20 July 2010

We spent several days last week at a reunion with Brandan's family in McCall, Idaho. McCall borders Payette Lake and is a photographer's dream-- the lake is beautiful from every angle.

Helen enjoyed having her photo taken with the view from the Osprey Cliff overlook in Ponderosa State Park. Sophie added a little goofiness to the scene.

Here's Sophie in a field of wildflowers with some Ponderosa pines in the background. These flowers had a distinctive oniony smell-- maybe they're related to chives? We didn't eat any of them. 

One of our favorite activities was playing in the lake. We found several beaches with great sand for digging in. Here Abe builds a fort with his cousin, Logan. 

Grandma Linda planned several games for the cousins to play one afternoon, including breaking open a pinata. Helen takes a turn in this photo.

Back at the lake, Sophie and Parker balance on logs. 

Gibson likes throwing rocks into the water, but has no intention of getting wet. His swimsuit is entirely unnecessary.

Here's Helen with 2 more cousins, Salem and Sutton. Helen plays mostly with boys at home-- our neighborhood and ward seem to be heavily weighted towards boys-- and she was delighted to have 5 girl cousins to play with all week.

There were 26 people staying in 2 condos for the reunion. The cups on the counter give you some idea of the crowd.

On our first full day of the trip, we all went to a ceramic shop and the cousins each painted an item. In our family, Sophie painted a plate and the others painted Christmas ornaments. We love the rich, vibrant colors-- very different from the pale, dull colors of the unfired glaze.

Brandan's Grandpa Norman died unexpectedly at age 94, so we left McCall to travel to Utah for his funeral. Norman left a legacy of hard work and integrity for his 11 children, 46 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren. Here is Norman as a young man with his wife, Beth.