Eyrealm: Yep, He did it Again!

Dad just completed his 16 year at the Huntsman World Games in St. George! Although it seemed hard to leave shoveling out the house for a week, it was great to get away. I had hung my head upside down for so long that my hair looked like it was growing UP when I lifted my head!

It was so fun to spend some time with the Looslis! Those twins just stuck to Dad like glue:

They just never tire of his antics and fun stories!

In the games, first he won the bronze medal for the standing broad jump only to be stripped of his medal because he won’t be 65 for two more weeks! The rule for all the other events except track is that you have to turn 65 sometime during 2009!

It was so fun to take the twins over to the track and have them “practice” with grandfather!

He won fourth place in the 50 yard dash because he had to compete against 60 year olds!

But he got the silver in the triple jump:

He was great again in Tennis, but unfortunately when he got to the semi-final in the tennis singles, his heart started racing in the night and he was lightheaded and had to forfeit! He however went to the consolation bracket and won the bronze anyway! He was so disappointed not to be able to play this big guy from England!

They also lost to some really great doubles players in the opening round, but again went to the consolation and won the bronze with his fun partner Tom Smith:

We not only had fun at the games in the day but also had a full schedule at night. We got to see Annie at Tuachan. What a ride into the past that was! Even though we couldn’t be in the play this time, we took some fun pictures:

As you can tell from our wardrobe, it was a titch cold, but thanks to Saren, we were warm and cozy!

On Thursday night Dad had arranged (by ripping a page out of the phone book with 18 Eyre families on it in Minersville, where our ancestors first settled in the valley) for a little reunion in Minersville. Not without much ado trying to figure out where to meet, we decided on the city park and about twenty men, women and children showed up to have a piece of pizza and a drink and meet one another. Many only saw each other occasionally and were glad for the reunion themselves.

This wasn’t everybody, bug the original oldest Eyres (properly pronounced Air in Minersville country) Dale and Cheryl Eyre were there and lots of their posterity.

He had just had cataracts removed but was doing well. He is a direct descendant of Benjamin Eyre who was one of the two brothers who came across the plains with a cattle herd. Their father died on the plains of Wyoming.

The only descendant from Edwin Eyre who was the brother that we came from was a darling 90 year old woman named Reema and her granddaughter, but they left before we thought to take pictures.

There was a Dean Eyre, Chris Eyre and Linda Eyre, so we were pretty well represented. When asked what was “mined” they said that Brigham Young had sent them there to mine lead to make bullets so they could defend themselves against Johnson’s army. Most lead bullets were laced with silver. What a waste of silver, I say!

When we asked them what they did for a living several who were ranchers were now pig famers. There is a national franchise centered there and two of the guys who came raised about 12,000 pigs every four months. They said that Minersville produces about a million pigs a year. It’s a state of the art operation and we promised to come back and show the kids!

A great time was had by all. Here are the Looslis sporting Grandfather’s medals on Friday morning just before we left. Saren and I had time to slip in a quick lunch and a great long talk or two. That girl is amazing. The same goes for the giant Jared, Action-man Ashton, Interesting Isaac, Lovely Liza and of course the dynamic duo!

Saren shouldered the entire Reflections contest this year since Aja wasn’t there. It wasn’t intentional but there just wasn’t anyone to full Aja’s shoes. After a night at the “carnival” featuring the reflections contestants, Saren has vowed never to do that again. But hey what would they do without Aja OR Saren?

Wish you could have all been there…but luckily we get to see all of you within the next few months so how blessed are we?

We rushed back Friday night so we could attend the baptism of Noah Patrick Edler. The Edler family are a great family that we met on our Center City mission about 9 years ago. Dad actually blessed this little boy Noah when he was a baby. They have recently moved to Layton and are active in the church. Great kids, great parents and some pretty great friends who have surrounded them with love!