Lake Powell 2018

This last July we went to the Wahweap end of Lake Powell and had a blast. My mom rented another houseboat and brought her boat. Kayla and Cortney rented a boat. We actually drove up the lake a ways almost to Dangling Rope Marina. 

It was a memorable trip because of a few different reasons. One main reason was that we went in July instead of October, which is what we have done the last several years. What this meant was that it was hot, much hotter than October. This was especially true because of there happened to be a heat spike that week. It meant that the daily high was about 106, which doesn't seem so bad if you're comparing it to the weather Phoenix had that week (118 or so). However, we have a/c at our home in Phoenix.


Luckily there was a beautifully warm lake to swim in all day long everyday. If you were in the water, it was as pleasant as can be. We had a great time with the waterslide at the end of the houseboat. Holland still talks about how she can't don't down the waterslide while the generator is on. We really just stayed in our swimsuits and were in and out of the water everyday. It was delightful. The only tricky part was trying to sleep at night in a hot tent. We did buy a tent fan, which maybe helped. And we also learned to dunk our pjs in the water before bed. We also kept spray bottles near at night. Yeah, it was a little bit of a production, but not so bad overall.

One morning before it got too hot, although we had already gotten in the water, we went for a little hike up the canyon that we camped at. It was a short little hike, which a some cute kiddos that ranged in grumpiness. It was fun to see a couple deer that morning and then we saw them again another morning.

Sandpaper!

Friction climbing with the littles. Holly had to get in on the action too.

Our view back to camp.

Fun little steps on the hike.

One of our favorite parts of the trip was when we took the boat our by ourselves. We explored a couple of canyons and even found a sliver a shade to eat lunch in and swim. The weather couldn't have been nicer for swimming--although I believe the hotter the air the better for swimming.



We loved exploring a few canyons. I just love my little family. We did find out that it is a lot trickier to go up a slot canyon with only 2 adults on board.


Holly kept with the time honored tradition of taking naps on the speedboat. My favorite was on our last day when she fell asleep leaning over her criss-crossed legs with her forehead against the back of the seat. That particular incident was one of our favorite canyons. I am still kicking myself for not taking my phone along to document some of the fun things we saw there, including perhaps the longest slot canyon I ever remember going up with the boat with the huge boulder suspended at the end.


It really was so fun. I love Lake Powell! Pretty light, handsome man.


Also, pretty memorable from this trip was the tubing we did. My kids loved getting out there with their cousins.

Ellie gets so excited/nervous. 

She loved it though. 

We also had to do our campfire singalong. "Oh, you can't get to heaven, in a rocking chair..."

The next morning we went out on the tube again and this time even John and I got on. Let me tell you, two adults hit a lot harder than two kids. Our added weight really made that tube fly.

The Armstrongs actually joined us for a couple of days at the end there too. They rented another houseboat because Jenn and Curt and William and Camillie were there with their families, and they had Grandma. It was great! Sadie is the little darling of that family, check out the pink swimming flamingo Sheila got her. :) We also met Sadie's brand new baby sister Gemma. She was only 11 weeks old and as tiny as can be. :) 

It is a joke in our family that isn't really funny that the Armstrongs have a terrible sense of self-preservation when it comes to Lake Powell. This held true this trip when they loaded up on the pontoon boat right as a storm was hitting. It was windy enough that we had to collapse our tents, but fortunately everyone ended up being okay. The only other awesome moment was when they tried to set up a projector to watch the Greatest Showman (right by our tent, right as we were trying to go to bed) when the wind sent their screen (an easy-up) a-rolling. 

Here is the little darling of our family. Actually we have 3 darlings, and we love them all!

This trip solidified Holland's love of her cousin Sammy. They loved to run from one end of the houseboat to the other yelling "Green light" and "Stop sign." It never got old, and Holland still talks about it. We love Lake Powell!

For Christmas, Patti put together this video of Bear River and Lake Powell. She's so talented.

Miriam Turns 7

Miriam is here to talk about her birthday: I liked my birthday when I woke up and saw the banners and other decorations. Like the balloons and I liked how my pictures were up and the streamers. And I liked the birthday sign a lot. I liked how it had different colors and a banner, and how the balloons spell 'happy' with the letters.
I chose my birthday food. I had Mac and Cheese for lunch and pizza with watermelon for dinner. For my birthday treat I picked chocolate cheesecake. Next time I going to pick cheesecake except it is going to be white, but maybe not. I definitely still going to pick combo pizza for dinner.

We watched Barbie as Rapunzel before dinner. We tried going to a climbing place, but I was too short, so they said to come back in 6 months. (Mommy was pretty irritated because she was right on the line.)

My birthday presents were awesome! I got three packages of Hatchimals, a basket making kit, a dress, and my best friends necklace that I shared with my sister. I also got a jewelry box that is white with pretend diamond handles that are sparkly.

Uncle Daniel gave her two of these packages of Hatchimals, which was super generous. Lucky girl.

I am going to ask Miriam some interview questions:
1. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation where would you go?
Florida, because I want to see the ocean, and I like the name.
2. I you were an ice cream flavor, which one would you be? Why?
Twist, because I like the flavor.

 3.What is your favorite cereal?
The healthiest one I like the most is Honey Bunches of Oats, not including sugar cereals. Including sugar cereal is Corn Pops because it came with a frisbee, and it tastes really nice.
4. What is your favorite candy?
I like the ones with granola with chocolate chips in them. Like the granola bars that we took to Lake Powell.
5. What is your favorite Primary song?
I am a Child of God.
6. Are you a morning or a night person?
Well, both. Because I like morning, and I like night too.

