On our 2nd day up at the Logan Cabin Katie had the ingenious idea to go and rent a boat up at Bear Lake. She too had turned another year older (aka: had a birthday that week) and the present she wanted most was to rent a boat and go wake boarding! Luckily, the marina still had some boats available and so we were able to rent a little 7 man boat from 10:30 am to 2:30pm. This was also perfect for us too because Adam and I had actually TRIED renting a boat at Lake Tahoe but they were all booked up, so we hadn’t gotten a boat trip in yet like we wanted. But before I go off on how wonderful our day was out on the lake I have tell you a little side story because things could have turned out very very differently!
Because Katie and I had stayed up so late talking the night before we both crashed when we went to bed and ended up sleeping in until 8:30 am! Whoa! That is super late for Mom’s with 4 & 5 kids! The craziest part is that the kids were all still asleep at 8:30 too! And even our trusty husbands who had gone to bed at 11 pm were still out for the count! Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but because we had rented a boat and needed to be up at bear lake by 10:30 to pick it up (and it takes an hour + to drive to the lake) we needed to be out the door at 9:15. Yikes! Thats only 45 minutes! To get 13 people ready? SO. NOT. GOING. TO. HAPPEN! So we rushed to feed kids frozen waffles and fruit, and get everyone in swim gear, and pack lunches, get beach towels, diapers, wipes, sunscreen, snacks, warm clothes, life jackets, you name it. We were running 100 miles an hour trying to get out the door. At some point I came up with the idea to send the husbands up before us to pick up the boat so that at least THEY would be on time, while the rest of us finished packing up. This seemed like a good idea at the time, but didn’t quite work out the way we had planned when Adam and Eks left before us and accidentally took a very vital item…MY VAN KEYS!!!
It didn’t take me long to figure out what had happened when I remembered that I had asked Adam to go and get the kids swim suits out of the car. I remembered Harry getting the keys for him, and after searching the house for the keys unsuccessfully after they left I was about 99% sure Adam probably had put them in his pocket and forgotten about them after he brought in the suits.
As you can imagine this realization completely devastated us all. You are probably wondering why we didn’t just call them? Well that is just the thing. There is NO cell coverage in the canyon. So as we unfolded what would probably happen the situation just got more and more bleak. If they did discover the keys we knew that it wouldn’t probably happen until they got up to Bear Lake as they would probably be deep into guy conversation and not be thinking about keys. If they did get to bear lake before making the discovery, than that meant that 1 hour had passed to get TO Bear Lake, and then anther hour would pass to get HOME from Bear Lake. Then another hour would pass to get back UP to Bear Lake. People that is 3 out of our 4 hour rental! Ahhhh!
Then the next scenario is that they get to bear lake and don’t realize they have the keys at all. So they are sitting there and calling us repeatedly from the boat and not sure where we are or where to meet us and can’t call us because we are in the canyon and don’t have cell reception so they end up really worried and looking all over for us which didn’t have a good outcome either. And maybe, at some point they would figure out they had the keys and come back? But then maybe not. And it would be a crazy, frustrating, and frightful day!
So really we only had one option that I could see. We needed Heavenly Fathers help. There was absolutely no way that WE could communicate with Adam and Eks, but we knew that Heavenly Father could and that the only way we were going to be able to enjoy Bear Lake that day, was if a miracle happened and somehow our men came back. And so we prayed that either Adam and Eks would be inspired to come back, or that the spirit would help them to find the lost keys in Adam’s pocket and turn around.
And wouldn’t you know it, within just a few minutes of our humble prayer, coming out from the bushes, wet from crossing the river, was my Adam! And in his hands were a ring of keys! My keys! The keys that would save us from a day of disappointment and broken birthday dreams! It truly was a miracle. And instantly I just felt Heavenly Fathers love and began to weep with gratitude and relief. Funny enough just the night before Katie and I had been talking about prayer and how sometimes we don’t feel worthy of God’s love or guidance, because we lose our tempers with our kids or husbands, or are angry inside because of something thats happened. And so not only was this answered prayer a gift in the way that it helped us get on our way, but it was a gift because it showed both Katie and I that God really IS listening. Even when we falter, even when we make mistakes, even when we don’t feel we deserve his love and help. And it truly touched us both. We ended up having another prayer as we were driving up the canyon towards Bear Lake, only this prayer was one of gratitude for the miracle that God had given us. For the love that he had sent, and for the knowlege he had give us that he is always there. It was such a wonderful testimony to us all. And we spent most of the hour long drive talking about it, and about other miracles in our lives, and how we need to be grateful for the blessings we don’t see. The Tsunami that didn’t hit, the Earthquake that didn’t happen, the car crash that was avoided that we didn’t see because we were prompted to go back for something. There are so many ways God watches over us and only some of them we get to witness, but many we don’t.
