What do you do on a Saturday in Bear Lake? Here is the lineup – cuddle time for Maverick and Uncle Scott, play time at Bear Lake which has the bluest most beautiful water color, hamburger and fries in town where Callahan was the show stopper (who wouldn’t be in that muscle shirt), famous raspberry shakes from LaBeau’s and chilly Blaze who didn’t mind wearing Grammie’s sweater. The kids were exhausted and we spent another evening laughing, joking and sharing until the wee hours again.
Blaze and Hinckley finally came to realization that they are cousins and began their bonding. At first they liked the idea that they were friends not understanding that cousins can be friends too. The outdoor games began in the evening and Dad made sure he attended them all with a blanket to help with the cool evenings. Melba patiently gathered her granddaughters for their first practice for Sunday’s song. Once the kids were in bed the girls and I finally had our hot tub time. It was amazing.
Retiring late into the night after day one of the Allan Family 2018 Bear Lake reunion and I already am feeling a great four days ahead. My blog will be filled with pictures and thoughts and the most appropriate words I can come up with to explain this crazy but lovable family. We arrived with Kyla and family around dinner time and never in my life have I seen mega gigantic pizzas such as the ones we ordered. David and Micah arrived a few hours after us. The house is amazing and we reside in the playroom wing most appropriate for us since we are the only family with the “littles.” I had to include this pic of my brothers (goofballs) and me proudly standing in front of just a small section of my family hanging out in one of the living rooms where we laughed and talked late into the evening.
I always have a million inquisitive questions for Sam about Idahoan, the company where he is a mechanical engineer, the company where his goal is to save them money by tweaking, simplifying, inventing and changing things. It just so happened that on my trip this time Idahoan held an open house/barbeque so I was finally able to get all my curiosities answered. The plant is amazing and interesting and never in my life have I seen so many potatoes. Sam took us to his office, through the area where the potatoes are cleaned and where they are cooked in the largest vats ever. We went into the packing area where robotic machines were packaging the mashed potatoes. Oops – I wasn’t supposed to take any pictures in there. Don’t rat me out.
My twenty-four hour journey from Anchorage to Rexburg has ended. It was sleepy, scary and exciting all in one. The “sleepy” came from flying all night, hanging in the Seattle airport quite a few hours and riding on the Salt Lake Express for six hours. The “scary” came from interacting with my bus driver and watching him getting into the driver seat. He was sweating profusely, morbidly obese, had shortness of breath, very irritated and a cardiac patient waiting to happen. The exciting came in the Boise airport when I saw a girl wearing a ‘Boise Boys” shirt. I wanted to rip it right off her. . . love that show.
Living in a small town for twenty-six years has its perks. Not much changes over the years and when there is a change you stop dead in your tracks, pull over and take a picture. My mind was not playing tricks on me – our Big Lake Library has adorned itself with some colorful, bright and cheery lettering with pictures on the front of it. There has to be a story behind this – I will have to talk to Jo, my friend, and the librarian. I hope they take down the smaller lettering. That will be my suggestion.
Sweet tender moments such as these don’t happen too often. Yesterday while we were all outside getting raft stuff done I walked up the hill by the house and saw Rhea and Brecken sitting quietly on the picnic table. Once I realized what was going on – I backed off and kept walking. Tank was laid to rest at that spot last year and they were having a few quiet moments with the old boy . . .
The flower lady once a year fills the back of her little car with freshly cut peonies and begins her deliveries. She has her regulars and then throws in a few newbies. The expressions are the same each time she knocks on a door – sweet little old ladies who beam with surprise and delight. They look shocked each year but the flower lady has been a regular so maybe the surprised looks are out of courtesy or disbelief that they made it one more year alive and are still on the flower delivery list. This year however, the flower lady (me) will be out of state and the bloomage is set for right when I am gone. My friend will do some deliveries and clean up my bushes so to all you sweet little ladies out there . . . next year gals.
“We always long for the forbidden things, and desire what is denied us.” Francois Rabelais. I love ferns and about eight years ago I transplanted three bunches of ferns close by my house. They never thrived and my lack of a green thumb blared loudly to all who witnessed the tragedy. I overcame the loss and laid rock down where the green leafy foliage once struggled. Today as I worked in the yard I noticed my “forbidden thing” growing lushly and profusely up the side of our driveway. I have been denied having my ferns where I desire them to be but I treasure the ones I do have.
Because we live in Alaska and because we live in the rain a lot of time we learn to adjust accordingly. My wise counselor Ruthie suggested we do our activity this month indoors so we didn’t have to worry about that slight inconvenience. Ta da. Pinterest aided me in making an indoor smores pit. I used a long planter box, three bags of lava rocks and four sterno cans. The result was awesome. We roasted our marshmallows and squished them with the lots of fillings in between our graham crackers. We smiled with full bellies, happy palates and a dry roof over our heads.
Tara Truly 