What do you do at Bear Lake?

I figure if Emily is posting about the 4th of July...I can sneak in one final post about Bear Lake.  As Winter in quickly sneaking up on us, I appreciate these summer pictures even more.  Some of them made me laugh.

People often ask what we do when we are at Bear Lake.  We don't even own a boat.  We DO spend a lot of time at the lake's beach, however, we have A LOT of the fun doing other things at the resort we stay at. Many of my memories from Bear Lake when I was a kid are at these exact same locations.  None of these pictures were at the beach...

This year the kids were split into groups and one night we did skits.  Some of the groups were REALLY creative, some, not so much.  I gave Academy Awards away afterwards.  

We swim A LOT at Bear Lake.  The lake water is pretty chilly and once the sun goes down, everyone wants to hit the hot tub.  It is kind of fun that these kids are now all teenagers.  They pretty much do their own thing and we see them coming and going. 

Uncle Kent and Aunt Debbie (and family in background) came with their kids to Bear Lake this year.  We only overlapped one day, but it was fun to see them.  

Melissa and some of her cute kids.  

James, cousin Emmaline, and Sophie.  

Annie being silly with her cousins.  

Sophie just likes to swing on the rails and run around.  She is never in one spot for long.  

Ryan spent the entire week working at Bear Lake, I think he set some kind of human record on hours not slept.  We told him he HAD to make an appearance at the pool so the last night he came out and carried on the tradition of throwing all the kids into the pool.  They LOVE it. 

That was Eliza up above, and this is Annie. 

London and Max (I think!)

David and Will. 

 I wish I had my camera when David was doing the diving board.  He was the hit at the pool with his Epic (and I hate that word, but in this case it is really appropriate) Cannonballs!  We all sit in the hot tub and get warm and then he does these crazy cannon balls off the diving board and splashes the entire hot tub with a wave of cold pool water.  Everyone screams and squeals with delight and horror all at the same time.  (Horror because it looks like he is going to miss the water and land on the cement he gets so close to the edge.)  Good times. 

Annie was so proud that this year she could just jump of the diving board over and over on her own.  

You know how I said that the kids all LOVE how Ryan takes them off the diving board?  Well, everyone that is, except for Sophie.  

"How could you do that to me?"

"I want Mom."

Ryan had terrible Cankers going on that week and someone (me) forgot to get a refill of his medication to help them before we left for vacation.  Ryan told me for his birthday (that fell during Bear Lake) he just wanted me to SOMEHOW get him the medication.  So I took a drive up to Logan to get to a pharmacy that could mix compounds.  It was really my treat.  Sophie had a great nap in the car, and I had some peace and quiet while enjoying the beautiful drive up the canyon.  

These were all taken with my iphone.  Every bend in the road is so beautiful, you could just snap pictures the entire way. This is the drive we would take on our way to visit our Grandparents as a child.  We knew that once we hit Logan Canyon we were almost there and we could hardly contain our excitement.  I love, love, love Logan Canyon. 

It seems I have memories of my own, mixed with stories my parents and Grandparents have shared all mixed together about every spot along the way.  

I think it is my favorite spot on the planet. 

As we would pass the dams, and come into Logan down Canyon Road we would quickly arrive at my Grandma and Grandpa Adams house.  It was always so well kept and they had sheep in the pasture to the side of the house.  It makes me so sad to see it now.  This was the home my Dad grew up in.  It looked so different, and gone is the barn and pasture.  The bushes and sidewalk are different.  The green lawn that my Grandpa cut with a push lawn mower is in terrible condition.  I hate some change. 

Since I hate change I better just enjoy the present.  This girl and I were discussing one night late how before you know it these guys will have families of their own and we won't all be able to gather in Bear Lake every year with all of us under one roof.  Things change, but you just have to make good memories all along the way!

Here is the family making one last memory together while playing a little game of miniature golf.  I don't know why, but we always do it the last day there on our way out of town.  This is a tradition I would LIKE to change!  Why we don't do it earlier in the week when we are not in a hurry I do not know.  This picture is blurry and not the best quality, but it has all of us in it so I am going with it!

Okay, I feel really great now that I have our trip to Bear Lake all documented....one step closer to "catching up".  In the meantime it is almost 11am and I haven't started the laundry, cleaned up the morning tornadoes, made any beds, taken a shower, or even had breakfast.  So on that note....later skater.