Anyway, it ended up being a really spiritual and wonderful morning because of that experience and started the day out with tears of relief and gratitude for a Heavenly Father that truly is aware of us, who knows us, and loves us! Even when we make mistakes.
When we asked Adam and Eks their side of the story later, it was interesting because Eks just randomly asked Adam “we didn’t forget anything did we? Glasses? Sunscreen? Keys?” Which prompted Adam to pat his shorts pocket where he realized he had my keys!!! Luckily they hadn’t gone too far and so Adam told Eks to pull over and then he jumped over the railing, ran down to the river and crossed it to get to the cabin while Eks pulled the car around. Funny guy! I probably would have just driven back, but my super human manly man made quite the entrance saving the day like he did! So that is how we ended up getting the keys from them! The interesting thing though is that they literally made the realization that they had the keys just moments after we had prayed which we know was an answer to prayer. And the best part? We actually made record time getting up to Bear Lake and were right on time! So we didn’t miss out on any of our 4 hours! Nice!
Adam ended up driving the boat over with Harry and a couple of the kids, while Katie and I found a good beach spot in East Bear Lake to camp out for the day. Eks then drove their van over to where we were and then kindly offered to stay back with the little kids so Katie and I could have some boat time! Sa-weet! Thanks Eks! Below are some pictures of the kids playing at the beach before Adam found us with the boat.
Branson digging motes and making castles all on his own down the beach.
And Dawson off on his own in a completely different part of the beach doing the exact same thing! Funny kids!
See the beach behind Adam and the kids? That is how far out we had to dock the boat because it was so shallow! It was quite the trek going to and from the beach and usually took 10-15 minutes each time!
Katie and little Eks making the voyage to the boat while big Eks, Harry, Brent, and Jamis stayed back on the beach.
Our beautiful boating birthday girl!
I absolutely loved the color of the water! It looks like the Caribbean!
Adam was awesome at helping get ropes set up for Katie to wake board and then drove the boat for anyone that wanted to tube or board.
Katie went out first! Apparently the water was a little frigid!
I ended up driving the boat for a bit too so Adam could put some weight up front and bring down the bough.
Then Brans and Dawson did some tubing!
And I pulled Adam up on the wakeboard. He and Katie both did awesome!
Then it was back to the beach to switch groups. Katie and I stayed with the babies so that Adam and Eks and the other kids could have more time on the boat.
Katie made us all up some chicken salad sandwiches for lunch (which unfortunately got dropped in the sand and became inedible darn it all) and so we mostly just snacked on cheese and crackers, trail mix, and fruit to tie us over.
The kids had a ball playing in the sand and burying each other.
When the boys got back, Katie and some of the kids and I headed back out on the lake, but quickly realized we most likely wouldn’t get any play time because it was time to turn in the boat. So we just headed for the Marina. Funny enough I was actually super nervous about this fact because to this date I have actually never PARKED a boat. I’ve driven one on the lake tons of times, but never actually driven up to a DOCK and tied onto it. So I was a little intimidated to say the least. I got even more nervous when I saw a huge line of cars all going in, and then had a guy go right in front of me and dock right where I wanted to go! So I ended up having to turn around in a super tight area and try again. The good news is that I successfully got the boat to the dock and tied on. The bad news is that I actually needed to go to the gas pumping area! Ahhh! But Katie was nice and explained to a marina worker that we weren’t very skilled in driving boats and asked him if he would move it for us! My hero!
Adam and Eks in the meantime were kind enough to pack up everything on the beach and get kids in the cars and then drove both vans over to the marina to pick us up!
The rest of the night we spent back at the cabin where we had crock pot taco soup for dinner and strawberry shortcake for dessert and then we cleaned the cabin and played a game while watching Iron Will. It truly was a wonderful day! Thank you Katie and Eks for joining us at the cabin and for your love and friendship! We sure are grateful to have you in our lives!