The girls....

Amanda and Julia were talking one day and decided it would be fun to take everyone boating and to invite some of their guy friends. Mike and I thought that was a great idea and were more than happy to take these cute girls boating!

We called Matt & Heidi Green and invited them to come along with their boat, Bradley and his buddies. We met up at Pineview on a Thursday and had a great time!

Amanda brought Julia, Maddy and Susie.

Double tubing is the best!

We met up with the Greens for dinner. We tied our boats together near shore. Pretty soon the ranger came over and told us we were breaking the law because we had floated into a designated swim beach. Nice! We moved....

Green's daughter Lauren quickly abandoned her boat full of all boys and swam to the girl boat! She is a daredevil and it was fun to have her along! After dinner, Heidi suggested the girls come over and tube with the big boys. We took their little boys.

Great fun until dark and we jumped off the lake!

As we were getting the boats on trailers, the girls in our boat got the attention of some boys in another boat and everyone started showing off for each other. Soon, Bradley and his cute friends joined in. I just laughed and thought is this what we are in for in the next few years? I'm glad they had fun, glad the Greens were able to come, and glad for a beautiful night on the lake!

The mucky hike

Our last boating day at Lake Powell we decided to explore Navajo Canyon. We had only been up a bit of it, but Mike had met a guy in the parking lot of our hotel who told him about an awesome waterfall at the end of this canyon. We decided to be adventurous, talked my family into it and were on our way! The water got pretty shallow near the end and Mike & Roger ended up walking the boats into where we could 'park'. My parents and Mike's Mom stayed behind to mind the boats.

This is Roger and Garrett hiking along the river. Papa Arveseth and our girls took off at a great pace. Grandpa was really impressed with how well they hike and even said that he would take them backpacking because they were so awesome!

I don't have pictures of the muck, but Cozette does, so I'll have to get them from her. Cozette, Elyse, Brandon, Roger, Garrett and I were the group bringing up the rear. Kate, Mike and Julia were somewhere in between. We encountered the grossest mud I have ever seen. We had about 100 yards to climb through. We were losing shoes, it was STINKY and soon Elyse and Brandon were crying and wanting to go back. I tried getting Brandon on my back and we both fell over into the yucky mucky. It's so funny now, but it wasn't so great then. Mike heard the kids crying and came back to help us out. We saw small fish and frogs in the stream. Kate even caught a frog!

We ran into Mike's friend and his family about the time we were ready to turn around. This hike ended up to be around 3 miles round trip. They said to keep going, it was worth it. Some of our people had ditched their shoes and did the rest of the hike barefoot!

By the time we reached the waterfall, Jim and the girls had been there an hour. Mike and the others were only a few minutes ahead of us. This is what we first saw, but it got even better!

The water had eroded this rock and it made small pools, then the pool would become another waterfall and cascade into another small pool! There were probably 50+ of these pools!

The kids found they could slide on the rocks and had a grand time!

Above is a view from above one cascading pool....

Brandon LOVED the slide!

We figured 95% of people who visited Powell would never hike so far to see this beauty! We were proud of everyone for enduring to the end! The hike back was by far easier. Even the muck was easier. Garrett is only 3.75 and he enjoyed the journey, stopping many times. Finally, when the water got deep enough again, Roger put Garrett in his life jacket and 'dragged' him behind as he walked the rest of the way to the boats. Funniest sight ever and so clever! Rog said he wished he could have done that the whole way! Cozette and I both said we felt really good on the hike until we could see the boats, and then we hit a wall! It was so strange! Luckily, Mikey was wading out to meet us with cold water and gatorades!

After being gone about 3 hours, everyone was hungry! We decided to head back to Antelope Point marina for dinner. Everyone was hot, cranky and hungry. But, spending time at that marina soon gets you in a good mood. This Brandon after falling asleep on the way there. That boy can sleep in any position on the boat!

When we were done at Antelope Point, we tried to get a ski in. Sydney tried to wakeboard and was almost up! Julia tried to ski, but didn't quite get up. Amanda wake boarded and looked great! By the time we got to the ramp to take the boats out, it was dark.

My Dad's boat broke again! He was loading it on the trailer, had to back up and then the cable broke and it wouldn't go forward-it just stayed in reverse! He hit the dock and hit it hard! Mike's Dad had a struggle getting our boat on the trailer and ended up doing the same thing I had done last summer and tore off one of the runners on our trailer. Good times....

But, Mike was prepared with all the tools to fix it, we had a long distance flood light in the boat that Amanda kept on the trailer and they got it fixed. I pulled the boat on the trailer and Mike told his Dad, 'See Dad, that's how it's done....' I thought that would make his Dad feel bad and I had major empathy for him since I have done the same thing, but it also made me feel good that Mikey was proud of me.

