lake powell

Last weekend, I went on one of the best vacations yet! 

Lake Powell with cousins and friends of cousins.

Here is a picture I captured the morning after sleeping on the shores of Lake Powell:

But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Thursday morning, Mark & Rachelle picked us up and the four of us drove to Matt & Kellie's house for waffles. The house was filled with a bunch of men I had never met-Matt's mission companions. 

After eating delicious waffles (thank you Matt & Kellie!), our group of 15+ caravanned all the way to Beaver. There, a bunch of us stretched, got ice cream, walked the dogs, and filled up on gas. I, of course, had to get pictures on the famous rocking chair. 

Bruce! Matt & Kellie's dog.

When we finally got to Page, the rest of the group was about half an hour behind us, so we stopped at the Information Center.

The Bridge just before Lake Powell

What a dam sight!

Once the rest of the group caught up, we all met at Wal-Mart to buy all the food we would need. Then we set up camp at a KOA. After everyone finished setting up their tents, we all went out to eat at a Mexican Restaurant. The food was so-so, but the company was a blast. It was a lot of fun getting to know people in the group. Poor Ammon had to wait for his food while the rest of us feasted. His food came out like 20 minutes after everyone else's! But he was a good sport about it.

Mine and Ammon's tent

When we got back from eating, a bunch of us went and played in the indoor pool. At first we weren't the only ones there, but I think our loudness encouraged others to leave and eventually we had the whole pool and hot tub to ourselves! Let me begin by saying that while my husband is a very bright and intelligent person, when he gets around his male cousins and other males, he tends to devolve. It all started with a cannon ball contest. But this wasn't enough. It's never enough. They had to keep upping the ante. Eventually, quite a few of them engaged in a belly flop contest and I have footage of the videos that lead up to it!

But even THAT wasn't enough. Here's Round 2:

It was a lot of fun watching those boys run around like a bunch of monkeys. Here's some group photos of us overflowing the hot tub: 

The next day we officially went to Lake Powell. First things first, we had pick up the boat rentals. After the house boat was officially ours for the weekend, we loaded it up with EVERYTHING! Over 20 people + a baby = a ton of stuff! It was amazing. The workers told us that they've seen worse. Some people have apparently loaded their boats just as high, but with beer. At least we weren't those guys! Only 12 people could stay on the house boat and the rest drove the speed boat. I was on the houseboat. 

Ammon took a turn driving. That's a captain face if I ever saw one! 

After quite a bit of searching, we eventually found the perfect spot. 

Ammon LOVED cliff jumping! 

The first time on the speed boat, Ammon went first. He could not figure out the knee-board to save his life.He had never seen it done before. Finally, someone in our group that knew what they were doing showed us how to do it. After that, most of us were able to get up. And anyone who didn't get up the first day, got up the second day. (I didn't bring my camera with me the second day.) The second day was my favorite! I was able to get in and out of the wake and it was so much fun!

Takin a pee break!

Or as Ammon Hardin would always say, "What ya doin in there?" or "You look really happy after getting in that water."

The rest of the trip was filled with more cliff-jumping, going down the slide forwards and backwards (Mark figured out it's actually not that fun going backwards!) eating PB&Js and cereal for every meal, watching Matt's friends do backflips off the house boat, making s'mores, blowing up a giant trampoline that didn't really work (but it made a good raft), getting sunburnt to a crisp, reading, and simply having the time of our lives!

GIANT tarp!

"Sitting around a campfire making delicious hot shmoes." -Buzz Lightyear
The best s'more I've ever had was that night. I had two.

BEAUTIFUL sunrise!

I'm just going to leave this picture up for question. I will, however, say this: Ammon needs to hydrate more.

Most of the group.

Pizza Hut in Page before heading home.

This was mine and Ammon's first time boating together and we both LOVED it! We plan on going more in the future. Thank you Matthew for planning such a fun trip!