Lake Powell

I have been dying all summer to get away for a little family vacation. Because Jason went to Youth Conference we missed Flaming Gorge and we are not going on our annual California trip this year. So I have been putting a little pressure on to go somewhere as a family this summer before the craziness of school starts. So after a lot of persuading we headed off to Lake Powell for a few days and boy did we have a GREAT time!!!!

There is NOTHING I love more than spending time with the one's I love!!!

One day we ventured into Rainbow bridge. It was a mighty HOT hike.


Last minute the Taylor's decided to join us and made the trip a party. The kids each loved to have a friend to play with.







Max and Reed got these cool sling shots and never put them down. Max shot and hit a lizard high up on the cliffs with his sling shot. He was so proud but his Dad was not too happy. Jason was worried about the lizards family. He does not like to kill anything for any reason.

We were all about the relaxing.

And Elisa was all about keeping the kids happy. She brought along these tiki lamps for a party on the beach. It was the funnest night just playing at the beach and the tiki's definitely added to the fun party atmosphere!! She had everything you could think of including shirts to tie dye, footballs and volleyballs, stuff for manicures and pedicures, and plenty of make up for the girls.

Em and Sabra doing their "I got 10 dollars dance."

These two boys made my trip!! They are such good little buddies and had so much fun together. They loved playing Elisa's game boys, jumping off cliffs, and just being together and goofing around. Jason and I pulled them knee boarding for hours and they never got tired or fell off.

They only had one incident where they walked through some serious stickers!!! I found them both crying on some rocks so I walked over to try to help them. Being as careful as I could I ended up getting about 50 SHARP stickers in my feet. (And we all had flip flops on.) As I was trying to pick them up to carry them back I was falling and trying not to cry myself. I couldn't make it up the hill with them and I couldn't set them down because they had stickers all over their butts and backs too. Finally I sent Emilee to go get Jason and he came running to help. All in all we had 3000 poky stickers all over the 4 of us. Reed and Max had 50 stickers in each foot and Jason and I are still trying to get them out of our fingers and toes today.

They were both so brave and were working their stunts on the boards. They would go no hands, bunny hop, hold hands together, spray each other, and even do 360's! This is Reed on his knees, laying backwards holding on. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard!!!

And once again Jayne came along with a big smile on her face. When she got tired she would have a little nap and when she got hot she would get in the water and swim with us. She just went along for the ride and was just happy to be there.

My favorite part was our cold watermelon busts out on the lake. They hit the spot when it got a little toasty!

We had a Mighty Fine Captain! He drove us safely to shore in a FIERCE storm. We got ourselves in a little bind 50 miles away. We all held on for our dear lives as we crossed HUGE white capped waves, wind, lightening & rain, as we headed back to our car. Our wake boards flew off the boat at full speed and I debated weather I should tell Jason or just leave them behind because I was afraid to turn back around. I have never heard my kids pray so much.

And hallelujah our prayers were answered!!!!

Lucy is one of the big kids now. She swims, jumps, tubes at full speed, and even tried knee boarding herself.

We played a little football and had a trip to remember!!!!!

I'm already wanting to head back this weekend for MORE!

Some other highlights included:

*

Driving until 2:00 a.m. to Kanab. The 20 rollaways and a crib they rolled into our rooms.

*Ray the Government Agent working it!

*The yummy breakfast at the diner for Abbie's birthday.

*Driving back in the pitch dark from our fun night at the beach.

*Getting yelled at every morning at McDonald's and the friendly Page people.

*Ray as Mr. Miami Vice driving his boat.

*Elisa disappearing at times

*The kids swimming at the pool.

*Our long wait and cold food at the Mexican Restaurant

*Yummy Pizza and ice cream at the Restaurant on the lake!

*Jason doing the Hoedown Throwdown on the cliffs.

*Cathedral Canyon. Going through the NARROW canyons pushing off wall to wall.

*The huge rain storm while we ate dinner at Bonkers.

Good Times!