Mom's 80th birthday family reunion cont.

welcome back to lil' old montpelier, idaho

and my side of the family's family reunion.

the last morning, all the different families headed out to explore and do their own thing with plans to meet up later in the afternoon. paul, the girls and i (ben had to leave to start work in southern california) loaded into the back of my uncle pete's restored 1929 chevy pick up truck for a tour around town. we passed my great aunt garnet's house, my great aunt wanda's house, great grandma's house, the church, the old bakery, the railroad tracks.........

and onto montpelier railroad station.

montpelier is just a hop, skip and a jump from beautiful turquoise blue bear lake, which spans the utah/idaho border and is a favorite vacation spot for both utahns and idahoans. the bear lake area is also known for its fresh raspberry shakes, a must have!

the town of paris, idaho is situated along the shores of bear lake and boasts a beautiful red sandstone tabernacle built in the late 1880's. we decided to stop and take a tour of this building which has an amazing history and houses the original pipe organ. not only did the tour guide invite paul to accompany the girls on the piano as they sang and tested out the building's powerful acoustics, but margo played the enormous 200 strong pipe organ as well.

they didn't want to leave!

from paris, we made the trip to minnetonka cave stopping along this gorgeous canyon for

fishing, swimming and......well, not sure what gabi is doing.

to end this amazing family weekend, *everyone was invited to my aunt kathleen and uncle russ's charming farmhouse and barn located on the foothills of montpelier's "M" mountain for a final family picnic featuring aunt kathleen's homegrown raspberry dutch oven cobbler.

*cousins, first cousins once removed, second cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles, niece, nephews, children, grandmas, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, brothers in law, sisters in law

margo loved hanging out with her little cousins, aspen and landon, lance and tiffany's kids. poor landon was in a terrible atv racing accident just days before but was still brave and game to make the trip up from southern california. you were a trooper, landon.

thank you, thank you everyone for helping to make this family celebration happen.

i love you all!