Eyrealm Reunion 2024

Yep it happened once again. I want to record the official Eyrealm Reunion 2024.

I talked about the beginning of the gathering, and by the time everyone arrived we were ready to let the festivities begin.

I say “everyone,” but in all actuality we were lower on numbers this year. People always ask me if everyone comes to the reunions and the answer is a resounding yes…most of the time! We all do our best to get there. Our family missed the year we were living in China, and a couple other siblings have had a year where they couldn’t make it due to extenuating circumstances. But no one wants to miss Bear Lake. As the oldest grandkids, my kids are still always so excited to meet up in this place every year. I love that this spot has become their “thin place” just as it is mine.

But this year was a little different. Claire is on the other side of the world serving a mission in Australia. Two cousins had left on their own missions just a bit before, one started the “home MTC” smack-dab in the middle of the reunion and one was getting ready to go. My brother Jonah’s oldest and her husband were running the store on Blakely Island so they couldn’t make it. Two of Claire’s age cousins are doing study abroad in London (just like Claire was during the reunion last year). And since Carson just started his residency in Palo Alto, he and Elle were unable to make it. Oh we missed them all so much! But so glad they are all stretching their wings in different ways.

Opening Ceremonies

We are creatures of habit by this time after all these reunions, I think each of us nine kids have had a couple chances to be the “chairs” of the reunion. This year it was Eli and Julie.

And like clockwork, the opening ceremonies took place on Grandchildren’s Green with the sunset as a backdrop.

…followed by the bonfire with each of our favorite songs revealed. Except this year there was a little twist. See below for the “theme” for that.

Followed by s’mores, of course.

The Theme for this Year

It is true that we are creatures of habit, but every reunion takes a little bit different life of it’s own.

This year Eli and Julie chose “Misogi” for the theme taking into account that Eli served his mission in Japan and a couple of my siblings have spent some good time in Japan this year (Jonah and Charity with their families). That place is so full of goodness! We have the best memories of being in Japan with Eli & Julie for Thanksgiving when we were living in China (there is a part 1 and a part 2 to that adventure in Japan.

Anyway, I digress. I love that practice of “Misogi” which is explained better than I could below:

The Misogi Method is a profound practice deeply rooted in Japanese culture and philosophy, originating from the ancient Shinto tradition. The term “Misogi” (禊) itself translates to purification, emphasizing the act of cleansing or purifying oneself, not only physically but also mentally and spiritually. Over time, this traditional ritual has evolved into a comprehensive approach to personal development and transformation, aiming to achieve a heightened state of clarity, discipline, and self-realization.

Medium.com

So lots of things in the reunion were based around renewal, purification and development.

At the bonfire instead of telling why we chose that specific song, everyone shared one thing they have done this year that pushed them in a new way. Loved that!

The Regulars

Love that these are some of the things we do every year at Bear Lake.

Tennis Tournament

We do this differently every year, but it’s always so fun to gather at the court and watch (and participate) the action.

Most always with a good little cheering section that sometimes involves kids sitting on the roof:

It should be noted that we beat Eli and Julie, the reigning champs up there above…WooHoo!

But then we got beat by these two:

Boo!

Finals:

But I honestly cannot remember who won! I love this tradition so much.

Work Projects

This has become a tradition too, we all take at least one morning during the reunion to dig in and do work projects to help keep everything up.

Lu, Abby and I worked on cleaning out this little house with our group, and had a little casualty with poor Simon’s hair:

Yikes! But don’t worry, they got those suckers out!

Love everyone working together for a common good.

Reunion Food

We love to cook. I still think it’s funny that our whole family really does enjoy this. So we have some good food at the lake.

There is generally lots of prep going on the night before, and I wish I had more pictures, but usually a crowd gathered around chopping and putting things together in that hot kitchen before we eat.

Abby was good at documenting some of the food this year:

And here are a few of the crowds at dinner.

The almost-a-missionary and the one who just started the MTC:

We had two birthdays on the same day during the reunion, fun to celebrate these two we love so much.

We usually gather for lunch close to the beach.

Cookies

It’s funny to have a whole section for “cookies,” but man alive we make COOKIES at the lake. Every night. Especially this year since Eli threw a “cookie competition” in there. We are good at making them and very good at eating them, as you can see.

