Catch Up Part Dos

Hall Family Reunion

The Annual Hall Family Reunion took place in beautiful Menan, Idaho. The theme was "Go for the Gold," in honor of a family "legend" (story follows) and the 2012 Olympics. James and I had talked about going to the reunion since about March when it was starting to get planned. James was doing all the flyers for it and was having a blast. So, we decided to get tickets to fly out there - but didn't tell his parents! Sneaky sneaky! The only people that knew were his sisters, Maria and Jessica. Jessica was going surprise their parents too but ended up telling them. So, it looked like we were the only sticks in the mud not going to the reunion. We blamed it on me having to work, and not having the time and a bunch of other white lies. We were so sneaky...they had no clue!

So, the day that we flew in, the sisters, who had already arrived in Utah and were staying at Kevin and Debra's, were doing a great job mourning our absence. They would say things like, "Oh, man, I wish James and Melony were here..." or when Debra wanted to go to an afternoon movie, they said they were too tired (they couldn't leave and not be there when we arrived!) They were awesome!

Well, as part of the reunion, each family unit had made a family flag. We worked hard on ours and told Kevin and Debra that it would be shipped to them express to be able to make it to the reunion. After we landed, got our rental car and had driven about 3/4ths of the way to the house, we sent secret messages to Maria and Jessica letting them know our location. We were just about to pull into the driveway when we sent a text message to Debra saying that the FedEx man had just left the package (flag) on the doorstep! We pulled in the driveway, hurried up to the porch and waited while holding our flag out. The response was just as we'd hoped for! I hope this picture does it some justice. I wanted to post the video but again, Blogger wasn't having it. But it was perfect in the moment!

(I love Ryan's face!)

 Needless to say, Mission accomplished! Sweet victory! We got right to playing! The Halls waste no time!

We had a nail painting party. Madyson was so sweet to do my toes and I did Lexi's fingers :)

S'more time!! Love Claire's cheesy smile!

Sweet baby Cort

This just made my day! I have fun putting Andersen kids asleep on my shoulder :) Lexi did the same thing!

The next morning we were off in our cars to head up to the said location of the reunion. The drive was so nice. But Utah and Idaho were COLD!! It rained on us! We aren't used to that :) Our thin Tucson blood had ice chunks flowing through it because it was so chilly! It felt so nice to be in rain though - very relaxing.

We arrived safe and sound to the Gordon Hall home where we began the reunion. To start it off we had the Torch Run. Each family (Gordon Hall had 5 children: Jerry, Nile, Kevin, Rick, and Marilyn) had a mile run to get to the Menan stake center where the games were going to be held. It went in the above order so the Kevin Hall family drove down to our starting point and waited anxiously for the torch. Finally it came!

The pass off from the Nile Hall family to the Kevin Hall family. That's Aunt Debbie there along with Kelsey passing off the torch to Madyson.

This picture reminded me of something else too. Each of the 5 families had a specific color too - the same colors that are in the rings of the Olympics symbol: Black, red, yellow, green and blue. The Kevin Hall family was Red, Nile's was black, Marilyn's was green, Jerry's was yellow and Rick's was blue. Okay, back to pics!

After passing our torch off to Jerry's family, we drove on to the stake center. The last torch bearer made it about 30 minutes later: Cicily Telford.

Here are the flags from our family:

We had a "Parade of Nations" where we walked around in a big circle with our flags and then shared what each of them had on it and what they represented. It was fun seeing where the inspiration for flags came from. Then the games began! We had:
     1. Javelin Throw (using pool noodles)
     2. Discus (threw frisbees through hula-hoops)
     3. Shot Put (threw balls through the hula-hoops)
     4. Rowing (5 people sat Indian-style on a sheet. They then had to use their arms and "row" their way to the finish line. Going backwards worked the best)
     5. Archery (threw paper airplanes at a target)
     6. Gymnastics (used a 2x6 board and had to balance on it. There were also mats used for somersaults)
     7. Races (3-Legged, Sack, and Wheelbarrow in a relay)
     8. Shooting (used pvc-pipe marshmallow guns. James, the MC for the games, got attacked by a group of shooters! It was hilarious!)
     9. Long Jump and
     10. Family Hurdles (Leap Frog).

Javelin throw

Getting ready to Row

Gymnastics

Long Jump

Dallin Walker winning the long jump. He looks like Spider Man!

And finally, the family "legend" that started it all:

The Gold Story

Written by Kevin Hall

This is a story that has been in our family for 4 generations. It now has a final chapter and needs to be captured; not for the legendary value but more for the real message it holds for each of us today.

This story stares with the Drake family. They were a poor family that crossed the plains with one of the Mormon pioneer companies. The Drakes somehow got separated from the company and were left to fend for themselves. They were close to starving when an Indian group found them and agreed to help them. The Drakes were only able to secure enough food to get to the Salt Lake Valley if they agreed to leave one of their daughters with that Indian tribe.

Years Later, after their parents had passed away and they had moved to a place now known as Annis, Idaho, siblings of that traded daughter decided to go back to that tribe of Indians to see if they could locate her and bring her back to live with them. She was no longer with the Indian tribe but had moved to a nearby community to work at the mint. Although she was bitter about having been left by her family they finally convinced her to come back with them and again be a part of the family. They told her that she could have a room of her own.

When family members met her at the train station in Idaho Falls she had an old steamer trunk that allegedly took 3 men to lefit it from the train into the wagon. At the time they were told that it was full of books. The trunk was moved tot he spinster's bedroom never to be opened by anyone. Strangely no books ever appeared. Years later Nathan Merrell as a young child allegedly was playing in her room and using a hat pin got the lock open. Just before he opened the lid the old spinster came whisking into the room, relocked the trunk and skedaddled him out.

Funny no one ever seemed to see any of her books anywhere. After she passed away everyone wanted to know the content of that old trunk. there were those that conjured up the likelihood that their spinster Aunt had taken gold bars or gold coins out of the mint in her lunch basket each day and was so bitter about being left with the Indians that she was not about to leave it to her family. Much to their surprise when they got the trunk open, it was empty. So they wondered, "Where did it go?" Some believed that she  might have deposited it in the outhouse when she made trips there. Others said that they saw her leave the house with what looked like something in her apron and head down to the lough and then return with nothing in her hands or apron. Many searched the area but no gold was ever discovered.

Years passed and the homestead changed hands from the Drakes to the Merrells and then to my Grandfather Victor Hall. Much of the land in Annis was covered with sloughs that were formed by flood waters of the Snake River in the spring. Once the levy was constructed people in the valley began to fill in those sloughs to make the ground farmable. Grandpa Victor paid a scraper company to pull the high spots into the sloughs. During the leveling process Grandpa's cousins who previously owned the ground walked beside the scraper for the entire project hoping to see some unearthed gold coins or gold bars.

More years passed and it appeared that the gold story would be lost. But like all gold stories, this one would not go away peacefully. The old trunk was discarded.; it ended up in the hands of a descendant named Doc Rainey. That trunk was of no worth but for kindling. While breaking it up with an ax, a map was discovered in the lid. Gordon Hall said, "Doc Rainey showed up one day offering Grandpa Victor $25 for the right to dig in a prescribed location and to keep whatever he found. Well, Victor would not agree to that proposition so it was agreed that with Doc's map and Victor's land, they would dig together and split the finding." Aunt Ramona said that she remembers that dig was done in the dark of night. Uncle Garth said that was the plan, but you don't keep a gold dig quiet and everyone came to enjoy the fever. Dad said he remembers as a young man being the lantern holder that night when Grandpa and Doc dug out that old outhouse. He said, "While digging they hit something hard and dirt came out of that hole almost fast enough to knock him over." However, no gold was found that night.

Other times throughout the years people tried to recall where old latrines, sloughs and creeks were located and digs were performed. The legend of the gold was told again and the fever ensued. I remember digging a few times myself. Once we found some old barbed wire and formed it into a Y shape and tried to "witch" our way to finding that gold. I don't ever remember digging more than a foot or 18 inches before we "gold crazed" kids gave up and decided to play something else. We envisioned finding that gold and spending our wealth over and over.

In the fall of 2011 a few months before Dad passed away yet another generation got the gold fever. Reed and Ross Merrell allegedly came upon the map and entered into the same agreement with Uncle Rick that Victor and Doc had done som3 75 years earlier. Only this time back hoes and metal detectors were employed. With more horse power the only difference was more and bigger holes but still no gold.

Early this year 2012 we will tell the final chapter of the gold story. We, the five children of Gordon Hall, met to go through shelves, drawers, and bookcases to find new homes for Dad and Mom's possessions. Dad had suggested that there was more money in the house than we could imagine. Jerry was given the key to a strong box but no strong box had been discovered. While cleaning out the cupboard above the family room closet we found boxes of old magazines, books and study manuals. After pulling down the last box I turned around to see...yes, it was the strong box. Everyone was on their feet with excitement. When I tried to pull it out I realized it was heavier than I expected. I could hardly get it out of the top of that closet. I handed it down and we saw that the key was taped to the top. It was identical to Jerry's key. Could there really have been gold in that strong box? When we opened it we found that it was mostly full of small change; a few silver coins but mostly run of the mill coins.

As the fever in my blood subsided, I could not resist keeping the gold story alive. I texted my kids and said, "We found the gold in Grandpa's strong box in the closet." Hours later I had to confess to them that it was just a practical joke. One of my daughters said when I texted her that Grandpa had left us gold, "That stinker, he had it all along!" Well, not the gold we thought it might be. Many of us have calculated the potential worth of that much gold. Even at the inflated price of gold today, what we have been left is worth much more.

Every family needs to have a gold story. As a young boy my Grandfather told us the only gold we would come across was the manure that we would remove from the corrals. I would like us all to consider something much more golden than might have come out of that patch of dirt in Annis, Idaho. In those 4 generations the truth of the gospel was taught and testimonies were formed. Boys and girls learned how to work. Dozens of missionaries have gone forth to serve and are living the gospel and are serving in the church across the country. Hundreds of grandchildren are faithful to what really matters in life.

Yes, Grandpa had it all along (that Stinker), only it was not gold. The gold he had all along was the Gospel. It is families sealed in the temple ready to come forth in the First Resurrection. It is as Elijah of old promised--hearts have been turned to their fathers and the world will not be wasted at His coming. What a tragedy for our Hall family to deal with the challenges of life if real gold would have been discovered? How many of us would have been lost? Today as we go for the gold, may we remember that as we keep our covenants the real gold will be- "All that our Father in Heaven hath." As we share this, our gold legend, may we always remember and "Go for the Real Gold."