Bear Lake 2011

Ryan's family has been going to Bear Lake every August since he was a baby. It is something our little family has grown to love and cherish--the activities are fun and exciting, and it's relaxing to be away from the pressures of home and work, but we love, love, love being with our family and spending time with them. One of Ryan's wonderful aunts mentioned in a Family Home Evening that we had last year that Bear Lake for her was like a sanctuary--a safe place she could go where she knew she was loved and accepted.

After Mikayla's accident last year, we honestly didn't know if we would ever be able to go back and still enjoy being there. That day was traumatic and horribly difficult, and the days and weeks and months following have been equally hard. There were several family members with us that day, and many of them decided that they wouldn't be going back to Bear Lake. I can understand and appreciate that, and in many ways I felt the same thing. At the same time, I felt drawn to go back. I felt like if we returned we would be able to continue on our journey of healing. Ryan and I discussed it at length with each other and with our older children, and decided that for our family, it would be a good step for us to go back there and continue building good memories.

We made our traditional stop at USU for delicious Aggie ice cream. I believe their ice cream is the best... and Ryan claims that BYU Creamery's ice cream tops it. We are convinced that the only way to determine for sure would be a side by side comparison, but the location of the creameries and the nature of ice cream makes that difficult. My conclusion is that whichever ice cream we are eating at the moment is the best! This day it was Aggie Ice Cream--lemon custard and raspberry sherbet for me, cookies and cream for Coleman, lemon custard for Olivia, and a triple for Ryan--pralines and cream, caramel cashew, and cookie dough. Sophia just kept her mouth open the whole time and waited for someone to fill it with a bite of deliciousness.

As we pulled into Garden City and drove toward the condos where we were staying (and have stayed for the past several years, thanks to the generosity of Ryan's parents and grandparents) we were all flooded with memories of the day that Mikkie left. It was particularly hard to drive by the pool house and get out and hear helicopters flying overhead (they were there this year for Raspberry Days as part of the fair). The last time we were there, we sat on the lawn and watched and prayed as the helicopter came and took Mikkie away. Her sweet older sister Faith said that the helicopter was taking Mikkie to Jesus. The weekend ended up being full of bittersweet moments--hard memories from the day of the accident, but also great memories with Mikayla and all of our other family members.

While we were in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday Ryan's cousin Jen shared her testimony--and while she was speaking I felt strongly that Bear Lake is a sacred place for our family. I don't know if that sounds crazy, but we have spent so much time with our family members there, and it's the last place that we were with Mikayla before she left her earthly existence, and to me it feels sacred.  It was Ryan's grandma Lucille's favorite place... she passed away in 2005, and Bear Lake hasn't quite been the same without her, but when we are there, I can feel of the love that she has for us. I can imagine Lucille and Mikkie, taking an afternoon off from whatever they are doing and sitting together, eating a raspberry shake, and checking in on us, making sure we are being good to each other and having fun.   I felt very blessed to be there again.

The lake has risen EIGHT feet this year! We used to walk at least a mile down to the water's edge from the condos (and we started driving down a few years ago), but this year, the "beach" wasn't far away at all. Unfortunately, a lot of the good sand to play in is buried under the water 100 yards out. The kids still found enough to build a sand castle with and we had fun in the water. Cheri brought the fun jet skis and we all got to take a few rides, even Sophia (where was her mother during this?!?).

We always have fun in the condos--eating yummy food, talking, playing games (this year the new favorite game was "Telestrations"--check it out, you won't be sorry!), eating more food, and just being together. Cousins Brian and Richard played some tunes on their ukeleles and sang to us too. I love watching Ryan's "cool cousins" play with our kids. The aunts told me that when Ryan was a teenager and young adult, he and his siblings were the cool cousins that played with them. In turn, they now entertain our kids--give them endless piggy back rides, take them to the park, and generally make them feel like they are a part of  things. I loved watching them all take such good care of my children.

Sophia was tuckered out after a day in the water and snoozed with Ryan. I love the picture of her with the camera and my flip flops. She's growing up way too fast. We were so glad that Denver and Jan came up! It is always so good to be with them.

When it was all said and done, we were very grateful to have spent a few days at Bear Lake. It will of course never be the same after last year's accident. The heartache that we feel because Mikayla isn't with us will never go away, but I am convinced that because of her, we can choose to be better. We will remember and cherish her always, especially her cute little smile as she dug into Laura's purse one more time for gum and lip gloss, or her giggle as she hopped from person to person in the wagon to get one more bite of a famous raspberry shake from whomever would share with her.

Bear Lake is a part of us, and will continue to be.

Bear Lake 2010

I have finally come to the last post about our summer adventures. I think subconsciously I have put off this post because I am still so grief-stricken about Mikayla's death.

Our week at Bear Lake is one of our favorites every year. Ryan's family began going there when he was one year old and it has become a time to spend with our family, building memories.

This year was no different. We had a wonderful week together. We laughed and we cried together. The end of our week was tragic and unbearable. We have grown closer together through this trial, but if I (or anyone else) could change things, I know that we would. We are still heartbroken but we are trying to move forward with faith.

I haven't known how to post pictures from the week without a dark cloud hanging over it all. In my mind I still can't seem to sort it all out.

All of that being said, I'm just going to do it. I love the relationships that we share with Ryan's family members and the ways that my kids get to bond with their cousins and aunts and uncles... So here are our pictures from our Harper reunion at Bear Lake this year.

Our favorite stop en route to Bear Lake is the Nutrition and Food Science Building at USU. They have the best ice cream in the world (I should know... I spent a good part of my college years there, participating in the taste panels for a free ice cream coupon) and it's a trip down memory lane for me. This year we even walked through campus. I still love that place!

The condos we stayed in (thanks to Ryan's parents!) had a fun playground area. The kids loved it!

Sophia with Ryan's Aunt Karen. Our kids get spoiled at Bear Lake!

Laughing with Grandma--it was so fun to see them get to know each other.

We were at Bear Lake during Raspberry Days and Olivia got to go on this fun trampoline. She had a blast!

Coleman with his haggle-tooth and Hayley. His tooth FINALLY came out during this trip... and the tooth fairy had to scramble to come up with the cash. He got a mix of different coins instead of a crisp bill :).

Cousin Jen did all of our toenails with bright colors and flowers. Can you tell which foot is mine?

One of the things our kids love the very most is the Jammy Walk with Terri and Bruce. It started years ago and has become a tradition. Grandma and Grandpa bought all of the kids sparkly glowy things and took them for a walk in their jams. They loved it!

These cousins LOVED being together.... here they are doing the chicken dance.

We had so much fun just being together... Here are Alyza and Hayley, Kristen, Sam, me, Sophia, and Coleman.

Ryan's aunt Cheri planned a bunch of Minute To Win It games... they were so fun! I thought we had more pictures (the game trying to get an Oreo from our foreheads to our mouths was particularly funny... but I think we all took video instead of photos... oh well!).  I rocked this one!

Traci, Terri, and me.

We can't miss the raspberry shakes... we like to get the at the Quik-N-Tasty... raspberry lime is the preferred flavor... and we love eating in the wagon. We usually go a few times during the week.

Bruce and Terri rented these fun surreys that we rode into town for yet another milkshake. There is no such thing as too much ice cream.

We had a great family home evening together and shared some wonderful family experiences and testimonies.

Out of the whole family, only two cousins were missing. Pretty impressive.

Meals were always fun... we took turns cooking and scrounged up any tables we could find so that we could sit together.

We had lots of fun treats.

We also made a stop at the Bear Lake Pizza Co. All of the other cousins went in on the "Old Ephraim" 28 inch pizza.

We opted for a smaller pizza on our own... it was delicious! We had Ry's cousin Brooke with us. Our kids love, love, love their cousin-aunts and uncles (Ryan's cousins).

Of course we spent as much time as we could at the beach. The weather was a little chilly the week we were there and included a few rainy days with threats of lightning, but we enjoyed the sun while we could!

Uncle Eric brought up a boat (thank you!) and took the kids on some fun rides on the water weenie.

Liv decided she was done, so she bailed...

...and the boys kept on going. I think they would have ridden all day long if they had been allowed!

 

John and Cheri brought up their jet skis... another Bear Lake favorite.. Liv wanted to drive on her own, but that won't happen for a good few years :).

We always take a lot of pictures at Bear Lake, but this year we felt really strongly that we should do family photos. We even tried to color coordinate (sort of :)).  Ryan was great to take so many, and we had a great natural backdrop of the lake and the mountains. The sky even cooperated and gave us some interesting clouds.

Ryan's parents and all of their cute grandkids.

Dogpile on Grandpa!!!

Ryan's parents and their four kids... Traci is on the left, Scott and Ryan in the back, and Tim on the right.

Ryan's family---parents, kids, spouses, and grandkids.

I have put our great family photo as the new blog header... but I thought this one was funny. Bruce is a photographer too... so we thought we were in good shape having him snap the photo.  Loved his hand, the trigger, and the tripod leg in the frame.

Most of the little girls... we missed getting Alyza in this, but these girls are so cute!  Sophia, Faith, Olivia, Lucy, and Mikayla.

And finally, our whole group.  I mentioned above that we were missing two of Ryan's cousins (we missed you Kimberly and Justyn!) but otherwise the whole family was there.  I am so grateful that we got these family photos.

Most of the group went home on Friday, and we (Ryan's parents, his siblings, and our kids) planned to stay until Sunday.  Saturday around noon Mikayla's accident occurred.  We ended up packing up quickly to come home and be with Tim and Laura.

Bear Lake will be forever changed, as we are forever changed by what happened. I am grateful to know that during Mikkie's last week she was surrounded by so many people that loved her so much. I don't know what future trips to Bear Lake will be like. I am sure they will be hard, but I believe they will also be full of good memories and opportunities to feel gratitude for the time that sweet Mikayla was with us.