Lake Powell June 2011

This was our last year having a toy share with a boat so we figured we should head down to Lake Powell. We spent a week soaking in the HOT sun and RED sand.



The water in Lake Powell is rising a foot a day this year so each day the kids had a whole new beach to play at. It's hard to wrap your head around how much water is pouring into that lake to make it rise so quickly.




Since it was still a bit early in the year the water was still a bit cold. The kids didn't seem to mind much. Only a couple of the adults braved the water.



All the boys on the trip tried wake surfing. Lance made it look easy of course. It was so fun to watch.



Brad loved every opportunity to hop on the boat. He was all smiles.



Most of the girls floated and relaxed on the lake...even this beauty queen tried.








The kids LOVED playing in the water with Uncle Steve. They would cry out "don't get us wet" then go back for more. Claire just wanted to be held by "safe" Aunt Kari.



Squirting grandpa in his silly hat.





The boat we had was really big and nice. Unfortunately the battery had some issues so we didn't get to utilize it as much as we would have liked to.



I couldn't resist this picture. They look so trashy...I love it.

I have a dozen pictures of Claire sleeping on the boat. The rocking motion made her eyelids heavy.

Huddling in the shade.
Brad was much braver on the tube then in years past. I think he liked the fact that he had learned all the hand signals for faster, slower and I'm done. It gave him confidence.

Claire is our little dare devil. She kept signaling faster and slower just because she liked the control.

We did a lot of relaxing and napping on this trip.

Brad lost his front tooth while we were there. He was so concerned the tooth fairy wouldn't find him. It took a lot of convincing that she would knew where he was. He was so excited to give the fairy his tooth. He even brushed the tooth in his hand to make it sparkling clean for the pick up.

Claire was feeling left out after taking pictures of Brad and begged me to take her picture too. She is such a ham.

On the last day Uncle Lance finally helped the kids catch a lizard.



Claire named him "Lizard Pizard"





The food was great as always when camping but the company was even better!!!!

Hot Springs Resort- Plymouth Utah

The DAY Brad was out of school we packed up the trailer and went camping with Grandma and Grandpa moose. Plymouth is only about 35-40 minutes away from Richmond so it was an easy drive. Randy couldn't join us until Saturday night because he had school. He was nice enough to take the trailer to the campsite the night before so we could get away.





The first day we were there alone with Grandma and Grandpa. It was nice to have some one on one time with them.



The kids couldn't wait to get in the Hot Springs. The water was a perfect 99 degrees.





Brad loved to ride his bike down the grassy hillside. He did it over and over again. It made us all laugh.







Later that day Aunt Becky, Uncle Richard, and their kids joined us.



Goofing around in Grandma's trailer playing games.





Claire spent the entire weekend searching for bugs. Rochelle helped her find some really big nasty ones. She was so proud of them and loved showing everyone. Every night she would let them go then catch more the next day.



...funny story.... My mom told me that my dad was in charge of packing his OWN clothes for this trip. Apparently he forgot to pack pants. They had to go to the local hardware store and all they could find were these sweet overalls. Don't worry we teased him ALL weekend.






Aaron and Lisa joined us Friday night as well. Thank goodness...my kids needed their kids for entertainment.



We had a fire with every imaginable s'more fixing. My favorite was the peanut-butter cup s'more.





The kids were not interested in the fire. They were more interested in the snack table. At least they played hard enough to still go to sleep that night despite the sugar rush.



After we had enough of the marshmallows we moved on to milk and graham crackers. Brad and Rochelle brought yummy Rosehill milk. I think I drank a half gallon all by myself.



Cute little Jake enjoying the fire.





The next day the kids spent most of the time on the playground and in the pool. Poor little Jake did a nose dive off the slide and scared us all to death. He didn't seem to mind too much. He is still smiling away.



Randy joined us Saturday night. My mom and dad made dutch oven chicken,potatoes, rolls, and cake for dinner.
Sunday morning we packed up and headed home. It was a MUCH needed vacation. Thanks mom and dad for the fun time.

I made the deadline

I had to say that I blogged at least one time in May. I barely made it by a sliver of a hair.

May came and went so fast. Plus the weather has been so crummy that we haven't been out much.

Here is a quick recap of our month.....



This a Allie and Kiera, Claire's BEST friends. I swear they all have some telepathic ability to alert them when one of them is outside. They want to play together EVERY day. They have spent HOURS together this month. They fight more than they get along but they still love each other and can't bear to be apart.



May is turkey hunting month. Randy, Todd, Wally and Brad went out several times to attempt a turkey. No success this year but they all had a blast and some pretty funny stories to tell.




Randy and I celebrated our 31st birthdays this month. Brad made me this awesome card that we hung in the window for a couple of days. It took him days to construct. He wouldn't let me in his room for a couple of days. I would catch him sneaking the stapler, tape, and paper in. He wouldn't let me tuck him to bed at night for fear that I would see it. He even covered it up with a blanket during the day just in case I went into his room. I loved it.



Richmond held it's annual Black and White days celebration. Tim and Kamie came for the weekend to see the horse pulls and hang out. They ended up canceling the horse pulls due to a horse virus going around. The weather was kind of crummy but the sun did shine on Saturday long enough for Brad to be in the black and white days parade and perform jump-rope on the stage.



We didn't get a picture of Brad jumping because we are lame...but this is the picture that was featured the Herold Journal. Randy I couldn't believe how good Brad was and jump-roping. He has been going to school early Friday mornings to be in the jump-rope club at school. He was especially good at double dutch. He of course acted like a ham on stage. We were so proud.


After his performance Brad wanted to do the pie eating contest. Not a big surprise to me....but he totally won. The girls that were next to him were totally grossed out because he was licking the crumbs off the stage. Such a proud mom moment.



I love this kids face.



The day before was crazy hair day at school. We painted Brad's hair green so he begged to paint his hair again the next day. He said he needed to "look cool" to be in the parade. Hence the blue hair.


My friend Leisa was in charge of the Richmond Royalty. Before they put the float back into storage the stopped by our house and asked if the kids wanted to go on a float ride. The loved it. Claire even used her princess wave on anyone who would look at her.




My mom bought brad this huge inflatable human ball for his birthday in March. May was the first time the weather cooperated enough to get it out to play.

It was so funny to watch them bounce around inside of the ball and push each other around. When I was little I used to have to climb into the dryer to get this kid of thrill.



Brad finished up his last soccer game. This was first year playing. He loved it and wants to play again next year. When he scored his first goal I made a fool out of myself yelling and screaming. I was one proud mama.



Baseball practice started this week and I am thrilled. Baseball season has MUCH better weather. I am a fair weather sport fan.

We were going to go camping over Memorial Day but the rivers were too scary and full and it rained all weekend. We ended up staying home and organizing the kids bedrooms. It was nice to be home for the weekend.

Well... that was a really quick cliff note version of our month. I am so glad Brad only has 1 1/2 days left of school. We have major camping fever and are ready for some warm weather.