Family Reunion at Bear Lake - Biking Day with Marissa and Michael (Tuesday) (add photos)

 Tuesday is our last full day at Bear Lake.  Jessica, Tate and Cayson along with Robert, and Devon and Sierra had to leave last night due to work commitments today.  Robert decided to go back with Jessica and Tate to start an internship at Tate's company.  He will be working with Tate to learn more about the Finance Industry.  Mark and I are very excited for him to have this opportunity.  

Today, we are blessed to have Marissa and Michael still with us for one more day.  We started the day with a delicious breakfast and a bicycle ride.  We walked down to the bike rental place.  There we were able to rent two single bikes and a double seated bike cart (it has four wheels and you get to sit side by side while you bike).  Marissa and Michael started with the double bike cart, while Mark and I took off on the single bikes.  We were able to go far and fast.  We road them down to the lighthouse and back.  We arranged to meet Marissa and Michael at Heritage Park to swap bikes.   Mark and I road the two-seater back to the bike shop and gave Marissa and Michael an hour on the single bikes.  Everyone had a great time together.  I am so happy for Marissa - she and Michael seem to really get along so well.

After our bike ride, Marissa and Michael decided to head back to Rexburg, ID.  Mark and I enjoyed lunch at the condo, played some tennis, relaxed at the pool and hot tub and cleaned up the condo so it would be ready for our early check out tomorrow morning.  Betsy did what seemed like 100 loads of towel laundry, haha - but she got it all done.  It was also very nice to have a day to unwind and relax after a very eventful week with the kids!  

Wednesday morning Mark and I will leave around 8 AM to catch our flight back to Austin!  We had a wonderful time - literally the VERY BEST!!!

Family Reunion at Bear Lake - Kayak and ATV Day (Monday) (add photos)

 It's another beautiful day at Bear Lake - the sun is shining, there is a gentle breeze, and the lake looks amazing! 

Breakfast this morning was prepared by Marissa and Michael.  The are so sweet to make breakfast for us!  Everything was delicious.

Devon has to do online school from 10 AM - 12 PM so the rest of us left the house around 9:50 AM to allow him so peace and quiet while taking his class.  We walked over to the marina and rented kayaks and a paddle board.  Oh my gosh!  What a blast we had.  Mark and I started out in a two-person kayak, Jessica and Robert were also in a two person kayak, Tate was with Cayson in a one-person kayak, and Marissa and Michael were on the paddle board.  We had so much fun and got so many photos!  We rented the equipment for two hours.  After a while, everyone traded around so that everyone got a turn on the different equipment.  Mark and I had a ball on the paddle board too!  He sat or knelt down in the back while I stood in the front.  (It was too hard for both of us to stand).  I had done a paddle board before in the ocean with Marissa - but wow that was hard to find my balance - the lake was so much easier!  Mark and I had a great time.  We then let Tate and Robert have a go on the board.  Watching everyone have a great time in the water was all I needed to make my day!

Devon and Sierra were a little late coming down to rent the ATVs but luckily no one had rented them after us so the rental company let me move my rental from 12-2 to 1-3!  YAY!  We rented two ATVs.  Mark, Jessica, Tate, Cayson, Marissa and Michael took one ATV, while Devon, Sierra, Robert and I took the other one.  We each went in different directions.  Robert drove our ATV to Fish Haven where we found some wicked trails to ride.  He did an awesome job!!!  The Devon drove - YAHOO!  We had such a great time.  Sierra drove us down the mountain back towards Fish Haven and then I drove us back towards the rental.  We had some extra time so we found more trails and WOW, these trails were even more steep and treacherous than the first ones.  I loved that I was the driver for those.  I traded with Robert for the last drive!  We filled up with gas and took the ATV back - all in one piece without rolling it (or popping a tire - like Landon did a few years ago).  

Mark and his crew drove the trails that we found in the end FIRST!  They said it was crazy!  Dad drove the whole time.  At some point Jessica, Tate and Cayson got off because it was just a little too bumpy for a pregnant woman and for Cayson!  We met up with Mark at the gas station!  Our crew was looking for them the whole two hours we were out - so crazy that we eventually ran into them but just at the very end.  It sounded like they had a great time too! 

After ATV riding, Marissa and Michael made sliders for lunch for everyone - wow - those things are delicious!  We ate them all up!!!

The rest of the day was at the pool, tennis and basketball.  

Today has a sad ending, because - two families are leaving!  For dinner we were supposed to have pizza, but I decided to take everyone out to the Raspberry Shake place (which is a diner).  We got hamburgers, cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets along with delicious shakes for dinner.  This is where we had to say good bye to Jessica, Tate, Cayson and Robert.  Devon and Sierra left just an hour later!  It's so sad to see them go but we had a great time with everyone. 

Before they left, I asked, "What could we have done better?"  Everyone said it was GREAT!  They loved it!  That made me so happy!  I'm so glad everyone had a great time!!! 

Family Reunion at Bear Lake, UT

We arrived just after 4:00 PM (since we didn't believe it was the place, but soon found out it was)...  the outside looked like a store or jail from the 1800s, not much to look at.

Friday, July 26:  We were so impressed with the place.  It was perfect for our family reunion.  We were in a room to ourselves (suite 4) with 2 queen beds.  One of us would have to sleep on a foam mattress on the floor.  Kevin and Shauna couldn't make it to the reunion because of Shauna's health.  Others that were at the reunion were Linda, Jordan and Brandon Weaver (we hadn't seen Brandon in years), Julie and Scott Barb with Logon, Tanner, Preston and Mallory; Brenda and Don Hatch with Brody and Capri; Kathy and Jeremy Twitchell with Keagan and Krew, Gary and Dianna Lowe; Brian and Kelsey Lowe with Kenzington (Kinzy) and Emmerson (Emmy); Jordan and Michelle Lowe; Brittney and Chad Hartley with Riker; Landon and Faith Lowe with Chase; (Josh couldn't come - he was in basic training) but his new wife Beth came, (Jeff is on a mission); Alan and Laurel Lowe with Kailoni and Makayla; Mark and Betsy Lowe with Devon, Marissa and Robert (Jessica is on a mission).  All in all 42 people.


The house was amazing:  the first floor had a huge open eating