I guess to finish our trip, I am just going to do a quick catch up. We had a beautiful drive from Colorado Springs to Lake Powell. We crossed the Continental Divide at one point. We stopped there to play in the snow.



While we were there we saw a square dancing group that wanted us to take their picture. Then we watched while they danced on the Continental Divide. It was so fun. While we were taking their picture they asked us where we were from. When we responded, Lake Charles, LA, one lady yelled out...."I am from Iowa!!!" For those of you not from here that is I-o-w-AAAAAA. Long A sound. That is a very small town just east of Lake Charles! The group had actually danced in Westlake before, too. Small world!

Sarah Beth in Taylor's shoes to go out and play in the snow!!

We stopped along the side of the road next to this BEAUTIFUL river. Some of us were in our PJs and we weren't looking all that great, but it was sooo pretty. I have decided that I love white water running rivers most in nature....well, second to the amazing oak trees we have in Louisiana. Everywhere we went in Colorado and Utah there were these fabulous rivers rushing. So peaceful..........

The next stop on the trip was Lake Powell. I loved Lake Powell. It was so amazing. Here we were in the water with the rocks growing up out of the water. It was amazing.





We had the best time knee boarding, wake boarding, tubing, and just generally boat riding. Emma was our professional. She stayed on the knee board for at least 10 minutes. She grinned so big and was so proud of herself.

Alex and Taylor were on the wake board. It is tough!! No one else was brave enough to try. I used to be able to knee board pretty well, but I could NOT pull myself up. It was so frustrating. I tried, and tried. Let's just say I was extremely sore for a few days.



Zack had my boys rolling over each other as they fell off the tube. If he wanted them off the tube, they were off the tube! No questions asked.

From Lake Powell we went to through Zion National Park. Wow.....we were able to drive through the tunnel and on the switchback roads that run through the park. That was quite the experience in an RV....made even more interesting by the fact that I was cooking pasta salad while we drove. Yes, boiling water, going down mountains in an RV, looking at the beautiful scenery, while it rained!!!! So, fun!! It really was. The pasta was good, the view fabulous, and the rain cooled it off. Thanks to my husband's superb driving ability we made it safely through. We dropped the RV at our beautiful park and drove in the Jeep.....all 8 of us....to St. George. We were quite the site as we pulled up to the temple and rolled out of the Jeep. It was pretty packed. I couldn't help and laugh at us. People would watch and watch us as we kept getting out.

We met Mama, my brother, John, his wife and baby in St. George.

That night the girls and I went to a performance of Footloose at Tuacahn Amphitheatre outside St. George. It started slow but ended so great. We had a great time, except for when I fell taking a picture of the girls and thought I broke Alex's camera. So fun....

My Garden

I had one....well, something like that.....request this summer! I wanted a garden. We tried a garden in the front yard last summer and it just didn't really do what we wanted. So, Alex made some boxes for me.

Zack and Lily then worked to fill them with dirt. Zack worked like a dog. He got the dirt from the office they are building for ES&H, mixed it with fertilizer and manure.

Lily had the best time "driving" the tractor. Apparantly she became quite the expert because later this summer Emma tried to convince Zack that Lily could use the tractor to move their playhouse around the yard. She seriously thought Lily could do anything Daddy could do with the tractor.

So, then we went on vacation and when we got back, this is what we found!!



And, then, a little of our bounty!! I love fresh produce. Our tomatoes are really slow growing. I hope I can get them going again. That is my all time summer favorite. I am so grateful for Zack for working so hard to get my garden put in. Beautiful!!

Taylor is 17! I sure do love this boy. He has grown from a little tiny boy to a 6'2" 230 pounder.

Confidence Builder

Yes, that is Emma and my neice, Kate, in my jacket!!
After the nice week of Claire, Sam, and Sarah Beth, we had Kate, Beth Anne, Emma and Lily. Not so relaxing. Besides that, Mary Catherine and Taylor were home from EFY and Alex came home, too.

Yeah, a little different.

MTC Vacation

So, ok, the next day was Tuesday and we went white water rafting with Marion...Zack's cousin. Zack, Marion, and I were in the boat with Emma and Lily and others. The big kids were in another boat together. We had a blast. I was so afraid it would be cold so we wore the wet suits that they provided. It WAS really cold. But, oh, so fun. I loved it. Lily was frEEEzing. Shivering. She and Emma sat in between Zack and I and would move to the back to take turns rowing.

River Rats

We spent the WEEK 4th of July out at the river. We had a great time. We only had Claire, Sam, and Sarah Beth that whole week. Mary Catherine and Taylor were at EFY and Emma and Lily are in Jena. We had a great time with them. It is amazing how we have been able to concentrate on them and how relaxing it is.

We did have one mishap while we have been out here. Meloni came by and asked us if we wanted to go for a ride in her boat and while we were driving along the motor died. We didn 't know what we were going to do because Bubba and Zack were not at the river. So, we called them, but then some men pulled up in another boat and asked if we needed at tow. So they tied us up and began pulling. We were going pretty slow and so they decided to give it a little more gas. When they did the front of the boat began to sink. Quickly!! Before we knew it half the boat went under and was dragging the other boat back and under, too. It was so scary. Of course we were screaming and they let off the gas. We came right back up, but needless to say it was pretty bad.
Where are those men when we needed them? Meloni acted like she didn't need them, but I am not afraid to admit I would feel more comfortable with Zack there!

MTC Vacation

The afternoon of the 15th we pulled into Colorado Springs, CO. It was just beautiful there...the first of many gorgeous places we visited. We found our RV park that Zack's cousin suggested and then went to drive around with her and get something to eat. We ate Chinese food and the big kids found a way to entertain themselves while waiting for their food.