Lake Powell 2024

In the middle of May we went to Lake Powell with all of my siblings. This trip was complicated. It was a trip in memorial for my mom. My mom always loved Lake Powell, and facilitated trips down there. It was a very special place to her, especially Bowns Canyon. Because of these big memories and feelings about my mom and Lake Powell, this trip was hard and important for me and my siblings. To be honest my siblings felt more deeply about this than I did. I loved going to Lake Powell with my mom, but she and I connected in many other ways than Lake Powell. I miss her the most in my yard and garden, planning trips, talking about yummy food, thinking how happy she would have been when my kiddos did such and such thing. Those all make me ache. Kayla and Marc both felt that this trip was important, but unfortunately had different feelings about timing. Marc wanted to make this trip happen last fall. Kayla was not ready last fall or earlier this Spring. We finally settled on mid-May, which is only problematic because it is a traditionally sketchy time weather wise to go to Lake Powell. 

We drove down on Friday and stayed at Defiant House in order to pick up the houseboat on Saturday morning. The drive was no big deal with our kiddos. They are getting older and everyone is getting more satisfied with audiobooks. Picking up the houseboat was interesting. I have never really been in charge of it before. I had to sign a lot of papers, but the most serious of which was that I took the responsibility on myself that I would make sure that everyone in my party returned home safely. I opted to get the additional insurance, which was for peace of mind. I am glad we had it when we ran into a windstorm on Monday. 

After we picked up the houseboat. everyone dropped off their stuff, and we headed down the lake. John drove the houseboat a lot which was trickier than you would have thought. We wanted to camp down river so that we could all go to Bowns Canyon together in just the two boats. We towed the Glastron, and Kayla and Cortney drove their boat. Unfortunately when we got down to the area, Kayla's boat started having trouble with starting. So the Glastron was sent to recover them. We were stuck with the houseboat that couldn't maneuver very well in the small canyons. We ended up finding a place in Iceberg canyon to camp which was lovely. Our girls were the only ones that ended up in a tent on the shore. Everyone else stayed on the houseboat. All of their cots lined up in a row barely fit, but they did fit! Kayla rigged up a warm shower on the back of the boat--super spoiled us!

The next day we headed to Bowns Canyon. It was lovely to be out on the water again. It felt very strange to be there without my mom and grandparents. I remember how along exactly that stretch of lake, I looked over and memorized my grandparents' faces. I knew that wouldn't have many more times of seeing them at them at that location. I never thought that I should have been memorizing my mom's face at that time too. It's not fair how quickly she died after her parents. 

When I was a kid, the water level was my higher so getting to Bowns canyon wasn't a big deal. Nowadays we had to hike up a large, rocky ascent to get to the top of the bluff and then hike over and down into Bowns Canyon to get to the baptism and confirmation pools. Honestly getting down into the other canyon and back up again felt like the most treacherous part, but the whole thing was an effort. 

Resting in the shade after making it to the top.

We used to waterslide down that slope, clear up there!

Not a bad view if you can make the punishing hike. 

We made it to the baptism pool! Everyone waded in to cool off after the hot hike. All four of us were baptized here except Marc who they couldn't bring because of boat trouble. 

David slipped and fell off the edge just like Dad did! It is slippery! 

We then walked over to the confirmation pool where we had a little service about mom. I couldn't believe how close those pools were together. They seemed my further in my memory. 

My siblings and I each said some words about my mom. I spoke of her hard working nature, her endurance of pain, her willingness to be uncomfortable and inconvenienced to be a part of our lives. I miss her. Patti brought letters that their family had written to burn. She read a little excerpt from Jane's. It was so touching. Kayla addressed her words to Mom and apologized that we didn't get her cremated and spread her ashes here like she wished to. She brought a pair of mom's sunglasses and one of her bandanas to bury there. Kayla also brought a pair of her own sunglasses so she wouldn't be alone. It was pretty touching with a lot of feelings. 

It is an interesting thing to have these shared feelings with my siblings, but also feel so alone in my grief. I had a moment on Mother's day when I was out in my garden when I spoke to her. I don't know if she could hear me, but I told her things anyway. My mom is a big deal in my life and her loss touches a lot of aspects of it.  

Standing where we have a painting of us standing when we were confirmed.

The little boys made a cairn in the middle of the pool for her. 

So much beautiful life in the desert. 

This is where the glasses are buried. Patti brought the little bottles so we could take some sand home. 

It doesn't look as far as it was to hike up there.

