Bear Lake

Hey Hey! Today is Hyrum's birthday! Happy birthday Hyrum!! But we were up in Bear Lake today and so we didn't officially celebrate it. No presents or cake, but we did wish him a happy 16th. Check back in 48 hours for his birthday photos, hopefully we'll have some by then.

So, last night Corey headed up to Bear Lake with a van full of kids to spend the night. I stayed home with Ethan, who refused to do anything remotely like camping (he paid his dues during high adventure!). So the kids had fun without us. Corey sent me some pictures. Kids having dinner:

Natalie ready to roast marshmallows.

Kids at the lake shore.

Natalie with Seth

Corey booked two nights at the Worldmark Timeshare up there in Garden City, so he had a good place to stay the night with Owen. The rest of the kids camped with Uncle Mark. They were a little bit cold but had a fun time. Ethan had told me last night that he had a Jazz something-or-other and needed to work on it today. So I stayed home with him, but came to find out that Jazz thing was a party at 7pm, and he didn't have any work. So told him we were going to go up for the day. I knew exactly where to go thanks to Mel's Life360 location. :) Technology is so nice. Getting the little ones up - it always seems tragic to wake sleeping children. Daniel and Peter slept in the bed with me.

Daniel didn't have a nap on Sunday so he fell asleep at 5 pm and slept through the night, yay! They do that sometimes when we have a quiet house, hehe. In the morning I loaded them up and then got Ethan out of bed and he grabbed his pillow and blanket and we went for a drive. Left at 8am, got to Bear Lake around 10:20. We had a great afternoon there.

The older kids and cousins all liked taking Daniel and Owen out into the water.

Daniel and Owen were very brave and cute out there!

And I was able to nurse Peter in the shade and see everyone.

I think the last time we were up here was in 2014. The Bear Lake waters are GORGEOUS of course, and it was a beautiful little campground!

I texted Corey when we left, but he didn't see it, so when he was watching the kids and then saw Daniel there, he was like "Wait a minute..." and then they saw me and Peter too. Yeah, we came up! Surprise! Daniel in the water with his shoes on.

Good idea, cause the rocks there were pretty uncomfortable to walk on.

Eth picking the beach tunes to play. Lily and Sophi coming in.

All the kids played on kayaks and paddle boards.

Owen out in the water. He had such a good time!

Again, it was so shallow, it was perfect for this little timid kid. He wasn't even scared at all, he did great! So either he's finally getting brave, or the level of difficulty here was just perfect for the level he is at. Ethan, Daniel, Peter and I stayed until around 3:30, at which time we headed back (after buying a Raspberry shake) so Ethan could get to American Fork in time to get Wesley, who was on his way back from Telluride (Gallery pictures will hopefully posted here soon) When we drove up there the Evanston way, but came home the Logan way. When we were in Logan the car said "Low Tire Pressure". I opened the door and peeked at the tires on my side briefly at a red light. Looked ok. But as we pulled into the driveway, I paused so we could get Daniel and Peter out of their carseats without having to worry about the car doors hitting the kids' car or being scrunched in the garage, and that's when I saw a completely flat tire!

Holy cow! Was it like that the whole time? The car felt fine driving except for when I'd get up to 80 it would shake a little. I felt so grateful that we made it home okay! And I felt protected that we didn't have a blowout on the drive home or get stuck on the side of the freeway. Wow, thank you Heavenly Father! I pulled into the garage, and I hope Ethan and Wes help me change it tomorrow.

Now I don't want to give this place away, and I didn't spend the night so maybe I don't really know, but from what I could tell, this is a Five Star place for families. Corey and the rest of the kids might come home tomorrow or might stay until Wednesday, they're gonna play it by ear. But it was great, shout out to Uncle Mark for making this memory possible! Again, it was a great little beach for the kids to play at, shallow waters and not big waves (so low fear for kids drowning) plus we could see them from our shaded sitting spots! Not a lot of bugs, nice cool breeze, bathroom close by. It felt like Costa Rica at the Stouts place, just without palm trees, but with the bonus that it's in the US! So I loved it. I hope we come back again next year.