I wasn't going to post about this since we were getting on the lake the next day for a whole week but Ethan and Ally thought this was one of the greatest things we have ever down so I decided to document it.

Javan's sister Bayley has an RV Rental business (Arches RV Rental) and she occasionally rents our camp trailer out so we can make a little money on it when we're not using it. Some renters had the trailer down at Bullfrog for a week and we had to go pick it up. It's much faster for us to drive to Hall's Crossing and ferry across to Bullfrog and we thought the kids might get a kick out of riding the ferry. Boy were we right.

We got to the ferry loading ramp about 30 minutes early and could see the ferry coming across the channel from Bullfrog. It docked but then we had to wait until 2:00 on the hour to load. It was quite a long wait for those little kids. We passed the time by skipping some rocks in the water and eating our picnic lunch.

We finally got to drive onto the ferry, we were the first ones to load. This was quite exciting. Ethan and Ally couldn't believe how many cars could fit on the ferry. I think there were only 6 or 7 that got on. I told them it could fit at least 13 and they were amazed. I remember as a little girl when we were down at the lake counting how many cars got on and off the ferry.


Once we were on the ferry they couldn't wait to get out of the truck to check it out. When the ferry started to pull away Javan pretended that he was driving it. Since we were right there in front it really looked like he was, he had Ethan and Ally fooled for a few minutes.

Me and the kids riding the ferry.


Javan and the kids looking over the edge watching the water.


Getting ready to off-load from the ferry. This was also pretty exciting because we were the first ones off and got to watch for a minute the other cars getting off.


We didn't ride the ferry back on the way home because when you pull a trailer on the ferry you have to pay by the foot of how long you are, which adds up in a hurry. Plus we didn't want to wait 2 hours for it to come back. So we drove around the long way. It's about 1-1 1/2 hours longer.

We stopped at Hite on the way home to take a dip in the water. Hite is where the river comes into the lake so it is pretty cold and also has a pretty strong current so we couldn't let the kids get too far out of our reach.


Just an interesting side note. The people that rented our camp trailer were out tubing and having a good time when they got hit/t-boned by another boat. The boat that hit them went completely over the other boat. The driver, our renter, was thrown about 50 feet. Their boat sank and he was life flighted out. I guess he was complaining of back pain and they just wanted to be safe. The other boat was also pulling a tube and one of his riders fell out so he was looking back and turning around to go pick up his rider when he hit the other boat. Thank heavens no one was seriously injured. I keep wondering what happened to all the kids on the tubes when all of this was happening. So scary.

Last week we went on our annual Lake Powell trip with my family. We went with my parents, and brothers Michael and David and their families. Amber and Nate's families weren't able to come this year. But Nate and Dale are going to visit Amber and Steve next week, so at least they will get some family time in too. I'm so jealous.

Anyway, I LOVE Lake Powell. It's something I look forward to, and have every year since I was a little girl. I have so many wonderful memories of Lake Powell and am so happy that I get to share it now with my kids and nieces and nephews. It's the greatest place. Aaahhh, I just can't say enough. (That's not what you all were thinking.)

Okay, this is a pretty long post, but I wanted to include lots of pictures for Amber and Nate since they missed out. I know I would want to see them if I wasn't there. So don't look if you don't want to see.

We kind of had a rough start to our trip. I had to work for a little while on Monday so Javan and I weren't going to go down until later in the afternoon. The guys forgot the houseboat keys and had to have the ladies leave a little earlier to bring them down. But when they got to the loading ramp they learned that each boat has to be inspected for these zebra muscles before you can launch it. Well they didn't have an inspection and nobody comes to Hall's Crossing to do inspections on Monday or Tuesday. So what, you can't launch a boat on Monday or Tuesday? So they spent 2 hours trying to find someone to do an inspection. The people at the marina wanted them to pay to ferry the speedboat over to Bullfrog, get an inspection, pay to ferry back to Hall's Crossing and launch the boat. Is this the lamest thing you have ever heard? Anyway, they finally got the inspection and were able to get on the water.

BUT, we were bringing our boat down when we came, which also hasn't had an inspection, and they close the launch ramp at 5:00 pm. My dad called Javan in a panic, who called me at work in a panic, and put me in a panic to hurry and get home so we could get to the lake in time. Well they also knew that even if we got there before 5:00 there wouldn't be anyone there to do an inspection, so Michael, in a stroke of genius, asked a boat that was leaving if he could have their inspection paper, and they gladly handed it over. So they left that for us in their truck.

So we were all on the water and headed to find the houseboat, which was about a 30 minute boat ride. Ryan HATES his life jacket and screamed the whole time. It was not pleasant. Just as we got to the houseboat, the wind kicked up and pulled the houseboat loose and we had a battle with the ropes for awhile. But we were finally able to jump in the water to cool off and relax.

Michael took some of the kids out to wake board. Davis wrecked and the wake board came up and hit him in the head and sliced it open. It was a pretty nice gash, about 1 1/2 long. Michael cut the hair away so we could assess the situation. We had a hard time getting it to stop bleeding. I was preparing to give my first sutures with a sewing kit. But, we put some ice the cut to slow the bleeding and we were able to super glue it closed.


Davis did great. He was really brave. He worried me a little when he said he was getting cold, I thought he was going into shock but then I remembered he just got out of the water. Just after we got Davis patched up we heard on the radio a call for life flight because a child had a prop injury. Oh, this is my worst nightmare. We were thankful for a small laceration to the head. Later that night Kennady stubbed her toe on the door jamb and sliced it open. Then Ryan fell and bonked his mouth on the deck and cut his lip open. We weren't sure we could handle this all week. But things went pretty smoothly after that.


Ryan loved his little pool on the back deck. Especially since Grandma put warm water in it for him. All the big kids would try and sneak into with him to get the warm water. The lake water was 80 degrees, it wasn't that cold itself.


Carson and Spencer swam across the bay to the rocks on the other side. They were pretty proud and celebrating when they reached the other side.


One of the greatest things about the lake is that we eat like kings. Each meal is a feast. My brothers and sisters probably don't appreciate it because I always tell the kids on holidays and vacations that they can have whatever they want. It doesn't happen everyday. It's my excuse to eat what I want. Here is Michael grilling us some yummy ribs.


Ethan caught a nice catfish with the batman pole. It's a lucky pole, and always catches the fish. Some of the older boys are getting old enough that they are getting into the fishing, they're getting pretty good.


Javan, Ethan, and Ally out for a swim. I don't know if Ethan got his hair wet the whole trip. He is such a little scaredy cat.


These guys love getting their picture taken. Dave has started a new tradition of taking our last years lake shirt and "modifying" it for this year. They liked to wear the sleeves on their heads.


Javan surfing behind Michael and David's boat. This is something new we have started this year, and it is so fun. We can't do it behind our boat, we don't want one of those prop injuries I was talking about earlier. But this is so awesome. It's crazy because you're right by the boat, and you're going so slow that when you wreck it doesn't hurt. We need more practice but we all loved it.


Since Javan was already in the water and Ally was in the boat we threw her in to surf with Javan. Can't you tell how much fun she had?


We like to make our kids try new things. (Make being the key word there.) They are so scared of the thought of everything that they don't want to try it. But I know they would like it if they did. Here's Ethan getting ready for a tube ride. Looks fun, huh. Once he saw that we weren't going to tip over and he wasn't going to fall out he settled down.


Ryan and I out for a swim. Ryan loves the water as long as he doesn't have to wear a life jacket.


My brother Dave catching some nice air on the wake board. The picture is kind of blurry, but that's just cause he was going so fast, he's just that good. :)


Ryan wanted to get in on the fishing action. Ethan's batman pole finally bit the dust after 3 good years of fishing. I hope his new pole will be as lucky.


My brother Michael skiing. I love watching them do their little rooster things.


My dad skiing. The old man's still got it! Just kidding Dad. He's an awesome skier, and he loves to do it, so I'm glad he still can. He's quite impressive.


This is Dave skiing, even though you can't see him. I just thought this picture was cool. It looks like a postcard.


Javan catching some sweet air on the wake board.


