Lake Powell

Aug.25th

I got to fly to Lake Powell this year! They had an open spot on the plane that was taking the staff down. So I got to go down and help get all set up for the Lake Powell trips.  I don't mind the work. Everything is enjoyable in paradise.  Man that plane ride might have spoiled me! To be in my sanctuary in about 45 minutes instead of 6 hours, man was that nice!

This year's trip was wonderful, as always. I learn so much, my mind gets stretched, and I feel like I am a more enlightened parent. My most favorite thing about these trips though is meeting so many wonderful people! I've decided everyone is fascinating with so much to offer everyone so I get so excited to discover new people everyday!  This group was a little more laid back and so there wasn't a lot of high energy or late nights but we still had a lot of fun. We got to slip in a little rappelling in Labrynth, which was fun to see others who have never tried it do it.  I also tried and went a ways on the Aquaskipper this trip--that was fun!  Another big moment this trip was, after a little coaching from Justin, I improved a lot with my wake surfing. 

Off To School!

It's hard to believe Clint and Kade are headed off to the 4th and 5th grades this year.  Clint is still at Heber Valley Elementary which is close and it is warm enough that he can ride his bike.  His teacher this year is no stranger to us, he has Ms. VanDenbos, Kade's 4th grade teacher.  Kade has moved up to Timpanogos Intermediate School, which is all of the 5th and 6th graders in the area.  He couldn't be more excited to be at the big school.  His teacher is a lady that moved into our ward last year, Mrs. Naylor.  She's very nice and so Kade is thrilled he got  her.  Here's hoping for a spectacular year!!!

The Domino Effect

The boys have been having such a great time seting up domino chains.  Cole loves his part too; he gets to stand at the end, posed and ready to catch the pieces that might fall off the table.  I love moments like these.

Redmond Minerals Co. Campout

Redmond held their company campout at the Soldier Hollow campsite in Heber.  It was so nice to have it so close.  They had some great activities for the kids: face painting, snow cones, movie, games, bounce houses, bounce house waterslide, and popcorn.  The food was always top notch and the entertainment was the best ever!  They had a friend of Tiu's come who does fire knife throwing.  It was so intense to watch him and be so close.  What a show!  These are not pictures of the guy that came, I just pulled them off the internet, but it looks very much like images from the show we got to see.

Unplugged 2015

Aug. 21st

We had a great time being Unplugged again this summer. Tonight was the end of the season party. It was neat to see that there were about a dozen kids that got all 101 tags this year--that's pretty amazing. We love this program! This year the tags we did were:

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Kids Are Going To Ski!!!

We took a trip to The Canyons today for all kind of wonderful reasons!  We got to ride the cabriolet, enjoy the beautiful day, and, oh yeah, to get the boys free Epic Schoolkids ski passes!!!  They can't wait to ski at the Canyons and Park City this winter.  I'm hoping that since it is free they'll get there more often. {crossing fingers}  A side note about the cabriolet: Kade and Clint insist on having their own cart to ride in.  It's fun to see them able to have some independence and how excited they get over it, even when it's not something big.

Neighborhood Party

Aug 17thWe've been wanting to host a neighborhood get together ever since we moved in but it just has never worked out.  We finally got it planned and decided to do a dessert get together. I was going to make a bunch of cobblers but decided to just make one and invite everyone to bring something to share. We had quite a few people show up. I was particularly excited to see a few people I didn't really know. I enjoy getting to know other people.  Everyone seemed to have a great time--success!

Quick Trip with a Hiccup

My mom just got back from Hawaii and she was feeling extremely overwhelmed with all the work she had waiting for her when she returned.  Her yard needed attention, but the biggest issue was that her garden had a lot of work to be done.  The corn was ready to be harvested as well as other veggies.  She called me with an SOS and so I headed down early Saturday morning with Kade and Clint as my helpers.  Darryl had something on Saturday that he needed to be home for so he stayed with Cole in Heber.  Darryl and Cole had some good one-on-one time without us.  They went and saw a movie and ate at 5 Guys.  They slipped in a few games of pool as well.  In Aurora we were having fun too-- of a different form. :)  We picked corn and shucked it, then we processed it while we picked and washed cucumbers and beans.  We got all the corn froze, beans bottles, and cucumbers pickled.  What a day!  I needed to be back for church so we headed back early Sunday morning.  While we were on 800 S we heard a clang in the wheel area.  I figured I must have just flipped up a rock or something and so I just kept driving.  We hadn't gone far up Provo Canyon when I heard a noise that made it obvious something wasn't right.  I was in the far left lane and there was a truck and trailer between me and the shoulder of the road.  I got over as quickly as I could and pulled off the road.  The tire was completely deflated.  I was surprised that there wasn't more of a pull on the steering wheel.  Well, so much for being home early.  Guess I'm changing a tire... I got out but the cars were coming around a blind turn and it made me nervous to be so close to the lane without someone watching out for me.  I didn't want the boys out of the car so I called Darryl to come and save us.  He and Cole jumped in the truck and zipped down the canyon.  He was so smart and brought items to set up behind the cars to draw in attention so people would move over some.  He changed the tire and we were on our way.  What a start to the day!

Fishing with Friends

Aug.14th We headed to the Unitas with the Goodes tonight to do a little fishing at Mill Hollow.  The kids had a great time. Fishing was okay but the kids didn't seem to mind. They each got to reel in a fish and there were plenty of rocks to skip and trails to explore. For me it was just fun to get out in the mountains and take advantage of the few hours after work to do something memorable.

Activity at the Lake

For our Young Women activity we wanted to have a going-away party for Sarah and Lauren since they both are moving next week.  Unfortunately, it is a super crazy time where everyone is trying to squeeze in one last vacation, or school shopping trip so the only people that could come to our activity is . . . Sarah and Lauren.  We still had a nice time enjoying the sun and water.  Sarah swam with her mermaid fin and Lauren and I kayaked.  Fun times.  Going to miss these two in our beehive class.  They both add so much to our group.

Super Lego Readers!

The boys had to pose in the photo cut-outs at the library today when we went to turn in their summer reading records.  They've been so great about reading this summer.  We've got great boys!!!  Proud of you super heroes! 

Happy Dog

Darryl will often take Kia on a walk down near Rhett Robert's new home.  It's down in the fields and there are ponds and a little stream.  Kia loves the walk, mostly because he gets outside of our fenced yard for an hour.  Today was pretty hot so I'm sure the cool water was pretty refreshing for him.  He's a pretty great dog.

A Little Lake Powell Fun: Saturday

Well all fabulous vacations must come to an end. {sad face}
Today was just cleaning and packing but we did it in record time.  We had the kids help with what they could and then we put a movie on for them in the upper deck and then the adults cleaned the boat in no time.  On the way home we were going to hike a trail that overlooks the other side of the dam but we opted not to since the line of cars pulled off the side of the road near the trail head was about a mile long.  On our way home we stopped in Beaver to eat.  Darryl and his buddies use to go to a little dinner back when he was in high school when they would come to Beaver to ski.  He wanted to see if it was still there an sure enough it was.  It is called Arshel's.  When our lunch was over the boys all said that it was their new favorite place to eat; Great home-style cooking!  They asked if we could come there for their birthday dinners.  Unfortunately, it is a little too far away for that. Our trip was full of excitement after we got back on the freeway.  There was a car that passed us but there were others that had so we didn't think much of it.  Then we noticed a cop coming up behind us with his lights going.  As always, we wondered if he was coming after us, but as he quickly passed us we realized he was going after the red car that had passed us.  The red car made some crazy moves, cutting in and out of cars and diesels.  Oh man! It was a high speed chase!  We watched them speed down the freeway until they were out of sight.  When we got close to the junction I noticed a bunch of police lights and then the red car.  The guy had taken the junction exit, then got on the frontage road, and then drove through a field and fences to get back on the freeway in front of us.  He circled around and ended up doing the same thing but then staying on the northbound freeway.  Darryl pulled up his scanner app and we were able to hear that they were setting up to spike his tires.  We drove over the spikes before they had deployed them but the red car was expected soon after we passed.  We were sad we didn't get to see how it all ended but it made for an exciting ride.

A Little Lake Powell Fun: Friday

It rained all day today.  I have never seen such a thing at Lake Powell.  Usually it hits for a while and moves out but today was a soaker.  The lightning was pretty incredible and close so we just played on and near the houseboat.  Every time the lightning would stop we'd think we'd head out on the jet-skis or the boat but and soon as we'd all be ready to take off the lightning would start up again.  We watched a lot of movies.  Darryl got out the Aquaskipper and so we had a fun time trying to figure it out.  Darryl can ride it like a pro, but after many tries, Kade, Chris, and Zack were all able to ride.  We even had a few guys from neighboring house boats come over and try their hand at it.  It was great entertainment for all of us during the downpour.  

A Little Lake Powell Fun: Thursday

Wendy's family arrived last night so we took them out on the boat today. We had a great time playing today!