Doing Hard Things

At Lake Powell, one of the things that I enjoyed and admired about my family was everyone's enthusiasm for trying something new.

Surfing was definitely something new to all of us, but not only was it new, it was hard!

But then there were people like Carew and Kara who made it look easy!!!

But I still don't think it was "easy," they just didn't give up.

I love how when we encourage one another and try to do our best, even if we fall, that we gain a sense of confidence in ourselves, AND in knowing that there are people behind us cheering us on.

(And since we didn't get pictures of everyone, I took a screen shot of a video my kids took of me surfing too!)

That's right! Even mom can do hard things! ;)

And still yet, we try these things and other hard things in life and hope to be good examples for the little ones to lean on and follow...

Captain Easton, just follow Pops and you can't go wrong! ;)

Lake Powell was a great family vacation full of many good memories with lots of good people. But one of the things that still stands out to me most, was how at night, all 29 of us would gather for scripture study and prayer together. 

We had some great discussions and felt the Spirit teach and testify of truth, and hopefully, some of these kinds of memories will stick in my children's heads as much as the surfing did! But we'll see. :)

And honestly, one of the greatest blessings of these kinds of trips for me, is seeing the hand of God in everything beautiful around me. The water, the sunsets, the bajillion stars in the dark night sky...and I specifically remember riding on the back of the jet ski with Clint and hearing the words from a familiar hymn, "The winds and the waves shall obey Thy will...peace be still." 

May all of our summer adventures bring us such happy memories and peace in Christ.

Lake Powell Part 2 ~ The Perfect "Peace" of Heaven

During our week at Lake Powell we had many fun and also relaxing adventures!

One of them was a hike where we went exploring and also found lots of seashells!

We relayed in some fun but competitive obstacle course races, and played king of the lily pad...;)

The kids all had a ball on the little piece of the cove we stayed at that they lovingly called "Mermaid Island."

It was so cute to me how they all had such a fun time with things such as buckets, water, rocks, and their imaginations!

No technology needed!

Now THAT's MY kind of vacation!

We shampooed our hair in the lake..

Carew and Kara had fun on this week long "date" riding the wave runners, cliff jumping, and all kinds of activities.

Dallin and Clint rode on the wave runners too...

So much fun!!

We played with little chunky monkey Easton!

(That was one of my very favorite parts.of the trip! ;)

And Easton even got a bath in the lake!

He wasn't exactly thrilled about it, but he was a brave baby boy. ;)

Carew and Dallin sported their "beach hair-don't care" attitudes...

We played with chubba bubba Easton some more...

He LOVES his Lolli by the way...:)

We sometimes chilled in the family room on the house boat to get a break from the sun, and we had LOTS of quality time together!

Times like these are precious indeed and I feel so grateful that the Browns were so generous to invite our entire family to enjoy this experience with them!

It was the perfect piece of heaven we all needed to begin a summer of  continuous change and uncertainty with the world pandemic still going on.

It was the PERFECT "peace" of heaven because we were all together. :)

Lake Powell 2020 Part 1

Our family had a wonderful time on our first ever family vacation to Lake Powell!!

We were invited by some good friends the Brown family to join them and 2 other families on their house boat for the week. This was something we have always wanted to do, but never had the opportunity to do so, and it was AMAZING!!!

It was basically like "glamorized camping" but 1000 times better! :)

We did have a bedroom onboard the house boat, but we graciously gave the room to Kierra and Easton so that he could have a quiet place to nap and actually get some sleep.

You're welcome Easton. :)

We only did it because you are our favorite grandchild...;)

Everyone slept so sound at night, all throughout the boat.

We would play so hard all day long in the hot, hot sun, and then be awoken to it's early morning light...

So needless to say, sleep was NOT a great commodity on this trip...but the FUN sure was! :)

(Don't ask me HOW Dallin slept inside this rolled up Lily Pad with no room to roll around.)

After meeting up with our friends, loading up the houseboat, and meeting the other families, we drove the house boat out to a place in the lake called Warm Springs.

It was beautiful and the water was warm, just as it's name implied.

We rode on wave runners and the speed boat doing every water sport imaginable...

Having little Easton and Kierra there was definitely a highlight of the trip too!

(We really missed Riley though who had to stay back at dental school.)

It was so fun to watch the little buddy take in his new surroundings, feeling the water and the warm sand in between his toes...

He is a sweet and happy baby, and interacting with him was such a joy.

Everyone had a friend on the trip, and Kesslyn especially was in heaven with her little friend Gabriella!

These 2 sweeties played and played and played in the sand and on the water, and said each day we were there

"Best. Day. EVER!" :)

I agreed! Every day there WAS the best day ever! ;)

(Kesslyn sporting her new unicorn swim suit. ;)

(More on this vacation tomorrow. ;)

Father's Day 2020

After being gone for a couple of weeks on a family trip, we are finally home and back in the swing of things.

It was Father's Day yesterday, and not only did we celebrate our own family, we also celebrated all of the men in our ward and neighborhood with a Crumble cookie! 150 of them to be exact! ;)

On Saturday when we had gone to pick up the cookies, we arrived at home to find yet another box of Crumble cookies that had been delivered to our front door from Kierra and Riley to Clint!

Yes, Clint is a #1 Dad, and he was grateful for the extra sweetness. :)

Kesslyn was one of the first kiddos up to hug her daddy and tell him Happy Father's Day. :)

Clint and I got a picture together too, but this was as good as it got.;)

He was so happy that I let him grow his beard over the last couple of weeks too while we were in Lake Powell on a house boat!

He looks pretty handsome in it although I hate how scratchy it feels when I kiss him...

He says he is going to shave it next week, just in time for our anniversary. :)

Then I can kiss him LOTS. ;)

We had a lovely home church again. I have really loved this special time with just our family watching my boys prepare, bless, and pass the sacrament to our family. They say the words with such meaning and love, as if the Savior himself were there with us.

I love it.

The boys each gave a talk about fathers from the scriptures, the importance of leading a family with love and the priesthood, and the amazing example of their own dad. The girls sang the special musical number to their dad, and it was a sweet Sabbath.

On Saturday we also got together with Clint's family for a Father's Day barbecue.

I love his family and we always have such a good time when we are together.

Although we missed Cory, Chad, and Cody. Little Emmett went back into the hospital for surgery again, and Chad and Cory live far away. But we still had a crowd and enjoyed yummy food, lots of laughs, and some good conversation.

Here is a picture of Jim and Gerry with the grand-kids...

And one of all the guys that were there...

...and one with me and my honey.

I love this guy so much and can't believe we will be celebrating our 26th anniversary next week!

We've shared a lot of good times over the years, and I always look forward to many more ahead.

I never knew how things would go in our life when we first got married. I just knew that I wanted to experience the ride with HIM.

It's been an adventure, and I've loved every minute with this guy.

Happy Father's Day my love.