Mom. Lake Powell's not her favorite thing anymore but she's a good sport and we're thankful she puts up with it so the rest of us can enjoy it too.


Ally is a little water dog, just like when I was little.


We told Ethan he either had to go down the slide or surf with Javan. This is what he picked. He took a whole day to prepare himself. He did really good. He didn't cry, but had a pretty concerned look on his face. And didn't like the water splashing in his eyes.



This year's group shot. Hey Ryan!


Our family.


Ethan fell asleep out on the boat one day. He stayed like this even with the boat turning and all the waves. Pretty funny.


The houseboat. It looks so tiny compared to all the massive rocks.


The kids enjoying some arts and crafts time, and playing cards. Ryan was quite happy that he could play with the big kids. Thanks Grandma for the crafts, always a big hit.


My dad always gets some kind of injury at the lake. This year his arm got tangled in the surf rope, then he wrecked and we dragged him for a minute until he got out, that wasn't my favorite. Pretty nasty rope burn.


Ryan in a bucket. He thought this was so fun.


Ally and Cydnee floating in the water.


Austin with a nice fish.


Mass confusion while fishing. One pole caught a fish but the fish started to swim away and caught all the other lines. Everyone was trying to untangle them. It's hard to tell what's going on. Michael jumped over the rail to save a pole and hit his leg on the pole holder and had a huge bruise on his leg. I'm mad I didn't get a picture of his injury.


A beautiful shot of the lake and one of our favorite new camping spots. This is one of the reasons I love Lake Powell so much. It's so beautiful and peaceful and relaxing and fun. I love it. Thanks everyone for making it so fun. We missed you Amber and Nate's families. Next year for sure!

Well you know what I'm going to say, "I can't believe another month has already gone by, Ryan is growing too fast." It's the same every month but it's still true. I took Ryan in for a 9 month check up but it was after I did the post so I didn't put his measurements in. At that appointment he was 28 1/2 inches long and weighed 19 lbs 2 oz. Up until now he has measured in about the 50% percentile for height and weight, but at that appointment his weight was down in the 25% percentile. I thought that was interesting because he has always seemed pretty chubby, but I guess not as chubby as I thought.

I gave Ryan a haircut on this morning. He did really good. Of course he was wiggly but he didn't fuss a bit. I was a little sad to cut off all his little curls but his hair was always a matted mess in the back and looked yucky so I thought it was time to say goodbye to the cute little curls. Doesn't he look handsome?


He's got another tooth trying to cut through on the bottom and has been drooling like mad for the last week. He's also been pretty fussy since we got home from Nevada. I guess he was sad to leave Nate and Dale's house.


In the past few weeks Ryan has learned to pull himself up to standing. He has been able to get up to his knees for quite awhile but standing is a new development, and he is quite pleased with himself. He has better access to lots of things now. He has also fallen quite a few times and bonked his head. He was standing up to the tub while Ally was in the bath and fell over and hit his chin on the side of the tub and made his mouth bleed. Of course, Ally was more concerned about the blood than Ryan was.


We have been swimming at the pool a lot this summer while Ethan has been in swimming lessons. Ryan loves the water and doesn't mind that it's a little chilly. Sometimes we go swimming with my friend Lisa and her kids, Isabel, Garrett, and Nache.


We usually go to family hour in the morning around his nap time and so he usually falls asleep while I'm holding him in the pool. I love it because he cuddles up in a little ball and lets me hold him. He's become quite a stinker at nap and bedtimes and won't let us rock him to sleep anymore. He just wants to lay down. In a way it's good, but I miss holding and rocking him to sleep.


We went to some sand dunes with Mike and Shan for family home evening the other night. Ryan loved playing and crawling around in the sand with Pratt.


He also loved eating the sand and rocks, and was ticked at Javan when he took a rock out of his mouth. Javan thinks he might has swallowed one too.


Ryan found one of Ethan and Ally's markers and had a good time playing with it. They are scented, but I don't know if they are flavored. He seemed to like it though.


When he came crawling over to me I had a total flashback to 4 years ago when Ethan did this exact same thing.