Unfortunately Kayla's boat had trouble when it was time to leave the canyon. The glastron took a trip back with the first group of people, but then it randomly started. They decided to make a port-a-potty stop and we ended up chasing Marc. It was a little bit ridiculous, but all ended okay.  

There is nothing like the night's sky at Lake Powell. 

The next day there was high wind forecasted so we stayed at camp. The kids played on the rubber docky and the paddle boards. John and I went on a little hike with Darcy. David and Patti made a nice breakfast, and we made a nice dinner. John and Marc anchored the houseboat with a second anchor, thank goodness. We took down our tent and planned on having our kids sleep inside the houseboat. These were all good preparations because the wind really picked up that evening. The back of boat was well anchored but the wind carried the front of the boat 20 feet along the shore until it hit some rocks! Thank goodness for that insurance in that moment! We were trying to deal with that crisis when Cortney yelled for help from the back. The rail on his boat had bent badly and the boat was only being anchored by one rope. The paddleboards were going crazy, and their was the rubber docky flying about. It was a chaotic time to say the least. Everything worked out okay. We waited until there was a break in the wind and got the houseboat resituated on the sand. We got the paddle boards deflated and the rubber docky rolled up and secured. I feel bad about the damage to Kayla's boat. I am glad we had everything else secured well enough. Those gusts of wind going through the canyons are no joke. It was funny that all of the kids were pretty oblivious to everything because they were watching a lego batman movie. 

On our hike we made it up to the high water mark. It was a nice, shady snack spot. On the way back we rolled some big rocks over various edges. It was a good time. 

Playing with the cousins in the sand was good time! 

That smile says it all. 

More Hikes and a Visit from G&G

Spring break was so nice. I love how early and long it is in AZ which means we can take advantage of the nice weather. It does

Wind cave hike again! It was worth repeating.

Gorgeous sunset.

Momma too.

Climbing on the rocks in the pretty light.

The desert can be beautiful.

My oldest and my youngest.

 

Catching a couple winks on the hike.

Such cool lichen on the cliffs.

Earlier on the hike. Happy baby face poking out.

One of Holland's kindergarten projects: making butter. It takes a lot of shaking!

Getting there.

We made it!

Delicious.

It actually was delicious! Extra creamy and melty.

I can't help including this photo again. Sheesh I love that baby.

One of Ellie's school projects. Candy + marshmallows + toothpicks + hotglue + decorations = a good time for my little 12 year old.

We went on a hike on the other side of the valley. The west valley! The White Tank mountain preserve.

Family selfie!

Easy nice walk with cool cliffs!

If the rock were red, you'd think we were in southern Utah.

All kind of fun rocks to climb.

"All hail Queen Darcy!" This is an actual game the girls play with the baby.

Grandpa and Grandma visited. It is so cute when my dad reads to the kids. 

We got our first covid vaccine shot. They opened it up to all adults and we got an appointment that day! It was a crazy slow line (like 3 hours) but we were glad to have started the immunization process. We were glad we brought Darcy when we realized how slow the line was moving. Thankfully John just got his shot at the same time and they didn't make him come back at his appointment time (4:20 am). Darcy just hung out with us in the front seat and nursed occasionally. It was pretty because when we actually got to the point of receiving our vaccine the person was so chatty. "Your baby is so cute. I have a baby too. Is it safe to nurse after you get a vaccine(?!)?" Um...do you know how long this line is? We should stop chatting and just get to it. Thankfully my parents were visiting at the same time and stayed with the older kids while we were gone. Honestly, we had a nice time being together.  

Holland wrote a sweet prayer about not getting covid. 

On Saturday we took mom out to White Tank too. Miriam had made cupcakes at a birthday party earlier and was delighted to bring them to the hike for a fun treat.

Triple chocolate cupcakes. We heart chocolate. Well, except for Ellie. 

Sleepy baby on the way home.

Holland sent the cutest, sweetest note to her best friend Sophie who moved to Utah. 

"Dear Sophie, I love you! I think you are graet! I mis you so much! You are my best frend! I can't wait to see you! We will visit you in Utah. What do you want to play? What toy's do you have? We *heart* you forever. love Holland."

That stinking mollescum came up again. Thumbs down.

My grandma's engagement ring.

Look how tiny she wore that band to! It's like a wire. 

Smiles after nursing.

Happy grandma, happy baby.

Fancy tea party with Grandma with the pretty china and silver.

A Peeps experiment to see which liquid a peep dissolved in the fastest. I want to say the winner was vinegar. Also, that was a sad waste of orange juice.