Elyse's day revolved around having a s'mores party that night. So, once the boats were loaded and cleaned up, we went to the Gibson camp spots and roasted marshmellows and hung out. Our parents had gone to high school together, so they reminisced and we all watched the stars. I got a little sick...I'm sure it was heat stroke or some of the muck I must have eaten when I fell in it earlier.....I was glad that it was minor, so that we could hang out as long as possible.

It made a great end to the day! Great party, Elyse!!

We were so sad to leave Powell the next day.

My Mom came home with us...well, Jim and Renae had she and Sydney in their car. My Dad had to travel to Moab for Bishop duties with the Young Men. We met up in Kanab and had breakfast at a local joint. It was really yummy. Jim wanted to take a different route home to see which was faster, and we still beat him going our same way....by about 1/2 hour.

But, now we know :)

We had some struggles on this trip, but loved every minute!!! We would go again tomorrow! We are so glad the grandparents and Roger, Cozette and their kids were with us! Love you all!

More Powell

Kate & Sydney found a 'cliff' to jump!

Sydney and me in a 'cave' just before the big thunderstorm!

The next day, Dad & Roger had to fix the boat. So, we picked up Kate & Elyse and headed onto the lake. We went by the dam to do some dam tubing.

We got our one tube fixed so that the kids could double-tube. They loved it! Amanda and Sydney would jump over to each other's tubes. Everyone else was a little to scared to try it.

Cute cousins! Elyse was fine as long as Uncle Mike was driving slow.

Slow driving made Amanda bored....but, she was a good sport.

Doing some tricks!

We couldn't talk Brandon into getting on the tubes today, but he was a great lookout! We went to Antelope Point for lunch and waited for my family to come after getting the boat fixed. The kids played on the swim deck forever. They made up a game where one person would be judge and pick a theme....say like trees. Then, each kid would do an impression of a tree as they walked down the diving platform. Garrett even got into it by showing me his 'Canyonball!' When we left here we explored some canyons in Navajo Canyon. We got another thunderstorm. We hid out in a cove, consoled kids and played while we waited out the storm. It was the loudest thunder I have ever heard! Awesome!!

Powell.....

So, we decided to start heading back to get off the lake. A storm was approaching! Pretty soon, we were in the middle of a churning lake. Look how green this water looks!

We were getting pretty close to the marina when my Dad's boat starting having problems again. It just wouldn't go fast. So, our progress was slowed to almost a halt. Mike would drive ahead a little and then wait for them because it was hard to drive that slow.

The kids hunkered down. They get pretty nervous in storms. But, we gave them some treats (since it was dinnertime), covered them with towels and they seemed pretty content.

At one point, we lost my family for a minute. They pulled onto a beach because the boat was making loud knocking sounds. We doubled-back and found them and then headed back into the marina. We made it safe and sound and were able to get the boats off the lake without any problems. A quick dinner and then it was off to bed!

Lake Powell Part 2

It wasn't as hard to leave Lake Powell in June because we knew we would be back in 3 weeks with my family! We left on Saturday morning after Amanda's soccer practice, met up with Mike's parents who also came along, gave them a couple of kids to drive in their car, and hit the highway! We got into Page in time for dinner and we headed over to Canyon King. I may have called it Canyon Queen before, but the kids were right.....it's a King....

My parents and Roger's family camped in the Wahweep campground. On Sunday morning, we hit the lake! First stop was the sand hill. The kids had a great time on it (pictures are at the bottom of this post-I'm having a heck of a time getting things to work with the new computer. My learning curve is slower than it used to be!). Rog & Cozette as well as their kids and a couple of ours climbed to the top! I opted out since my 'procedure' was only 5 days earlier. It was a great time. But, our main goal for the day was Rainbow Bridge, so we got going.

Here is our family plus Julia Larsen (we let Amanda bring a friend this time) and Rog's family at Rainbow Bridge. You can see we made it eventually, but not without my Dad's boat having issues. They were way low on oil, so they sat in the channel and we ran to Dangling Rope for oil.....that did the trick we thought, so onward and upward!

We listened to the park ranger this time. He told us some great stories. He showed us the dino track in the rock. The toes are by the kids toes. He also told us an Indian story about how Rainbow Bridge came to be because of some young boys that were picking on a lizard, called for help from the Sky Father and then the Sky Father petrified a Rainbow and the lizard.

Cute story!

It's a beautiful place and the water is so high that the hike is super short!!! Because of the boat problems, we arrived in the late afternoon and it wasn't crowded at all. It's a great time to visit! Afterward, we explored and went swimming before heading back as the sky turned dark...more on that to come.

Here are the pictures that should be at the top! Here are the stranded Gibsons!

And, here is what they were doing when we arrived with the oil.....taking a dip because it was HOT!

Here's Julia and Amanda cooling off!