Banks Bunch in Eden

It was our turn to plan the Banks family reunion. Initially we had decided on a big condo in Steamboat Colorado but my mom and dad didn’t feel up to travel (because of Covid and other reasons). So luckily because of Covid we were able to cancel just a few weeks before and instead book a mammoth house in Eden Utah.
We hadn’t heard much about Eden Utah, but it’s just Northeast of Ogden snuggled up to Pineview Reservoir. People describe it as a nicer, less commercialized Park City.
We left Saturday morning. Tara went on a ride on my dads ebike and ended up on a mountain bike trail where she crashed a couple times and got bruised up from head to toe. We got the car working and then were off to Eden Utah, well Pineview reservoir anyway which was CRAZY it was so crowded. There were people everywhere! Signs saying “turn around we are full”. I was glad we did some research because we knew a place we could park for free and then walk down to the beach. It wasn’t ideal (rocky) but it worked out pretty good. The cousins joined us and we had a good time paddleboarding and kayaking (we had traded Dash for natalie and michaels kid kayak). Then it was time to go to the big house!

On the drive to the house brett hit a deer. Luckily it wasn’t too bad, so he was driving slowly after that and five minutes later hit ANOTHER deer! BRETT HIT 2 DEAR ON THE SHORT DRIVE TO THE HOUSE!!!
The house was great! Three stories, 7 bedrooms. The kids loved running all around and checking out all the nooks and places.
That evening we ate burritos and talked around the firepit and went to bed while the kids partied it up in the hottub.

Grandpa bought everyone these cool Nike Shoes! Each grandkid got a different pair. Sunday everybody was was waking up late. We ate some english muffin sandwiches and then up to Powder Mountain where we could mountain bike the brim trail. So many wildflowers! It was beautiful. It was Josh’s only 2nd time real mountain biking. He had a pretty good crash.

After the Brim trail some of us decided to bike down the trails to the canyon then bike down the canyon back to the house. First was a bunch of switchbacks where my dad would dust me on his ebike. Cory and his kids went way ahead of us. We finally made it past the giant metal paper airplane and then went screaming down the canyon road. It was the fastest I’ve ever gone on my mountain bike and ended up wearing out my brake pads. Very exciting.
Our favorite conversation topics:

Our Dogs [Brett would check the webcam of his dog Kopper]
Covid
Reminiscing

Sunday night we had a great activity. Tara had bought a bunch of random dessert ingredients like pie crust and whipped cream and brownies. The kids split up into 3 teams and then took turns “drafting” ingredients. Then they had 45 minutes to see which team could make the most delicious dessert.
Halle, Brynn and Bridger made croissant cinnamon rolls with chocolate marshmallows.

Josh, Bode, Aubry and Brayden made a delicious brownie with struaberry and gummy worms on top.

Blake, Cohen, Kali and Carson made some yummy pies.

We woke up MOnday and it was rainy and cold so we didn’t do much. I think people mostly hung out around the house. The tops of the mountains were snow covered and it was almost July. It rained most of the day but cleared up in the afternoon enough for Cory and dad and I to golf. It was a very pretty golf course. The kids went back to the reservoir while we went golfing. At the end of golfing we got quizzed about breaking a car windshield. We had a good time.

Monday night we ate burgers and salmon burgers and hot dogs.
Everyone enjoyed the popcorn machine and the boys had a blast sleeping in the theater room and staying up super late. We also went to Causey Reservoir to take family pictures.