Lake Powell

What's funner than going to the last day of school for a few hours, then jumping in the car and going to Lake Powell for a week with family and friends? We felt so lucky to be invited with our good friends the Bruses along with 2 other families that we came to know and love over a week together, the Barnes and the Warrs. Days were filled with sun, waterplay and great food. Dave (we call him Captain Dangerous) taught us all how to make homemade bombs that were perfect for this trip. All you need is a can of corn, green beans, tomato paste or whatever kind of canned food your heart desires and bury it under a pile of briquetts. Throw some lighter fluid on the 20 piles that you've made and within 30 to 40 minutes, you have yourself a legit firework show that will surely get the oohs and aahs from the crowd. Do not try this in a forested area, I repeat... DO NOT try this by anything that will burn...because it will when the bomb explodes and the briquettes fly everywhere. We were safe in Powell doing this up on the mountainside of rocks and it proved to be a very entertaining show...and a cheap one too. We loved every minute in Powell, except for the last day when I discovered my phone had met the water at some time during the week and the kicker...my wallet went to see the bottom of the lake. It was especially fun to ask if our friends could spot us a tank of gas to be able to make it home and to buy our lunch. So, if you go to Lake Powell-put your wallet in a waterproof container that will float and do not bring your cell phone...you can't even get service out there anyway.

Introducing...the Accolade. Sounds cool & mega important, huh? It's even cooler than it looks if you can believe that. So this is where 24 people lived for a week. The middle and upper decks are where everyone slept. They had a ton of sleeping pads that during the day would stack up to make a few couches and at night would be spread over both decks to sleep everyone under the stars after the nighttime firework show-it was awesome.

Chloe gives the kneeboarding a try and she loved it.

We had to get a pic of all of the kids all together...what a sight, eh?

Eli with his good friend Mckay

The greatest thing about Lake Powell on a houseboat is to be able to just jump in the water anytime you want to cool off.

Here's a little indian village we discovered on a day excursion

Kate loved playing outside everyday

I forgot to mention that our air conditioner went out in the Suburban on the trip too-glad it wasn't blazing hot on the car ride home. Guess that's what we deserve for having so much fun out there. In any case, we're huge fans of Lake Powell and can't wait to go back again someday.

Field Trips are awesome

Heather and I have been slackin a bit this year with going on Field Trips with our kids. Yeah, we're all busy and can always think of an excuse why not to go but it's fun to hang with the little ones on a day at the farm once in a while...Wheeler Farm to be exact. I was in charge of 2 people: Kate and her best friend, Monet. We received our name tags-the "pink bunnies". Wow, nothing "tough" or "cool" about that name-oh well, we had fun with it anyway.

Meet PB & C (that's "Peanut Butter" and "Chocolate"-a couple of the horses that Kate and

Monet met on the farm.

Here's a clip of Kate being disgusted by the smell of the pig. By the way, when Kate came home that day she told Heather: "Mom,...the word on the farm is that the pig is the smartest animal!"

Kate and Monet with their Kindergarten teacher-Mrs. Alder

Kate shows off her hula-hooping skills

Kate has a new talent...hula hooping. In this video clip she does it to the famous "Macarena" song which she makes me sing-yikes! She probably could have gone all day with the "hooping" but we had to call it quits after a while.

Fathers and Sons campout

So every year my boys look forward with anticipation to the Father and Sons campout. This year was a little funny, we showed up and it was pouring rain and I found myself trying to talk us out of sticking it out. I said: "let's go down to that burger joint down the canyon, have dinner and then go to a late movie. The boys said: heck no, let's camp! We sat in the car for about 15 minutes and watched the sky clear and then we set up camp. We all ate about 18 hot dogs each, went on a hike and then sat around the campfire the rest of the night. Liam said he wanted to hit the sack about 11 p.m. Well, I did too. Clayton, Eli and some of their friends sat around our campfire until about 3 in the morning (this is typical)!

Here's a video clip of Eli "hating it" the next morning as I woke him to come to breakfast a little earlier than he would have liked.

Here's our group the morning after a "great night sleep". The 2 unfamiliar faces are Tannon and his little brother Cragun from our ward. Liam was doing great after a good 9 hours of sleep and Clayton was doing surprisingly well for 3 or 4 hours of sleep under his belt...Eli, ...not so much. The level of energy is very apparent on his face-heh, heh.

Here's a short video of the hike around Camp Kiesel and Camp Browning that we took(the camp where Clayton will be working this summer).

The kindergarten program

You may see a couple familiar faces as you watch this video clip: Kate and Garrett! I noticed that this recorded with no sound (not sure why) but it's still great. They are singing "I'm proud to be an American!"

Prom Night

Wow, is Clayton really old enough to go to Prom? Yikes! Maybe a better question-is Clayton old enough to take his date, Kelsey, in a 2010 Camaro? Check it out:

Oh, and p.s. you may notice that Clayton needs to work on his gentlemen skills a bit...his friend John gets to open the door for his date. Here's a video clip:

So Clayton's pretty much a lucky dog. I'm making reference to the car he was able to talk one of our good friends into letting him use for Prom Night-a 2010 orange Chevy Camaro with black racing stripes with orange and black leather seats(I'm drooling as I write). Heather and I weren't able to sleep at all (and I'm guessing our friend as well) until we knew all was well with the car...and with Clayton. We were all dead tired the next day (Mother's Day). As far as we know there were no races, no new scratches and the car was returned washed with a full tank of gas. Heather suggested he write Jason a "note" to say thanks. Clayton said: "guys don't write thank you notes to other guys." True statement.

The baseball game

A few pix of Liam at his most recent baseball game.

Watch him as he hits a double: