah, Mindy.

P1220643

Emma, Amber, Jewel, Providence.

P1220644

Maria and Lily were so cute!

P1220645

P1220646

P1220647

P1220648

Thus ended the reunion, but the fun continued back home with more music!!

P1220649

P1220650

P1220651

P1220652

P1220653

P1220654

P1220656

Sunday morning horse rides.

P1220665

And then more singing before church.

P1220666

P1220667

P1220669

P1220670

The end.

 

(time to post this so the kids can see it!)

 

(p.s. - we would love comments and memories from cousins and other attendees!)(and others too)(actually we enjoy comments anytime Smile)

(p.p.s. – especially if I have some names wrong. With Tori’s help, I think I got most of them right but I’m not sure on that.)

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing...I enjoyed seeing all the pictures and explanations. So many memories of the Steiner family with Cloyce & Carol.

    Cherish it! June Knobloch

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wonderful post about a wonderful reunion! It's been way too many years since we had been to a Steiner Reunion. (I think it was in '09 when we came, but showed up very late due to an obligation Alex had.) I thoroughly enjoyed the time to catch up with so many of my cousins. Thanks for posting all the pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It looks so fun! Makes me sad we had to miss this year. Thanks for posting all the pictures! Love you all, Carrie

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a beautiful big family you all have!
    As someone who was raised in a small family and
    is raising a large family. I can't wait til we have reunions like this!
    I especially would like to purchase a creek and put it in the middle of our
    farm!:) ha! ha!! I may just have to settle for the big family reunions
    though! Take care. I loved this post. Kristi :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks so much for sharing! It was truly one of the better Steiner
    Reunions, with a lot of memories made! Brought back a lot also! Thanks
    again for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks, Ruth, for posting all of those pictures. What an enjoyable day! So glad we could all be together! "and a great time was had by all!!"

    ReplyDelete
  7. Really enjoyed the pics, Ruth. Will copy and paste quite a few of them into my pictures on my computer. We are so blessed to have a close family, even after all these years!
    ~Anne
    P.S. That is Cassie, by Brooke

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks so much, Ruth for posting pictures and writing down names! Makes me sorry that I had to chose once again which reunion to attend.

    ReplyDelete