This was the week of the Skinner family reunion!  Look at all those happy people!

We met back at Bear Lake this year and it was tons of fun.  The weather was wonderful!  Not raining (like in 2009) and not trying to blow us off the face of the earth (like in 2010).  It was mild, sunny, and only a little breezy.  Perfect Bear Lake weather!  Also, the beach we went to had lovely, soft sand, and clear, clear water that stretched out no deeper than our knees for 20 yards.  Perfect playground for the under five crowd!

Look at that beautiful water! (and sand!)

 We drove up on Thursday and arrived in the afternoon around the same time as Grandpa and Maria.  After setting up camp, we went over to the campground's pool and spent a little time there.  Uncle Matt and Lynsey and their two boys, Connor and Gavin, arrived around dinner time.  We had a great dinner, great peach cobbler, and great company!

Jacob and Sarah and their two children, Kyler and Lila, arrived in the wee hours of the morning on Friday.  After a fabulous breakfast, we packed up all the people and the food and the boat and the jet skis and all the other odds and ends and went to the beach!

Friday night we were joined by Dena and her daughters, Jordan and Natalia and we were also joined by Todd and Marshall.  Almost everyone was there!  We missed Todd's sons, Bryen and Brady, and we missed Michael and his whole family! 

Saturday we played again at the beach and in the lake.  We left that evening around dinner time and got home around 9:30.  We were tired caballeros when we finally all fell into bed, but it was a great weekend for fun and reconnecting.

Wow!  Boy cousins and guns! New games for our little girls!

 

We always eat well at the Skinner reunion!

They had lots of fun on the boat -- especially riding in the tube behind the boat with the cousins and Aunt Lynsey!

And would you look at that!!!!
 

Megan even got up on the skis!!!  Go Megan!

What are they doing way back there on the beach?

Many fun things were going on at the beach, too!

Chey didn't let her cast stop her from having fun!

We had great fun on the jet skis, too!

These two both got short rides, but they thought the jet skis were lots more fun right on the trailer!

Me and Savannah

Savannah and friend

Savannah is still our biggest fan of the jet skis.  Sarah doesn't like them -- too much power and too scary!  Megan agrees with Sarah.  Mariah, though, agrees with Savannah.  We'll get her on the jet skis more in the years to come!  Kevin drove the boat a lot, but he also got a chance to ski.  I even got a chance to ski for the first time in years and years and years!  After five tries, I got up!  I skiied for 2 minutes before falling back in the water!  As the boat came back around to pick me up, I hollered "I did it!"  To which my little three-year-old niece, Natalia, responded, "No you didn't!  You falled!"  Ha, ha!  I guess she's right!

We were sure tired out at the end of our second day at the lake, but we sure had fun!  How lucky we are to have Grandpa Skinner who plans this week for us and whose love for us pulls us all together.  We know who we really have to thank . . .

We love Grandpa and Maria!