Lake Powell 2011

Lake Powell 2011

WOW!!

I have never had so much fun and so much stress all on the same trip! Haha!

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We left for Lake Powell last Saturday and arrived home one week later more tired and exhausted than we have ever been in our lives and with stories that you just couldn't imagine!

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Let's take it from the top shall we...

Here is the houseboat.

 Indian Fantasy.

 Hated the name personally but hey...they didn't ask me.

 It was a super fun houseboat. Four bedrooms, 2 baths, living room, kitchen and a huge deck on top with a slide and all! We got to know every square inch of this guy before we left!

The first day is kind of a blur. We left about 8 am and care-a-vanned down to Powell. It took a while to get down there and get everything on the house boat. Then we headed out of the slip towards Iceberg Canyon. The kids started tubing and playing in the water and about a half hour into the journey I started to feel like crap.  I later learned that it didn't take much to start getting heat stroke for me. Ugh. The rest of that day is a blur. Thankfully I figured out my triggers so it didn't happen again the rest of the trip!

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Day Two

Holy freaking hot! If you have never been on a houseboat at Powell here's how it goes. You have to force yourself to fall asleep at night. You lay there praying for a breeze which rarely happens and melt at 95 degrees trying to fall asleep on a 3 inch mat. The bugs are floating all around you and bats are chasing after them. You are trying so hard to pretend you are comfy but alas, you have to wait until sheer exhaustion takes over. Each night gets easier as you are more and more tired. But the second the sun peaks over the cliff, 

YOU ARE AWAKE AND SWEATING!

So you do what we did...change into your swimsuit and slide off the house! :)

The best way to do Lake Powell is to be in the Lake as much as possible. The lake was only 75 degrees and against the 105 degree weather, it was almost magical to feel cool in the water!

We did this most mornings to get the sticky substance off our bodies at the beginning of the day!

Just throw on a life jacket and chill. It was lovely!

My kids have never been fishing before so when the opportunity was presented to fish off the side of the hosueboat, they were IN!!

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Madysen caught several big fish as she stayed near her pole the longest!

Coop won for finding the smallest fish but still wouldn't get close to touching it. In fact, this pic took him to the edge of tears haha! Can't say I blame him much...

Then we headed out on the boat! The lake was choppy over the weekends so it was perfect for tubing! My kids thought this was the greatest game ever! Everyone else found out that my kids are a lil fearless! Even at four Juddie was constantly looking for the thrill of "FASTER"!

Then there was the cliff jumping. This I have to say I hated. I of course didn't do it but it scared me everytime Matt did. I lost a friend in HSto a lake powell cliff dive and it doesn't appeal to me at all. But naturally, Matt being a thrill seeker himself, had to try each cliff he could! Oh well...makes a good pic now that I know he isn't going to die! :)

Day two also held a bummer moment for us. Inconsiderate boaters driving past our houseboat at ridiculous speeds, broke our rope tying the boat to the houseboat and and sent the nose of the boat through a window. Lots of choice words were uttered, a smackdown nearly started, but hey...a memory made right?!? Thankfully Mr. Ray was a wonderful handyman and gave us a beautiful new duct tape window!

Day three:

We started out the day relaxing, eating breakfast and playing games. Raegan was so sweet to always plan uno and crazy 8's with my kids! They loved every second of it!

Then we headed out on our first adventure. The canyons were breathtaking and awesome! Pictures just don't do it justice!

Had I known what was around this bend, I may not have gone haha!

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We anchored the boats and swam through a nasty lake filled with brown and white muck I can't describe, and a tampon might I add (gag), and climbed up a cliff to begin a hike.

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This hike was terrifying. It was steep, slippery and I had my entire family with me. I lost half a butt cheek and had to hold Madysen to get her to stop shaking and sobbing. It was a technical hike with lots of team building trust experiences, but it took us to our edge! We made it though and that's what counts. Next year though, Madysen and I will stay in the boats! :)

Then we saw this awesome arch! Somehow it led to repelling off this awesome arch. I seriously wasn't cut out for all this high adventure stuff, but Matt was in his zone.

One of my favorite parts of this day was Shaun getting to repel. It was something she had on her bucket list and seeing her so elated brought me so much joy! She rocked it and had such an awesome day after doing it! She was much braver than I...

