Bear Lake Fun

We talked about journals and keeping records today in Sunday School (I teach with Heidi Thornley, the bishop's wife). So I decided that typing is much easier for me, so i'd journal on my blog! :)

This past weekend (Aug 1-3) Brock, Blakely and I went to Bear Lake for the Allen Family Reunion. We stayed in this cool place USU owns, the main floor was a kitchen and living space with few bedrooms, and the upstairs was bunk beds and bathroom/showers. The backyard had a volleyball court, horse shoes, beach access, and a nice big deck.

We had SO much fun! I wanted to highlight the top 10 things we did this weekend (in no particular order):

1. Go boating with Uncle Blake, Brock and I went in the tube together and nearly got flipped... and I tried wake boarding and got up for about two seconds on the fifth try.
2. Watched an insanely awesome lightning storm across the lake, the lightning was so cool and it kept lighting up this huge cloud.
3. Played with Blakely in the lake, this was the first time she's played on the beach/in sand. She loved it! She kept splashing the water, pushing the sand, and would try to eat the little seashells. I'd hold up a handful of sand and she'd pick out the seashells. She's so dextrous and cute.
4. Cuddling with Blakely in the hammocks at Brock's Uncle Burke and Aunt Louanne's cabin. Seriously heaven cuddling with that little sweet pea. I love her so much.
5. Hanging out with cousins and family in general. It was so fun to meet Jenny Allen (Paul's wife). She is the sweetest person ever! She gave almost everyone haircuts and curled the girls hair. Brock hung with my cousins and got to know them better- Jesse, Jenny, Kimmy, Curtis.... I had tons of fun with Curtis, Jesse, Tim and Lydia on the boat the second day we went out. It was a blast. We should totally hang out with them more.
6. Raspberry Days! We went to the craft fair... got some yummy spices for corn on the cob, grilling, cooking- whatever we want :) and I got Blakely a super cute pair of grey chevron leggings with cute frilly lace. Seriously SO CUTE.
7. The family talent show. Grandpa told some cool stories about "The Panaca Quilt Walk". Grandpa's Great-Grandpa John Butler was one of the men from the story. We come from awesome heritage.
8. Hanging out with Brock's family at his Aunt and Uncle's cabin. Blakely made a new best friend, cousin Rachel Christensen!
9. Helping Uncle Burke run 67 miles around Bear Lake. He started Friday night at about 5:30 PM in Laketown, ran clockwise around the lake and finished the next day at about 1:45PM at the Bear Lake Library. I ran 5 miles with him at about 10PM on Friday and then walked the last 8.5 miles with him the next day. SO awesome. One thing I loved was that Burke's oldest son Andrew gave a family prayer before it started and he asked that we could all learn something about ourselves. I learned that we can and should do great things, even when we may not feel our reward has enough pomp and circumstance.  Burke ran in to just a humble finish line with a few thankful librarians waiting for him with a picture, and apologies from the mayor (who couldn't be there). If it were me I would have expected cameras, news crews, headlines, frontpage articles and waaay more than what Burke got. He's an awesome guy. I could hardly complain about my sunburned shoulders, burning feet, and achey joints while he had a stress fracture on one leg, blisters, and having had to walk about hitting about mile 30. Totally cool experience I will never forget.
10. Being with Brock and Blakely. Those two are my everything.

Well... There's a little glimpse of our weekend. It was surprising how much fun I had. I had a little bit of a negative attitude about it, but i'm so glad we went, glad I was positive, and had such a great time!.