We took grandma to the Usery mountain park for a wheel chair friendly walk. 

Whose hair Mommy or Ellie? We're hair twins for sure. 

Pretty roses from the yard. They smell so good. 

We went to the zoo with Daddy and Grandma! This it the first time Daddy has gone to the zoo. I have been to the zoo several times, especially with Erica, but John has never been before now. It was fun to go this time because we went at the end of the day. I have always gone before in the morning and left before afternoon naps and school pick up. It was interesting to go at a different time of day and see different animals that were active. It was also interesting to see how few people were at the zoo that time of day. We nearly had the place to ourselves! We stayed until closing (at 5:00) and really enjoyed our day. Holland is here to help tell us about it. 

It was fun! We got to see a bunch of animals that we haven't seen before like a jaguar. This is a orangutan. It was funny. It has these little colorful legos, actually they're big. There was a baby orangutan.  

This is the baby orangutan with Miriam. 

Here is a cute picture of Mommy and Darcy. Darcy is the baby. You can't even tell who Mommy is with her sunglasses, mask, and hat. 

This is the family with elephants with their place. We liked watching the elephants move around. They ate some grass. 

We walked up close on the other side. They were trying to get carrots out of the hanging buckets. They liked to eat the carrots, but one of them dropped it on the sand and just left it there. That's funny, huh? 

We loved seeing the elephants be active. 

There was something yucky that happened there. The elephants played with their poo. (Mommy doesn't remember this happening.)

Here are some monkeys. They were playing around being active. 

This is the rhino. It is the first we have seen the rhino being active. He was trotting around and being playful.

That's a really big wingspan, huh? Do you know what? We have a game called Wingspan. Funny, huh?

Oh yeah! The mountain lions! These were being active, like really active. They jumped up all around and were pacing. They came up an inspected us. 

Oh, Ellie. 

Oh, Darcy! Sleeping, awww. She's so cute with that stuffed animal on her face. I love her ssssssssssssssooooooooooooooooo much. 

Daddy flew home with Grandma and the girls stayed home together. We sent him this picture. Look at Darcy.

We watched General conference together. Look at all those arms and legs! Not that many legs. 

Mommy again: John drove home from Utah in a rental van with a bunch of stuff from my grandparents. He drove part of the way back on Friday night and and the rest of the way on Saturday. It got a little too eventful in Las Vegas when for some unknown reason a driver in a white truck tried to get him to pull over. The driver started driving way too close, nearly merging into him, waved at him to pull over, and just overall driving erratically. It got so bad that John actually called 911. They directed him to turn on his flashing lights. After the other driver saw that John was on the phone and had turned on his flashers, he started driving normally and exited the freeway. The 911 officer told him that this was the desired result and that people often get scared off by just drawing some attention like that. John was pretty shaken up though and definitely didn't get sleepy on the rest of the drive home. 

As part of the things that John brought from my grandparents there was all this stationary from the different businesses over the years. My grandpa owned Lucas Lumber as his main career and business, but also was apart of building the ski resort Powder Mountain. It is on the land that belonged to my great grandparents (on my grandma's side) where they had sheep. 

Later in life he really got into magic squares and even tried to get into the Guinness Book of World Records by creating the world's largest magic square. I am sure he did (it was as big as a wall), but they didn't accept his entry because it wasn't something they kept a world record of. He created a little booklet that described how to do magic squares and other fun number games. 

We were also returned all of the cards and letters we had given them over the years. I wish some of these had a date. 

Sweet Ellie's handwriting when she was about 4 I'd guess.

Something I made when I was a kid. No idea how old I was, but turns out I made crafts too!

We received some fancy dishes (my grandma collected tea cups) and Grandma's cedar chest. Of course the girls had to put together a play tea party. 

There were also a handful of momentos from their many travels. Darcy got some maracas from Mexico that double as fun rattles. 

We received some china from my great grandmothers and a great great grandmother. We also got a rubbing form Cambodia. I still can't believe we ended up with the gun that belonged to my great grandfather. It was made in 1898 for the Spanish American War. It is a carbine rifle that says US Springfield armory on it. It would have been carried in a saddle with a bayonet. I was always told he used it in WWI. On the stock it has his name scratched into it with the year 1901. 

I also received my Grandma's wedding dress. It is satin with a zillion buttons down the back. I love it.

I miss my grandparents and love them a lot. I feel grateful to receive these things and remember the legacy of where I came from.