Matt's experience was not as wonderful. He didn't wear gloves and slid for about ten feet, giving most of the skin on his pinky to the mountain. It was (and is still) very nasty looking and had to hurt like hell but he STILL isn't sad he did it. Sheesh...I guess I must be missing out! :)

Tubing will never be my favorite thing. It takes a lot of upper arm muscle which you pay for the next day and being knocked in the face by my boobs isn't my idea of fun. But the kids wanted me to...so I did :)

The next day we sent the men to get gas and ice and we all played the Wii. I love just dance and its equally as fun to watch as to play! Even in a billion degree weather haha!

Then we headed back to the boats! My favorite pic of the trip is this one. This is Coop. Doing the turtle in his life vest. Completely gone! He was so overly worn out he did this almost every day on the boat!

Both my boys were beyond tired but they rested in the boats in the afternoon and were able to stay pleasant almost the entire trip! They did really good considering the lack of sleep and the hard core busyness they were encoutering!

Day Four:

More cliff diving...yeah :)

Then we went to this amazing spot called Hole in the Rock.

It doesn't look like that huge of a deal until you hear the story.

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At the top of this hill the world is flat plains. For as far as you can see. Flat.

The pioneers were walking this very flat trail when they came to what you see in the picture. They had to pull their families, handcarts and animals down this crazy hill. Matt hiked it with a few others to see how tough it was and it was about all they could take. Alone, without kids or handcarts.

Had I been a Pioneer this would have made me throw in the towel. I can't imagine the tears shed to make it down this crazy steep unstable mountain. Matt was very glad he hiked it though. Gave yet another undeniable witness of how faithful those pioneers were. Amazing!

Day Five:

We headed to the indian ruins only to find they've been closed. Lame. It wasn't the same through the binoculars.

We decided to let people wakeboard and I hopped on the other boat to ride the HOT DOG with my boys!

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While I was hot doggin, the other boat was wake boarding and hit a boat buster rock. The lake was rising at 12 inches a day (5 feet while we were there) and this was happening to a ton of people. The rocks are just 15-18 inches under water but just enough they can't be seen. The boat started taking on water immediately. We couldn't believe it was happening. We took everyone back to the houseboat and the men took the boat to be trailered and see if they could patch the hole(s). About 4-5 hours later, they returned, with the boat. Still taking on some water but slow enough we could just bilge it every couple hours.

We decided to baby the boat and hang on one last day. We were supposed to leave Friday, but between the boat having a hole and a leak and the houseboat giving us daily issues, one day early was a good compromise!

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We decided to get back out there and play!

Matt had never done wakeboarding before but having a tower on the boat made all the difference. He got up right away!

Sadly since his feet are huge and wide, the board just wasn't made for him. He only lasted about 5 minutes till he was numb from the knee down and for the next two hours you could see the impressions from the board on his feet. He said it felt like he was being squeezed to death haha!

Shaun was a fun skiier to watch! She popped right up and did her thing for about ten minutes. Then she let go and said it was out of her system! haha

Kenz and Aaron were so fun to watch on the wakeboard.

They don't just stay in the wake, but can do all sorts of fun tricks!

Then my kids decided they wanted to learn how to kneeboard. I wasn't sure they'd have the arm strength, but sure enough they both figured it out and were up on their first trys!!! I was so proud of them!

Despite this pic, he really did have fun haha!!!

Then, of course, Matt gave it a try! He is just one of those people that can do any and everything. I am happy for him...but its just annoying when the rest of us can't haha!

Even though I longed for my good camera the ENTIRE time, this pic just made me laugh and turned out pretty great! haha!

Here is the TUBIN' CREW!

They earned their title after being drug around the lake and hanging on past any point of what normal people could do. And Matt had already lost half a hand during repelling!

Here they are showing off...still going 25 mph and posing for me! Punks! :)

I love this pic! Matt had such a great time doing it ALL

The catastrophies were plentiful but we survived and had a great time!

One not to be forgotten memory was the 4th of july party! I have no pics but...

Tate and Aaron climbed up the mountain near our houseboat to light off fireworks. About half way through their show, one tipped over and lit the side of the mountain on fire. It quadroupled in about five seconds taking out all the sagebrush in its path. Matt, Nick and Ray headed up the mountain side at lightning speed carrying no lights and large shovels. Thankfully the fire contained it self as it was in a gully and it smoldered fairly quickly. The next morning, we noticed the houseboat had 3 different fire extinguishers on deck. Good thing we only noticed the shovels :)

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We have been home for 2 & a half days and I am almost starting to think I can function again. I feel like a person on serious advil pm trying to get through the day. I can't seem to get enough sleep. The laundry has an end that I can see, though there's a while yet till that happens, but we are going to recover haha!

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All in all....we sure hope to do this again! Crazy as it all was...