Memories of Bear Lake

I love Bear Lake. My grandpa owns beach front property there and minus the totally ghetto 70's trailer that we call home, it's like a little slice of heaven on earth for me and the place I associate with growing up. We were there every week it seemed as kids. While my mom mowed the lawn, us kids were left to play on the sand, spalsh in the freezing cold water, and get fried beyond belief from the sun! Every time I go there, a flood of memories comes back so I thought I'd share them, oh and add in some new memories from our 2009 Raspberry Day adventures.

Memory #1After a long day playing on the beach, we would begin the dreaded walk back up to the trailer. For many reasons this was a dreadful experience, one reason being it meant we had to go back to our boring house but more dreadful because we knew what awaited us at the top of the hill... the hose. My grandpa made us wash all the sand out of our swimming suits before we could change. Thinking back to all the sand we tromped through the trailer, it was probably a fair trade for a day of fun but oh was that water cold! I swear the water coming out of that hose was colder than Bear Lake itself! We basically had it shoved down our swimming suits until no more sand washed out then we were finally given permission to warm up. I'm pretty sure it would be considered a crime nowadays to have those parts down there frozen all in the name of cleanliness! I still get chills every time I see that hose!

Memory #2Need I expound???

Memory #3Bear Lake just isn't the same without Grandma's hollyhocks. These are special ones too... they came all the way from my Great-Grandma's house in Panaca, NV. We had some growing in our yard when we first bought our house and Jeff said they were weed flowers and yanked them. But for me hollyhocks will always remind me of sitting on the cement curb looking out at the lake. I remember as a girl waking up in the mornings and peering out through the curtains to see the hollyhocks and sparkling water. Bear Lake just wouldn't be the same without them!

Memory #4
Bear Lake is notorious for bad sunburns. Since I already got fried at Joe's Valley the week before, I had to take it easy this weekend in the sun. But oh, the memories of getting sunburned growing up are never far from my mind as I lay on the beach with the hot UV rays pounding on my white, terribly and scary white, body! The worst sunburn that I remember was when I got blisters all over my stomach (dumb college days when I thought what the heck, rub that baby oil on yourself, but man was I one tan hottie!) and then, I'm not lying here, for the next few years every time I had a hot shower you could see my lines on my tummy. I'm sure I'll be regretting that one when I get skin cancer. Not to worry though, Pearl didn't get burned and looked like a beach babe in her over sized blue goggles she snaked from Grandma! Totally styling on the beach! Pearl and I even laid out together, for about 2.6 seconds just long enough to get a picture, before she decided it was time to go "swimming" in the lake (which really meant she sat on the tub and I pushed her around). What I don't remember about this though is having to carry all this crap down to the beach! Lawn chairs, blankets, towels, two umbrellas, sand castle building equipment, three tubes, snacks, water, diapers, sunscreen, and two squirmy toddlers! That's why we stuck the tubes on Kimmy and my mom then loaded all the stuff on top of them!

Memory #5Kind of a boring picture I guess, but nothing screams "we had fun all day playing on the beach" like a bunch of clothes, swimming suits, and towels hanging up on the clotheslines.

And now for some new memories!

Memory #6When Jeff cooks, he sure cooks! I didn't lift a single finger Friday night when Jeff pulled out all the stops with the dutch ovens. Yummy! Pork loins and apple cobbler... that's why I married this man! I'm thinking my family is going to try and rope him into cooking again and make this a permanent Bear Lake memory for years to come.

Memory #7Seeing as how the men don't find the Raspberry Days craft fair nearly as exciting as us women do, they've instituted a new Bear Lake memory - golfing. In preparation for their real tee time, they set up their own golf course, complete with water hazard (ie. the kiddie pool). I'm not really sure who won the actual game, as Nick apparently came back needing his mouth washed out with soap and a ban on watching Happy Gilmore, Jeff got his calves fried, and Jesse had to change three times before they even left. Which brings me to my next memory.

Memory #8
This guy kept his pants on but this one didn't! Jeff didn't even get $5 for stripping down and tempting the ladies to join him in the lake.
Memory #9At some point we were bound to repeat the infamous family water fight in which EVERYONE, even Grandma and Grandpa, got soaked. Lucky for my dad this one didn't end with him getting a bucket of water dumped on his head... just Kimmy got soaked. Well, then Ruby and Pearl started throwing cups of water on Kimmy and Jesse, who then decided to take out his range about having to change his clothes on me instead of his own daughter!

Memory #10Thank goodness for warm water and an outdoor shower! For us adults it was great for actually getting clean but for Pearl and Ruby it was a new adventure to be had.

Memory #11The next time we go to Bear Lake, I'm bringing two tea sets... one for Pearl and one for Ruby, 'cause no one enjoyed the non-sharing memory from this trip!

Memory #12Emily is always a good sport to build sandcastles with Pearl and Ruby. I'm not much help, someone has to take the pictures! Jeff decided to join in the sandcastle fun by building his own "hot tub" on the beach. Pearl thought it was hilarious to cave in the sides of his hot tub and then figured out it was even more fun to smear wet, rough sand all over daddy. Jeff squealed like a girl when she started rubbing the sand into his skin and getting it all entagled with the chest hairs. This is a prime example of why the hose rule (see Memory #1) is in effect I guess.

Memory #13
For those of you who've made it to the end of a very long post, I've saved the best for last! Never have I seen this happen before and what morons!!! You'll have to read this to get the full scoop. And just for you Kami, I blew this shot up as big as I could so you could get the full effect of the stupidity next door!