Bear Lake Vacation

This past weekend, my family went on our summer trip up to Bear Lake. We borrowed a boat from our family friend and my family went up on Thursday. Since I had to work, I went up with my Dad and brother (who had to come down for a play-offs baseball game on Friday night) Saturday morning.
So we got up there around 11am and saw the beautiful lake coming down the mountain! My family loves to pick on me and they told me that the water wasn't that cold and that I could jump right in! Well first of all, let me explain my TRUE ULTIMATE FEAR of deep water... I...am...terrified...I don't know what it is about it but I am soooo scared. I cry just thinking about it!! And seeing how Bear Lake is BOTTOMLESS, I was just, ya know, a little bit scared!! This has been a fear of mine since I was little. I have always loved being in the water but even growing up I would get scared in the deep end of swimming pools. I thought this would be something that I would eventually grow out of but it has only gotten worse. I don't know, maybe it has something to do with the last time I went boating
about 4 years ago, telling my dad not to go fast on the tube so I wouldn't fall off and then having him end up throwing me off and circling me 4 or 5 times before coming to get me...or the time I went boating with my dad's friends when I was younger having his friend yell at me from the boat to "Hurry and swim!!! Don't look back, just keep swimming!!!!"So thank you, lets just throw in my fear of sharks as well. So now, I'm scared of sharks in lakes as well as the Bear Lake Monster.
I was really wanting to try water skiing and tubing but I was afraid my fears would get in the way!So after changing in and out of all my swim suites on our small motor home (sleeping 7 people) since my tan line was all I really cared about haha, we headed out to the lake. Of course there were going to be a few stops and delays. We stopped to buy wet suites since apparently the lake is freezing and I CAN'T just jump right in. Then my mom and the younger kids went to the beach and my dad and the older kids headed out on the boat. I seriously am the biggest baby!! I got nervous when we went fast, afraid that the boat was

going to come down hard on the water, break in half, and that we'd be stranded in the deep water and eaten alive by the Bear Lake Monster. I toughened up and decided I would try the two man tube with Taylor. I begged my dad not to go too fast because if he scared me too much with this there was no way I was going to try water skiing. So we get going and I told Tay that if I fell off to jump in and swim to me as fast as he could haha! So we get going and we both fell off at the same time, thank goodness because Tay was right there! Oh my gosh, what a panic attack that was. All that rushed through my head was "What is below me?? Keep kicking to keep the fish away!! Holy shit, I am in a bottomless lake!! What if I see the Bear Lake monster?? Where the hell is the boat?? Hurry up!!" I couldn't even think about how cold the water was!! Then I looked down and could see my feet through the clear water, Taylor was right there, there were no fish and no monster, and here was the boat. I was okay! You mean I survived?? Okay, sure I'll do it again haha That actually wasn't that bad!
I was still a little sketchy about it all but I bucked up and got back on that tube and did it again...and again...and again!! Then I tried water skiing and being out there alone scared me again but I got over it because I made myself realize that I was having fun! I wasn't going to sink to the bottom and my dad helped ease my pain of the Bear Lake Monster by telling me that if I saw him he was a nice monster like Pete's Dragon (my childhood movie I watched every day with my
 Daddy)! He said he would come out of the water and sing Bom--Bomp-Bom-Bom-Bom-Bomp! Haha which made me laugh and ease up on that fear! After a while no one wanted to go back out because the water was so cold but I decided I would give it another try. So I tried to make that two man tube work and held on. I was whipped around and I held on through all those bumps and laughed so hard when I was thrown off hahaha! It was so much fun! Somehow, somewhere, I grew out of my fears. I kept getting back

on that tube and eventually got to the point where I was telling my dad to what he had to do to try and throw me off into the water! After about 3 really hard crashes I was done. My head and body hurt soooo bad! So we headed back to camp, showered, and went to get dinner. We went to pick up burgers, fries, and shakes! Yummmm :) We took it back to the camp site to eat while we played cards, the kids ran around, and started the camp fire. We all sat around the fire and made smores and laughed at family memories. It was nice to all be there together and enjoy the family time. Mitchell is the funniest little guy
I know! I don't know where he gets any of this stuff haha! We have a little family inside joke with the movie Forrest Gump. We love that movie and my dad's text message tone on his phone says "Lieutenant Dan, ice cream!" We laugh every time we hear it! So we're all laughing about it and taking funny face pictures and we notice that Mitch disappeared. Suddenly we hear him fall down the stairs of the motor home followed by a "I'm okay!"
It was dark and so we asked what he was doing and he said "I have no legs!" haha oh no! What was that little man up to now haha then it hit us...Lieutenant Dan loses his legs on Forrest Gump haha! So I run over to him as he is army crawling over to the camp fire and find him with his legs bent back and tucked into his pant legs to make it look like he has no legs from the knee down. Hahahaha he said he was Lieutenant Dan! The best part was that he actually attempted to walk down the stairs of the motor home like that and ended up falling!! So we took some more pictures and decided it was time for bed. I slept on pull out bed with Ashlyn who kept me up all night with either a arm or a leg sprawled over onto me.

I woke up the next morning and couldn't move with how sore I was from the day before and my lovely night's sleep. We packed everything up since we were leaving that day and got ready to go back out on the boat! I was ready to hit that water again! Kenz and Kirby were exhausted and decided to head home instead. So we were backing the boat down in the water, my Mom is in the car, Taylor is on the boat, and my Dad takes one last push to get the boat off the trailer and his foot slipped!

The boat is drifting out off the trailer and he is hanging off the side of the boat. My mom is yelling at me to run out there and push him in so I take my shoes and dress off and am heading out to help him but I cant touch, its FREEZING, and he is still like 8 feet away from me. He finally dropped down and got to the dock to pull himself up. He recently had shoulder surgery and still cant move his arm very well. His diabetes pump got wet from dropping into the water, he cracked some ribs, and torn his shoulder muscle BUT now he can move his shoulder better and it doesn't hurt haha! We got situated on the boat and Mitch wanted to try water skiing so I told him that I would sit out in the water with him but once he got out there he was too cold and started crying so he didn't get to try it. Maybe on a warmer lake. I decided it should be called Burrrrrrrrr Lake haha! It's too bad that the water is so cold because it's awesome that the water is so clear! I decided to water ski again and it was great that I could look down and see the sandy lake bottom only 12 feet below me. I crashed really hard while water skiing and the skis both came off and hit my knee, ribs, and head pretty hard but surprisingly that didn't stop me (seriously, how did this change happen??). Then we tubed a bit and just enjoyed the boat ride and being out on the lake in the sun. I would run and jump off into the water and get back on and do it again! My Dad wondered who I was by that time haha. Less than 24 hours ago I was terrified and in tears just thinking about the water and now we were in the middle of the lake and I was jumping off and swimming around. I had finally faced my fear and was having a blast! I never wanted to leave!! But we decided it was time to head home and packed up and said goodbye to the beautiful lake...but not without one more delicious shake Mmmm!! I am so proud of myself for facing my fear and over coming it! You may think its stupid but it was a true fear of mine and now I am over it (well, we'll see how I do in a different lake that doesn't have clear water)!! Here I am a week later, my body is still sore and bruised, and I can't wait to go back out again!! I love my family ♥♥♥ What a great family trip!!