One more thing that I forgot to mention.....
Lilac Haven has awesome plumbing!
It is equipped with a boiler, so the hot water will last a lot longer. We have also installed a pump to improve the water pressure.
There is a walk-in steam shower with sprayers and two shower heads upstairs.
Both showers on the main floor are walk-in and equipped with sprayers and a large shower head.
If you happen to be visiting Lilac Haven when it is cold out and you need some extra room for tables, entertaining, etc., the garage floor has radiant heat to keep it nice and toasty. The entire basement and bonus room also have radiant heat. It can be adjusted by the thermostat on the wall.

We have been busy improving the exterior of Lilac Haven.  Here are some pics of what we have accomplished  in the past few weeks.  We will be adding more sod and will be working on planting.....LILACS.

We have been very busy improving the outside of Lilac Haven.  In the last couple of weeks we have added driveways and a cement pad for additional parking space.  We are also planning on adding a sand box and basketball hoop. We hope to get the landscaping completed by the end of the month.  We are so excited to share our home with you.  Check back soon for pictures!

Just wanted to thank those of you that have booked with us this summer and next.  We can't wait for you to visit Lilac Haven and hope that you will make some wonderful memories.

For those of you that have inquired with us and your dates were unavailable, we highly recommend "The Gathering Place"  which is just across the street from Lilac Haven.   We also recommend "The Gathering Place Too"which can be found close by. It has a stunning view of Bear Lake.
Click on the link and it will take you to their VRBO accounts to check availability.

I  can't believe summer is almost here. It didnt seem like it would get here soon enough. Our family stayed at Lilac Haven a few weeks ago and got started on the sprinkler system.  Hopefully the weather will stay nice so we can get the yard done.

What’s in a name?

Some people might wonder why on earth would we name a house Lilac Haven?  Well, as some of you may know, many of the rentals near Bear Lake have names.  For those that didn’t know this,  you probably  think it is silly to name a house.  Yeah, I was right there with ya’.

I’m not sure how or why this tradition started. Maybe it is a way to keep them all straight. I wonder, is this common with all rental homes or is it just a Bear Lake thing?  We are fairly new to the rental scene, so maybe it really isn’t that weird, after all.

I really thought it would be much harder to come up with a name, but my parents came up with one fairly quickly. They wanted a name that would mean something.  Lilac Haven won’t really mean anything to any of our renters, but it is more than just a name to our family.

Come to find out, naming your home isn’t really a new thing. My dad’s grandparents, Richard and Leah Barnes named their home in the Heber Valley, Lilac Haven. From the stories I’ve heard, it was an amazing place complete with a white picket fence, and…you guessed it, LILACS! Leah wrote a poem about Lilac Haven that  has been passed down from each generation. 

Lilac Haven became a special place for their family. It was a place where they could go to be together, to make memories.  Lilac Haven meant a lot to my great grandparents and   their posterity. It has come to mean a lot to me, as I have learned more about my heritage and what family meant to them.

When my parents were first contemplating building this house, it was because they wanted us to have a place where we could all be together.  A place where we could make memories.  This home was only built last summer, but it has already come to mean a lot to us.  It was built by our family, making memories along the way.  Each time we stay at Lilac Haven, it brings us closer, making new memories each time we are there.

Whether you stay at Lilac Haven as a family or with friends, we hope that when you leave, the name will mean something to you, too.