The Happiest Place on Earth!!

I know that's Disneyland....but this year I'm gonna have to give that title to LAKE POWELL!! I have been to Lake Powell almost every summer for as long as I can remember! Every summer my family would rent a houseboat & spend at least a week down there.....basking in the sun! When I got married I was so sad because my dad just sold our ski boat & we were no longer going there :( Well.....good thing I married Kevin!! Just my luck, his family had a timeshare in Lake Powell.....so more summers at Powell. Yeah for marriage :) Then about 9 years later I was sad again when Doug said he was selling the time share (The Diane, good name huh?!?) right before we were suppose to go :( Then I was happy again when Kevin's aunt Camie & uncle Dave said they had a friends houseboat we could use. YEAH for them! It was a roller coaster of emotions:) It was a great boat, an upgrade from what we had before.

This year we went in August 2011 to Waweep. We usually hang out at Bullfrog or Halls Crossing. It was fun to see a different part of the lake, I hadn't been to that part for a while. All of Kevin's family made it this year included his aunt Camie & their family except Kyle's wife Shilo & their girl Caroline. Shilo was pregnant & didn't want to be down in the heat...I don't balme her! We decided it was best if we left Marshall this year since he is 4 months old. Don't feel too bad for him, he got to go the year before. He went water skiing & tubing....in my tummy! I was just a few months pregnant & no one knew. My family was more than happy to take Marshall for the week....what a nice family I have....THANKS!! It was HARD to leave him but I knew he would be happier with my family. It was great to see him when we got home because he was so excited to see us and was clapping his hands....another first at my parents while I was gone :( Well.....we drove my parents Tahoe 6hrs to Powell. We were pulling the jet skis....so we borrowed the parents car. We were going to spend the night in St. George & then drive the 3 hours in the morning to Page but we decided to spend the night in the Tahoe in the back of a church parking lot.....sounds comfy doesn't it? I just wanted to get all the driving done with & be ready to go the next morning. It was interesting to say the least :) That is the picture of us in the parking lot. The other is of the boys watching a movie and Kevin & the boys getting some sugar for the drive :)

AHHHHHHHHHHHH...........LAKE POWELL!!!!!!!!!!! This was far the best Powell trip! The weather, the place where we parked the houseboat, the glass water, the people, the firework show, the water skiing, the tubing, our boys..........everything??? SWEET! We parked the boat in this great place where we had our own little swimming area, a great beach & rock to climb & jump off.

One of my FAVORITE things to do at Powell is water-ski! I LOVE it! I'm not as good as I would like to be....but I don't care.....I LOVE it! I remember watching my brother, Cameron, every trip to Powell & how awesome he is. I love that I ski the same way he does. He is left handed so I ski the same way he does even though I am right handed :) This is some pictures of the water-skiers we had....Kevin, Kyle (brother-in-law), Doug(father-in-law) & I. It was glass for a good part of the morning & evening. I love going until I can't go anymore. I hope when I am Kevin's dad age I will still be skiing like him.

This is the great beach we had. All of us had fun swimming & jumping off the rocks. Kevin & Kyle even made an obstacle course.

All the kids tried the knee board. Jackson who just turned 4 did great & then Ethan who just turned 6 was very reluctant. We had to convince him & he had to have his goggles on :) Then we went tubing. Kevin's uncle had some a cool tube that was like a recliner! Poor Stacie got flipped twice on it.

We went to Lake Powell over Ethan's 6th birthday. I spent a few birthday's at LP. I remember my family waking me up while the Beatles Birthday song played in the background. My brother's were trying to get me up & I was being a grouchy teenager....we have a video of it. It's pretty funny to watch. Well....onto Ethan....he requested snicker doodles for his birthday. We sang to him & had him blow out a match & then had the cookies with everyone. It was a fun way to spend his birthday. I LOVE THAT BOY!!

Here is a cute picture of all the kids & the grandparents. It was fun to hang out with all of Kevin's nieces, nephews and a few cousins. All the kids were great....my boys were really good the whole trip, I am sure it's beacuse all we did was play all day! No chores, no bossy mom :)

Jackson is my Mister Daring........ he will try almost anything. Ethan on the other hand is a little more cautious & waits to see what happens when other people do it. Sometimes I can convince him it will be fun & then he likes it, but he would not go down the slide off the houseboat. Jackson.......LOVED it! He was all for it:) He even wanted to jump off the top of the houseboat when he saw Nate.... Kevin's 10 year old cousin jump off....luckily he stood up there and then decided he would just go down the slide. Crazy :)

Well....all good things have to come to an end. It was awesome every night, the boys were completely worn out & were so easy and willing to go to sleep. Jackson even fell asleep on a chair because he was SO worn out. I hope that we can go again next year & have the same luck! Thanks for all the fun times family!!