Bear Lake in Photos

There were literally 1000's of photos taken at Bear Lake. My photographer-siblings (Shawni, Saydi, Josh, Eli, Kristi...) used their awesome talents and cameras to capture some amazing images and spent hours editing and sharing beautiful photos. But if I wait to gather and sort all their images and then combine them with mine, I won't get a post up about Bear Lake for ages (if ever) and/or I'll get analysis paralysis when it comes to deciding which of the many many many great photos I should post. 

So I'm just going to share a little taste of Bear Lake here - my simple, untouched photos from my basic camera and my phone will suffice for now...especially if I combine them with a few readily-available photos I've borrowed from others and links to other people's great posts about various parts of our Bear Lake time.

Oh, what a time we had!

REUNION

Beginning of the reunion - Noah and Kristi going over the schedule, everyone getting excited: (More on reunions in general here)

When cleaning out my parents' old house, we found these huge photo banners and Noah and Kristi decided to hang them up for the reunion - great blast from the past! Noah and Kristi are up there on the deck unfurling the photos as part of the reunion opening ceremony. Then they had us all pair up with someone else, interview that person briefly, then share a few little-known facts about that person as a quick opening activity - really great way to start.

Annual bonfire with the unveiling of our Reunion Playlist (more details here.)


Annual talent show:

Talent show audience:

The first annual Eyrealm Relay - SO FUN - everyone who could walk got placed on teams somewhat balanced by age and ability and each team covered the 12 miles between our cabin and the nearest place where you can get raspberry shakes (the Bear Cave). Everyone ran as far as they could, then another runner on their team hopped out of their team vehicle and took over. Some ran a couple miles, some ran a 100 feet. Everyone was a winner! (For a great full post on the Relay with lots more photos and commentary by my cute mom, click here.)

Eli was looking pretty chipper and fast:

But I passed him. Pretty proud of that.

Oliver ran the whole thing in flip flops - and did a pretty darn good job:

Isaac doing his team proud:

One group coming to the finish line right behind our group:

My relay group:

GRANDCHILDREN GROUPS

The kids have so much fun with their cousins. Each age-group of cousins has developed quite a bond.

Here's Ashton's group - GROUP 1 - Ashton, Max and Elle (how did they get so big, seriously!). 

These three played a lot of pool together, had a great time wakeboarding and waterskiing and canoeing together. And oldest cousin, Max, has a driver's license now and they were so excited that their group could go to the Bear Cave for shakes w/o any adults needing to drive them there. 

After Max had to leave to go back to his summer job in Arizona, Elle and Ashton had so much fun making videos together:

Here's the video they made about the second annual Eyrealm reunion "Fear Factor" - great capturing of a great activity! Eliza, Camden and Ashton were the three finalists this year.

Here's Elle's video of the full reunion from this year 

(Ashton helped a little, but this was mostly Elle - great stuff! 

CLICK ON LINK BELOW PHOTO TO PLAY.)

http://vimeo.com/71126216

Plus they had so much fun with their little cousins - 

here are a some photos I found on my camera that they took: 

Baby Zara, as the newest cousin, was pretty much the star of the reunion. Miss her!

GROUP 2: Isaac's cousins Ana and Gracie are just a month apart from him in age. They are a pretty darn tight little group and this year, now that they're all 12, they got to go on a wonderful motorhome adventure with Grammie and Grandfather (to Lagoon - of all super-exciting wonderful destinations for 12-year-olds!). Here's my mom's great write-up about their motorhome adventure.

GROUP 3: With no sisters, these girls are extra-important to Eliza. They have SO much fun together.

And they're quite amazing with the littler girl cousins - great helpers and mentors:


Here's a whole post about what these girls did on their Grammie Camp this year (learning about ancestors, doing art, mentoring the little girls...).

GROUP 4: The twins and these three cousins, Camden, Charlie and McKay, can't get enough of each other. They move in a little pack the whole time at Bear Lake, playing in the sand, riding on the boat, tubing, and emptying the dishwasher as requested. Often when I'd ask one of the twins to do something, they'd say, "well, we need a little group 4 time right now" and we'd have to negotiate a bit.

Here's Group 4 headed off on their Grammie Camp (to read all about Grammie Camps, click here.)



Here's Group 4 on the beautiful new grass play area my parents' surprised us with this year - "Grandchildren's Green."



OTHER TIDBITS

Dad's new Sailboat was a big hit with everyone (especially him - how he LOVES sailing!). Photos are courtesy of Shawni.

Our family has been going to the Dingle ward (20 minute drive from the cabin) during the summer for like 35 years now. We grew up with the great people there and love seeing them there every summer. And they're so kind to somehow absorb an extra 20+ kids in their nursery and Primary when we're there!

I love seeing these cousins in Sacrament meeting together, older ones helping younger ones behave.

Oh, what food we have at Bear Lake! Eli's curry, Saydi's bread salad, Jonah's burgers, Kristi's fish tacos, tons of awesome salads, mom's brownie cake, everyone's favorite version of chocolate chip cookies... I have to go running in the morning and go for a long swim every afternoon to work off all those calories I just can't say no to!

After the reunion, the crowd thinned out slightly as some people had to go back to work and other obligations but most of us stayed on for days of swimming, water skiing, chatting and reading on the beach while the kids played, going for early morning runs, going for late-afternoon swims, making lots more great food...

The kids play for hours and hours in the sand, building dams and castles:

Ashton told nightly stories to Shawni's daughter Lucy while Shawni was out of town for a few days during our Bear Lake time. He's quite a story-teller. This story was about a little girl who learned to love eating vegetables above all other foods (Lucy's working on eating extra healthy) and he wove in a bunch of ancestor stories. Pretty cute. And pretty gratifying to see that all my story-telling all these years seems to have rubbed off somewhat on this great oldest boy of mine.

Uno was a big part of Bear Lake this year - different groups of kids were playing Uno pretty much constantly!

And to finish, here are some glimpses of the scenery which is always changing and always amazing: