Lake Powell

One of my favorite places in the whole world is Lake Powell we have been there every summer for as long as I can remember this year was different for a couple of reasons...Kim & Ez couldn't make it having just moved and accepted jobs and it was Matt and I's 1st year with 2 kids we knew we were in for an adventure. We tried to think ahead and borrowed a trailer for one of Matt's coworkers mostly so we could have a cool space to lay the girls down for naps and bedtime. We got the trailer loaded up on Monday night and waited in anticipation for Tuesday afternoon to come. Matt worked a half day and then we loaded up and got on our way. We had also borrowed a V-10 4-wheel drive truck to pull the trailer. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into about half way there we realized we were going to spend ALOT on gas more than double what we had budgeted. I guess that's when we realized we were paying for life experience. We ended up getting 4-6 mpg...which is ridiculous! After what seemed like a super long ride(the girls were great but I found myself wonder when we would be there). But once we got there the money was all forgotten and the fun began. We set up the trailer, it took about 5-10 minutes before Nate and Maddi decided to move into us, and headed for bed. Day one Nic and I decided the trip would be a success if we could keep the kids from not getting sunburned so here are their before pics! I told Hallie she had to wear her hat or sunglasses at all times...she did very well and rotated back and forth between the 2. She was also good to remind us that she thought she needed more sunscreen on a regular basis.

 

This was Hallie's 1st yr at LP potty trained(it was awesome) so she of coarse peed in the lake after seeing her other little friends doing it. Later in the week Hallie said she had to go potty and before I could help her she ran into the water about 2 inches dropped her swim bottoms and proceeded to slightly squat and pee. I couldn't get to my camera fast enough.. probably because we were all laughing so hard. Then she quickly pulled them up and went about her day. Rigs just can't help himself he just loves Gracie(and babies in general) so we spent a lot of time trying to protect Gracie from getting attacked

 Rigs and Nic(his mommy)

 

 What you may have a hard time seeing are the herd of big horn sheep on the rocks, its amazing that they can even survive in this environment they were on there way back after getting a drink.

Swimming is a must when it is so hot so in between skiing, kneeboarding, and tubing we took multiple swim breaks...Hallie thought the water was a little cold but Gracie appeared that she liked getting cooled off.

 Matt of coarse in true fashion tried to disable himself...while surfing got his arm stuck in the rope(he is lucky he didn't get his arm ripped off)

 Gracie loved the sand and spend most of her time in the shade playing in the sand or sleeping in the trailer.

 Thursday while we were there Rigs turned 1 yr old!! He decided to celebrate among everything else by tubing for the 1st time with his mom...he liked it and it made Nic a nervous wreak(oh the joys of being a mom) Hallie loved being with Maddi and was her shadow most of the trip

Saturday we did some celebrating for father's day and of coarse we had to get a picture of Matt with his girls. We even made it to the marina for some fun and ice cream

 Nate is such a good uncle and way more mature than any other boys I know his age...love him. He is so good with the kids

 As you can see from the pics how could you not love this scenery? We usually got up early and skied until the rest of the boaters realized what they were missing then in for breakfast and playing on the beach before going out to swim or site see. Then after dinner while everyone else was worn out we would once again ski on awesome smooth water with awesome sunsets

 Hallie was very interested in helping to drive the boat this year...only problem is that she wanted to do it by herself. She settled for helping

 Hallie and Maddi were constant buddies as well as some new friends we made(Addi, Carter, and Ethan)

 Hallie showing me her starburst..can we just say she probably lived on candy and powerade(I guess thats what vacation is for)

 Of  coarse there was a lot of sand castle building going on the boys also started a VW bug but we played to much and ran out of time to finish it.

 Oh and my sweet Gracie what a wonderful baby she is. The entire trip she was pretty content to do whatever and spent quite a bit of time in the trailer sleeping. I was really glad I had taken the video monitor I just kept it in the common place so we would know if she was awake or not without worrying.

  She loved the boat and actually slept during some of our site seeing...I had forgotten how acquired babies are in bulky life jackets

The trip did a great job of making us all tired and worn out this was on our last day on our way to the marina the kids all gave up and slept. Nate is included in the sleeping too

 Sadly on our way back to reality. It was definitely bitter sweet. We had so much fun but I was ready for the comforts of home and to not have to worry about the kids, drowning, life jackets, and keeping everyone hydrated.

 While we dumped the trailers we took some pics and ate popsicles to keep cool

 Grandma with her 3 grandbabies...we wish they lived closer...especially now that we all live so close.

What a fun trip we had and I find myself hoping there might be another one..maybe later this summer? I have decided I like the boating site seeing, and we even got a way fun game of beach volleyball going. Friday was my favorite day. Gracie had woke up about 630 ate and we were all ready by the time my family wanted to boat so we went, came back and hung out until lunch, played volleyball(with just the adults) for a couple hours, made dinner then boated until dark, had a fire with smores, and went to bed. Although I loved the trip for memory sake I do want to remember a few things. Note to self nursing while at LP is a pain in the butt, 2 kids is definitely at least 2x as much work as 1 to worry about sunscreen, fluids, sleep, and drowning but at the end of the day totally worth it, verify what kind of gas mileage you get before you drive that far, remember to take a deep breath and enjoy the trip(it took me almost 2 days to really get settled in) naps will wait and kids can eat better once they are home making memories is most important if it was only as easily said as done. Hopefully we will be back having fun in the sun again very soon.