Bear Lake

We always look forward to our ward camp out in Bear Lake.  We weren't ever positive that we'd be able to make it this year, with me being almost 9 months pregnant, and kept saying we'd just have to see how I was feeling.  Luckily I was feeling good, and confident that it was safe, and we tackled the adventure!  It turned out to be quite monumental, full of memories.  

After driving the 2+ hour drive, we found a great, shady spot and got our tent all set up.  I got all the sleeping stuff and bags organized just how I'd like, just in time for a big rain storm to roll in.  We felt so lucky to be able to wait out the storm in our tent.  This rainstorm, however, also carried 60 mile per hour wind gusts... and those wind gusts were not nice to our tent.  First stakes started coming out of the ground, and the tent was blowing in on us.  Matt and some other men were outside trying to stake our tent to the ground, tie ropes to trees, you name it... while the kids and I were inside laying on our stomachs with the top of the tent literally on top of our backs. (I was kneeling over the kids so they didn't get bumped in the head, trying to protect them, and my tummy...)  At some point during the chaos, the kids and I made it out the door of the tent, and booked it for the car.  We sat in the car watching the men try to hold our tent to the ground, when a huge gust of wind came, blew the tent up, and tore it to shreds, splintering many of the poles into an million pieces.  At this point the men gave up on the tent, and turned their efforts into saving our belongings and rushing them into our car.  Matt threw the tent in a dumpster, and we waited out the rest of the storm in the car.   We just sat there in awe of what had just happened, and finally talked about what we were going to do next.  We debated just turning around and driving back home, and finally decided that we could probably sleep in the back of the van, so we set it all up once the storm passed.

I wasn't looking forward to trying to fit all four of us, with my huge belly, in that tiny space... and luckily the Taylor family came up with a solution... combined two of their families into one bigger tent and let us use one of their smaller tents.  So we ended up being able to use a tent!  It was so crazy!  

The rest of the trip was pretty typical.  We had a blast hanging out with friends, having breakfast at the Barlow's trailer,  having tinfoil dinners, and the ward BBQ, having campfires with s'mores and roasted starbursts, getting raspberry shakes, and hanging out on the beach.  We split some time on wave runners with some friends, and Matt and Sydney had a great time taking turns riding those, and we got to go out on the Taylor's boat for a while.  We also brought Matt's hammock this year, and the kids had fun sitting in it.  Everyone kept telling me I was crazy for being there, and kept telling me stories (why do people do that?) of someone they knew who went into labor while away from home.  One person even told me that her daughter had her baby the day they got home from that same ward camp out many years before.  So I was a little nervous... but I'm so glad we went.  We had a blast as usual!