Lake Powell - August 2010

Aaahhhh, Lake Powell. My favorite place on earth. Oh, how I love it, and we were able to enjoy it one more time before school started and we had to return to a normal schedule. We had a really small group this trip with just my dad (and mom for a few days) Michael's family, me and my kids, and a few extras here and there. We had some stormy weather, I think it rained a bit every night. We saw some awesome and kind of scary lightning storms. Nevertheless we had an awesome trip, as always.

Ethan and Carson started the trip off with a bang by catching a nice catfish.


The night fishing was pretty good too and Michael was hitting the sweet spot.


Here are a few of the striper we caught. We usually practice the catcha and release method and tried valiantly to save these but alas they went belly-up so we kept them for a fish fry.


Grandpa and Ryan dippin' their feet in.


Ally posing on the rock. This rock was out away from the shore and slightly underwater so the kids thought it was awesome to swim out to it and pretend you could touch out where it was deep.


Ryan playing on the beach.


Ethan and Ally swimming.


Ally finally dared to go off the slide, and I didn't even have to bribe her with anything. She even did it without her life jacket.


There she goes. Good job, Ally.


Grandpa, Ryan and Ethan doing some fishing off the back of the speedboat.


Michael cookin' us up some delicious dinner. (I think I have a picture like this in almost every Lake Powell post.)


The kids playing some cards. We also had some intense games of Farkle going on. Thanks Nicole for bringing it to our attention.


Ally and Ryan playing in the sand.


Jessie and Davis digging a giant hole in the sand.


Davis got this crazy lizard-scale looking back from having the mud dry on him. It looked pretty cool and was pretty good sunscreen too.


Grandpa getting the sand ready.


Workin' it, feelin' it, seein' it.


Grandma, looking on with great anticipation.


Ta da! It's Leo! Grandpa and Grandma's pet tortoise.


Doesn't it look like him.


The kids posing with Grandpa and Leo.


We played so hard everyone was worn out. Michael and Ryan had a good nap.


Ethan and Ally did too.


Michele even got in on the fishing action. Nicole was super excited about it.


I finally got up, and stayed up surfing. I was so excited.


This kayak drifted over to our boat during the night. We thought we had a nice find until someone came and reclaimed it. We had fun with it for awhile though.


Javan got to come for one night. So he played as hard as he could. Got in several wakeboard rides.


And did some surfing too.


Ryan enjoying a ride in the boat.


Good times!

Random Things From Summer

We had a fun summer. It went by so fast, I'm so sad it's over and starting to get cold again. I love the fall but it just means winter is around the corner and we had such a long and nasty winter last year I'm not ready to start another one. Anyway, I digress. Here a some pictures of some things we did this summer that didn't make it into other posts yet. We spent lots of time at the pool this year. Ethan and Ally did so well with their swimming, they are finally getting comfortable in the water. Our neighbor Carol has a little pool at her house that the kids love. It's always really warm, and just the right size. We're so thankful Carol let us come over so often to swim. Ryan playing at the pool. Ethan got pretty good and balancing on the kneeboard standing up. Ally tried out some snorkeling. Ethan and Ally both took 3 sessions of swimming lessons. It helped them so much in feeling confident and comfortable in the water. I still can't get Ethan to go down the slide or jump off the diving board but he loves so swim now, without his life jacket and likes to jump in and dive down and pick up things off the bottom. Ally going off the low dive. (I was clear at the other end of the pool so it's kind of blurry.)


We had a fun time at the dinosaur museum with Grandma Shan. We finally got Ethan and Ally up by themselves on the kneeboard. It took some bribing and I am now out about $20 but it was worth it. They both did great. I guess we didn't get a picture of Ally (sorry sweetie). Ryan loves to go in the boat. We always take some treats and that's his favorite part. Can't you tell! Our garden has kind of struggled this year. But we had a good crop of peas and carrots and tomatoes, all the things the kids love. The kids will just go out into the garden and pick themselves something to eat. We took some drives up on the mountain. Ally is just like her mom, always up for a picture. I love the mountain. It's so beautiful this year, everything is so nice and green. We headed over to Monticello for the parade on July 24. Mike and Karly were home and we were so happy to see them. The Shumway brothers, enjoying the parade. Grandpa Kelly's house is right at the beginning of the parade route and the kids scored big on the candy. Ryan was showing off how big his belly was after eating so much candy. That afternoon we took Mike and Karly out to the dam to play in the water. Gwen and Evan liked the tube. We went to the dinosaur musuem again with Gwen and Evan. Ally and I went up to Salt Lake with Grandma and Grandpa for Kennady's baptism. I missed the photo shoot with the rest of the family so I only got this one of Kennady. She looked so cute and did such a good job. It was a really great day. Congratulations Kennady! We spent a fun afternoon over at Grandpa Glade's and Grandma Heather's. Grandpa saddled up a horse and a mule for us to ride. Ally jumped right on and had a good time riding. We couldn't get Ethan to get on a horse, he climbed up high on the loader so we couldn't reach him and make him ride. Daniel and I riding. I was all cowgirled up because we were going to the rodeo that night. Javan and Ryan. Ryan absolutely loved riding on the horse. He liked it when Javan would trot the horse and he would bounce up and down. It was just like trying to get Ryan off the 4-wheeler or Rhino, he screamed when it was over. Grandpa Glade has been hauling the famous "Big 4" tractor around to different county fairs, and other events so we got an up close and personal view of it. That night we went to the local youth rodeo where Ethan competed in the Mutton Bustin' competition. For those who don't know what that is, it's where you hang on tight around the neck of a sheep and hold on for dear life as it runs to try and get away from you. He was really excited to do it all day, but got pretty nervous when it came right down to it. We knew he would have fun so we wouldn't let him back out. The poor little guy was so scared, but he did great and now looking back is glad he did it. Even though he still says it hurt when he fell off. He rode a sheep called "Dead Meat."

Girls Weekend 2010

Way back in July Shan invited me along with her and all of daughters/daughters-in-law on the 1st annual Girls Weekend. We went to Cedar City for the weekend and had so much fun. Thank you husbands for watching kids and letting all the girls have a weekend away.

We left early on Friday morning so we could make it to Cedar in time for the big event. We went to the world premiere of Great Expectations, the musical. I really enjoyed it. It was so good.


That night we went and had a yummy dinner at The Pizza Factory. Mindi, Haven, Susan, and me.


Macie and Beth. Mmmm, mmmm. (Shan was in this picture, she edited herself out before I got these from her. Stinker.)


That night we had craft time.


And of course, snack time.


And then bedtime. Some went to bed alot earlier than others (Haven).


The next morning after some shopping/yard selling we headed back to the theater for another awesome play. This time we saw Pride and Prejudice. It was really good too. Here we are getting ready for the play to start.


After the play, enjoying some quality time with William Shakespeare. I'm so mad my eyes are closed in the picture. Sorry I ruined it guys.


We did some more shopping after the play and Macie found this cool retro-style bench at the cool little shabby-chic store.


Susan made a new friend.


Macie liked her too, a little too much maybe.


That night we played a game of reverse limbo in the motel room. To play the game you take a box, we had wheat thins, and you have to bend over and pick it up with your teeth, the catch is you can't use your hands. If your hands touch the box or the floor, anything but your own body, you're out. We had some good laughs watching each other get into funny positions to get the box.
First Shan tried this position:


Then this one:


This one didn't work:


Neither did this one:


But finally, Success!


Haven with some good technique.


Beth did pretty good.


Macie had to do some stretching to get herself limbered up.


Susan was a good competitor.


But in the end it was me.....


....and Macie.....


That won in a tie. We both picked up the flat piece of cardboard off the floor with our teeth. I was quite impressed with myself, I didn't think I could bend like that anymore. Good times.


We had such a fun trip. Thanks Shan for inviting me, and thanks girls for the great time.