Family Reunion (Fullmer/Poulson) June 2010

Well, family reunion time is on! Went to the first one last Saturday. Oak City Canyon. If you don't know where that is, don't feel bad, neither did I. It's just East of Delta. Yes, there is a small, mountain range there. Went through Nephi, then West to Lemmington, then South through Fools Creek into Oak City. Then East up the Canyon. Got that? Here we huddled under a small pavilion while it rained and ate "pot luck" - 5 or 6 different types of potato salads was the potluck of choice this time. There were a couple pasta salads, hot dogs or hamburgers, and chocolate or caramel cake. There are only two living Fullmer sisters left and no brothers. Kathleen (known as Aunt Katie), and Marilyn (known as Aunt Merk). They are still lively and fun and so worth visiting with. Then a lot of cousins come. The highlight for me was visiting with my cousin Keith Fullmer, living now in Denver and his brother Owen, living in Washington. They drove or flew - what troopers! Here's a story for you. Keith was my "kissin cousin". My children will all say "gross", but we played kissing tag at my grandmother Fullmer's house when we were about 5 or 6. You know, the game you run away fast to get away from the boy chasing you so you don't get kissed. Well, I think I ran then slowed down cause I thought Keith was worth kissing. Hmmm! Enough of that. After lunch I ran to the car, turned on the heater full blast and tried to warm up. There Dad and Keith joined me and we had a good visit. Now for the good part. The auction begins. We bought tickets for raffle items. I won a Kleenex holder my mother (Aunt Merk) made, and two dishes of homemade candy (also my mother made), so I passed out candy and let a cousin take the Kleenex holder. Then.... the name cards were passed out. These are hand written names (details of names later), stuck on straws to hold up when you want to bid on something. These signs are kept and brought back year after year (to some's dismay). Aunt Merk had made two blankets, and a baby blanket. Cousin Jill Tennant Brown made a large blanket (red with millions of dogs - cute), Aunt Katie made a blanket that Owen really wanted to put on his "man bed", and Owen made a large box (jewelry, tool, misc) - really nice though, oh and cousin Lyle made some black metal signs that were really cool to hang on front doors that said welcome etc. Those were the "HOT" items and the bidding war began. Now for the signs... you would only find these at this particular reunion and cousin Kenny Poulson always is the auctioneer. (Names of signs are for example: shitty, horny, sexy, gassy, farty, sassy, etc. ) Gotta love it! My mom had "shitty" a couple years ago and they tried giving it to her and at her refusal she finally obtained "Snow White"! Whew! Then the bidding began. Now if I were a betting person, I would bet that most of the people at the reunion don't have large sums of money to throw around, but evidently one couple does cause every year they manage to buy a lot, at large prices, and drive the prices up so high that those who really, really, want something can't afford it. But, for the best part it is fun to watch, fun to listen to Kenny call out the names on the cards and state their bid along with some other pertinent (?) comments. Then back down the canyon, through Fools Creek, Lemmington, Nephi and home to Provo where I often wonder how I got to where I am from where I came. A reunion is a good place to do a self evaluation and decide what you have isn't so bad, or that where you came from are some pretty good "down home" people, or wonder if you might be adopted! All in all, I'm really glad I went, plan to go again, and am glad to have some Fullmer in my blood!