I had been looking forward to this trip to Bear Lake for over a year when I was told that my due date for Quinn was the Fourth of July which just happened to be the last day of this family reunion. Ryan and I debated for months whether or not I would be able to make the 3 hour drive and stay that far away from my doctor the last week of my pregnancy. Part of me hoped that Quinn would arrive a month early and the other part of me planned to take the chance since neither Rose or Lucy came on their own. I have the best doctor who really helps me to feel so much less anxious about pregnancy than I probably would otherwise. When I talked to him about this trip and tried to convince him to let me be induced earlier than a week before, he told me that I would be fine to go while this far along. So at 39 1/2 weeks, I went! (Much to Ryan's concern haha)
I was really looking forward to going to Bear Lake for the first* time (*I went to Bear Lake for New Year's Eve for a girls night with my family but it was 7 degrees outside and we didn't venture over to the lake, just our Airbnb). And I was super looking forward to seeing some of Ryan's aunts and uncles who we haven't seen since before COVID started, especially since this reunion was supposed to be last summer.
Anyway, we made it and I'm SO glad that I made the effort to go. We had so much fun spending time with family, playing board games, eating yummy food, getting famous raspberry shakes, and hanging out at the lake. Bear Lake is incredibly pretty! The water is so clear and blue and the lake is so big! The sand is not very soft (like the beaches in Florida) but the girls had a lot of fun digging and looking for tiny shells. Some family members brought kayaks, and I wasn't sure how it would go kayaking while so pregnant, but I really enjoyed getting to be in the water in a way that wasn't so cold haha. And it was easier than I expected, except for the life jacket, which I only buttoned at the top haha. I even took turns taking Rose and Lucy out on the water and letting them "paddle" the boat. They enjoyed the boats so much that they asked many times to get to go again. (Below I have a cute picture of Lucy carrying her life jacket over to the kayak with a waiting Ryan inside. She wanted to paddle in those pictures and wouldn't give the oar back to Ryan so he had to move the kayak entirely with his hands while she sits like a queen holding the oar.)
One of the days I took the kids to the park with Tressa while everyone who was not pregnant or a small child did a ropes course. And every day we had a fun activity like making t shirts, playing minute to win it games. One activity that Ryan and I have been wanting to do for ages is a sock competition that we saw another family do. Everyone who participates in the competition starts with 2 socks and the last person with 1 sock is the champion. All of the teenagers, the young dads, and the older dads participated and one kid who decided it wasn't for her after a few minutes of the game. I had no desire to be a part of the competition but I really had a fun time watching. haha The teenagers were fast, but Ryan's dad and his uncle teamed up and ended up winning/tying. There were about 15-20 people to start and they kicked and scratched and piled up on top of each other, but Jason and Mike came out the winners. They were so tired by the end that they both took of their last sock at the same time to tie instead of continuing to fight to the end.
The reunion went Wednesday, June 29 to Monday, July 4 but on Sunday afternoon Ryan and I packed up our stuff, left Rose and Lucy with Tressa and Jason and Lisa and drove down to Orem to have a baby. I found out later that I had been having contractions all week but my contractions didn't feel like what I've been told contractions feel like so I thought Quinn was just kicking extra hard. haha oops. I was feeling really nervous on Saturday night that I ended up throwing up and got a blessing from Ryan and his uncle Mike. Anyway, what matters is that he didn't come while I was at Bear Lake and it ended up working out perfectly.
Oh, we also enjoyed a really nice sacrament meeting as a family on Sunday morning before Ryan and I left. It's always nice to spend time with people who love you and who you love. I'm so so glad that everything worked out so that we could go. This trip was definitely one of the highlights of my year.
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