7. Are you on any clubs or teams? Which ones?

I am on a soccer team. I am in a choir too. Me and my friend Nina have a club. We walk around a talk to each other. It is called the Walking and Talking club.

8. If you were a crayon, what color would you be and why?

I would probably be royal blue because it's my favorite color, and I like it the best.

9. What is you favorite season of the year?

Spring and summer. Summer because of summer vacation and my birthday. Spring because all of the flowers bloom. 

These are my birthday pictures at the park. I like this park because there is a pool and a playground. And after we go swimming we can run down the hill to the ditch where the water goes. It feels really nice, and we can pretend we're butterflies. We also have a vine swing there.
I love being 7. My favorite part of being 7 is starting to babysit Holland with Ellie. I am actually helping.
I might become a doctor when I grow up because I am interested in the body.

You should watch my birth video that my parents made for me for my birthday. I loved how I cried in my birth video. It was so cute! I loved seeing myself as a baby. I loved one of the songs that Mommy danced to in a show with her friends Erica and Tina.

Bear River Fourwheeling

We loved our trip to Utah this summer. First was a few days spent visiting John's family. We stayed at his parents' house, had a family dinner at Millie's house, visited Norma at her new house, visited Grandma Lucas, the girls sang in my parents' ward, and we had lunch with John's parents and visited Spencer's grave.

We then took a short drive up through the corner of Wyoming to Bear River Lodge for our Christmas present trip with my parents. They rented this beautiful cabin for all of us, and two of these cool 6 seat side-by-sides. There are miles and miles of off road trails around there. It was pretty spectacular to go up there. 

The little ones had to have a helmet. Holland in a big helmet is about the cutest thing ever. 

The first day we got up there, we went on an excursion up to Lym Lake with David and Patti's family and my parents.

Someone found the perfect set of reindeer antlers. :) It was so pretty up there.

It was a beautiful little picnic area. We prepped that meal of BLTs with watermelon.

Then we drove up a rocky trail to Elizabeth Ridge. It was windy and chilly and absolutely breathtaking.

Luke lost his hat off the edge of this drop off and actually went down after it through patches of snow in just slip on shoes. He actually was able to recover his hat, but I am sure glad I wasn't his mom in this moment.

The other way was this beautiful field of mountain wildflowers and a lovely view of the Uintahs.

I haven't been up to the Uintahs since before we got married. It is gorgeous. We should have done more of that when we lived in Utah!

We drove along Elizabeth ridge back to the main dirt road.

Those off road vehicles were really fun. My only problem was that the seats couldn't move and my legs weren't quite long enough to reach the pedals comfortably to drive, which meant I didn't drive a ton, which is just fine with me. :)

Here is the fancy cabin my parents rented. I love that my kids are such good friends with their cousins.

My dad brought up his fourwheelers too. It was nice that so many of us could go out at the same time.

Lym Lake. So pretty. It got a little cold on the drives so we have coats and things, but really once we were stopped it was nice.

This was before John didn't help me get the bug out of my ear while we were driving. That almost ended our marriage. ;-)

Miriam and her bouquet of dandelions. 

The cabin was overlooking a valley through which runs the bear river. They also have a couple of ponds at the bottom of the valley. One night we walked down there. It turns out Luke is turning into a bit of a daredevil.

The pond was really fun mainly because we saw a beaver! Or maybe two?? Ah, that girl! She's a doll!

I am not sure why all of my kids like to do this with their hands. It's pretty good though.

Cousins together on the 4 wheelers! This was such a chill, fun vacation. Yummy food and playing at the cabin and awesome exploring to do.

She never drove this 4 wheeler, but she rode on the back. :)

The wildflowers were magnificent. Oh, and I was there too.

Ellie and I had a quick turn on the 4 wheeler too.

Here is the trail we went up.

We saw a beaver dam. Eliza is so cute. She gets so happy about little things.

Miri girl had a chance to go with Daddy.

One night we went with Grandpa up to Lily Lake. It was a long drive, but so pretty!

I love the flowers on the lily pads. 

I couldn't get enough of how picturesque this lake was.

Holland loved the blue wildflowers right outside of our cabin.

Many bouquets were picked.

You can kind of see the river and the ponds from the deck of the cabin. What a view!

Peek-a-boo!

One of my favorite parts was staying up late playing Hand and Foot Tournaments. Some of the kids are even getting old enough to learn how to play. Eliza learned, but Miriam wasn't interested.

I spy...some cute little girls.

On our last day we went on a drive to one of the Uintah Lakes. It was surprisingly crowded, but gorgeous. There are so many lakes that we passed. Again, why didn't we visit more when we lived in Utah??

Cutie Pies!

Our kids had so much fun exploring. We played and had a picnic, it was such a nice day.

I feel so blessed that my parents makes these vacations happen for us. It was wonderful.

On our way home we got caught in a hailstorm going south by Park City. We also stopped by our old apartment in Orem. We decided to split our drive into 2 days which was so nice! We stopped by the cheap Virgin River Casino in Mesquite and wanted to go swimming, but it turns out someone had vomited in the pool...yikes. So we went to Cafe Rio instead. When we went to bed that night, this was how the girls had gone to sleep. :) Oh Holland. :) What a great trip!