Rabbit.

(Just have to say that at the beginning of every month. It brings good luck after all…Dave’s family tradition:)

Let’s celebrate that good luck coming in September (HOW IN THE WORLD IS IT SEPTEMBER!?) and wrap up Bear Lake.

After the annual reunion (back HERE), we always like to linger at the lake as much as possible.

When you have an old boat like ours, sometimes you have to take matters of balance into your own hands:)

The sister-after-dinner-sunset-walks are always the best, leaving behind the pattering of little feet and commotion to watch that vast sky above the lake both changing as the sun sinks to the tune of all our discussions.

Except sometimes we bring the “little feet” right along with us:

I love watching all the cousin bonding. I love the late-night discussions and the whir of the Bosche mixer whipping up our nightly batches of cookies, all this melodious cacophony of good things mixing together, and then the Sprinter pulls out to head to Oregon (all the dads and kids…a more recent tradition that they all LOVE):

And all is calm.

Quiet.

We heave a sigh of sadness for the end of the long-anticipated and glorified togetherness, and also a sigh of relief, as we delve into just sisters and a few kids, deep discussions, exercise, order.

This year when everyone left it wasn’t quite as carefree as usual because man alive, I had a lot rolling around in my brain (task lists) and in my heart (big kids doing big things).

And to top it off, Dave was in the emergency room back in the desert with kidney stones. Unable to keep any medication or food down, poor guy!

Kidney stones are no joke.

It was strange to find the balance between maneuvering those things and taking advantage of time with those awesome sisters, and bask in the job of loving up all those awesome nieces and nephews.

We did get some good time with nieces and nephews, especially since my sister Charity and her family just moved back to the States from London and she and her husband took a couple side trips to scope out housing, and my brother Eli and his wife were waiting for the grand arrival of their new baby, so we kept their other kids at the lake. WOOHOO!

I loved watching my nieces take such great care of those littles, just the sweetest little relationships forming right and left.

My sister Saydi and I took our “big” kids on a special date to get raspberry shakes:

I loved that we also had a little mini reunion with my Dad’s brother’s kids. My uncle passed away recently and I have felt such a pull to be together and catch up with all their goodness. My Dad’s other brother and his wife visited as well.

The Sprinter pulled up returning from Oregon and kids spilled out from that thing running to the lake for a “bath” as the sun sunk below the mountains as a backdrop.

We did a few serious cleaning and re-organizing projects to get the lake in shape for the end of the summer:

Played more games (of course):

Watched more shifting of that gorgeous Bear Lake sky:

Sometimes the shifting of that sky produces rain, which was so welcome after all the heat. It was HOT this year!

Right after that picture above it started to POUR, and Lucy and her cousin thought it would be a grand time to go for a swim. And I couldn’t pass up joining them when they looked at me with such pleading eyes.

I’m so glad because it was really just what I needed to be out there in all that beauty being drenched from above and below with those purely delighted girls.

We went on more walks:

I love that this year we all got to bask in the grand announcement of another cousin’s arrival…my brother and sister-in-law had their baby. They didn’t find out if it was a boy or a girl before, it was a surprise, and we were all so excited to hear it’s a BOY!

Here’s their first “family photo:”

Ha! We were laughing at how dazed those kids were having just woken up:)

Look at this beauty-boy:

Welcome to the world, little one!

One night my Dad brought up a whole briefcase filled with growing-up paraphernalia he had found left from my Grandma. We LOVED going through all those old pictures and memories.

These are my two youngest siblings, Charity and Eli. They look SO much like their kids it’s crazy!

(Must have been right after Eli came to visit me at Boston University…)

And below…My mom’s hair! My sister Saren and my hair!

Tal’s high school basketball claims to fame:

Old family pictures:

My parent’s engagement photo:

There sure were some gems in there!

The last of the Bear Lake sunset beauty wrapping up for the summer:

And then Lucy and I packed up and headed off on our long journey home after bidding all our goodbyes.

(Did I mention it was so weird that I only had one kid up there??)

We stopped to meet up for lunch with my high school friends I had been MISSING:

AND I got to meet my new little adorable nephew sweetie-pie on our way out of town. I happened to visit right when my sister was visiting with her twins, and look how much bigger they were!

IWAN.

Still.

Except maybe I really am too old and tired for that nowadays.

Phew!

Lu and I followed some huge, plump clouds plunked perfectly right in front of us as I drove, both Lucy and I lost in our books when we weren’t talking.

I finished “Lonesome Dove” (that thing is LONG), and almost all of “Think Again,” as we drove, drove, drove:

And finally, HOME!

We were all pretty excited about that…most especially Bo Jangles:)

And that wraps up Bear Lake for another year in the books.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, and everyone else, for all the memories filling up my heart!

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3 Comments

  1. I struggled with kidney stones a lot as a teenager. If he’s able to “catch” one a lab can analyze and see if an adjustment in his diet might help. I avoid iced tea and drink lots and lots of water. Bonus, adding a squeeze of lemon to your water can help too (the acidity).

  2. And thanks to you for documenting all this beauty! It’s so hard to appreciate every day when you’re right in the middle of it! Plus I missed some of this while being somewhere else! Every photo os a treasure. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

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