pre-reunion Bear Lake

We joined the pre-reunion party up at the Lake after our quick stay in Salt Lake (HERE).

We made it a real party by finally whipping up a birthday cake for Grace (yes, it was clear back HERE in June, but I was gone to the BBS conference and she never got a cake).

We thought it would be fun to celebrate a little with her other cousins who all turn 13 this summer).

Then we sat and watched the sunset as we gathered around to hear the story of my sister’s big engagement.

Man oh man we are SO excited for these two!

The whole story is on her blog HERE.

Go read it because it is pretty darn exciting.  They are getting married in October.  Hooray!

I watched Elle play tennis with my brothers and Dad.

That’s one of my favorite things to do.

Lucy and I tried to get our “exercise” in each day on some great walks.

Real clothes are completely unnecessary if you can wear your pjs around all day.

Horses like pajamas.

My Dad took Claire bare-backing.

I’m pretty sure the life jacket came in super duper handy on that ride.

I made my kids read {almost}every day.

…and Lu took it upon herself to color.

…a LOT.

My Dad explained his new “chart” of what he wants to do with grandkids each year.

Have I ever mentioned that he’s one heck of a deliberate man?

Just checking.

Love him.

My girls and I took turns fighting over who got to hold our newest baby niece.

Claire actually hogged her the most (she is a baby-lover-extraordinaire), but she was off with cousins that day.

We had a pre-reunion “reunion” with our cousins (my Dad’s brother and his family).

I wish I had a picture of the whole group.  These guys are pretty fabulous and it was fun that they had their reunion close-by this year.

Speaking of family reunions, Elle did a whole family reunion photo shoot for a blog-reader’s great extended family who happened to be at Bear Lake at the same time as we were.

One of my kids’ very favorite things about being at the lake is this car:

I know, it’s a junky car.

But when your cool uncle is willing to teach you to drive in that thing?  That’s when a junky old car becomes priceless.

I love that it has this special plaque in it:

There she is…

Lucy played this game about five hundred times.

It’s called Sleeping Queens and boy howdy it was a hit among the grandkids.

The “princesses” got matching hair-dos:

Claire and her “Group” (more about the “groups” back HERE), seem to always have a “shirt” for the year.  Apparently it was Claire’s turn to bring the shirt this year so this is what we brought:

My niece Lyla has a thing with small creatures.  She is the queen of catching lizards and little snakes.

I’m pretty sure Dave wants another baby.

Or is he just wanting to make me drool?

One of our favorite things about the lake is just basking in the sunsets that color the sky.

With that, the last of the straggling gatherers arrived, and it was time:

For the kick-off of the annual Eyrealm reunion.