The kids and I flew in LATE Thursday night (Friday morning?) after several hours of delay due to rain in Detroit. Annie and James weren't that good on the flights (not necessary trying to be bad, just that we took off two hours after bedtime and got in around 3 am New York time), but I felt people's prayers for me helping me to not get frustrated with their behavior, so that was great. Brad got in LATE Friday night, also after several delays. We spent Saturday visiting both of our families. It was so great to see everyone! It'd been a year since Brad had been home and 9 months about since I'd been home. It felt fantastic to reconnect and to see our kids forming strong bonds with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Sunday morning we popped over to see my grandparents, which was so fantastic! I love them! And then we headed right back to Jefferson's non-farewell (what do we even call these anymore?). It was packed. He did a great job; he's going to be one of the most prepared 18 year olds out there. I think all of Murray High School came over for lunch after.
We were supposed to leave for the Laketown Lodge/Hunter family reunion on Monday, but Grandma Fern had a scare with her health, so we weren't sure if we'd go or not. Instead, we went with Brad's mom and the kids to the Thanksgiving Point dinosaur museum. The kids loved it, but we (sadly) forgot our camera. We finally decided that night that the reunion was still on. We packed up sort of early the next morning and headed to Bear Lake.
We had a great time time at the Laketown Lodge! The accommodations were superb and the company was even better! All of Brad's extended family was able to be there minus two of his siblings. It was so relaxing. We were able to work out every morning, play at the lake to our hearts' content, read, play games, watch movies, and chat with delightful people. One of Brad's aunts had the brilliant idea to have a puzzle competition among the four families. We were jazzed about this idea until she distributed the puzzle. She gave our family the most impossible puzzle. Normally, I love doing puzzles, but this was beyond ridiculous. It was a sunflower, so the only colors were brown and yellow. There were no edge pieces and the pieces were teeny teeny tiny. We probably worked on it for 5 hours and only got about 40 pieces put together.
Some highlights were the candy store everyday, the Hunter Games, the Bear Lake monster, memory lane with Grandma Fern, the devotionals each day, and the tournaments. Each afternoon Antinette would put out all this penny candy and give each person 25 cents to "purchase" small candies. The Laketown Lodge used to be a candy store, so most of the grandkids have memories of going there for candy as small children. On the last full day that we were there, we participated in the Hunter Games. We played a water balloon/towel game and an intense game of steal the flag. Some of the new/soon to be in-laws were a little shocked by the competitive natures in the family. When Grandpa Tone was alive he'd always don a mask and emerge from the lake as the Bear Lake monster and give the kids candy. This year Jake kept the tradition going. James and Annie were terrified! However, Annie was easily placated once he gave her candy; James was not. He still talks about how scary the Bear Lake monster is. One afternoon we had Grandma Fern talk about some memories from her life in Laketown and Meadowville. The funniest moment was when she talked about one cold winter night after she and Antone got married when they were relegated to the shed, but that night they "welcomed Antinette's seed into the world". So funny! We also had devotionals each night that were really great. My favorite was when we each shared something we'd learned from Grandma Fern. And finally, Brad participated in the on-going tournaments all week. He won foosball and something else I believe. Oh, also we went to the Woodruff rodeo one night and it was fantastic!
We left Bear Lake Saturday morning and met up with ALL my siblings Saturday afternoon. Our swimming plans were thwarted a couple of times, so we just enjoyed the sprinklers and snocones courtesy of Babs. That night the adults went out for Thai food. We may have annoyed the rest of the restaurant, but we had so much fun being together. We spent the night and lots of Sunday with Jonathan and Laura because they weren't going to be able to come to Bear Lake the next week. Love them!
Monday morning we left for Laketown again. This time, we camped (I'm so brave). Of course no trip to Bear Lake is complete without stopping for frosty bevs at the Maverick on the way up. Happily, we shared this tradition with the Binghams. Those 44 oz caused a mad rush for the bathroom as soon as we got to the property. We heard rumors there may have even been a bit of a tiff in the Bingham car about who got to go first. :)
We had a blast there with my family. Steve, ever the optimist, was certain we'd be able to get kids up behind the big waverunner. I had my doubts, but they did it. I think most of the older grandkids got up. Becky even skied too! Brad's family has kayaks and Isaac brought his paddleboards, so there was no shortage of water options available. One of the things I love about the property right now is that there is a beach area and then the water is shallow for 50-100 yards, which is perfect for our kids at this stage of life. Annie played there with her cousins all day long. James loved the water, but nothing compared for him to rides with Daddy on the tractor. He couldn't get enough of it.
Some of the highlights of this trip were sisters swims, late night chats, mini devotionals before each meal, cousin bonding time, loading up on desserts, and the family history excursion to Meadowville. One afternoon all my sisters and I went out for a little dip. There is no one I laugh harder with than my siblings. I love them! (Jonathan, we would have loved to make this a siblings swim.) We concluded at the end of it that somehow we need to get together more frequently. I love being with my siblings because not only are they so fun, but they have great perspective and wisdom. Cheesy, I know, but true. I leave better for being with them. This was also true of our late night chats after the kids had gone down.
Before every meal we had a mini devotional where someone would share a scripture and then we'd pray over the meal. I was so impressed by my nieces and nephews. They are very spiritually in tune and are clearly being instructed by "goodly parents". Which is why I was so happy to have my children rekindle those friendships. Annie has never really lost her affection for her cousins, but James didn't know people quite as well. However, he was completely smitten with his only (until August) boy cousins. They are 14, almost 12, and 10 and they were SO great with him. I loved it!
As we planned the food for the trip, Becky and I got laughing about how easy it was to plan desserts (shakes, cobbler, scones, s'mores, Mexican chocolate cookies, etc.). We definitely had more desserts than there were days on the calendar or even meals in the day. My kind of eating.
Elizabeth met Grandma Fern once and immediately Grandma loved her and Elizabeth loved Grandma! (I'm completely sure Grandma Fern would rather have Elizabeth as a granddaughter-in-law.) Because of this, Elizabeth wanted to see where Fern had grown up, so Brad and I took her on a little family history tour. We wound up exploring one of the empty places on the map, which thrilled Brad, and ended with a frosty bev stop, which thrilled Elizabeth and me. Just for the record Elizabeth suggested making Fern the middle name for our next baby and now we're considering it, so if that happens, now there is a record of where the idea came from.
Overall, it was great and we loved getting to share a part of Brad with my family.
After another grand and glorious Bear Lake trip, we headed back to Salt Lake. We took our kids to Temple Square, saw a movie with Brad's parents, hiked to Cecret Lake (oh my goodness I miss the mountains) introduced Becky, Isaac, Elizabeth, and Sam to Hatch's hot chocolate (SO GOOD), and just enjoyed being with family. The return flight was fairly horrible and I vowed, like always, that I will never do it without Brad again, but I probably will because I'm a sucker for home.
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