Fourth of July Weekend.

So I am once again playing catch up. For the fourth we took the kids and went to Island Park. We packed plenty of bug repelant, (boy did we need it), and I forgot sweatshirts for the kids. We really could have used those. Oh well we survived. The first day we went on a 4-wheeler ride. The next day we went to Yellowstone Park and ended up in West yellowstone for the 4th of July parade then dinner at our favorite pizza place. It was a great weekend. We love how well our kids travel and how much we love being active and outdoors together.

Lunch on the 4-wheelers, what a great picnic place.

It was a little chilly. Luckily I had packed long sleeve shirts and pants. Of Course I didn't forget my sweatshirt. I don't go anywhere without one.


Over looking Henry's Lake.

Everything was so green and all of the flowers were in bloom. It was magnificent! The kids were tired of posing in the different flower patches.
Usually these flowers bloom in Late May early June.

Tay was holding my hat and glasses for me. She loves her licorice.

Roasting Smores at Grandma & Grandpa's fire pit.

Warning: these next pictures are way cheesy!!! We did refrain from stripping down and dancing naked in the flowers. Jeff thought that would make a great picture! Oh and speaking of Jeff he is going to be a little annoyed at me posting these to our blog.

We just felt like dancing in the meadow.

Classic flower sniffing picture.



Classic mom kissing baby picture, I mean mom kissing 2 year old picture. Taylor thought it was funny.

Tower falls hike. The water was so high that the trail is washed out and you can no longer hike to the falls. We did enjoy our little walk. We made it just in time before the rain started. We also enjoyed ice cream cones after. Ice cream is a great motivator for tired little hikers.

I finally broke down and paid way too much for these sweatshirts for the girls in West yellowstone. They were so proud to be matching.

Getting ready for the parade. The most exciting part was watching the 2 Asian ladies next to us. They kept running out in the middle of the street to pose in front of the horses. One of the cowboys was laughing and saying Hey Lady you might want to move. She was close enough to touch the horse. They also got the biggest kick out of catching the candy. They ran out and took it, racing the little kids. They were probably in their 40's. It must have been their first parade.

It was a great holiday!

Lake Powell the end.

Okay I know the trip was like a month ago and that I keep adding more, but I need to finish it up and move on. Normally I would just skip it, but I plan on doing a blog book later so it has to be done. I never tire of pictures of my kids, and our boat, and Lake Powell. Combine all three and I can't resist.
Kaylee practicing for her part in the Titanic part 2 .

Loving the last boat ride.

This little guy woke us up our last night. It was already a bad night with the rain forcing us to sleep inside. Then the wind and the heat. It was not pleasant especially when you throw in over tired kids and grumpy adults. So this little guy was not a pleasant site running across us at night. Luckily Seth is an excellent mouse catcher. Other unpleasant things that night were the bathroom door blowing open then shut and the fridge beeping when the propane tank ran out. It was a horrible night. FYI mice can swim! We watched this guy hitch a ride on some debris in the water after Seth launched him in. We watched him by flashlight.

Bye Bye beautiful water and tapestry wall.

Swab the deck Mates.

lake Powell Day 5(the slot canyon)

Okay everyone do me a big favor and start reading at the bottom of this post. I am too lazy to rearrange all of the photos.

We did it, we made it out of the slot, now we had another mile or so to get back to the boat. Tara had taken Kaylee back before the rest of us turned around. So they got back to the boat first. I was glad they did because they had a little surprise when they got there. A couple of Ravens had raided our food that we had in bags on the boat. They ate almost an entire 4 pound bag of starburst, wrappers and all, chips, and goldfish crackers. They made a huge mess on the Scotts boat and pooped all over it. Tara swears that there was chocolate in some of the droppings so they must have eaten something else too. By the time the rest of us returned they had the mess cleaned up.

This was one of the funnest things that we did on our trip. Thanks to the Scotts for finding out about it for us.

Seth & Mason

This water was ice cold in the middle of the slot. It was about thigh deep and squishy mud that kept sucking my flip flops down. I tried really hard not to think about how gross the water was and how many people have peed in it, or walked in it, ect. Mason informed us that he peed in it on our way out.

These next shots are all scenery. Jeff had Taylor for awhile while some of us others kept going. He played around a lot to get some great pictures.
Our little family.
Here is our happy little group. Good job Jeff on the self timer shot. We did not see another person while we were on the hike.

We made it to the beginning of the slot canyon. It was nice and cool in there and breathtaking formations of rock. It was amazing to see how varied it was within the canyon. Around every corner the rock would change even the ground would be different.

There was one point in the hike where we had to go through some thick jungle. The sand thru here was really hot!

We were grateful for any shade to keep us cool.

Taylor was intent on doing the hike by herself. "I do it mybelf"

The beginning of the hike is through a wide open canyon that has a little stream flowing through it. There were a ton on tadpoles in the water. They were so numerous that it was impossible not to step on them. We also encountered frogs, lizards, and one weird little snake.

It was a hot day and Makenna was sunburned so that is why she is wearing a towel for a cover up. I also wish that I had something besides flip flops. We also should have packed way more water. It is nearly impossible to explain rationing to thirsty kids.

Start reading here and then move up. Our friends the Scotts had read in some Lake Powell literature about this cool slot canyon hike that you can take. After some research and looking at the map we realized it was right around the corner from the canyons that we have been staying in for every year that I have been to Lake Powell. The hike starts at the end of Smithfield Canyon. We parked their boat and began the hike not knowing what to expect.

Lake Powell Days 3-4 (lots of pictures)

The days at Lake Powell are filled with water, sun, water, fun, and more water. It is also a time for messy hair and dirty people. Nothing like not showering for a week. Well if you don't count the lake baths. We had beautiful weather most of the time and enjoyed putting hours on the boat.Taylor along for the ride.
Ryan got really good at getting right up on the wake board.

Boat time in the afternoon meant sleepy time. Notice Taylor sucking her thumb under the hat. The only bad part about the naps is that when everyone was done boating the kids were still napping so we would cover them up as best we could and leave them on the boat. I usually stayed with them and got some reading in.

Tubing fun. Whenever Taylor and Kaylee were on it was a nice slow ride.

Jeff surfing. This is my favorite thing to do. Jeff didn't get any pictures of me doing it, but I really improved while we were there.


Here is Seth Scott surfing. Notice how high the wave is. We got it really big when everyone was on the back of the boat.

Knee boarding with the girls. I am on the left with Kaylee and Jeff is on with Taylor. Jeff never did get pulled up to his knees so he had to keep holding up his swim suit so that he didn't lose it. When Jeff and Taylor fell off I told Kaylee that we had to let go. I told her at the count of 3 to let go of the rope. I let go at three and tried to pry her off. I didn't get her off and she kept hold of the rope and the boat dragged her for a while. Needless to say we couldn't convince her to do it again.


Taylor modeling her visor that she made. We had some fun crafts to keep the kids busy.

Kaylee showing off her visor and her painted nails that Tara did.

Our beautiful new boat.



Ryan and Makenna giving high five on the knee boards.

Jeff wake boarding.


Me skiing. The wake on our boat is very steep and hard for me. It made me nervous every time. I am a novice skiier, but now that we have a boat I hope to get a lot better.


Jeff getting Ryan ready to ski.