Lake Powell 2013

This year was a bit different than years past, but just as much fun. We decided to take another family with us. Yep, we might have been a little nuts to think about bringing 7 other people with us, but it all worked out!

Wednesday, July 3rd we headed out somewhat early to first go and visit my grandma in Hurricane. Our last visit was hard because she seemed confused by who we were, but this time was a little better. She always remembers Pup-pup and didn't hesitate to introduce me as her granddaughter, so it was a good quick visit. She was finishing up lunch and expressed how she'd love to go to Lake Powell again and we left her with a cute Kitty thing that held our family picture and one of her with Zach and Pup-Pup. She walked us out and I got a picture of her and Zach because he looked taller than her, but looking now, he still has about an inch to have her beat! We gave lots of hugs! I love that my kids will remember their great grandma, not everyone is so lucky!

We then headed to the Lake and the kids swam almost the second we got to the boat! The Gibson's showed up about 3 hours later than us, so Carrie and I headed to the store for what seemed like a LOT of food for the few days we'd be there. Surprisingly, there wasn't much left over when we ended out trip! That night was a late night with getting the kids situated in places to sleep. 9 kids and 5 adults (well, technically, Tanner is an "adult" so it was 8 kids and 6 adults) made for a pretty crowed boat, but we found spots for them all!

Thursday, July 4th wasn't as expected because we were waiting on the little boat to be fixed. We had planned on spending the day out on the beaches playing in the sand, fishing, splashing and having fun, but we ended up on the boat. The kids had a GREAT time though because our neighbor let them slide down the slide on their boat! Thank goodness, that really did entertain them for a long period of time. Alan and Terry did some fishing, catching a few fish, Carrie and I swam just a little and mostly just hung out watching the kids have fun. The kids spent some time fishing and it was cute to watch, they were all so intensely watching, but ended up board and swam again. The evening we didn't have any desire to go up into town to watch fireworks, but we could see them far in the distance from the boat and Page, AZ puts on quite the show! It lasted a long time!

Friday, July 5th we had the boat so we were able to head to a beach for a little while. With all the people there, Alan had to haul two groups. He and Terry enjoyed some more fishing, the kids and all dug and played in the sand. We made a big turtle and a sand castle. We had pulled up to a beach were there were big old tires not too far away, so the kids were climbing up and jumping off. Carrie and I spent a bit of time on lunch duty and then a storm rolled in! We headed back, and while the kids played UNO, the grow ups talked and laughed! We played with some...oh goodness, Carrie will have to remind me of the name of it...sticky fun stuff and as soon as the storm passed, the kids were back in the water! We let the kids chose a treat that evening at the store and watched "Oz, The Great and Powerful". Not all the kids made it through that and we headed to bed late again.

Saturday, July 6th Carrie, Terry and family packed up and headed home in the morning. Our family headed out to a really cool spot! I love that you can pull up to just about any beach and find cool things. Alan quickly caught his first (and only fish) while the kids played. There was this long shallow rocky area that was mostly covered by water, but you could walk out to a big rock all while only getting waist deep in the water. The kids and I walked around and found a NIKE flip flop (I was hoping to find the matching one, but no such luck), a pair of expensive sun glasses (a little too beat up to actually wear) and a white hat. We had fun looking for some more "treasures" but that's all we found! The kids found and played in some "quick sand" and then because another storm was rolling in, we decided to get the kids out on the tube. They had A LOT of fun for about 5 minutes. Their first 30 second ride, the tube went under water. The second was the most fun and I just loved watching their faces full of so much excitement! Alissa flew off on that one, so we told them to hold on tighter! Their third round was their last as Alissa held on like a CHAMP, only to be dragged a little in the water and she hurt her knees. She was really sad, but both the kids said their 5 minutes on the tube was the funnest part of the trip! We headed back, enjoyed hamburgers for dinner and watched the sunset that evening. It was a good trip!

Sunday, July 7th we headed home. I was worried about the trip as I woke up about 5 in the morning and had a panic attack from my bodies lack of sleep. Surprisingly, it was a quick trip...the kids slept for a bit while Alan and I listened to a good 2 hours of Metallica. We stopped for lunch and before you knew it, we were home safe and sound wishing to be back at my favorite place ever!