george was worried there were actual bears in the lake

A few weeks ago we were able to go to Bear Lake for a family reunion with my dad's side of the family (ie: his mom, siblings, and all the accompanying kids and grandkids). It was so much fun. The only bad thing about it was that it was too short and I didn't get to spend time with all the people that I wanted to. It is such a blessing to not only have these people as family, but also consider them my dearest friends. I love Ashleigh, Sandi, and their family for planning such an incredibly fun reunion for us and I can't wait until the next one!

I basically only had my camera out at three separate occasions throughout the whole weekend: frosting cookies the first night, on the boat the first time I went out, and for a little bit on the beach. I missed taking pictures of many of the fun things that we did, and feel bad that not everyone is represented in these photos, but here is what I got.

Cookie Decorating:

My smiling boy and Rae Rae

Alaura and Abram

Kate the Great

Xander and Georgie

After she ate her cookies, Rach kept herself entertained by doing handstands.

Heather almost always had baby Adam (as opposed to grown-up Adam) attached to her in some way.

See? Look at how cute they are.

And Ben and John (and lil' Miss Pea) overlooked the lake while discussing very important things like Phil Hendry's latest show.

We spent all day Saturday out on the lake. We boated, rode wave runners, played in the sand, and chatted on the beach. Aside from a near-death experience with a freaky piece of metal slicing a foot open, it was a picture perfect day :).

On the boat:

I love everything about boating. I love being in the water, wakeboarding and tubing etc., but I also really love just riding on the boat, warm wind blowing through my hair, feeling the occasional spray of water. That is why I like these first two pictures-- I can almost feel boating by looking at them.

Georgie is into giving "thumbs up" lately, so he encouraged the others to join him. They were happy to be on the boat.

We stopped at the marina for a second and Adam grossed everyone out by sticking fish food between his toes to get the nasty carp to suck it out. Get a girlfriend or something, Ad.

Sick, right?

We eased George into the boating scene by letting him float around the marina on the water weenie (which he totally calls a "weenie roaster") with my sisters.

While G enjoyed himself in the water, Ben held the little Pea on the boat. She liked driving around, but did NOT like the life jacket. Maybe we broke the rules and didn't make her wear it the whole time.

Since G enjoyed the water weenie experience, we amped it up a bit and I hopped on with him for his first legitimate water weenie ride.

He was a fan. Unless we "went bizzy," ie: got dizzy, ie: went in circles. Can you believe that blue water?

Mady and Rae Rae enjoyed the weenie as well. Perhaps their ride was a little more intense and involved more "getting bizzy" than mine and Georgie's did.

G happily enjoyed his job of waiting patiently for someone to tip over and then he'd hold up the flag as high as he could.

Then we busted out the tube. Madeline and Rach held on at first.

And then they didn't.

Josh and I proudly held on the entire time.

Even when it got intense.

All the while, Daddy held our sleepy, squishy girl.

Ben and Josh got some nice air.

While Kate and Jim opted for a bit more mellow of a ride.

Abram and Jill thought they were getting a mellow ride.

Until the tube submarined upon take off and they fell in.

Abram was a good sport though, and even gave us a thumbs up once he got back on the tube for a ride. Little cutie.

Kate and Bram were proud, looking windblown and showing off muscles, respectively.

Then the boys busted out the big guns, so Pea girl and I chilled and watched.

Jim got up on the Sky Ski right away.

And then he went down. How dangerous does that blade look?

I love Ben's face in this first picture, and I love how the blade it totally out of the water in the second one.

Then people wakeboarded.

People like my husband,

and Josh, (Sorry that the best picture I have of you is where you are about to eat it, Joshie. But not really that sorry, because I love this picture.)

and the show-off Ben, doing a backflip.

Playing on the beach

We took turns going out on the water, and while others were out, we played in the dark, coarse sand on the beach.

The white stripes on G's swimming suit will forever be dingy and brownish because of this. Nevermind that my little sister is so tan that she looks African.

Who needs water when you have the weenie on the beach? Not Brax. But he did enjoy a little walk out in the water with his daddy.

I love this photo of Dallin and his boys.

Leyna took her sand scooping very seriously.

Mika and Pearlie hung out in the shade and tried to devour each other's hands. These girls are about 6 weeks apart and I am pretty sure Pearl has her by at least 4 pounds.

For some reason George really loved chasing Zack with this bucket and trying to dump it on him. It was highly entertaining to watch.

We took a big family photo the last morning, but I don't have a copy of that yet. This was the closest thing I got. Lots of people were out on the Lake, but here are those of us that were hanging out on the beach.

I love all these people so much and am so grateful for the time we spent together. Yay for family reunions!