It's Okay To Be Ordinary: Bear Lake 2013

We love Bear Lake!

Last year we missed our annual Bear Lake trip with the Atkinson's so even though summer was about over, we decided to schedule an end-of-summer trip so we would not miss out 2 years in a row. Key learning - it's rainy the end of August at Bear Lake!

We piled this crew in our car and headed up there even though the forecast was not looking very friendly.

On the way up, we stopped to eat dinner and discovered our blinkers weren't working. So we made a pit stop at AutoZone and Nick decided he needed to go out into the parking lot and "twerk" while he waited. Sure wish I had this on video...that kid is a mighty fine dancer...hahaha!

We arrived at our campground at 9:30 pm to a complete downpour and darkness. Brian, Nick & Bryson sported their headlamps while we tried to set up our tents without getting them soaked inside. The marine and 2 eagle scouts (Bryson, Nick & Nick) had their tent set up within 5 minutes. Brian and I, let's just say we struggled. After I was completely soaked through, I went back into the truck (where Faith and Hailey were) and started calling hotels, resorts, bed & breakfasts to see if there was any room at the Inn for those of us who really didn't want to camp...no luck! After finally getting our tent set up and all of our stuff transferred into it, it was actually pretty nice hearing the pitter-patter of rain on the tent. Hailey and Faith decided to sleep in the Expedition so it ended up just being Brian and I in this huge tent it took us forever to set up.

The next day we woke up to beautiful blue skies and the weather held up for us to have a perfect day at the lake! We brought the 4 wheelers with us and rented two jet skis and a couple of paddle boards. So fun! Hailey and Faith spent the majority of the day on the 4 wheelers. I love how they wore their life jackets riding the 4 wheelers. You just never know when you might drive straight into the lake and need them I guess. :)

Nick and Nick headed out on the jet skis so Bryson and Brian headed out on the paddle boards. I stayed on the beach and waited for the Atkinson's to get there.

Faith and Hailey did take a couple short breaks from the 4 wheelers to try out the paddle boards and take a very scary ride with Bryson on the jet ski...apparently Bryson is a crazy driver and they spent as much time flying into the lake as they did sitting on the jet ski. Hailey said it was fun, Faith said she has too much to live for to do that again. :)

Brian broke his toe shortly after this picture was taken. He lost his balance and fell off the paddle board but mistakenly thought he was in deeper water than he was. When he hit the water, he pushed back up in a swimming motion thinking he was going under but when you're in waist-deep water, you end up kicking the bottom with such force that it breaks your toe. Ouchy! Bryson never fell off his board. :) I don't have any pictures of Nick and Nick on them but they actually took the boards for about an hour out to the middle of the lake and back...they were champs!!

What I REALLY wish I had a picture of is Ana and I trying to paddle board. I can't even describe how funny that was but I am very proud of the fact that I stood upright on the board for at least 4 minutes. :) Let me just say, it's harder than it looks.

The crew eating lunch on the beach. Why do regular ole' sandwiches and chips always taste better when you're on a beach at a lake?!

Faith and Hailey turned each other into mermaids with the sand. One of them might be a little better at making the mermaid tail than the other. The first picture is what Hailey did to Faith and the second one is what Faith did to Hailey. :)

Heading back out on the 4-wheelers.

Hot dogs with JDawg sauce around the campfire. We finished up dinner right as the rain started again so we thought that would be a good time to abandon the campsite and go get shakes. :)

We have so much fun each year with the Atkinson's and were so glad we could squeeze this trip in before it gets too cold. These girls have known each other since Hailey was 6 months old and Sandra was 3.