Lucy is perfecting the art of a making a good cookie. And I know I may be a little biased, but I think she’s got this thing down!!

Sunset Walks

And always after dinner we get cleaned up and head out for sunset walks.

Bear Lake Nights

I love that Abby is still incredulous that we start an activity/discussion at 11:30pm. The Bosch mixer roars to life whipping up some cookies, there is so much activity in that kitchen still holding on to the day’s heat.

Eli led some great discussions on our “talking couches” some of the nights.

Games…I actually should download a video here, because boy these guys cracked me up!

Birthday celebrations:

My Dad always shares some great thoughts and ideas.

“Hot Seat Interviews”

Some are a little more jazzed about the late-night meetings than others. Ha! Julie is a sleeping Beauty.

The picture on the right above is the night when Eli interviewed a few people in the “hot seat” with all kinds of questions. I LOVED that addition this year because there’s nothing like really digging in to hear more details about people you love. We heard a lot more about Charity’s business (you can find out more at BirthwithCharity, she is amazing and she has a class coming right up).

We heard from Jonah about how to store large extension cords:

You guys, that is a skill I tell you!

Eli had Tal share a lot more about his new book:

Camden told us all about his jazz band at Harvard:

Saydi explained more about her therapy:

Oh I loved it all so much.

Fear Factor

Fear Factor was taken up a whole new level this year and boy, these kids were total champs trying all kinds of new foods.

And also good cheerleaders who didn’t know if they could stay in the game:

Beach and Water

Always, of course, the beach and water plays a big role in the reunion.

We all wait with baited breath for an evening where the water is perfect and we can “ski on the gold.”

Church

We always go to church in a little town called Dingle. Ever since I was a little girl at the lake. Love that spot and have so many good memories there.

Our church continues with our own family testimony meeting back at the lake.

Also on Sunday my Dad had a special “Grandfather’s Secrets” meeting with the kids. He is writing a book with them, which is kind of fun to look forward to!

Talent Show

These are the only pictures I haven when the talent show was going on since it was our big chance to talk to Claire. Love that these two missionaries got to say hi:

Miss that girl more than I can say!!

New Reunion Addition

This year Eli and Julie introduced some extra color to the reunion. And interestingly this is the only picture we got of the whole family this year.

The kids got to decorate their parents first, and I have to say they did a pretty good job…

Yikes. Then the kids got “chalked”…Murphy was not too sure how she felt about this…

Somehow missing Lu from this picture on the left, but here she is in all her chalk glory on the right. (She never asks for pictures but she did for this one!)

Then we were ALL In the lake together to get cleaned up. Some of us cleaned up better than others…you may have noticed in the sunset walk picture above that my sister Saren sported some pink hair for quite a while after this. She owned it though!

Some of my Favorite things

I love the working together projects. I loved the discussion at the beach one day all about The Anxious Generation (a book I happen to be reading for book club, highly recommend).

The work project was awesome, the chalk war was messy and pretty entertaining, the fear factor was next-level, as were the abundant amounts of chocolate chip cookies churned out each night in that hot kitchen crawling with action.

Loved that Eli gave my mom a night to talk about something dear to her (dear to me too…she showed this video), and that we got to touch on all my Dad’s church thoughts he has worked so hard to beautifully articulate and share.

I always love the little notes kids hang up on the walls to do various jobs:

Spiritual Creation Award

I love we gave Tal, the who always gives out a “spiritual creation” award to someone at the end of the reunion, that special award this year. He’s sure spiritually created life in Switzerland and with his family and writing his new book.

Cousin bonding

Oh how I adore the cousin bonding. There are, of course, some years and some ages where there are tricky situations with this. But this year I just kept thanking my lucky stars for Lucy’s cousins and how good they all are together.

…and for this place to foster those relationships.

Oh how I love this place with my arms wide open.

There is more after this…when the official reunion ended and my brothers packed up with all the kids and headed to Oregon for a few days. More about that soon because it was Lucy’s first time and it was pretty special.

But I’m sure you’re done with Bear Lake pictures for now (thanks for sticking with me if you’ve made it this far!)

Let’s end with this:

A Video from 10 years ago

And to commemorate the last time Eli and Julie were chairs of the reunion, let’s reminisce with this video they made way back then when we were all babies.

Long live Bear Lake! We love you forever!