Lake Powell

Well, we have a habit in this family that whenever we go on a big trip literally hundreds of pictures are taken. You can imagine the difficulty when it's time to blog...... Lake Powell was no exception! The day before we left we stayed in St. George and managed to catch the movie Brave with all of our cousins that we there. Shane and I thought it was quite a cute movie! But Early the next morning we were off after all of the crazy packing and grocery shopping the night before (1 week of food and provisions for 20 people) we were off. There were quite a few glitches in our trip. Some pretty big some smaller, and I really don't want to address them because I want to remember this trip for what it really was when you get down to it, absolutely wonderful. Here are a handful of pictures. 

 At the movies

 Getting ready to go

 Grandma and Kellen. Kellen did so great the entire time.

 Relaxing at Gunsight this is where we docked the first night.

 I found this picture with many others like it after we got home. Practicing his funny faces. 

 Let's get this show on the road!!!!

 Kellen even helped when we were wake boarding

Lounging on the top deck after dinner on the 4th of July.

 Excited for the fireworks!!!!The boat next to ours set off a full on show. They must have spent at least 5 Grand on the show. We were more than lucky that we beached next to them!

 Soooooo exhausted!

 Kellen was not a fan of the hiking backpack at first! 

 On our way to Rainbow Bridge

Colson was dragging his feet all the way back to the boat after the uphill hike to Rainbow bridge. We perked up his spirits again by letting him climb a little under this hanging rock and show us his Big Guns.

 Me, Krew, Lincoln, Kinsley, Melissa 

 So I'm not quite sure how I should tell this next story so that all parties involved come off looking innocent and a finger not pointing at anyone..... We were exploring all the fun little passages in Cathedral Canyon, and Grandpa being the daredevil that he is got us into a tight spot despite the yells and hollers from his daughter in laws and sons that maybe we should reverse because it looks like this is the end of the road. Yes, the boat got wedged on its belly on a rock. We all jumped out and clambered up this really steep rock. The boys finally got the boat out. Here's Shane having a grand old time at the front of the boat while they were trying to get unstuck.

 Kellen and Daddy

 So pooped out, the rule was life jacket on at ALL times! We prepped him a month in advance. He did pretty dang good. 

"Ey, ey captin!" 

Colson was wearing the captin's hat everywhere.

 Me wake boarding. It's been like 2 years since I've got to go since I was pregnant last summer. It was so much fun! And we got a girls board so it was a lot easier than having to use the boy's boards.

 Colson tubing with Aubrey and Kinsley. He loved it! 

 Shane doing a back flip whoop whoop! 

 Every time Shane did a cool jump or flip Colson was in the boat giving his daddy thumbs up! He's a very supportive child.

 Tayson and Colson hiding from the cool morning air on our wake boarding run. Personally I thought it was wonderful! 

 Kellen getting his bath! 

The grandkids and the adults had so much fun on the slide off the boat. One time grandpa decided that he was going to slide off it head first on his belly. Well, Mr. Colson saw grandpa do this so up he went by himself before anyone could stop him (which we really didn't need to) and off he went head first. That kid is a fish! 

Colson playing on the turtles with all of his cousins and Grandma in her sweet hat.

All of us were without service the entire week. Which was really nice having a break from technology. But last minute we decided to stay one more day, So we traveled out onto open water to get a signal and make arraignments for those of us who had family member watching other children that didn't come and substitutes for Sunday. 

 At Dangling Rope. It's a little store that floats out in the middle of Lake Powell where you can buy all sorts of things. Specifically ice cream! Shane has fond memories of feeding his ice-cream to the fish you see here. Colson on the other hand will have memories of trying to feed his toes to the fish! FYI I was totally discussed by those fish. 

 You can't go to Lake Powell and not cliff jump, am I right?! We set out looking for a nice spot with the sweet depth finder on the Cobalt. We were quickly joined by 3 other boats filled with families just like ours. 

Here is Shane cliff jumping, he's mid jump. All of the boys and kids were jumping while all us wives were in the Colbalt with Richard and Kathy. Colson kept begging me to go and I couldn't take it, so I had Richard get a little bit closer and I threw Colson in and he swam to the side of the rock and started a little cliff jumping himself with Shane's help. I had jumped out of the boat with Colson because honestly, why should the boys get to have all of the fun? Jocylyn also got out and jumped. So much fun! After talking to our oldest niece and her cousin we all agreed that the worst part is when you jump and you have time to think to yourself "Oh crap I haven't hit the water yet!!!!!!!" 

 This is what happens when you cliff jump and hold your nose. I jumped without a life jacket because the last time I went cliff jumping I got bad whiplash from the jacket, so I thought I would be injury free this time.... guess not. I didn't feel it at first but as I got out of the water everyone was quick to point out that I was bleeding. I'm sure the water mixing with the blood made it look worse than it really was. One of our nieces pointed out "Heidi you look like you have half of a mustache" Why yes I do, and I'm going to rock it! 

