Bear Lake Family Reunion

For the past 10-12 years, weddings provided an excuse to get all of our family members together. However, once Michelle was married, we realized that we needed to start planning official family reunions. This is no small feat since we're scattered across the country, but we finally decided to get together at Bear Lake in July 2020. Just imagine our disappointment when we had to cancel that event due to the pandemic. We rescheduled for July 2021, and although that meant a couple of our sons and their families couldn't join us, the rest of us convened at a lovely vacation home in Garden City and had a wonderful few days together. We enjoyed it enough that we'll definitely try it again someday!

We're planners, and while we wanted to allow for flexibility, especially with little kids, we also didn't want to spend the entire time figuring out what to do next. So, here was our plan. 

• Tuesday - Gather Together 
• Wednesday - Boating and Beach (all day)
• Thursday - Family Hike (morning) and Pool (afternoon)
• Friday - Pictures (morning) and Beach (afternoon)
• Saturday - Pack up, Clean up and Leave

Once the grandchildren get older, we may plan some evening activities, but this year we knew their parents would just want to get them to bed after dinner. Happily, we were able to stick to this plan, adding a few more activities as time allowed, and it felt just perfect.

The kids kept themselves busy enough just playing amongst themselves that we didn't even have time to do all the Cousin Camp activities, which I prepared ahead of time so that boredom wouldn't turn into mischief. Isn't that great? I'll just save them for some future get together!

Boating Day #1 - North Beach

Boating Day #2 - Bear Lake Marina

Boating Day #3 - Ideal Beach

Hike #1 - Swan Creek

Hike #2 - Limber Pine

Lots of delicious food and making memories around the dinner table - see here.

You can't have a family reunion without trying to get an "official" family picture. Read all about that marvelously memorable activity here.

We missed Jeff's and Steven's families, and thinking of things to put in a package for them helped us feel closer to them; we hope it helped them as well.

I think I got it all. Be sure to add a comment if you think there's something else we'll want to remember. 

The last thing to do was gather together for a family prayer. We can't wait until the next reunion! When and where are still to be determined, but it will happen at some point. We love our fabulous family!