Reunion Menu Ideas

Planning a reunion makes it fun!  So, making the food ahead will make dinners less stressful and our time more meaningful. Some make ahead meal ideas we've thought about are laid out below.  Please comment your ideas in the comments section:

Breakfast Make Ahead Ideas:

Cereal

Make-Ahead Pancakes

Baked Oatmeal (Night Before Make Ahead)

Dinner Make Ahead Ideas:

Cabbage Rolls!

Baked Spaghetti

Crepe Bar

Panini Grilled Sandwich Bar

Baked Potato Bar with Green Salad Bar

Burrito and Taco Bar

Hawaiian Haystack Bar (healthy version)

Pasta Bar (pastas with different sauces to choose from)

Bars are a good idea so that people with allergies can avoid allergy stuff.

Lunch could be leftovers and kind of each person or family takes care of their own lunch...

These are just some ideas.  Any other ideas would be extremely welcomed!  Just post your ideas, recipes, or suggestions in the comments section below!

The Old Homestead Is Sold! Special Fast on Sunday!!!

We are holding a special family fast on Sunday August 4th in Thanksgiving that the house sold and Mom and Dad can now go forward with faith doing all the wonderful things they always do with less of a burden!  (We can also add to that fast that all goes well with the sale and nothing falls through!)

So happy for Mom and Dad!  Huzzah!!!

Going To Bring Joy To Another Family Soon!

Happy Baptism Day, Sadie!!!!

Sadie was baptized while Sariah and Ethan visited Oklahoma. Happy birthday and baptism day, Sadie!

Sadie's Special Day!

Happy Pioneer Day!!

Loved this video about how we are all part of the pioneer legacy!

And this year's Pioneer Day Concert featured awesome, amazing violinist Lindsey Stirling.

Summer So Far...AND REUNION HOUSE PHOTOS!!!

It's been a red letter season for the Adams family... Between the tornadoes and the house fires, babies were born and loved ones were lost...we've had quite a summer. Here is dad enjoying an ice cold brew from the Blackberry Festival in July:

Okie Root Beer

We will sure miss Grandma Rosemary, and we are happy to welcome little Joseph Casey and Addie Jayne to the world!

We would like to keep everyone updated on the upcoming reunion in Florida in December, as well as fun things like Cody's Friday Email, Ethan's awesome cover songs, Sariah's gorgeous Disney photography, and other news, so if you have photos or events to share, please email them to mommacrocodile at gmail dot com and we can post them here.

Please take time to vote on the poll to the side of the blog! Also, check out the photos of the lovely house for the 2013 Family Reunion by clicking here!!!!   Sariah did a great job researching and finding the perfect spot!

Traveling...

This month is Sariah's birthday, and she will be flying back to Oklahoma City to celebrate!  She has been busy with work and sadly, the air conditioning on her car, Finn, went out.

But, she still managed to find beauty in the situation:

By The Repair Place

And she still managed to sneak in a trip back to her home away from home:

Her Other Home

She also went to visit Maine for awhile and had a lovely time:

Happy Summer

Covers...

Ethan has returned home from an honorable mission in the great state of Indiana and is living with Sariah in Florida. He has been spending some free time expanding on his vocal talent....check it out:

And this:

So wow!  What a talented guy!  Check out his YouTube channel!

A Break From Trashcanistan...

Most of Zach's summer has been spent in Trashcanistan, but during late June and early July, he was able to come home on emergency leave to go and visit Oklahoma.

Visiting Mom and Dad

Other than that bright spot, the summer has been pretty uneventful for me. I did build a fence at our house in New York at an inexpensive price (thanks to the military discount at Lowe's) in order to keep the canine fecal matter out of our portion of the yard.

Katie and Dida

Chopping Down A Tree

Water Baby

The Zoo!

Sunny and Katie at the Zoo

I can't really write about what has happened in Afghanisatan, but I have ridden on 7 planes and 3 helicopters in the last 3 weeks! I have also completed a few more classes towards my degree.

I can't wait to be home again!

Maine Summer...

Cody and Ashley had a new baby! Joseph Casey was born into an exciting adventure!  The kitchen burned down and the family has spent the summer as wandering gypsies with their Sharipov cousins!  The Adams family knows how to live the adventurous life!

Summer 2013 Sharipov Style

We have had a busy summer of traveling, first our annual trip to Woodward Camp in Pennsylvania, then on to Maine for three and a half weeks, and now back to Woodward!

Swimming At Woodward

We had an awesome time in Maine visiting the Adams family, with a bonus visit from Sariah for the 4th of July.

Lovely New England...

Loving The Beach

Fun Times With The Cousins

We didn't do much...just kayaked, hiked, built fairy houses, caught frogs and snakes, did fireworks, visited the Portland Headlight lighthouse, picked strawberries, picked blueberries, spent many days at the beach, visited LL Bean, saw a life sized chocolate moose, and even toured Wellesley College outside of Boston.

Strawberry Pickin

Flying Kites On the Fourth

Building Fairy Houses

Lighthouse

Sisters

I got to see old friends from my YW days, and just enjoy the beauty of the New England coast.

Raistlin and his cousin Jayne became little buddies and spent countless hours playing together, he already misses her.

Friends

Rainy Day Fun

Maya had a wonderful reunion as well with her best friend cousin, Addie.

Rustam is staying busy with his normal coaching work, but also has added on a boys gymnastics club program at OSU, which will be helpful to the future of OSU Men's Gymnastics.

He teaches in priesthood every month; I am still teaching art lessons weekly and working as the nursery leader (over our THREE giant nurseries; we have 38 nursery aged children in our ward!!!)

Ksenia will be 10 (yikes! Double digits!) in December, Maya will be 8 in August and is really looking forward to her baptism:), Belle turned 6 in July, and Raistlin turned 2 in April.

Summer Move

The Liu Family welcomed Addie Jayne on May 13, 2013 and have just been recovering since then. Our summer has been an effort to get settled into our new home in Orlando, Florida, and we have been having a good time!

Remembering Joy

We remembered Joy on her special day--July 5, the day she went home to our Heavenly Father. I have been trying to learn how to walk again by visiting the Magic Kingdom:

I ♥ the Magic Kingdom!

My near death experience has changed me somewhat--this is the first time in my life I actually enjoyed shopping!

Shopping with the girls! Here is Esther looking happy!

The kids watched "The Incredibles" (edited) for the first time this summer)

Above, Abby and Esther are sporting their new short haircuts they got because the everyday swimming was wreaking havoc on their hair.

Joseph Studying

Joseph turned 16 this year. He has his driver's permit and is studying for the ACT. We are homeschoolers year round so we can take a vacation in September to go to DisneyWorld for a few weeks. YAY!

Enjoying the rainy season

Here is Abby enjoying the summer rain, courtesy of Aunt Sariah's awesome umbrella! And, of course, we couldn't truly be settling in to Florida without frequent visits to the beach.  Here is a picture of Daniel Job (now one year old), looking out toward the waves:

My Ocean Prison

An Evening At The Beach

We are looking forward to a Happily Ever After Dinner tomorrow night to celebrate both Abby and Aunt Sariah's birthday and we will be watching the fireworks from the Grand Floridian. We wish we could enjoy it with all of you!