MHHS Reunion Video Taken By the Drone

We condensed the video footage of our reunion taken from the drone into about 3 minutes.  Click on the lower right-hand corner to view it full screen.  Here it is:

We 've missed your SMILES and it was great to see them again!

MHHS Reunion Pictures from Missionaries

Thanks for sending such great pictures.  Keep them coming and we will post them here!

Here are three amazing pictures taken at Sixth Crossing by Elder Guymon.  He says anyone can download them from this site and enlarge them.  It took several days for the conditions to be just right - especially on Rocky Ridge.

There's still lots of room for any of your pictures.  

Email them to us!

MHHS Missionary Reunion - July 11, 2015

Saturday, July 11, 2015 was a WONDERFUL day!

Happily, everyone was able to find us here at Thousand Peaks Ranch.

This is an aerial shot of the Weber side of our ranch and the valley on the Utah side of the mountains.  It also extends over the mountains that are on the left of this picture and into Wyoming.  You can see the upper Weber River and the road on the left of the meadows that missionaries traveled to get to our cabin.

Our son Doug and his friend Corey spent the day with us taking these and other aerial pictures and movies from their drone.  

This is one of their drone shots of the cabin area. 

Elder Vallem and Elder Graham (missionaries from 2012 and 2013) directed the parking of more than 60 vehicles along the road, in the meadows, and in the trees. 

Sister Graham and Sister Vallem manned the welcome table at the front door and asked everyone to check their contact information and update it if necessary.

Soon we had quite a crowd - 131 people!!

Standing next to the beautiful oak handcart made for us by Elder Madsen (from 2013) Elder Moench greeted everyone and explained a little about 

our ranch and its history.

We have a signpost showing where our family members 

went to school and served on missions.

We basically had five activities scheduled during the day.  The first (and most important) one was visiting . . .

. . . and visiting . . .

. . . and more visiting.

It was SO fun to renew our friendships with dear friends!

Some, like the Butlers, took time to just sit and look at the beauty of the mountains.  Those who were golfers, like Elder Williams, tried their hand at hitting the ball down into the fish pond - about 340 yards away. 

About 12:30 pm our second event took place and lunch was served.

We had green salad, vegetable salad, potato salad, baked beans and lamb brats with pulled lamb and rolls.

Then we ate . . .

. . . and ate . . .

. . . and ate . . . 

. . . as we learned to do so well as missionaries!

After lunch Trinity Seely was our third event.  

She entertained us by singing some of her favorites songs.

We are so grateful to their family for making the "trek" up to our cabin in the mountains.  It was such a joy to see them again!

Wyatt had a broken collar bone so we were careful not to hug him too hard.  We've missed them!

Our fourth event was to take group pictures.  

Here we are all together.

Many little independent groups took pictures too, like this one of the Martin's Cove winter missionaries who greeted us when we arrived in January of 2013.

100 % of the 2013 missionaries from Sixth Crossing were in attendance!  Amazing!

This is how that all looked from the drone.  

Such a great view!

Our fifth and final scheduled event was Square Dancing!

We weren't in pioneer dress, but other than that we did it just the same as always with the Virginia Reel first . . . 

. . . followed by O Johnny O as we circled around the handcart.  Such fun!  

After that, everyone had an opportunity to come up to the microphone and tell about what was happening in their lives.

[Those pictures are on this blog but on a separate post] 

Then, as dark storm clouds gathered,Trinity sang one last song, The Hanging of Cattle Kate, before we had a closing prayer and people began to leave. 

Within minutes we were pummelled by extreme wind, rain, and then hail!

We all scurried to help gather the equipment and the tables and chairs, but there was no time to rescue the tent before the storm.  It reminded us of how quickly storms can arise and how, like our dear handcart pioneers, 

we needed to work together in a crisis.

Everyone took shelter inside the cabin and watched the Martin's Cove and Sixth Crossing DVDs sent to us by current missionaries serving at Wyoming Mormon Trail Mission.

Then they ate the most amazing 

mint ice cream ever plus a "Remember" cookie.  

Many had already left to escape the storm, so we froze the remaining cookies and will take them to our friends at the new Wyoming Mormon Trail Mission when we visit them.

Thank you for coming!  What a wonderful day!!

A 5 minute movie taken by the drone will soon be ready to post on this blog, so check now and then.

Hopefully other photos will be coming and will be posted on this blog as we receive them.  Please email us any great pictures you took that day so we can share them with each other and with our missionary friends who are still serving at Martin's Cove and Sixth Crossing!

Love you all!

The Moenches