Saying Goodbye....

One of the things we are most grateful for in regards to the Wilkes Family Reunion is that Grandpa Wilkes was there to enjoy it and be together with his family.

Just a few days after returning home from Utah and the reunion we received the phone call from Uncle David that Grandpa had returned home.    As sad as we are and as much as we will miss Grandpa we know this is what he wanted and was looking forward to.

He was so anxious to see his mother again, who he hadn't seen since he was a young boy.  We just wish we could have been there to see the reunion.

Jim, Tessa and I drove to Idaho Falls and the other kids drove up from Utah to meet us.

All five children of grandpa's children spoke at the funeral and the grandchildren and great grandchildren all sang.  Logan gave the closing prayer and did a beautiful job.  It was a beautiful service and I think Grandpa would have liked it.

The funeral was in Idaho Falls on August 23, 2013  and then the burial up in Teton.  It was a bit windy but a beautiful day!

 

Because Grandpa had been in the Navy they had a military burial which was special.

 It was very touching to have the flag presented to Grandma.

Jim was one of the pall bearers and they each placed their boutonniere on the casket.

All four of grandpa's brothers were there.  Doran, Glenn, Blair and Danny Wilkes

and both of grandma's siblings - Gordon Clark  and Margene Withers.

Jim and his two brothers.

and Jim and his boys.

Grandma and her kids.

Loved having all our kids there.   All four of us girls ended up wearing polka dots!

After the graveside we went over to the church in Teton and had a family dinner that we had catered by BYU Idaho.  The food was great and it was so nice to just spend time together after everything was over.

We love you Grandpa!

Taking a family photo!

Trying to take a family photo is always a bit of a challenge with these kids!!

Can't not have a jumping photo!

Bear Lake Wilkes Family Reunion}part three

Of course there had to be a family photo taken.  With a group this big that isn't an easy task!

We all wore our great family reunion t-shirts designed by Micah.

 

The names of all the family members make up the branches of the tree.

Here's the whole group! We were missing a few missionaries and a couple of others but it's a pretty good representation!

 Here are Grandma and Grandpa with their children.

And their children and their spouses.

And then each of the children's family.  From oldest to youngest:

The Reber/Hogsett Family

The Wynn Wilkes Family

 The Jim Wilkes Family

The David Wilkes Family

The Tom and Jayna Nelson Family

and then a couple of crazy cousins.

Bear Lake Wilkes Family Reunion}part two

The first evening in Bear Lake a group of us went to the Pickleville Playhouse to see Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  Several of Logan's friends were in the show so it was fun to see them. It is a small theater but the do a good job and the show was fun.

The girls' especially enjoyed the pickle on a stick during intermission.

The second evening was our family meeting and "choosing night."  Grandma had made a beautiful quilt which she raffled off.  You could buy tickets for a chance to win and the money goes towards our next reunion.
Here is the pretty quilt.  Travis Reber was the lucky winner.

Grandma also brought lots and lots of treasures that she set up in a room and everyone got a chance to go in and "choose" something.  Everyone was able to go in several times.  Lots of fun treasures and stories!  I was excited that I got to choose grandma and grandpa's cake topper.  From their original wedding cake and I also got the one that was on their 30th wedding anniversary cake.

It was fun to have everyone gathered together in one place.

Grandpa got to pull the tickets out of the box and Grandma would read the names.  As you can see Aunt Teresa was pretty excited when her name was called!!

Of course there was some fun game playing every evening with all the cousins!

And some late night runs for more raspberry shakes!

Family photo shoot to come....

Bear Lake - Wilkes Family Reunion}part one

The first week of August we had a Wilkes Family Reunion at Bear Lake organized by Uncle David.

I had flown in early to help Cali and Jim and Tessa drove over.  I picked up Clark and Jessica at the airport in SLC and along with Cali we drove up to Bear Lake.  Logan had driven up the night before.

We stayed in a beautiful, large family lodge that slept 50 called Papa Bear Lodge!  It had a beautiful kitchen and several large gathering areas and was not far from the Lake.  We also used another house that belonged Teresa's sister where the Wynn Wilkes stayed.  We had almost 80 people at the reunion.

Of course our first stop in Bear Lake had to be for a famous raspberry shake!

We spent most of our time playing in the water.  We had three boats - David had rented one, Travis brought his and we borrowed Teresa's brother in laws boat.  They used a tractor to put it in the water!

It had been 23 years since we had been to Bear lake - I had forgotten what a beautiful place it is!'

 We had all kinds of fun toys to play with in the water - kayaks, paddle boards,floaties and jet skis!

 I even tried out the paddle board - so fun!

 Tessa showed off her newly acquired wake boarding skills.

The kids had lots of fun out on the boats waterskiing, wake boarding, and tubing.

Just riding around on the boat was quite fun too!

The best part was just hanging out as a family and being together.

We took turns with meals and enjoyed lunch down at the lake. Grandma and Grandpa came down one day to watch the fun.

More fun times together: