My Bear Lake Miracle

Let me start this post by saying that our camera got dropped a couple of weeks ago and is now somewhere in Texas (I think) being repaired (I hope) so I have no new pictures to offer. You'll just have to use your imagination. Sorry.

Anyway, last weekend we got to go to Bear Lake. Unlike our last visit, it was sunny and hot and didn't rain once. Of course, that meant that the rest of Utah and Idaho were also at Bear Lake, but I digress. Last year one of Brian's uncles was given an old Waverunner which he brought up to the lake and generously allowed the rest of us to play with. It's still there and for some reason I absolutely adore driving the silly thing around! Unfortunately, it tends to tip pretty easily and I'm incapable of climbing back on it unless my feet are touching the ground. At least, that's what I thought......

Picture a gorgeous, sunny day. The lake was blue and the sand was hot. I went out on the Waverunner for probably the 20th time that day. Because none of the kids were with me, I went a little crazy and attempted to spin a circle (I had, in fact, successfully completed this maneuver earlier) I made it all the way around and then the world went into slow motion. I felt the Waverunner ever so gently lean too far to the left and I realized that my left foot was under water. Before I could even react, the rest of me was in the water too and the Waverunner was floating away. It was so strange! I wasn't afraid of drowning because I had a life jacket on and I'm a good swimmer, but suddenly I became very aware of the very deep water that I was swimming in. I was having a hard time breathing but I managed to swim to the Waverunner and grab on. Then I remembered the whole "incapable of climbing back on it" business and almost cried! I was several miles from shore and there were no other boats nearby.

So what did I do? I prayed. I prayed as only a desperate person prays. I prayed for my very life. And slowly, ever so slowly, pleading and gasping, I pulled myself back up onto that Waverunner. I did it! Of course, I don't think I did it alone.
I was shaking so badly that I almost tipped the dumb thing over again! But I managed to stay up and make it back to shore. I even went out again a little while later, bruises and all. Did I learn anything from this experience? Probably not, but I'll always remember it as my Bear Lake miracle.

Misc. things

One more post today and then I'm done. I promise. Bear Lake, Cedar City and St. George were awesome. Kudos to the maid staff at the Best Western Town and Country in Cedar City. We lost a gameboy in our room and they found it and returned it to us! Hooray! I was really afraid the world was going to come to a crashing halt over that one. We swam like fish at the hotel and had a great time visiting cousins in St. George. Here are some misc. pictures of Bear Lake (recent!) and Chloe's opera (I don't think we took any in Cedar City/St. George. Sorry.)

You can't tell in this picture, but the wind was just howling!

More empire building...I told you the pictures don't really change from year to year.

My sweet hubby in the kitchen, isn't he cute?

Quintessential opera Chloe.

Dance, children, dance!

Bear Lake Rocks!

Well, we got back yesterday from a fabulous weekend at our favorite home away from home, Bear Lake. I can't believe how much fun I had! One of Brian's uncles graciously let us use his waverunner so we of course felt obligated to kill ourselves playing with it. My mom and dad brought their trailor up and stayed the weekend with us and we invited our neighbors to come up on Saturday.

I very foolishly forgot sunblock on my shoulders and upper arms so I'm still suffering from a terrible sunburn. It doesn't seem that long ago that I would have been tan in a day or two. Sigh. All my muscles hurt, too. Yesterday my hands were so achy and puffy that I couldn't even get my wedding ring on! Man, I'm getting old, but it was totally worth it!

We haven't downloaded the pictures off the camera yet, but here are some from last year. (Don't feel deprived, they don't really change much from year to year) That giant tree in the background is THE limber pine. It's 5,000 years old. Or something like that.

View from the cabin

Chloe and Graeme hard at work building a sand empire

Kai joins in the empire building

Inside the cabin (this is what happens when we don't pay enough attention to them)

Tomorrow we're off to Cedar City for the annual Rural Summit. Brian gets to spend two days in meetings and the rest of us are forced to lay around the hotel and go swimming and stuff. It's rough, let me tell you.