The Captin taking us back to the marina after a week of fun!

Busy Summer?.......I think so.......

So this morning I had one of my friends tell me on Facebook that I haven't blogged in a while and that I needed to post pictures of our new diggs..... yes, yes I believe you're right I haven't. It's not for a lack of pictures or happenings that's for sure. This past month and a half has found us very very busy indeed. In fact I'm sure I've offended some people when I apologize for not getting back to them right away, or make Shane get a hold of them because I'm really really busy..... oops. Trust me I meant you no offense and yes I truly was and still am very very busy.

The end of May brought us a fabulous trip to SanDiego to see my wonderful sister and her family. My brother just younger than me flew here to Vegas and then drove out with us to SanDiego. We managed to make it up to Disneyland (I'll do a whole post on that later.....) and visited quite a few other places around and about. The beach was a tad bit cold though. Kellen did not enjoy it at all. Colson on the other hand LOVED it! He was running and jumping in the water and everything. What  a brave little boy.


(Shane and Colson at the Burch Aquarium in S.D.)









After we got back from San Diego we finished up packing and moved into our new town home the first of June. I have packing and unpacking down to a science now so the move went really smoothly. We're all unpacked and love it here. In Shane's own words "This feels like home". I don't even think he said that when we had our own house in Blackfoot. We could absolutely see ourselves here even after Shane graduates. Time will tell......

One week after we moved in, my sister dropped her three kids off at our house for three days while her and her husband went with another couple to Zion's to hike and camp. I must say that jumping from 2 to 5 kids was crazy, but we had a blast! Splash pad, making pizzas, swimming pool, doing nails, video games, puzzles, you name it, we did it!

Golfing and swimming and playing with friends has kept us really busy too. We all have nice Copper-tone tans now.

And to top it all off back in May I was called to be our ward's Young Women's President. Which has been a real learning experience for me. Our stake has done Youth Conference this summer in two parts. Shane and I helped out with the first part. Which is now over, but the kids are getting ready to go to Utah to watch the Manti Pageant this week. Then onto girls camp in July......And Shane starts his 2nd year of Physical Therapy school up in July too, but not before we go on a week long trip to Lake Powell with his family. I'm exhausted just by writing this post.

Kellen is such a happy baby! And bald!

Kellen loves his shoes......

"Okay Colson, did you just stick an octopus on my head? "

So Yes, this has been, and continues to be an oh so busy fun summer.......... I just hope Fall is a little calmer.....

On The Move

Shane and I have been married for 4 1/2 years. We have lived in 6 different homes so far. Next Month it will make 7! BUT we signed a 24 month lease, so I'm glad that I know I'm safe for at least another 2 years! This makes me very happy!

 I started packing a while ago. For those of you who have had to pack up with kids, it is quite the feat isn't it?! My goal was to pack 3 boxes a day since Colson just loves to unpack everything I've packed! Colson loves all the boxes everywhere. He's pushed them here and there to make tiny little spots to hide. This makes me happy to watch. I'm an Army Brat so we moved A LOT growing up. Watching Colson hide and enjoy this part of the moving process is very nostalgic for me. Why not have fun during the chaos?!

Two Birds With One Stone

The other morning I took the boys to the park bright and early right after Shane left for school because I had tons of stuff to get done, but still wanted them to get outside. We were the only ones at the park (which was kind of nice) and the following conversation ensued with Colson.

C: Mom, I go chase birds?
Me: Yes, but after they fly off come right back.
(goes and chases birds and comes back)
Quietly goes and gathers some rocks
C: Mom, I throw at birds?
Me: No, we don't throw rocks at birds you could hurt them and they could die.
(Note I hate the birds here! They're like vermin! My aunt calls them rats that fly)
C: ohhhhh...... Mom, I eat them?
Me: No, Colson we don't eat the birds at the park.
C: I get sick?
Me: Yes you would get very sick if you tried to eat the birds at the park.
C: (Mischievous smile on his face with one eyebrow raised) Yummy mommy good!
Followed by a high pitched laugh

1,000 Words

The quiet moments are moments I'll treasure forever.

Port Village

The Best things in life are free. On one of our days out we decided to make our way down to the port in San Diego. It was awesome seeing all of the big ships, boats and even a submarine. The kids liked walking up and down the walk along the ocean. Cost: $0

Colson with his cousin Annie and aunt Jessica

Will being quite the trooper with Hudson on his shoulders.

There's a huge battle ship that was pretty darn cool. THe picture doesn't do it justice.

Colson was mad and didn't want us to take a picture.

Port Village after our little walk. There were tons of cute little shops, and Colson loved chasing the birds. Surprisingly he didn't get too wet from this fountain.